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Ask HN: Fundraising when you don't know anyone?

5 points by zxcvvcxz ↗ HN
Scenario: you're not in the Valley, or if you are, you just don't know any investors, and neither do any of your immediate first connections on LinkedIn or FB or real life for that matter.

And you're raising a seed round, e.g. to bring a prototype to production, handle early sales, expand the team, etc.

What do you do? Apply for incubators and accelerators to build your network? Cold contact VC firms? Something else?

Curious to hear your thoughts, and experiences if you've been in this situation.

3 comments

[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 15.6 ms ] thread
ig1
Where are you based?
hluska
I guess that first off, I'd caution you to question whether you truly need a seed round. Investors tend to respond best when you're referred to them by someone they trust. If this is a major hurdle, you might find yourself working with some highly inexperienced investors or ones with bad reputations. From experience, I can promise you that it's a hell of a lot easier to bootstrap than to deal with a problem investor.

That said, try asking the question in a different way. How would you find customers if you didn't know anyone? Ultimately, that's your goal - you're trying to sell equity in your company.

I've always had good luck meeting important people. I say 'good luck' because I'm not sure that my method is actually any good. This literally might just be luck! However, some tactics I've used (with success) include:

1.) Contacting everyone I have worked with/for in the past five years, arrange a coffee/beer and ask them for help. Former bosses have always been particularly helpful (for me).

2.) AVOID meetups like the plague. In my experience, meetups are the best way to fill my calendar with utterly useless meetings.

3.) Talk to former professors. This worked wonders for me, but I have a business degree. Business professors are interesting people. Generally not terribly successful in business, they're armed with massive credentials and remarkably strong networks. I'm not sure how well this advice works in other fields.

staunch
Ignore the fact that investors lie to themselves and everyone else about how they actually choose which companies to invest in.

If you want help from Silicon Valley investors, you must have either: 1) a rapidly growing business (traction) 2) been accepted into a "top school" (pedigree)

#1 You can do yourself by bootstrapping. It's very hard but many have succeeded.

#2 This is just special access, and you would know how to access it if you had it.