Conference Presentation, Panel, Fireside Chat
Fundraising Panel at Female Founders Conference 2015
- Mattermark intends to host a panel featuring four founders to discuss their experiences, with the aim of normalizing internal chaos behind external press narratives.
- The team behind the B2B software venture plans to cease operations in the original gross merchandise value sector to pivot toward higher-margin products, with a commitment to remain together for one year without salary and a $500 monthly food budget before potentially relocating from the Bay Area.
- Plans include raising additional capital to achieve the status of a "B2B Google," with a progress update scheduled for the following year.
- Founders anticipate that fundraising will eventually cease to be a source of positive energy, noting that perceived time allocations may shift in value over time.
- Expectations include the necessity of maintaining optimism regarding investment offers even when immediate deals are not secured.
- A seed round is characterized by a mental focus on efficiency, prioritizing meetings likely to yield immediate funding and avoiding unproductive inquiries.
- Series A fundraising is predicted to resemble enterprise sales rather than consumer sales, requiring deep relationship building, advocacy education, and the ability for investors to justify positions internally.
- Rapid capital raises are expected to depend on securing mentorship or trusted contacts to identify investor pushback zones and navigate the process.
- Success in fundraising is predicted to rely fundamentally on strong belief in the venture's mission and demonstrated traction, with other strategies serving as supplementary elements.
- Participation in Y Combinator is expected to generate priceless exposure and credibility within three months, manufacturing momentum that grants founders a position of power by Demo Day.
- High-velocity fundraising is anticipated through securing a maximum volume of meetings and iterating through numerous rejections until success is achieved.
- Founders expect that a forceful and unique personality may cause investors to be incorrect about initial seed ideas by the time of the Series A round, necessitating a shift in dynamics.
- Transparency is predicted to improve company resilience, with the recommendation to share all rejection news with the team rather than only positive developments.
- A founder's ability to raise funds quickly is linked to the strategy of finding mentors to test the waters and understand investor resistance points.
- Media announcements are planned for times when the company is ready to share significant progress, prioritizing the narrative of the company, team, and product over investor names.
- Public communication strategies are expected to leverage low-cost, high-effectiveness exposure by consistently sharing updates and identifying topics of conversation.
- Future stories will likely include the company as a small component of a larger narrative intended for future global sharing.