Conference Presentation, Panel, Fireside Chat
Fundraising Panel at Female Founders Conference 2015
- Danielle (Mattermark) announced a $6.5 million Series A in December, having raised funds nonstop for three years prior to that announcement.
- Mattermark entered Y Combinator in summer 2012 with a solo founder, $100k raised, a self-coded product, and existing revenue.
- The first $1 million raised for Mattermark came from close acquaintances, including mentor Michelle Goldberg and Twilio board member Dave McClure.
- Mattermark initially pivoted away from a gross merchandise value model (5% margins) to a software model (80% margins), resulting in the termination of 12 employees and the departure of a co-founder.
- During the pivot, the founding team operated on a $500/month food budget and prepaid a full year of rent to secure a top-floor apartment in San Francisco.
- Mattermark faced an eviction notice while preparing for a Series A, forcing the team of 10 to work remotely without an office space.
- A previous "Series A" attempt resulted in multiple "no" responses, leaving the company with approximately 2.5 months of runway.
- Mattermark survived a liquidity crisis through a $500,000 bridge check from a customer (Boris Wertz of Version One Ventures).
- Subsequent funding rounds included $500,000 checks from Felicis and NEA, and an additional investment from Andreessen Horowitz.
- The total raised before the Series A announcement was $3.4 million, bringing the investor count to 155 in a "party round" structure.
- Brad Feld of Foundry Group led the official Series A round; the company sold 20% of equity to raise between $3 million and $7 million.
- Danielle reports that 80% of investor interactions resulted in rejections before securing final commitments.
- Danielle advises founders to maintain a sense of entitlement and assume an offer will materialize even after receiving numerous rejections.
- Susan Johnson (Women.com) raised $1.75 million two weeks after Demo Day, securing investors including Lowercase Capital, Greylock, Tencent, and William Morris Endeavor.
- Mathilde Collin (Front) raised $3.1 million for a seed round two weeks post-Demo Day with two seed funds and 32 angels.
- Maren (Clara Labs) declined to disclose fundraising amounts or investors at the time of the panel, citing confidentiality.
- Nancy (Apptimize) revealed $6 million in total funding to date, led by Costanoa, with the company being two years old.
- Susan Johnson cited her husband as a primary mentor for navigating the fundraising process and avoiding isolation.
- Nancy noted that Paul Graham predicted her seed fundraising would be effortless due to her unique personality, a prediction that proved accurate.
- Nancy emphasized that seed fundraising differs significantly from Series A, requiring a shift from "consumer sales" tactics to "enterprise sales" relationship building.
- Mathilde Collin secured a meeting with Gmail founder Paul Beckett to build credibility for subsequent meetings with other investors.
- A panelist recommended the "numbers game" strategy, suggesting founders maximize meeting volume to filter for yes/no responses quickly.
- Maren secured her first investor meeting through a trusted connection (Danielle) to validate her pitch and identify objections.
- A key lesson identified was that personal belief in the product's necessity and proven traction are more critical than specific investor selection or domain expertise.
- Nancy advised shutting down unproductive meetings immediately during seed rounds to preserve time, whereas Series A requires educating advocates for internal partner approval.
- Matilde (Front) disclosed all investor rejections to her team to prevent the isolation of bad news and maintain transparency.
- Clara Labs (Maren) and Front (Mathilde) opted to keep investor announcements "off the record" post-Demo Day to focus PR on company milestones rather than investor lists.
- Nancy (Apptimize) chose to announce fundraising immediately to leverage the "cheap" cost of exposure and build market presence.
- Mathilde emphasized the necessity of maintaining team trust and clear communication during the fundraising process, even when the company lacks physical office space.