Fundraising Tips And Strategies For Raising Capital

How much money you need to raise so you can choose appropriate fundraising ways Preview 04:24

Welcome to this fundraising training. Do you know exactly how much money you need to raise? If you try to raise money and approach an investor, they will ask you how much money you are looking to raise. And you must know how to calculate that amount, and how to answer that question intelligently.

WORKSHEET: New business expenses and calculating how much you need to raise Preview 03:24

WORKSHEET: Existing business expenses and calculating how much to raise Preview 02:46

Bootstrapping your business Preview 04:24

Most businesses don't end up raising money, and for that reason they must do something called bootstrapping. Bootstrapping is simply a way to start and grow your business by finding ways to do that without needing much money or any money. This is what most businesses must do when they start.

Fundraising strategy with loans: Risky but possible & here is how Preview 03:43

In this part of the fundraising course I give you ideas for how to raise money by getting loans, the difference between raising money from personal loans and business loans, and what options entrepreneurs typically have. It isn't easy to get a loan to start a business, but in some cases it makes sense and it is possible to get a small business loan.

Fundraising strategy 2: Many entrepreneurs ask about this, but find it difficult Preview 02:20

Do you want to get a business grant? Many people ask about whether they can get a grant to start their business. It is more difficult to get a grant for businesses which have not started, but if you have started, there are a few grants available for small businesses. Check out this lecture to understand how to fund your business or project with a grant, or whether grants are not a good option for you. Grants are one of the common fundraising ideas, but they are not easy to get.

Resources and websites to supplement previous lecture (grants) Preview 00:35

Extra resources and websites for getting grants for your business.

Fundraising strategy 3: Raising money from investors Preview 07:48

How to raise money by getting investors. There are many kinds of different investors. The different kinds of investors are angel investors, start-up incubators, seed investors, professional venture capitalists (VC) and investors who invest in specific kinds of businesses like maybe restaurants or real estate, or local businesses, or high growth start-up companies.

Fundraising strategy 4: Donations via crowdfunding Preview 07:57

There are two ways to get donations for your business. There is the old fashioned way to get donations by reaching out do rich donors or philanthropists like many nonprofits do. And there is also a new way to get donations for your business called crowdfunding. You can raise donations for your business with crowdfunding by trying to raise money on KickStarter, IndieGoGo, or GoFundMe. It is now possible to get donations from the crowd online. It isn't easy to do crowdfunding, but it is possible.

Tool to find lead emails to reach out to directly Preview 01:52

Using FindThatLead browser extension for LinkedIn using Chrome to get emails Preview 05:40

Fundraising strategies 5 and 6: Generate money from your company's revenue Preview 03:25

One of the best ways to fund your business is by doing it through the revenue of your own company. Instead of waiting for money to come from a different course, why not just earn the money from your own customers. It is, in fact, what I did with my business, and what I recommend doing to other entrepreneurs. Long-term, you will have to get the money to grow your business from your customers anyway so you might as well start to focus on making money from your customers sooner than later.

Fundraising strategy 7, 8, 9: Events/workshops, educational products & work Preview 03:43

Events are a great way to get clients, extra revenue, build extra awareness, and build loyal fans. Basically, events are a great marketing strategy for most kinds of businesses. Events can range from small meetups that drum up community to educational workshops to large conferences. It all depends on the kind of business you have, your event promotion abilities, and your ultimate business goals.

Fundraising strategy 10: Lead-gen ideas that can earn you revenue & get clients Preview 02:46

In this part of our fundraising course I explain an unusual fundraising idea which also works as lead generation to get actual customers for your business. In general, I prefer working on getting customers as early as possible in the lifecycle of your business. You will need to get customers eventually anyway, might as well learn how to raise money from your own revenue instead of waiting for a handout.

Crazy ways to raise money Preview 05:16

Gust: Another website to find investors during your fundraising Preview 02:01

Gust.com is another website where you can find investors and raise money. Give it a try.

NEW! list of start-up incubators Preview 00:13

If you have a tech start-up, here is a list of tech start-up incubators to which you can apply to get a small investors, advisors, and support. 

NEW: Sharing my own first experience talking to a real investor Preview 04:09

In this part of the fundraising training, I share my own experience of raising money. I actually talk about the merits of bootstrapping my business, and how I built my business without raising money. It is, of course, difficult to start a business without raising money, but I put a lot of hard work into it, and ended up being successful without having an investment or a donation or anything else. I worked, saved money, then used that money to give my business a runway, hustled, and ended up making it happen for myself. I advise that you try this too.

Section introduction - let's learn to create a business pitch deck for investors Preview 00:56

Pitch poety vs. prose Preview 03:03

One sentence business pitch/explanation template Preview 05:23

What investors look for Preview 03:55

Example of a bad and rambling pitch Preview 07:52

Outline of a pitch deck Preview 03:44

Problem and solution sections of the pitch deck Preview 09:34

Differentiation and why this approach slides Preview 04:14

Business model Preview 03:10

Target market size Preview 04:38

Financials Preview 03:30

Bonus lecture: Next steps Preview 00:14