Jonathan Lehr’s Post

Failure is not the end but a necessary step towards success. Every failed company fails in its own unique way, making each story a valuable lesson. #Braid raised $10 million in 5 years before shutting down. Learn from their failure and check out this insightful post by Amanda Peyton at https://lnkd.in/d8F-49zK. Remember, sharing these stories is critical to learning and improving.

Most founders should not raise money. Especially first time founders. The discipline and resilience that is formed as a result of building on hard mode pays dividends far into the future. When I started my business in 2016, there was a cohort of first time founders who raised money and who bootstrapped. As of today, none of the businesses that raised money are still operating. Those who raised made fancy hires, got a nice office, and spent money on things that didn't really matter. Those who bootstrapped focused on unit economics and cash flow, building a very important muscle often overlooked. Beyond a lack of financial discipline, founders who raised money adopted a mindset of growth at all costs. But as the market shifted to favour profitability, they (and their business models) were unable to adapt. I'm not against raising money, but it should be done thoughtfully and for the right reasons. Generally to accelerate growth with a business model that makes sense. Very few businesses need to raise money to get to PMF. Assume you're not one of the few and find a way. The lessons you'll learn will be worth it.

Everyone has an unfair advantage. A first time founder has had their own experiences. A second time founder has made mistakes the first time. A third time founder can get funded based on what they did the first and second times. They have one advantage in common. They all started. I know founders that bootstrapped from day one. I know founders that spent over a year raising £250k. I know founders that raised £5m with an idea. They all had one advantage in common. They didn’t stop. Headlines and social media puts us in the relentless pursuit of the magic pill that solves everything for us. This makes us view success as the destination not the journey. Start today. Don’t stop. Keep going.

WHY DO WE PRAISE FUNDING OVER PROFITS AND PURPOSE? Congrats to Jonathan Barouch from Local Measure and Alisdair Faulkner of Darwinium for their fund raising successes. #Bravo But I have to ask a rhetorical question or two. Did they find the finance because they're "high-profile"? Are the businesses fundamentally sound? Are they profitable? We seem to laud those who raise big funds regardless of their performance, and growth is considered to be more important than profitability. And what of #purpose? Other than solving a customer problem, are these businesses for good, or are they just in it for the money? With 2500+ happy business customers Jonathan Barouch has the perfect opportunity to make a serious #GlobalImpact. Surely some feel good stories about how their community has transformed the lives of those far less fortunate than us would look great on their latest news page. Whadda ya reckon Jonathan Barouch? You up for doing some good? #MrSaaSSays - Tomorrow's businesses will all profit with purpose. https://lnkd.in/dyBg4RG2

Fundraising can be quite a journey, with challenges that test even the most resilient founders and investors. From navigating the sea of opportunities to separating fact from fiction, it's easy to feel adrift in the vast capital-raising landscape. But what if you had a compass to guide you through these treacherous waters? A partner who understands the importance of transparency, passion, and unwavering commitment to your success? 🧭 That's precisely what YOBE brings to the table. We offer a refreshing dose of honesty, backed by a proven track record of excellence. 📈 • For founders, we're the ally you've been seeking – one who truly understands your vision and aligns with your values. No more wasted time pitching to disinterested parties; we'll connect you with investors who share your passion. 🤝 • For investors, we're the gatekeepers you can trust, meticulously vetting opportunities and presenting only those with genuine potential. Say goodbye to the tedious sifting through lackluster options and hello to a curated selection of promising ventures. 🔍 But our commitment goes beyond that. We put our money where our mouth is, investing in the very companies we represent. This skin in the game fuels our unwavering dedication to your triumph, ensuring we're just as invested in your success as you are. 💰 With a stellar 92% success rate in raising funds and over $62M raised by our lean, mean team of 14 professionals, we're not just talking the talk – we're walking the walk. 🚶♂️ Ready to embark on a capital-raising journey guided by transparency, passion, and a proven track record? Visit https://buff.ly/3D22V4F today, and let's unlock your full potential together. 🚀 #TransparencyMatters #PassionatePartners #FundraisingSuccess #LucrativeOpportunities #VettedCompanies #DataDrivenDecisions

Carta's latest blog post on Q1 fundraising was sobering. Priced Seed and Series A came in short of Q4 numbers, both in terms of total rounds and total cash raised. More insights are available in the blog post below: https://lnkd.in/gnDdJ2Pa

A lot of founders feel lost after they’re done fundraising—especially if they succeeded. Now there’s pressure to spend the money they raised. 💸 There’s pressure to be accountable to investors.And they may need to develop new communication skills they never needed before. We’ve spoken to a lot of founders, and we boiled their advice down to 3 of the best tips to succeed after a raise. Find out what they are 👇 https://lnkd.in/gFmMMyX4

Here’s one mistake I see first-time Founders make when fundraising 😞 It’s something they think makes them feel cool and exclusive 😎 But in reality it holds their fundraise back. So what is it?... Setting unreasonably high minimum tickets. I’ve seen so many pitch decks where the minimum ticket is £20k, £50k sometimes £100k! In my experience this is lowkey foolish and I’ll tell you why… I spent the first four months of this year fundraising for the first time and it was toughhhhh 🙃 Everything changed when two SUPERangels committed to our round 💸 They came in with modest sized tickets, £5k each. But what their investments also came with was their CONNECTIONS ❗ As a first-time Founder from a low socioeconomic background, those connections were priceless to me. Both investors introduced me to their networks and from just those two initial £5k investments, I raised £300k+ more from just their introductions 🤩 IMAGINE if I had turned them down because their ticket size was “too small”? 😳 I’d probably still be fundraising now 😭 There’s a lot of snobbery when it comes to minimum tickets. It’s silly to me, especially at the (pre)Seed stage, because a “small ticket” doesn’t mean “small value”. At least it didn’t in my case 🙂 What do you think? Minimum tickets - necessary or not? 👇🏾 ------- Hey 👋🏾 I’m Gary, Co-Founder of Tangent. Every week I write about the ups and downs of being a first-time Founder. If you think this post could be helpful to others, repost it to your network and follow me for more like it every week 🙌🏾

LOOKING FOR INVESTOR 62 We decided to do our fundraise differently and it’s worked really well for us but it it takes a lot of hard work and it's relentless. As Neil Warnock once said, “you’ve got to die to get three points”. Doing things differently isn’t easy, but we wouldn’t have done it any other way. We decided that: -We wanted to stay in control of the direction of our business.  -We wanted to raise money at a time we knew it was going to be really tough as a pre-seed. -We wanted to fundraise as we go. That means we’re really frugal and don’t get carried away with having money in the bank and spending frivolously. -We wanted to build a community with vast experience, who really bought into us. -We wanted investing in us to be accessible to lots of people.  -We wanted normal people to be able to benefit from our success.  -We wanted people to be able to get involved in different stages of our cycle.  -We wanted to activate a new Angel network of the North and we wanted them to get to know each other. We now have over 61 investors, mainly from the North, and we’ve raised £500,000. Yes, we’ve won 61 different pitches. 61 different people have said yes. We’ve done 61 deals. Sure, it’s tough being in a constant fundraise, but we couldn’t be happier with the way we’ve done it. We had our highest sales date on Monday this week. This will be our biggest week to date. Our biggest month to date. And we did it our way. We’ve now at almost 2,500 monthly customers. 6 vans on the road. We have almost 200 new customers signing up per week. And we have even bigger plans for Q1, as we look to add different home maintenance services to our tech. If you think you might be interested in being Investor 62, drop me a message and I’ll send you our Prospectus. There are decent tax breaks available, you can invest from £2,500, you’ll get to be part of our fantastic Founders Club and we hope to make you some decent returns too.