{"id":46282,"date":"2013-02-20T04:02:00","date_gmt":"2013-02-21T12:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=46282"},"modified":"2016-12-30T17:18:54","modified_gmt":"2016-12-30T22:18:54","slug":"five-fundraising-tips-for-canadian-startups","status":"publish","type":"magazine","link":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/magazine\/five-fundraising-tips-for-canadian-startups","title":{"rendered":"Five Fundraising Tips for Canadian Startups"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I talked through the funding landscape in Canada<\/a>, but a commentary on the space isn\u2019t immediately helpful for most entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I want to share some lessons we learned at Top Hat Monocle<\/a> when raising our Series A<\/a>, particularly for those of you who are looking to include a US investor in your round.<\/p>\n

1. Build something awesome (that somebody wants).<\/strong><\/p>\n

This kind of goes without saying, but I\u2019ll say it. The easiest way to get someone\u2019s attention is with traction.<\/p>\n

We had a relatively smooth time raising our Series A, mainly because our cofounders had built a product which kicked ass, then found a group of customers who wanted it really badly. From there, it was just about telling the right people about the company and offering them the chance to be part of it.<\/p>\n

2. Do your research ahead of time.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I wish I had done more of this before we started. We took almost any meeting we could get and wound up meeting with almost 75 investors\u2014around 50 of whom weren\u2019t a good fit at the time. Get to know the stage, industry, portfolio and preferences of the VC partners before requesting an intro.<\/p>\n

We spent a lot of time pitching ed-tech VCs when we should have been pitching SaaS investors. When we eventually started taking the right meetings, it was like we were speaking the same language for the first time and everything went smoothly.<\/p>\n

3. Take something away from every meeting.<\/strong><\/p>\n

No matter how much research you do, you\u2019ll always end up in a meeting where there isn\u2019t a fit. Take this opportunity to learn, practice, try something new, or just have a free-flowing discussion.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t force the pitch if it doesn\u2019t make sense. One of my favorite meetings was with a well-known VC where within the first five minutes we both knew this round wouldn\u2019t be a fit. Instead of forcing things, we just spent the rest of the meeting spitballing on how big Top Hat Monocle could really be, and how we could get there.<\/p>\n

We came up with a lot of great ideas which made their way into our subsequent pitches, and into our overall strategy. We still have a great relationship with the investor and keep in touch on a regular basis.<\/p>\n

4. Start building relationships early.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well before you need to raise money, get to know as many entrepreneurs and investors in your space as you can. Figure out what they need and how you can help them.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a hint: entrepreneurs are always looking for great talent, investors are always looking for great deal-flow. Honestly, I remember everyone who has referred me a great hire, and I\u2019ll do anything I can for them for the rest of my career. Local startup events and communities like the C100 are a great place to start building your network.<\/p>\n

5. Use the distance as your ally.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Canadian entrepreneurs often complain that their relationships with investors aren\u2019t as good because they\u2019re so far away. Though it\u2019s true that you\u2019re less likely to meet Jeff Clavier or Ron Conway at a party in Canada, being a bit removed does give you an advantage\u2014you can control the timing of your meetings.<\/p>\n

One of the biggest challenges during the fundraising process is getting all of your prospective investors on the same timeline. When you\u2019re from out of town, this is just built into your process (\u201cI\u2019m in town for 3 days taking partner meetings\u2014are you guys still interested?\u201d). This can be a powerful forcing function, creating scarcity and avoiding last-minute cancellations, which are a huge frustration for founders.<\/p>\n

If an investor knows that missing a meeting means they might not see you for a month, or might have to fly to Winnipeg in February to meet, they\u2019re going to do whatever they can to make it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I talked through the funding landscape in Canada, but a commentary on the space isn\u2019t immediately helpful for most entrepreneurs. I want to share some lessons we learned at Top Hat Monocle when raising our Series A, particularly for those of you who are looking to include a US investor in your round. 1. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":69608,"featured_media":73223,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"magazine-region":[],"magazine-series":[],"magazine-topic":[],"class_list":["post-46282","magazine","type-magazine","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-News"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/magazine\/46282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/magazine"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/magazine"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/69608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/magazine\/46282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/73223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46282"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/magazine-region?post=46282"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/magazine-series?post=46282"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/magazine-topic?post=46282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}