How to get a VC (like me) to wire you $2M in under 2 weeks (the FOMO playbook) | Solo Episode

Founders can create VC competition by raising in two weeks

Raising fast comes from creating real competition among VCs. Founders build a list of 50, secure warm intros, reach everyone in the same two weeks and signal genuine momentum, so VCs fear missing out. The business drives 80% of the outcome, but this 20% decides whether a founder ends up with three term sheets.

Takeaways

• Process is the controllable 20% of fundraising. Pablo Srugo says a raise is about 80% the business itself and 20% process. Founders control the process, and the aim is three legitimate term sheets. Two is not bad, but three gives the founder the power.
• Work backward from three term sheets to 50 VCs. Three term sheets need about 10 firms at final partner review, with 30% giving one. That needs about 20 serious VCs, at least 40 first meetings and 50 outreach names. A list of 100 doubles the odds.
• Intros from founders beat intros from VCs. Founder intros are best, then ecosystem players like operators, lawyers and angels. Another VC is worst, because the first question is whether that VC is investing. First-time founders often find intros to only five or 10 of 50 targets.
• Compress the whole raise into two weeks. Founders should email all 50 VCs on one day, expecting 80 to 90 percent of replies within days, and book first meetings in the same two weeks. Raising serially, one VC at a time, never builds real momentum.
• Create urgency with real signals, never fake deadlines. Mentioning other meetings or a data room opening date signals competition. A made-up deadline backfires, since a missed date such as closing by March shows the claimed power was invented. Being oversubscribed is catnip to VCs.
• Small, rising rounds look oversubscribed. Pablo's first startup began at 250,000, moved to 500,000 with 200,000 already committed, and ended near 2m. Taxwire's Andrew targeted 1.5m, saw 5m of demand, and raised 3m in five weeks.
• Never name a valuation or a range. Founders should let the market set valuation and never give a range of raise amounts. They should be as aggressive as credible, since VCs treat founder projections as the best case.

Building the list and the network

• Screen the list by stage, sector and geography. Check whether a VC has invested in a competitor, since some VCs use meetings to gather intel for rival companies.
• Join an accelerator such as YC or 500 Startups to get a network quickly.
• Attend events. Pablo's startup met a 500 Startups founder at a conference, and that founder led it into the program.
• Reach out cold to local founders one notch ahead for 20 to 30 coffees. Founders who have raised rounds are, by definition, connected to VCs.