6 Must-Have Assets to Raise Capital Faster
Raise Capital Faster: The 6 Must-Have Assets for Serious Investors
Founders, fund managers and sponsors who are preparing materials to approach family offices and other private investors.
Summary
Richard C. Richard says six assets matter most for anyone raising capital. They are a unique position, a one-line pitch, a one to three minute founder video, a visual one-pager, a 10 to 15 page pitch deck and a due diligence data room. In the room of about 60 to 70 people, nobody had all six in place.
The talk also covers outreach habits few people use, such as calls, direct mail and short meetings. Richard describes tools like Phone Burner and Active Campaign and says relationships weigh heavily on whether someone invests. The Q&A covers founder videos, deck length, realistic projections and matching your wording to the investor.
- 1Unique position
- 2One-line pitch
- 3One to three minute founder video
- 4Visual one-pager
- 510 to 15 page pitch deck
- 6Due diligence data room
Five points worth keeping
- Relationships outweigh deal merits. Richard cites research that the relationship with someone is twice as likely to decide whether they invest as the merits of the deal. Trust, likability and shared ground matter.
- Write a true one-liner. Richard says at investor summits only one or two out of 17 one-liners got a good review from all investors. Many were paragraphs or described what the whole industry does. A strong one-liner states what you do, why people trust you and what value you add in one sentence.
- Show people in a short video. A one to three minute founder video lets investors see if you are articulate before they read a long deck. The founder or spokesperson should say the one-liner and show the real operation, such as the factory floor or the product working.
- Keep the deck and one-pager short. The one-pager should be visual enough to be understood quickly. Richard prefers a 10 to 15 page deck, or 19 to 25 pages at most, with extra detail placed in a data room.
- Do the work others skip. Calls, direct mail and agendas stand out because few people bother with them. Richard says he listens to every voicemail but skips many emails, and one direct mail newsletter led to an inquiry three years after it stopped.
Said on the call
"you can do all these six things and raise no money. Doesn't mean if you do these six things, the money is going to come pouring in."
"the more institutional quality you are, the more you'll be ready for the next size up investor."
"My most valuable phone calls last like six to 12 minutes because the counterparty is also super busy with a ton of emails coming at them."
Facts from this talk
- Richard says the average pitch deck sent to him is about 44 pages, within a range of 35 to 52 pages.
- A master due diligence questionnaire holds about 30 questions and answers, and Richard suggests an AI tool can help draft it.
- Richard says Phone Burner lets his team make 100 calls in the time it used to take to make 20 or 30.
Sources
From Richard C. Wilson's Centimillionaire Strategies YouTube channel: Raise Capital Faster: The 6 Must-Have Assets for Serious Investors. Quotes come from the video captions, lightly edited for readability. Figures are the speakers' own estimates and experience.
General education only. Not legal, tax or investment advice.
Related questions
- What is an investor teaser and what goes in it?An investor teaser is a one-page, one-sided PDF that tells an investor what your deal is and why it is compelling in two or three ways.
- What financial slides should a fund manager's deck include?A fund manager's deck should show the numbers an investor tests first.
- How long should an investor pitch deck be?Keep your investor pitch deck to about 10 to 19 pages.
Questions about this video
How long should a pitch deck be?
Richard prefers 10 to 15 pages, or 19 to 25 if it cannot be shorter. He says the average deck sent to him is about 44 pages, and he suggests moving extra detail into a data room.
What should a founder video cover?
It should run one to three minutes. The founder or a spokesperson says the one-liner, introduces the company and shows tangibly what it does, rather than focusing on personal background.
Do family offices want a detailed business plan?
Richard says the family offices he works with rarely ask for one. He suggests a clear plan for the next one to three years, since very long plans can suggest the founder expects the world not to change.
Put this into practice with the ready to raise checklist. See all pitch decks resources.
