Some thoughts on fundraising this holiday season.
Are VCs taking time off? Working harder than ever?
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Are VCs taking time off? Working harder than ever?
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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:
Here’s what I advised last yr:
https://twitter.com/dunkhippo33/status/1323734041128886272
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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