Navigating Fundraising Challenges 👍

I've been working one-on-one with entrepreneurs now raising funding for their businesses full-time since 2018 Before that I was raising funding for my own businesses, which I've been operating for over 11 years I've got 10,000 hours or more working directly in this space.

So what can you do to improve your outcomes and what can you do if you've already failed? Well, the first thing with any fundraising advisor, I think it's highly unlikely that they'll draw a rigid line in the sand and refuse to work with you after that date.

Anybody who's experienced and sits in this chair understands that timing is something that you just cannot impact and ultimately it's better to have a good outcome than a bad one.

The timing element I don't believe is a factor. The first step is to be realistic, is to look at the process with the consultant, look at the process you went through, the narratives, the business, the global climates, the- feedback you received or didn't receive from investors, and understand is this

something worth pursuing? Not through that channel specifically, but just generally, is fundraising right for your business? Now's the time to have that conversation.

Resource is precious, time and money being the most precious, and fundraising requires both of those things. The second is to realign on the objectives.

Was the fundraising round too big? Was it too small? Was the valuation miles off? Or had you not met the traction that you needed in the business to unlock that level of cash that you wanted?

Understanding this and realigning the objectives is very, very helpful, especially at the end of a process. And the third is to take some time and fix what needs to be fixed.

This may be a few months of you with your head down on your business, trying to drive a positive outcome, in a sales, getting some new partnerships on board, or it could be working with the consultant again, going back to the beginning, back to the drawing board, and making the plan B.

Now I think the best consultants always have a plan B, and can come up with plans all the way through to plan Z, and I think you should give them the time, if they're willing, to go through each of those, back to the drawing board, iterate and back out.

If you do that, you should get good outcomes, and you should have positive experience working with consultants. If you're in the mindset where you're expecting a quick buck, and the consultant sold you that dream as well, then you need to be careful.

But ultimately, re-engage, focus, set the objectives, and try and move forward.