Mobile Learning Lab: How to Raise $2 Million in 2 weeks! – Startup Funding Advice

Last night we had an amazing event thanks to Michael Katchen Founder & CEO of Wealthsimple providing us with some great tips on how he raised $2 million. This is GREAT Startup funding advice!

Here are some of the highlights of his presentation as well as some great reference materials he provided us with.

In May Wealthsimple raised a $2 million seed round. It took them 2.5 week to raise from 15 investors. Here are some of the things they did right:

Table stakes for seed rounds:
1. Good idea (in a massive market)
2. Killer Team

Tip #1: Find your lead investor early
Investors follow the herd. They care more about who else is investing than what you do as a company. Focus on finding one lead investor. You can then leverage them to build your group of investors.

Tip #2: Your angel investors don’t have to be in tech
Don’t limit your search to active tech angels. Think more broadly about who would support your company. (Wealthsimple has 64% of its investors from Finance and 36% from Tech.)

Tip #3: Most decks suck – make yours good.
Tell your story in 4-5 pages:
(1) what you do
(2) market size
(3) team
(4) growth plan
(5) competition

Tip #4” Set a deadline
Once you have a lead investor, move fast to close your round. Closing will always take longer than you expect.

Tip #5: Put some money in yourself (if you can)
– If you can afford it, investing in your own round goes a long way
– Signals to investors that you are committed, aligned, and will be a responsible steward of their capital
– Surprisingly few teams invest in their own rounds so it can also help you stand out

Great resources on fundraising

How to raise money: http://paulgraham.com/fr.html

One Post to Rule Them All: http://startupnorth.ca/2014/06/24

How we raised a $2 Million seed round in 2 weeks
http://startupnorth.ca/2014/10/20

Founders: Other founders that have been there before

Summary written by Jonathan Ward
Twitter @JonathanBWard