Founders Lounge

Hi!

 I'm Dan - one of the two founders of Phobos Group. 
 We've been a consulting company for six and a half years, and we've been working on pivoting our company to be a SaaS platform that focuses on Attack Surface Management, and external risk assessment work. 
 
 We're working with MoFo to spin the product platform (it's in beta right now, but it has subscribers) out to a new company, and beginning the fundraising process. Since there's already a product and some momentum the VCs we've spoken with so far have been a mixed bag. 

I'm wondering if anyone else out there has tried to do the VC thing "not from scratch", and if there are any best practices to follow, or tribal knowledge that could be helpful?

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Dan Tentler
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Hello Dan,

Congratulations on this journey as a technology founder. I hope this information is of help to you, but we are certainly in a similar position today. We are in the early process of building a community marketplace platform called Compada. I am also an active board member in another AdTech platform which is in the process of fundraising. Prior to these two ventures I was involved with two other early stage and late stage start-ups which went through the process of fundraising. Here are a few lessons learned which we are also implementing ourselves. 

1. Pedigree is beyond important to VC, either notable college or history of exit. To bypass this, finding someone to get involved early as an advisor or as an active member of the team will increase your chances of funding. They are more likely to invest in a A team with a B idea than a A idea with a B Team. 
2. Revenue and traction is important. But most important to the VC community is SaaS revenue rather than just transactional. Replicable and scalable is more attractive.  
3. One of our advisors who is an investor himself, and part of a $400m VC, recommended lining up 300 investor meetings to get traction. While a friend who has reached over $1b in valuation (Unicorn status) this year recommended 500 meetings to get 2 investors. This is because not all investors will understand your technology or market. So it is a full time job to say the least!  
4. Finally, VCs invest either through emotion or logic. Emotion is better and require a lot of nurturing of the relationship. Logic requires a lot of supporting data to back up your business. 

Best of luck!

Cheers,
​​

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Eduardo Silva
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-31-2022 15:34
From: Dan Tentler
Subject: Fundraising tips and tricks

Hi!

 I'm Dan - one of the two founders of Phobos Group. 
 We've been a consulting company for six and a half years, and we've been working on pivoting our company to be a SaaS platform that focuses on Attack Surface Management, and external risk assessment work. 
 
 We're working with MoFo to spin the product platform (it's in beta right now, but it has subscribers) out to a new company, and beginning the fundraising process. Since there's already a product and some momentum the VCs we've spoken with so far have been a mixed bag. 

I'm wondering if anyone else out there has tried to do the VC thing "not from scratch", and if there are any best practices to follow, or tribal knowledge that could be helpful?

------------------------------
Dan Tentler
------------------------------

Thanks Eduardo!

Do you have any thoughts on the lining up of those meetings? I imagine getting a warm introduction is preferred over cold contact through a form on the VCs website?

------------------------------
Dan Tentler
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 11-01-2022 11:39
From: Eduardo Silva
Subject: Fundraising tips and tricks

Hello Dan,

Congratulations on this journey as a technology founder. I hope this information is of help to you, but we are certainly in a similar position today. We are in the early process of building a community marketplace platform called Compada. I am also an active board member in another AdTech platform which is in the process of fundraising. Prior to these two ventures I was involved with two other early stage and late stage start-ups which went through the process of fundraising. Here are a few lessons learned which we are also implementing ourselves. 

1. Pedigree is beyond important to VC, either notable college or history of exit. To bypass this, finding someone to get involved early as an advisor or as an active member of the team will increase your chances of funding. They are more likely to invest in a A team with a B idea than a A idea with a B Team. 
2. Revenue and traction is important. But most important to the VC community is SaaS revenue rather than just transactional. Replicable and scalable is more attractive.  
3. One of our advisors who is an investor himself, and part of a $400m VC, recommended lining up 300 investor meetings to get traction. While a friend who has reached over $1b in valuation (Unicorn status) this year recommended 500 meetings to get 2 investors. This is because not all investors will understand your technology or market. So it is a full time job to say the least!  
4. Finally, VCs invest either through emotion or logic. Emotion is better and require a lot of nurturing of the relationship. Logic requires a lot of supporting data to back up your business. 

Best of luck!

Cheers,
​​

------------------------------
Eduardo Silva

Original Message:
Sent: 10-31-2022 15:34
From: Dan Tentler
Subject: Fundraising tips and tricks

Hi!

 I'm Dan - one of the two founders of Phobos Group. 
 We've been a consulting company for six and a half years, and we've been working on pivoting our company to be a SaaS platform that focuses on Attack Surface Management, and external risk assessment work. 
 
 We're working with MoFo to spin the product platform (it's in beta right now, but it has subscribers) out to a new company, and beginning the fundraising process. Since there's already a product and some momentum the VCs we've spoken with so far have been a mixed bag. 

I'm wondering if anyone else out there has tried to do the VC thing "not from scratch", and if there are any best practices to follow, or tribal knowledge that could be helpful?

------------------------------
Dan Tentler
------------------------------