Craig Matthews’ Post

☀️ Summer presents unique challenges for fundraising, but with strategic planning, you can keep your startup on track. Here's your summer fundraising playbook: - Timing is Key: Align your fundraising efforts with investor availability, targeting early summer or post-vacation periods for maximum engagement - Engage Early, Engage Often: Build strong investor relationships beforehand to accelerate decision-making and maintain momentum during the slower summer months. Focus on your traction by sharing regular updates to (potential) investors - Go Digital, Go Global: Utilize LinkedIn and virtual events to expand your reach beyond local networks, connecting with investors worldwide (keeping their investor criteria in mind). - Navigate Summer Slowdowns: Proactively manage your fundraising timeline and investor engagements during the summer months. Anticipate potential delays due to vacations and plan ahead to keep your fundraising process on track (do not stress). Maintain open communication with investors and be flexible in scheduling meetings to accommodate their availability - Stay Agile: Remain adaptable and explore alternative funding options to navigate the changing landscape of summer fundraising Feel free to reach out to discuss how we're helping our clients navigate the summer season. #SummerFundraising #StartupSuccess #Fundraising #InvestorReady #BrisQBusiness #DutchStartups #AmsterdamStartups

When fundraising heats up and deals become more competitive (as I’ve been seeing recently and expect to continue at the early stage), angels need to be competitive in order to win allocation in the best deals. One way angels can show their worth is by leveraging their personal value. How can you help a founder with new customers, partnership opportunities, future fundraising, product launches, and more? We wrote an article recently on this topic, and I think the takeaways are going to be more important as the next business cycle continues expanding.

How do you achieve fundraising success in today's market? It’s no secret that the fundraising market has evolved significantly over the last few years. Capital is harder to come by, investors scrutinise unit economics and a path to profitability more closely, and founders need more time to secure funds. We recently brought together founders from our early-stage portfolio and the broader consumer ecosystem for an open and honest conversation about fundraising success. Our panellists Janice Cargo, Brett O'Farrell and Christopher Jones, and moderator Billy Fox, shared lots of invaluable insights over breakfast. Here are some of our key takeaways: 💡 Always fundraise before you really need to 💡 Build investor relationships early 💡 A ‘no’ from an investor provides valuable feedback 💡 Decks are valuable, but storytelling is fundamental   💡 There’s no hard and fast rule with valuations 💡 Discuss exit strategies early Thank you to our fantastic panellists and everyone who joined us! For a deeper dive, read more ⬇️

I've spoken to several founders this week gearing up to raise. With the fall fundraising season winding down, I recommend pumping the breaks until January unless you already have enough momentum to close your round by Thanksgiving. That makes now the perfect time to prep your process for Q1. Every Monday from 11.25-12.16 from 11:30A-1P PT / 2:30P-4P ET, I'm hosting an early-stage founder deep work session on Flow Club for anyone who wants to share what they're building and get feedback/support on their raise. 👋🏽 30s to intro yourself and share what you're building 👩💻 80m for muted deep work to share questions/challenges in the chat and get input from me and other founders who join the session ⏭️ 5m wrapup at the end for each person to share takeaways and next steps You can also just come and say hi and do other work 🤠 Often, the best time to connect is before you're ready to raise, and it's always great to get perspective from other founders at a similar stage. If you are interested, let me know which date and I'll send you the sign-up link. 8 founders per session. At Hustle Fund, we invest year-round into pre-seed b2b SaaS, digital health, fintech and web3 companies, and love meeting founders beyond our current network. You can pitch us (I review every submission with support from our amazing Venture Fellows) here: https://www.hustlefund.vc

As we prepare for Demo Day, 💪💪 Here’s a recap of what the founders got up to in week 3 + 4! ➡️ Subha Sivaraman, Hive Founders took our founders through an extremely important part of the investment process, Financial Models. This should be a reflection of your business story told in numbers! ➡️ Edward Keelan, Octopus Ventures has a very unique, and highly practical, way to address this critical topic Market Sizing. It’s very difficult to raise investment without doing this correctly, Edward taught our founders why this is! ➡️ Mariette Ferreira, PPRO led the Session on Go-to Market! GTM is the most important slide in your Pitch Deck ‘Ideas are great. Execution is hard.’ This is the reason why GTM is so critical - if you cannot clearly communicate your distribution plan, investors will not have confidence that you’ll now what to do to get your product or service in the hands of customers. ➡️ Nick Wasmuth and Caroline Hughes, took founders through varies Strategies for Growth. Growth is a critical piece of the puzzle to build a viable business and it's also a hugely important part of what you need to confidently communicate to investors. ➡️ Heidi Celeghin, Qualtrics. is a powerhouse she is so knowledgeable when it comes to sales strategy! Founder-led sales alone is not sufficient - you need a strategy that goes beyond your network. Heidi's session will explored how to do this effectively for each of our founders businesses! We’re looking forward to another week packed full of great content and expert advice, but for now our founders are enjoying a well needed break over the Weekend! 💪👩💻 Does this peak your interest?  ➡️ Register your interest to join the next cohort now! https://bit.ly/4aowXgO #fundraising #investmenttips #investment #funding #pitching #femalefounders #startupgrowth #womeninbusiness #investmentstrategy #investmentaccelerator #startupsupport Ursula Morgenstern Andrea Sommer Denise Celeghin Kim Toker Nufar Segal Bareket Lucy Navas Emma Bell Jyoti Bagaria Christina Nesheva

Startup founders doing fund raising please remember that the quality of your pitch deck can make a huge difference, of course it is alongside of your unique concept, passion and your personality. Just sharing some quick tips: A pitch deck should never exceed 20 slides as investors lose interest and then you are rambling. It needs to define the problem being addressed by the concept, Cleary outline the market and the share for it, speak about the people and explain how the fundraising will amplify the business. Therefore the problem, the solution, key product features, market fitment, competitive landscape, revenue and operating models, the traction expected, the projections, the team, and the funding needed. Always tell a compelling story and have a clear ask. #promoters #founders #pitchdecks #business #revenue

🌟 Unveiling Insights from Angel Club’s Virtual Lunch: Building Relationships and Fundraising Success 🌟 At Angel Club, it’s not just about funding—it’s about relationships. Relationships that inspire, challenge, and accelerate growth for founders, investors, and advisors. Our latest Virtual Lunch brought together insights on authentic connections, navigating fundraising, and what it takes to succeed in early-stage entrepreneurship. Here’s a taste of what we covered with Angel Gambino and Gady Nemirovsky: ✅ Investors Are More Than ATMs: Treat them as partners, not just check-writers. Their involvement can open doors and provide guidance that goes far beyond funding. ✅ The Key to Fundraising: Focus on what you’ll achieve with investor capital, not just what you’ll spend it on. ✅ Trust is Everything: Both founders and investors thrive when there’s transparency and shared vision. ✅ Adaptability Wins: Resilient founders who pivot with purpose are the ones who succeed in an ever-changing market. 💼 Angel Club is here to help you thrive. From 1:1 coaching to strategic matchmaking and a supportive network, we’re building a community that empowers founders and investors alike. 🔗 Want to dive deeper? Read the full blog post for actionable insights and learn how to join Angel Club’s next exclusive cohort. Link in the comments! 👇 🙏 Thank you to Gavi Nelson and Robby Guerrier for making this another great event!

It's 1am and I have 93 pitches to review. Tomorrow is YC demo day. and I had to share something fascinating about what makes Demo Day magic happen. There's an art to this that most don't see. The best founders don't just present - they orchestrate a perfect storm of storytelling and substance. What I'm noticing after watching pitch after pitch (at 1 AM, coffee in hand) is that the game-changing presentations follow an unspoken rhythm. They hook you with their most impressive trump card right out of the gate - whether it's a revenue chart that looks like a rocket launch or a founder casually mentioning their previous $100M exit. But here's the real insider insight: the fundraising dynamics around Demo Day are fascinating. While everyone sees the public show, there's an intense behind-the-scenes race happening right now. Top VC firms have already been quietly sourcing these companies for weeks, running LinkedIn searches and tapping alumni networks to get early access. The smartest founders are playing this like chess. They know valuations typically start around $10M but can climb to $15M+ as rounds fill up. The secret? Compress your fundraising timeline. Don't spread meetings thin. The founders who create genuine FOMO are the ones who master this timing game. What strikes me most deeply, watching these pitches roll in, is how the truly exceptional ones make the unusual feel inevitable. When they lay out their problem space, you find yourself nodding, wondering how nobody solved this before. I'll be sharing more insights from Demo Day as it unfolds. For founders currently raising or planning to raise - what aspects of Demo Day pitching would you like to learn more about? #YCombinator #StartupFundraising #VentureCapital [Drop a follow for more founder insights, and check out our Substack "Term Sheet Attack" for deeper dives into fundraising strategy]

We just closed our pre-seed round! 🙌🏼 After bootstrapping for almost a year, this is a big step for us! Until now, it was really about: - Building a great product. - Building a strong community. - Finding first enterprise customers.  - Starting to turn the marketing flywheel. With this pre-seed round, we aimed to look for people who share their expertise, network and amazing energy with us. For people with who we aim to grow together – and to go all-in. We could not be happier to have found AMAZING angel investors to join us: Richard van der Blom, Laura Raggl, Robert Heineke, Benjamin Visser, Julius Göllner, Stefan Smulders, Glenn Miseroy, 👋 Michael Kamleitner, Tony E. Kula, Nicoleta Danu, Daniel Frese, Roman Geugelin, 🛠 Nico Axtmann, Michael Streit, Nina Kani and Emanuel Jöbstl. 🙏 With all their power, we can't wait to enter the next phase of: - Growing as a team. - Developing the product further. - Letting the marketing flywheel turn even more. - Diving deeper into the teams and enterprise space. And most of all, we could not be happier to have an amazing crowd of investors now also being louder with us together! Let's gooo 🚀✨💯 #scripe #fundraising #preseed #investment