Fundrasing Is Hard

The fact that you need to ask other people for capital in order to keep your company going is hard enough on its own. But, asking for capital and going through the process whilst running your company and whilst your current cash in the bank is running out is another level.

That means that your time to complete the fundraising process is incredibly limited.

With each misstep taken and mistake made throughout the process, time is wasted. Every wrong turn costs. Scrambling to create documents investors will ask for, talking to the wrong investors, not having your homework done, not having your dataroom tidy and clean for the due diligence process or not having your lawyers ready to go are just some of the examples that can cost you a lot.

Each wrong step leads to spending time on something that you shouldn't have or that you should've already done, which leads to not doing the thing that you should, all the while there's less and less cash in the bank account. Each wrong step relentlessly shortens the runway and increases the pressure on the person runnning the fundraising process (most likely the CEO).

Reading and listening other founder's experiences and thinking that you are ready is one dimension. Being in the trenches, being in the grind day in and day out is a completely different ballgame where stress and rejections are consistent across long, long days.

That is, until you get a couple of yesses and then you see the white shores.

Memes aside, with a couple of yesses, you don't die, but it all becomes clear all of a sudden. The optimism and confidence returns and you are invincible again and able to move to the next investor call.