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Most Founders get rich without ever exiting their business. Yes, you read that right. We don't have to build a rocket ship that takes on gobs of funding for an IPO in order to have everything we want.

We just need to keep making money (and not even that much!)

While to most people this may sound obvious, in the startup world we tend to forget how this simple fact works. We keep thinking in terms of this big liquidity event where we get handed a giant check like we just won the Powerball. We picture ringing the bell on NASDAQ wearing the only nice outfit we own shaking hands with bankers and smiling for the camera.

And in the end, we picture having enough money to just do whatever the eff we want.

The Stacking Effect

I spend a ridiculous amo...

What happens to funded startups that can't raise any more funding?

We enter the funding "No Man's Land" where startups go to linger and eventually die a very long, unceremonious death. No one talks about it — certainly not the Founders who are left with the breathing corpse that was their once-hot startup. Certainly not the investors who have written off their investment long before anyone else.

Yet everyone knows we're digesting in the Sarlacc pit for a thousand years without any idea what to do about it.

Having been in this fiery wasteland more times than I care to admit, I learned that at some point Founders have pretty much three options to escape, and "we'll just hold out for funding" isn't one of them.

Buy it Back

Let's start with per...

In a world of billion dollar exits and absurd funding rounds, startup Founders have lost sight of what financial success really is.

Don’t get me wrong… Having billions of dollars is amazing. But, you know what else is cool? Making a million flipping dollars. Especially when you don’t have a million flipping dollars!

Let’s take the time to recalibrate how we think about startup success — and more specifically — Founder success. When we get to the point where we can only think of “success” as some astronomical, arbitrary outcome, we’re headed down a very dangerous path that affects our startup, our finances and — if we’re being honest — our health.

“But a $1 million business isn’t very big.”

No, a million dollar business isn’t very big. ...

Just like there are many different kinds of capital round raises for businesses in all stages of growth, there are a variety of crowdfunding types. Which crowdfunding method an entrepreneur selects depends on the type of product or service they offer and their goals for growth.

The three primary types of crowdfunding are donation-based, rewards-based, and equity crowdfunding. This guide looks primarily at rewards-based and equity crowdfunding.

1. Donation-Based Crowdfunding

Broadly speaking, it’s correct to think of any crowdfunding campaign in which there is no financial return to the investors or contributors as donation-based crowdfunding.

Common donation-based crowdfunding initiatives include fundraising for disaster relief, charities...

Congratulations! You've made it to the end of our four-part Funding Series:

Phase One - Structuring a Fundraise

Phase Two - Investor Selection

Phase Three - The Pitch

Phase Four - Investor Outreach

• Part 1 - Investor Outreach

• Part 2 - Investor Introductions: How to Get Them

• Part 3 - The Investor Email Pitch

• Part 4 - How to Contact Investors ( ←YOU ARE HERE 😀)

Let’s dive in!

So you've got your list of angel investors, venture capitalists, random private investors, and even your rich Aunt and you're ready to blast all of them with your email pitch...

Please don't! Step.. away.. from.. the.. keyboard!

Most Founders (and we help thousands) wind up tanking their entire fundraising process the moment they hit the "send" button to potential investors. That'...

Founders are rarely prepared for how to handle a legit crisis, like when the whole world turns upside down overnight.

I lived through 9/11 with 700 employees, raised multiple funding rounds in the middle of the 2007 Financial Crisis, and just for "funsies" oversaw the overnight shutdown of a startup with 450 people.

So yeah, I have some experience here.

What I've learned is when crisis hits, a solid approach to communication is one of the single most effective tools we can employ.

Cut the Bullshit

In times of crisis, no one wants to hear the sugar-coated version of where things stand.

"Hey Team, I know half of you have turned into flesh-eating Zombies, but the good news is there's way more La Croix for those of you who have survived!"

No...

The term Impact Investing was coined in 2007 to refer to “investments made with the intention of generating both financial return and social and/or environmental impact”. Less than a decade later, impact investing now boasts $77B in assets, with $15B invested in 2015 alone — a 30% increase from the previous year — and is expected to grow by a factor of ten over the next ten years. For comparison, $141B was invested in venture capital worldwide in 2015, but experienced a decline of 10% in 2016 in total deal funding.

With such growing interest in this approach to investing from a great variety of stakeholders, impact investing inevitably means different things to different people ranging from investments in luxury car manufacturer Tesla, to ...

Yes, there are Founders who take personal money off the table during funding rounds, and no, you probably won't be one of them.

For the unfamiliar, there is in fact a practice whereby investors are sometimes willing to directly purchase shares from existing stockholders (like the Founders) in order to create some liquidity for them personally. It's called a "Secondary Sale" and it simply means the proceeds go to the Founder, not to the company proper.

The problem is most Founders just hear "investors will give me money personally" and assume it's a regular practice. It's not, at all, but it's also not something that's very well explained to Founders either. So, here's how this actually works.

When to Ask

A few things have to happen for us t...

Startup Founders are not entitled to success, yet we sure act like it.

When we're sitting in a room full of Founders or pouring through social media, we're inclined to think everyone is "killing it" but us. We hear of these meteoric rises, huge funding rounds, and big exits and invariably wonder when all that goodness will happen to us.

What we form is an "entitlement to success." We believe that because we see so much of it happening elsewhere, by virtue of that, it's only a matter of time until it happens to us.

What we miss when creating that entitlement is just how flawed the foundation of that premise is and what a house of cards we create with our own expectations.

"I Deserve to be Funded"

In the early days of our formation, when we'r...

The investor pitch. It's feared. It's desired. It's terrifying.

But don't worry: We've got you covered. Here's everything you need to know about that all-important investor pitch.

What should your investor pitch include?

Invisu.me Co-Founder and CEO Donna Griffit is a master pitcher who has helped countless founders distill their pitch down to exactly what they need — and nothing they don’t. She had the opportunity to sit in on a private pitching event where a delegation of startups had the opportunity give a five minute pitch and receive direct feedback from a group of top-tier Silicon Valley VC’s. (So top tier that she can’t even say who was there but, trust us, you will want to memorize this section before your next pitch.)

Here’s what ...