Youâve got yourself a startup! But now whereâs the funding going to come from?
In this day and age, creating a startup seems to be an easy process. After some meetings with an equally passionate cofounder, you discover you have a creative idea, the outline of a business plan, and a willingness to spend nights and weekends doing really hard work. But most startup founders have never run a companyâmuch less had to secure funding to reach crucial milestones. If you donât get the funding you need, you may either make progress at a snailâs pace, or you may have to give up altogether.
With stakes this high, improving a startup founderâs odds of fundraising successfullyâeven just a littleâcan make a huge difference in the outcome of a venture. In this informative and enlightening book, Gordon Daugherty demystifies the fundraising process that takes place during the early phases of a startupâs evolution.
Every founder cares about the valuation they will be able to negotiate with investors, and anyone who has attempted fundraising has encountered numerous debates about the valuation theyâre asking for. Startup Success dedicates a whole chapter to negotiating valuation, which, in the end, involves a serious combination of art and science to execute effectively.
Daughertyâs book serves as a valuable educational and planning tool for use before the fundraising campaign begins and a reference guide for interacting and negotiating with investors after things get underway. Startup Success is written in a logical sequence that follows the general life cycle of planning and executing a successful fundraising campaign. Actionable tips, tricks, and aha realizations will have readers dog-earing pages and highlighting passages for future reference. The authorâs own words tell it all: âI decided to write something different that best exploits the gray in my hair and the hard lessons Iâve learned.â Any startup founder, advisor, or angel investorâregardless of their experience levelâwill come away with improved skills and an increased knowledge base.
Gordon Daugherty is a seasoned business executive, entrepreneur, startup advisor, and investor. He has made more than 200 investments in early-stage companies as a venture fund manager and angel investor, and he has been involved in raising more than $80 million in growth and venture capital.