MIT Entrepreneurship and Maker Skills Integrator
Fundraising 101 for hardware startupsJanuary 16, 2017
Do’s and Dont’sDO• When you raise, you raise.
When you are done raising, focus on the biz.
• Practice milestone based fund raising.
• Raise more than you think you need.
• Choose your investors carefully. Have they invested in companies like yours?
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DON’T• Trickle fund-raise (your soul
will be destroyed)• Take coffee with VCs when
you are not ready to pitch (you are new once)
• Ask for $15M in your first 60s elevator pitch with a VC• 1 min >> 15 min >> 45 min >>
partner meeting etc
Example fund raising history: Fitbit (Consumer electronics in health and wellness)
5Source:Crunchbase
Founded in 2007
$66M total in 7y
IPO 2015
Example fund raising history: Rethink Robotics (Industrial Automation)
6Source:Crunchbase
Founded in 2008
$131.52M total in 9y
Too soon to tell
Resources• Rob go on how to raise a seed round
http://nextviewventures.com/blog/how-to-raise-seed-capital/
• Donna Levin’s January 2016 talk on fund raising (see Google Drive)
• Trust Center: FAQ section on fund raising
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