Most fundraising advice feels like it was written by consultants who've never actually raised money themselves or founders who treat fundraising like a full time job.
At Fyxer, we closed our Series B just six months after our Series A, bringing in $40m while spending less than 20 days out of the business. Here's what actually works, and why I think most "best practice" guides are wrong.
They Say: Fundraising Is a Marathon
We Say: Control The Race & Run It Like a Sprint
This year we’ve added $2M a day to Fyxer’s valuation, so taking the whole founding team out of the business for weeks isn’t just expensive, it’s pretty reckless.
That’s why we run fundraises like a sprint. The approach is simple, we set a hard deadline for when we’re signing a term sheet, give everyone the same information at the same time to keep everyone together during the race. It’s important that no one gets a head start.
This is a high stakes approach. If you don’t get offers by your deadline, you look foolish. But if you do, you close quickly and get straight back to building. The urgency forces investors to show you whether they’re serious, and you hold the leverage.
When we told VCs we were kicking off Monday and deciding by the following Wednesday, people moved meetings, even jumped on planes to make it happen. That tells you who actually wants in.
You have to be thoughtful about the sequencing. We stacked 20 first meetings into the first three days, before giving anyone access to the data room. Only after that initial round did we then release the numbers, and we released them to everyone at once. From there, second meetings happened on a level playing field. It kept things fair and gave us control of the process.
