Is my startup fundable? | Perfect Pitch Deck

IS YOUR STARTUP
FUNDABLE?

THERE'S NO POINT IN RAISING IF YOU WON'T SUCCEED

I CAN TELL YOU

Find out if your startup is fundable

What: You're seriously thinking about fundraising but aren't sure if you'll actually get the round closed. You get raising takes time so should you? I'll tell you before you go wasting a year.

Pricing: $400 an hour to $2,000 for a day

100% money back guarantee

I give value. If I don't give help, I'll refund you (inc fees).

Caveat: Not for piss takers and time wasters

Summary of a "Is my startup fundable?" call

What you need

How I help

Do I have a shot with investors?
Will I get the $[5]m?
Is my business model fundable or flawed?
Should I wait, or am I good to go?
Do I even need to raise money from investors?

Zoom call with myself (not an intern)
Honest, direct and, critical feedback
Logic based discussion for pre-revenue
Metrics driven discussion for series-A+ stages
Conceptual or granular feedback
100% confidential and non-judgemental

Video overview

Yes, I'm a real person. I make these videos so you know that, and frankly to build trust.

If you hate reading then watch this and make a call. I have FAQs at the bottom for every question, though.

Should you be fundraising from investors?

Being a venture capital funded startup seems to be a badge of honor to startups these days. Reading TechCrunch and seeing all these startups raise big from famous investors gives you the impression that it is not only easy, but it's just the normal thing to do.

TechCrunch actually wrote a blog in 2020 stating that they only write about startup fundraising is because 1/ people click on those blogs, and 2/ that it's more interesting than talking about the grind founders go through!

Raising is not normal and it is not sexy.

The question you should be asking isn't when or how much you should be raising, but if you should be fundraising in the first place! There are a lot of other options and a whole lot of founders who don't raise who are making money- only they don't get talked about.

Being a 'fundraising advisor' for your purposes, you might find it ironic that I'm on a mission to educate founders not to raise at all! That's only part of it.

I only want founders to raise if there is a compelling logic and they are able to do so if it will benefit them.

Before I tell a founder if they are fundable, I want to discuss whether you should be raising at all.

Fundraising sucks!

If you haven't raised before, you simply have no idea how much fundraising sucks. I repeatedly prepare my pitch deck clients for the shite storm they are going to face and they listen, but they don't get it. It's only a month in they email me and say "I understood what you were telling me, but I didn't think you were serious. Man, raising sucks!"

One of the reasons you shouldn't raise if you don't need to, or if you are unlikely to be successful is how much it sucks! The rejection is constant, you lose motivation and confidence, but more than that, you stop focusing on your startup and you suffer financially. Ironically venture capital investors actually look for startups that are growing whilst you are raising! Seriously.

If you do not need to raise, you should not do it. If you are not fundable, you should not raise.

But, if you are one of the rare companies who has the potential to raise on strong terms, and you know how to spend the money, it can do wonders for you. Only, it can kill your startup if you do things wrong which is all too often the case.

There are ways to know if you are fundable. It just requires a diverse set of knowledge and experience, which pretty much no one is willing to put in the work to develop.

Fundable startups are fundable

I talk to a lot of founders. One thing I found myself saying repeatedly is "fundable startups are fundable!"

To me it became obvious. If you are fundable, you will be able to raise from investors. If you aren't a top in class startup, you will not be able to raise money from investors. The obvious question of course is "well, how do I know if I am fundable?"

That question, my friend is a really hard answer to give. The ability to give an answer is entirely based on a 'feel' you develop after tracking startups for years and understanding business models. I took a stab at explaining fundable startups are fundable on my blog.

Since I've given advice to founders for years, I've figured out that I'm pretty spot on as to whether a startup will be able to raise, but there are a lot of variables. The big one is the drive founders have. One founder spent 18 months raising and finally found folks to give him money. Man it was grueling! I told him that he is unlikely going to be able to raise as the business model has some flaws, but if he didn't give up he would make it happen. He managed to raise, but the startup is dead.

I never give certainties when I give advice about whether you are fundable. I can just tell if you are more or less likely. There are of course startups that just have no hope and the founders have no clue- only there is is easier!

If you aren't fundable, it not just about your traction. If you've been able to raise a around or two you're doing something right. It doesn't mean you will get an exit though. When I tell founders they aren't likely to raise, it's because they have an issue with their business model. That's something you can fix if you are willing to put in the time.

I can tell you if you are fundable. If you aren't fundable I can tell you what's wrong with your business model which you can opt to work on.

Pricing

1 hour call

2 hour call

1 day call

I normally do a shorter session with founders so they know how I can help them and why will spend a day together.

On a day session, you typically agree with what I told you and now want to do something about it.

Founders normally have a list of 3 really meaty topics we are going to dig into.

I don't have a specific agenda as I need to listen to what you say to figure out the issues and what we need to work on.

$400

$800

$2,000

What we do on a call

Get to know another and build trust

We do chit chat so you get to know me and can open up. Honesty is critical for me to help you! You're asking me if you will be able to raise, so don't hold back.

Unless you have specific question I'm going to take control of the call.

Before I do my thing, I need to understand your raise and objectives so I can put everything into perspective.

Finally, we get clear about what your objective of the call is, if it's not an open question for me to figure out! Otherwise I need to manage expectations and/or focus our conversation so you get a specific answer to a question you have.

Understand your goals

Deep dive into your business

Active debate

Once I understand your industry, startup, and objectives I can begin giving you my opinions. They vary in how strong I believe them and I'll need more input from you to refine my thinking.

I'll share with you the key issues I have and then the minor ones as we keep talking. This is a discussion. It's not be passing judgement on you. I know how hard startup is!

You'll start fixating on particular 'sticking points' and we'll talk them out.

Generally this call is more about the core of your business than 'how to raise' so it's an academic discussion.

If you are fundable it's a short conversation. I will rarely simply say you not fundable.

Get a recording and book a follow up call

After the call I can send you a recording of the call so you don’t have to take notes. I want you focused on debating with me.

You are always going to have a lot to think about. If you agree you might not be fundable, we will need to do more calls on how to fix what you are doing. That's normally a hardcore day session.

If you book an hour, I can only teach you so much and I don't want to leave you lost. You can book further calls with the booking link and we can go over more ground... well you'll get it after you talk to me.

Why I can actually help you?

Before you hand over money to someone, especially one that claims to be an “expert”, you should question if they actually are full of BS, or not?

Let’s face it, “On the internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.”

I have a tonne of nerdy content to read

I've made one of the largest (if not the largest) startup focused blogs on the internet with 30 quality and free tools to download.

I recommend reading this: If you do this one thing your startup business model is doomed to succeed! and Fundable startups are fundable

My content is often technical which is why advisors, lawyers and even investors learn from me.

I don't need to call myself an expert. You can just read my content and decide yourself. Head to www.alexanderjarvis.com

Why do I have a clue?

Whether or not you are fundable is a very complex question, which involves understanding a lot of technical topics.

I understand most of them more than most, lol! How is probably an essay, it might be easier to explain I'm a nerd.

I've been hustling small ventures since I was 6.

I went to university to learn about business specifically. Since lecturers teach you rubbish, I taught myself and founded the entrepreneur society.

I learned strategic complexities selling multi billion dollar financial companies at a big name M&A firm called Lazard.

I've been studying startup business models since 2007.

I've advised accelerators, VCs, government funds, startups and everything else since 2013.

I’ve run a blog on fundraising for 5 years now and I’m a Top Qriter on Quora with millions of views and thousands of posts.

I teach the people that teach you. I mentor people who run the largest accelerators in their country for example.

All of my businesses relate to helping founders start, scale and raise. I'm a business nerd.

What’s my background?

I started out at doing M&A. I worked in financial services M&A at Lazard selling multi-billion insurance companies and other equally dull companies.

I’ve been in startup and investing since 2005. During that time, I’ve founded or scaled 3 unicorns (Delivery Hero, Lazard, and Groupon), bootstrapped numerous startups, done venture building, mentored at multiple accelerators etc.

I’ve been a partner at a VC firm and I’m a Director of a VC and Fund of VC backed by seriously influential people.

And yes, I’ve also done a TEDx talk.

Why I am different

If you throw a stone, you’ll find someone happy to charge you to give you advice. I’m a little different.

There's almost nothing I don't have an opinion on as I've taught about pitch decks so many times
I’m direct and zero BS. I’ll tell you the things no one else will tell you
I actually care about you succeeding. I do consulting because I want to help founders
I know so much that I can explain things simply and in multiple ways. There’s no fluff with me as I don’t need to pad the call to fill it
I can explain the matrix and how everything fits together. I teach you to have perspective and 'how to fish'
I never pretend to know something. I’ll tell you if I don’t actually know so I won’t give you bad advice
I can tell you what you need to do at this stage of your fundraise, and what you don’t need to waste time on till a later stage fundraise.

Let's discuss your fundraising plans (Book now)

Questions and Answers

What is this call?

We get on a call and I listen to you. I genuinely seek to understand your business from the perspective of an investor as to whether I would invest in it.

I give you unfiltered feedback as to whether you will have a shot with investors.

If you are fundable, you get my affirmation.

More likely I'm going to tell you that there are core issues. They're not superficial things. They're complicated with rarely few easy answers.

You leave the call with with a lot to think about!

Am I fundable?

Why aren't I fundable?

If you aren't fundable, this is actually a really easy question for me to answer. I have a huge list of reasons why you will never get a dime.

What sucks is that if you are booking a call with me is that you are borderline fundable and exactly why you will get passed is something investors don't always know themselves.

Your specific shortfalls are something I have to figure out and be able to explain to you in a way you can ideally do something about it.

Why can you help me?

If you want my opinion as to whether you might be fundable or not, I can easily share that after some talking.

Honestly, I won't be able to 'help' everyone in so far as 'fix you'.

Not to be a twat, but I get told I'm really smart a lot and startup is the only interest I have academically.

I know nothing about your business, but I know what investors want. I will never know more about your industry than you do, but I'm fresh eyes that knows more than you do about topics you don't spend time on.

Whilst you are paying for my time, I genuinely want to help founders win.

Am I the only clueless one?

Yes, this is me listening to yet another pitch

How does it work?

What do I have to do?

What do I get?

Are calls recorded and can I have a copy?

Do I do prep time before a call?

Do you need to prepare anything before a call

Who is this for?

What if I am not fundable?

Who is this not for?

Do you sign NDAs

NDAs are BS as no one ever gets sued on them. Never ask an investor for one.

I've written a long blog on this topic. Read: Non disclosure agreements (NDA) for startup fundraising don’t matter

Trust me, nothing you have is actually confidential, let alone interesting.

The only time I've signed one for a good reason was that I was advising on an acquisition for a large exit.