Kelley O’Keeffe, MBA’s Post

𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙪𝙥𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙫𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧’𝙨 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚?💸 Meet Fanny Springer, the startup manager at Female Founders, Europe’s fastest-growing community of entrepreneurial women.  Female Founders are solving the two biggest pain points in the European ecosystem: access to funding for female-led ventures and access to female talent. Fanny shared with us her tips and advice on fundraising: 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗧𝗼𝗽 𝟯 𝘁𝗶𝗽𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱? ✅ You are in the driver seat of your own fundraise! How much time per week can you dedicate to your fundraise? Based on that, set a realistic timeline for the process and streamline it! Before you go into the process, make sure you have all the materials prepared & your data room set ✅ Prioritize your investor outreach Have a list with priority 1, 2, 3 and start with the latter to practice and build up perfect answers for FAQ ✅ Optimize for value, not for valuation (raise from the right investors) You want to have a good personal fit with the investor, as you are entering a long-term relationship and due diligence goes both ways (do your research!) 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀?  ✅ Leverage your own network: speak to existing portfolio companies, try to meet investors at events (but be prepared!) and most importantly,personalize your outreach. ✅ The process tells the VC a lot about you and your team: Document concerns, questions, and asks & follow-up on them, keep timelines and promises on your side! If you, for some reason, cannot keep them, inform the investor about it and also give a reason. 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀?  ✅ Be fast—a proxy for execution speed ✅ Be prepared (dataroom, documents, etc) and responsive ✅ Know who you want to work with (right fund but also right partner) ✅ Find your way inside (common network, but also double intros can be a strong signal) ✅ Understand the fund size and fund economics—how big can this become? ✅ Reference calls: record customer reference calls ✅ Know your market and competitors ✅ Have a clear roadmap of where you want to take this company (prepare FAQs) ✅ Train your pitch 👉 Are you a female founder working in the HR Tech sector and preparing to for your next fundraising round? We have a real funding opportunity for you, check it out here:  https://lnkd.in/e5ntuQBn  ____ #PitchPerfect #InvestorPitch #PublicSpeaking #BodyLanguage #PresentationSkills #Event #Startup #Entrepreneurship

🌟 Join Stella's New Member Orientation Today at 10 AM PST! 🌟 This is your golden ticket to discover the vast opportunities within our incredible community dedicated to championing equality for female founders. 🌐 At Stella, we believe in the power of unity, and our community stands strong with over 5,000 individuals who share a common goal – supporting and uplifting female founders. This digital haven is not just a space; it's a thriving ecosystem that provides: 🎓 Courses at Your Fingertips Dive into our lab-intensive group courses, spanning 16 weeks with 12 modules. Gain access to pitch-perfect training with 8 module pitch courses. Connect with 40+ mentors per cohort for invaluable 1:1 sessions. Open doors to funding opportunities through Women's Fast Pitch, Women's Venture Summit, Stella Angels, and syndication with partnering VC firms. 💼 Stella Angels: Investing in Women-Led Innovation Become part of our exclusive network of accredited investors. Collaborate on deal reviews, conduct due diligence, and invest in female founders. In 2021 alone, Stella Angels invested in 14 female-led startups, syndicating over $1.3M via direct investments and crowdfunding. 🎤 Conferences that Spark Change Immerse yourself in Stella-produced events where founders and investors come together. Meaningfully connect and collaborate at the Women's Fast Pitch and Women's Venture Summit. Ready to embark on this empowering journey with Stella? We would love for you to join us at 10 AM PST for an informative and engaging session. Let's build a community where equality thrives, innovation flourishes, and success knows no boundaries. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/dehKA26r See you there, changemakers! 🚀 #Stella #nonprofit #community #womeninbusiness #womensupportingwomen #womenentrepreneurs #investinwomen #StellaFoundation #inwomenweinvest #FemaleFounders #EmpowerInnovation

Building a successful startup involves navigating various fundraising stages. For women founders, understanding these stages is crucial not only for securing funding but also for strategically steering their ventures toward sustainable growth. In this article, we explore the key fundraising stages and delve into what they mean for both founders and investors. https://lnkd.in/dfiFRbDK

Networking. Love it or hate it? Running my own startup up, and working from home, I always try to get into London once a month. Thankfully I am plugged into many great female founder groups that offer brilliant meet ups. They are always a great chance to meet new people who can relate to your position, challenges and who have actually walked a day in your start up shoes. At the latest Female Founders Rise, I talked to some wonderful women including Rupa Ganguli FRSA, building a much needed purpose led company. The common topic of fund raising came up and it seems like the current climate is proving incredibly challenging for all stages of investment. Common themes are: 👻 Being ghosted - no 1 per hate - as busy founders ourselves, usually juggling kids and running a business, we know time is limited but who can’t spare 30 seconds to say “not for me thank you”? 🤷♀️ Confusing feedback or none. All the founders I have spoken to would much rather have warts and all feedback. Otherwise how can we learn? It also shows that you have bothered to spend 1-3 minutes to read the materials we spent months painstakingly prepping for you. If we are “too early for you” please explain why / what you want to see so we don’t bother you again until we meet your specific criteria. This is just a snapshot of what is going on out there. Whilst it’s not a great situation for any start up raising right now, I am always proud of the resilience and glass half full attitude from the amazing women I meet at these events. Thanks Emmie Faust for the event and to all my fellow start ups raising, keep going. Remember it only takes one call or intro to change everything. 💥 #femalefounders #startuplife #investment

Last week, I spoke on a panel for a Nash Squared documentary premiere about raising funding as a female founder. Despite the hype about investing in female founders, the numbers don't lie. Female founders continue to face significant hurdles when it comes to securing funding for their startups. All-female founding teams still receive only 1-2% of VC funding, even though studies show that they generate higher returns. Awareness isn’t translating into action. There are many, many incredibly talented female founders who aren’t getting funding, and this needs to change. Investing in female founders isn't charity. It's an opportunity for investors to achieve their primary goal: making money. It’s mind-blowing to me that investing in female founders is one of the best strategies for generating returns, yet few investors take advantage of it. The same goes for founders of colour. At the end of the day, a lot of investors are missing out. Investing in female founders is a smart business decision that has a multitude of benefits. On Monday, California passed a bill that requires venture capital firms to disclose the race and gender of the founders of the companies they fund. If other states and countries follow suit, we will be one step closer to a more transparent and equitable funding landscape. Thank you to Women in Tech®UK for jointly hosting the event. You can find the Nash Squared documentary here: https://lnkd.in/gqnDCT4T

Loved attending Connectd's female-led investor breakfast last week exploring how we can close the funding gap for female-founded companies. Jenny Tooth OBE from the UK Business Angels Association, highlighted that only 14% of #angelinvestors are women, and only 0.7% have built portfolios - women aren't investing as much as men, and even when they do invest, they don't obtain the power that comes with aggregation. This is where syndicates can help (particularly in light of the proposed changes to the regulations relating to early-stage investments) - everyone invests a smaller ticket (which can be a low as £2k) to create a more palatable cheque for the start-up; win-win 🏆 Check out the UK Business Angels Association's directory of angel syndicates (some great ones I know well - HERMESA, Sie Ventures, South East Angels, Obu), We also need to create a visible market - women need to talk more about investing and shout about their investments, no matter how big or small - this might normalise it and give other women more confidence to start investing (hopefully in other women). SO... 🗨 I am an #angelinvestor - so far, I have invested in 5 circular economy #startups, most founded / co-founded by women - one via a female-founder-focussed syndicate, the others direct (albeit on the recommendation of another female angel investor) 👯♀️ More generally, how do we try to get more funding to female-founded companies? Some tips from the panel: ➡ Call-out negative bias when you experience it - it will happen; what counts is how you deal with it (don't give-up and give-in) ↔ Network network network! - get to know supporters, investors and other founders then proactively leverage the knowledge, expertise and funds that your network can bring (when you need it most) ▶ Find female advocates who will fight some battles for you, e.g. female investors who believe in you and your business, and can help argue the merits of your #investment #angels #companies #femalefounders

I've put off writing this post for some time, but I just can't keep it bottled up any longer 🍾 In 8 years of running my business ProspHER, I had #bootstrapped until October where we had developed an #MVP of our innovative #edtech platform, and felt the need to #fundraise to add the AI/ML/Immersive Technologies we needed to make it the market leader it can be... But, since then my experience as a #femalefounder #fundraising has been far from positive, mainly because of 10 reasons: ⏰1. It is so time consuming to reach out to potential investors, draft and redraft the pitch deck and all documents needed, and pitch again and again - only to receive a very generic door in the face each time 🤯2. The process is not standardised or logical at all, and the amount of conflicting information I have received from different advisors, mentors, angels and VCs has sent me around and around in circles - I feel no far forward from when I started this journey 3 months ago 🍌3. The time and energy taken to fundraise has meant I've had to take a lot of time away from my business, meaning less time to develop the product and focus on it's success - which is bananas! 🎨4. Most potential investors have been more bothered about my pitch deck than the actual business and it's results - which I really don't understand, as I'm not fundraising to improve the style/content/length of a power point presentation, I'm fundraising to build the product and grow the business 👵5. The whole pitch process seems a very outdated waste of time, which means that a lot of investors are missing out on real opportunities that have huge impact and revenue generating potential - this traditional system is just causing problems and creating unnecessary barriers ♀️6. Less than 2% of VC funds go to female foundered companies, I thought we were in 2024? - I don't need to say more 💰7. The UK government are now raising the bar in defining a high net worth individual angel from £100k-£170k per annum - meaning even less women can be investors to invest in female-founders (which is huge when many rely on female angel investors due to my point 6) 🚹8. Again and again I have seen companies who are founded by all white male teams who have no experience, no product, no traction, and frankly no idea, raise millions in pre-seed funding (and often months/years later they have gone bust)- which is a huge waste, and I can only assume it's because of who they know and not what they know 🫰9. The majority of people who want to "help" actually just want to give you their version of their experience or charge a huge fee for "consultancy" - I'm fundraising so have little money! 👿10. The amount of horror stories I've heard about founders being screwed once they receive investment is off the charts - and has left me questioning whether it's even for me or ProspHER at all So, I'm off for a stiff drink - if you are a serious investor I will be by the bar (or keeping an eye on my LinkedIn messages!)🍸

For the month of March and with four days until #IWD2024, we’re spotlighting a #BeMyAngel different business woman every day from exited founders to super angels. 🙌 Today: Meet Emma Sinclair MBE, chief executive of EnterpriseAlumni.   Why #BeMyAngel is a great idea: “Well, I came up with it, so I’ve got to say it’s a great idea! It was a recent idea and a knee-jerk reaction after years of spectating on terrible statistics as regards women receiving investment. Things have barely improved in a decade and given I cannot see any change coming top down, the only near term fix is going to have to be bottom up… activating normal individuals to become angel investors. Most people are not aware that men are 50x more likely than women to raise VC. Equally, most people don’t have the opportunity to invest in businesses like ours. This is just the start of normalising crowdfunding for B2B businesses and creating action – not words – about how to help female founders fund their businesses.”   Read more here: https://lnkd.in/dr-A7M3b

GRANT HIGHLIGHT: Not just one but TWO funding programs for female founders: - The Accelerating Female Founders Program provides grants to fund business support initiatives for female-led enterprises in both early-stage and later-stage startup phases of the next two years; and - the Female Founders Co-Investment Fund provides grants of between $50,000 and $200,000 to female founded and led businesses that are approaching new investors as part of their early-stage capital raise. Learn more about these two grants and more about the Backing Female Founders program here 👇

UPDATE: For anybody who hasn't received the link: https://bit.ly/49IIffJ 💰 Top Female Founders and Investors to Know ­­ Women founders receive only 15% of VC funding. (Forbes)   VC firms with a woman partner are 3x more likely to invest in companies led by women. (EIB)   In other words, women founders looking to raise money should include women in their investor list.   That’s why I wanted to share this list of top women investors and founders to know. It’s useful both for entrepreneurs seeking funding and for investors looking for opportunities.   Some of the names include: ✅ Anu Duggal, founding partner of the early-stage VC Female Founders Fund ✅ Gina Bartasi, founder and CEO of fertility and family-building services company Kindbody ✅ Leslie Feinzaig, founder and CEO of the Seattle-based accelerator Female Founders Alliance ✅ Sasha Plavsic, founder of cosmetics brand ILIA Beauty   Interested in seeing the full resource?   Drop a comment below and I’ll send it ASAP. 👇   Please send a connection request if we are not connected to get the resource. 📩   Nathan Beckord – I help startups raise capital through software, content, and processes #venturecapital #founders #startups #fundraising Credit: Pitchbook, The Riveter, Beauhurst