Texts with Founders

San Francisco, California

Tested tactics for early stage startups

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Latest Post

Preconditions for Starting

Good and bad reasons to hold off on starting a startup.

Archive

Check Size Doesn't Matter (Audio Edition)

Forget minimum amounts and optimize for quality people

Lead with the Numbers, End with the Narrative

+ how investors know when a company is struggling.

Lead Investor Rights Sought by Participating Funds

How to push back on unreasonable asks from follow-on funds.

Texts with Founders: Christmas List

Ideas learned this year from other founders.

Texts with Founders: Let the waitlist wait.

Focus on “center of the bullseye” customers.

Should I take small checks from large funds?

Understand the benefits and avoid signaling risk.

When and How to Engage Follow-on Investors

Timing matters. So does narrative and what you disclose.

Texts with Founders: Reference Checking Investors

Learn about other founder's experiences before committing to a fund

Fundraising Prep: Part 2

Funding viability and building an investor pipeline.

30 additional ideas as we wrap up ODF19

To help prospective founders go “from idea to conviction”

20 Ideas Halfway Through ODF19

On co-founders, fundraising, being disrupted, and more.

3 Core Elements of Fundraising Prep

Part 1: Successfully fundraise in 2-3 months

Texts with Founders: The Student (Dis)Advantage

Overcoming the credibility gap

Use them to attract and repel.

Support 🕊️

Create the headspace to help others.

VCs that Ghost 👻 (+ TWF Meetup in SF 🍩)

Dealing with investors that drag out the process

Intros and Forwardable Emails

Make it easy for connectors to facilitate introductions

Valuation Calculator

Counterintuitive fundraising strategies

Tranche Fundraising

Give early investors a "buy-it-now" price

How “Good Guy” Phrases Torpedo a Pitch

Win over customers & investors

Weekly Investor Updates

Keep investors close and yourself on track

Avoid Hiring Too Early

Navigate external pressure focused on vanity metrics

The Benefits and Downsides of Responsiveness

Where it can help and where it can backfire.

Raise the round behind you

Avoid a drawn-out process and optimize for the best investors.

Conditional Commitments

Why they aren't commitments and what to do about them.

Avoiding Gossip

Nimbly navigate an awkward scenario.

Handling inbound from investors

Avoid distractions and keep potential investors warm.