Let's face it. Fundraising isn't just a quick coffee chat where you walk away with a fat check. It's more like training for a marathon... 3-6 months of preparation, work, and carb-loading.

For a startup, fundraising can be broken down into three phases:

1. Phase 1: preparing (1-2 months)
2. Phase 2: meetings (1-2 months)
3. Phase 3: closing (1 week to 1 month)

Read up on phase 1 here. This is a deep dive into phase 2: meeting investors, following up, and following up some more.

Investors be procrastinating

Here's a fun fact that might make you want to bang your head against a wall:

🚨 Even if investors are excited about your business, they have absolutely no reason to invest today. Here's why.

Unless there's a sense of urgency, it's always better for an investor to wait and gather more data points before writing that check. More time means more opportunity to watch the company evolve. The only reason for investors to act quickly is if they think the opportunity might not be available for long.

Urgency is your secret weapon

So, how do we light a fire? We create urgency. And no, I don't mean sending them panicked emails at 3am (please don't do that).

Here are two ways to create a sense of urgency:

1. Show them you don't need their money
2. Show them everyone else wants to invest

Let's break these down.

The "we don't need you" approach

This is when you demonstrate that you're either:

1. Profitable enough to go it alone
2. Have enough traction that you could bootstrap if you wanted to

The FOMO approach

With this strategy, you want to create a sense that if they don't act fast, they'll miss out on a hot deal. How? By packing your investor meetings together. Ideally, you want to schedule all your meetings within a week or two. This accomplishes two things:

1. It shows investors you're in high demand
2. It gives you the ability to create urgency

The Art of the Follow-Up

Here's where it gets interesting. As you start having these meetings, you'll get a mix of responses. Some will want follow-ups, some will pass right away. Your job is to use the positive momentum to your advantage.

Got a follow-up meeting with a big-name investor? Great! Email everyone else and let them know. Something like:

"Hey, I just wanted to keep you updated: I'm going into a follow-up meeting with a well-known investor."

You don't need to name names. Just mentioning that you've got a follow-up meeting is enough to stir the FOMO pot.

Embracing the "No"

There's a 100% chance that someone you pitch will say no. Heck, there's a chance that most people you pitch will say no. Katherine Minshew from The Muse was famously rejected ~150 times while raising her seed round. Rejection is crushing. I know. But a quick "no" from an investor is actually a gift.

Why? Because it saves you time. Time you can spend focusing on the investors who are actually interested.

Trust me on this... better to know sooner rather than later if someone is not going to invest. This eliminates the need to follow up with them over and over, or waste brain space wondering if they're ever going to commit. Your goal isn't to keep every investor on the hook indefinitely. It's to get to "yes" or "no" as quickly as possible.

Iterating (yes, still)

As you're going through this process, you'll get feedback. Lots of feedback. Some of it will be useful, some of it will make you question if the investor understood anything about your business at all.

But if multiple investors are raising the same concerns, it's time to address them. Revise your story, update your deck... even if you're in the middle of phase two.

Gaging your success

So, how do you know if you're on the right track? Here are some early indicators:

1. You're getting follow-up meetings within the first 2-4 weeks
2. You start getting verbal commits

If these things aren't happening, it might be time to reassess. Are you targeting the right investors? Is your pitch resonating? Is your product actually solving a problem people care about?

Be honest with yourself here. And remember, there could be alternatives to venture funding if things just aren't going well.

Quick recap

Once more for the people in the back:

1. Create urgency to make investors act
2. Pack your meetings tight
3. Be open about your follow-up meetings
4. Embrace the "no"
5. Iterate based on feedback
6. Pay attention to the signals of whether things are going well or not

Next up: the final phase of fundraising... closing the deal(s). Stay tuned.