Some thoughts on fundraising this holiday season.

Are VCs taking time off? Working harder than ever?

>>
1) First some context, traditionally it’s tough to raise from US Thanksgiving week onwards through the rest of the yr. (next wk is thanksgiving wk)
2) This is because there is so little time between Thanksgiving and the Dec holidays that many VCs just check out.
3) Last yr was a bit different.

Here’s what I advised last yr:
4) It turned out to be bifurcated. A number of investors worked SO HARD. While a number of investors tended to other things.

Few really went on holiday. People were around.
5) This yr my prediction is that investors are going on holiday. It’s been too long sitting at home.

I think it will be harder than last year to get in front of investors at this time of year.
6) Investors have done SO MANY deals this year that I think it will slow this holiday season. They have already exhausted a lot of capital and are pretty tired.
7) And as such if you haven’t started your process and have runway through q1, I would strongly recommend (and what I’m telling all my portfolio companies) raising in Jan.
8) If you are mid-way through your raise, try to get this done before mid-Dec or wrap up whatever you can by then to get through the end of the yr.
9) It’s not that it’s impossible to raise at this time of the yr but it’s just really hard to vie for attention. And if you are in the mkt for “too long” ppl start to wonder why other investors didn’t back you even if it’s just bad timing. I’ve seen many companies “get stuck”.
10) In many ways, it’s also better to get pitch mtgs on calendars when they’re blank slates.

As opposed to trying to fight for mtg slots that are limited and not packed together with your other investor slots.
10) tl;dr get the round / tranche done / start wrapping up.

I’d recommend to start prepping for a Jan raise and get on calendars now while you have your choice of timing for pitch mtgs.

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More from @dunkhippo33

19 Nov
Today's Twitter thread is on fake investors. Unfortunately, there are a TON of fake investors out there.

How do you avoid them? What do you do?

Read on >>
1) This thread is inspired by @BigSisTracey -- I'm so sorry this happened! :(

At the same time, unfortunately, this is so common too!! WTF! :(
2) There are a few kinds of fake investors -- ppl who:

-Pretend to be investors to gather info (usually for competitors but sometimes just to learn)
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29 Oct
Tonight’s thread is on valuations. It’s been a while since I’ve done a State of the Market thread.

More here >>
1) In general, valuations are up globally. A lot more bifurcation in some locations than others.

But this should not be conflated w ease of fundraising.
2) If you feel like fundraising is still hard despite what you read in the press, it’s because it IS STILL HARD for many ppl.

That being said, to level set, compared to say 2009, raising something - anything - is easier now than then. It’s all relative.
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28 Oct
Startups are chaotic. But, the goal is to take that chaos and turn them into repeatable processes.

One of the biggest stumbling blocks I see founders do is they do too much "random sh*t" for too long instead of turning them into processes.

More here >>
1) A big reason for this is it takes time to create processes, so it feels easier to do "random sh*t".

But, it's better to carve out some time to create processes for long-run gain.

Here are common pitfalls where ppl do "random sh*t" for way too long.
2) Getting intros for fundraising en masse. The founders who are best at this have a curated list. They do their research on ppl. They outreach in a methodical way and everything is planned.

Here are tips on how to do this well:
Read 19 tweets
25 Oct
A conversation that I've been having with a lot of my founders is around taking a vacation.

At this pt, I feel like a broken record -- I keep asking, "Have you taken a vacation yet? Are you going to take a vacation?"

A thread >>
1) Burnout is REAL. I've written about it here:

2) Doing a startup is a marathon. It's pretty brutal. You have to train. And you have to pace. And you have to rest. But sometimes you have to sprint. But most ppl can't sprint the whole way.
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20 Oct
Today's tweet thread is about the differences between angel investing & running a VC fund.

A lot of ppl think they like angel investing but wish they had a lot more $$ to invest. So the natural thought is "I should run a fund!"

However, they are very different.

More here >>
1) First, it's impt to say that one isn't better than the other. I often hear ppl say on Twitter that angel investing >> VC investing. Or vice versa.

They're just way different.
2) Here are the top pros and cons IMO on both:

Angel investing:
Pro: Freedom! You can invest however you want.
Con: No accountability

VC:
Pro: Have a lot more capital than your own to work with
Con: Lots of operational work -- the focus isn't investing per se - gasp! 🤔
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20 Oct
One of the fascinating things about investing in startups is the risk to reward profile.

A quick thread >>
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2) Put into dollars, if you had bought $5000 of tokens, that would be worth $1.5m!
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