How to fundraise - By Shruti Gandhi, Managing Partner, Array Ventures

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Getting into the Mind of a Venture Capitalist
PITCH READY
Shruti Gandhi
@atShruti [ARRAY VENTURES]

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Track Record
5 EXITS: OVER 4 YEARS
Venture Capital Experience
Who am I?
Education
Engineer on lotus.
Started incubator.
Think/do tank for
Chairman’s office.
6 US patents.
Operating experience
Founder.
Big data analytics.
Shruti
Gandhi
@atShruti

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CREATING YOUR PITCH
DECK
THE KEY ELEMENTS

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 What is your big idea?
 Tell them your company one-liner
 Don’t only focus on today – talk about tomorrow’s vision too
Share Your Vision

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 Describe the customer’s pain
 Lay out the competitive landscape
 Why are you different?
 Why now?
 How big is the market?
 Be realistic
Paint the Opportunity + the Market
Tell a story. I need to know what problem you are solving and why you care
about that problem.
—David Hornik, August Capital
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 What is your Industry Expertise?
 Tell them why you have the right mix
 Who are your advisors?
 How long you have worked together?
 Outline the division of your responsibilities
Why is Your Team the Right One

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 Customer stories
 POCs
 Paid Customers
Show, don’t tell. show a demo, show customer testimonials; don’t tell me
what you will do. Show me what you’ve done. start with a “bottoms up”
story — why you built the product and started the company. unless you’re in
an obtuse industry don’t start with ‘top down’ — ‘Market size is X; market
inefficiency is Y’ etc.
—David Lee, SV Angel
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Show Us People Want it –
3rd Party Validation + Traction
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You can show
product traction
through a number
of measures –
customer
acquisition, usage,
etc. ReadyForZero
tracks product
efficacy.

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 Show Your Future Roadmap
 List the key milestones before next fundraise
 What is your burn rate?
 Tell them the timeframe for your next round
Use of Funds
Product People
Performance Finances
Fundraising
Roadmap

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LEADING UP TO THE
MEETING
HOW TO PREPARE

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 Warm introductions are preferable but are predicated on the following:
 The person introducing you has a strong relationship with the other
individual
 You know that person will vouch for you
 High-likelihood that the other individual will accept the intro
 You have a compelling reason to be introduced
 Go in cold if the above are not true
The Introduction
Sometimes going it alone can be the best route afterall. While a warm
introduction can be valuable when the stars are aligned, they can do more
harm than good when they are not.
—Scott Pollack, Head of BD at SumAll
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 Aim for Investors with Fit & Focus
 Chase a Partner, Not the Fund
 Ensure there is no competitive interests (i.e., a portfolio company)
 Research the size of their investments
Who to Reach Out To and How

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Sending the Pitch Deck
 Most investors want to see your deck before hand but they will
probably spend only 20 seconds on screening it
 They look for:
 Fit / Market
 Round size, deal terms, and traction
 Team
 Depending on the firm, they will ask their associate to screen and take
next steps
Who is your audience?

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THE MEETING
WHAT TO DO

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What to Expect

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What Investors Expect From You
 Thorough knowledge
 Aware of competitors
 Knowing your metrics cold
 Good formulated answers
 Good team dynamics

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What You Should Expect From Investors
 Impatience
 ADHD
 Some knowledge of the space
 Get to the point

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What Not to Do
If you have co-founders, pick a single co-founder to do the pitches & the
meetings. Two reasons:
1) Nothing worse then having 2 or more people show up, but only one
person does all the talking. Makes you suspect some odd founder
dynamic.
2) Fundraising is a massive distraction and pretty hard to run the company
and fundraise simultaneously. If all the co-founders are involved, makes
me nervous that the company isn’t running at full speed.
—Raanan Bar-Cohen, Resolute VC
 Don’t bring everyone to the 1st meeting
 Don’t get into an intellectual argument
 Don’t make up numbers on the fly
 Ask for intros
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 Square
 AirBnB
 Mint.com
 Dwolla
 Piccsy
What to Do

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#AMA
@atShruti