Startup funding shouldn't just go to white Ivy League Bay Area bros, so I'm sharing the top fundraising tips from Atrium's fundraising workshop. Most important: Cry, pivot, but don't quit. 1/ 
The best startup pitches identify a big problem, show why your product is the solution, and then prove your potential to be huge with the right team, traction, growth plan, unit economics, and adjacent markets you'll conquer. 2/
Practicing your startup pitch is critical because it A/B tests narratives, unearths hard questions, and breeds confidence. No on will fund you unless you're so passionate they know you won't quit. 3/
The unintuitive secret to startup fundraising isn't the pitch where everyone has their own style, but the process of lining up a ton of investor meetings back-to-back so you can play them off each other. It's not the song, it's the dance. 4/
Startups should assume they'll get a ton of NOs from investors before a Yes. Identify partners with expertise & track record in your industry, not just big names, and schedule meetings 3-4 weeks out. VCs are always on "vacation". 5/
If you don't hear back from an investor in 1-2 days, they don't like you. If they don't ask questions, they don't like you. Find one VC partner to be your champion and find out what their colleagues will want to know. 6/
Don't write off lesser-known investors. A mid-tier fund's YES beats a top dog's No any day. Once you get a term sheet, don't say who it's from but leverage it to get offers or better deals from other investors. Don't be a jerk about it. 7/
Startups can die waiting for an investor's due diligence to finish before they get the cash. The median wait after a soft YES is 41 days. Make sure you have enough runway to survive that long. 8/
Startup burn rates balloon to the size of your bank account if you're not careful. Be thrifty. Cash should last 12-18 months until you've hit milestones that de-risk your business for a new round of funding. 9/
The best startup tip is still "don't quit". When investors says no, employees leave, competitors emerge, and you want to hide: have grit, pivot, survive. Here are some more strategies from Atrium. techcrunch.com/2018/04/17/sta… What are your best fundraising tricks? 10/10
