Capital Raising Mindset: Persistence, Trust and Conviction
Capital Raising Mindset | Ep 1
Capital raisers, fund managers and sponsors who are new to raising money, or who train a team, and want the mindset before the tactics.
Worth quoting
"People want to like you, trust you and see you as a class act, a professional that's going to do the right thing and is high integrity."
"You just need to win by a little bit, not by a lot."
"If you don't believe in it, someone else won't believe in it. If you don't take yourself seriously, then no one's going to take you more seriously than you take yourself."
What you will hear
Investors want to like you, trust you and see you as a professional with integrity. Richard C. Richard says this is the bottom line of the capital raising mindset. He opens his 17 module Rainmakers series with it. He adds that his team asks investors exactly why they said no, such as structure, timing or asset location, and then follows up.
Richard backs polite persistence with two examples. His team followed up on billionaires.com every two to four months over 12 years and paid less than half the asking price. A doctor community took over 120 emails across 14 months, and the price fell from 3 million dollars to 400,000 dollars. He also covers adding value first, having conviction, and winning by a small edge.
Key facts
- Richard's team followed up on billionaires.com every two to four months over 12 years and bought it for less than half the seller's asking price.
- A doctor community deal took over 120 emails across 14 months and closed at 400,000 dollars instead of 3 million dollars.
- The Rainmakers series has 17 modules, and module two covers investor demographics and defining your investor avatar.
Sources
From Richard C. Wilson's Centimillionaire Strategies YouTube channel: Capital Raising Mindset | Ep 1. 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.
The 5 big lessons
- Be liked, trusted and professional. Richard says investors want to see a high integrity professional. They do not want someone sneaky, dishonest or too slick.
- Ask why the answer was no. When an investor declines, his team asks about structure, timing, asset location or a different offering. They then follow up with that answer in mind.
- Follow up politely and for long. Richard describes following up for 12 years on one purchase and over 120 emails across 14 months on another. He calls this being politely persistent.
- Add value before you ask. Nobody owes you a reply. Investors get hundreds of emails, so an average email is easy to ignore. Richard says a Yahoo address instead of an eight dollar domain can signal a lack of care.
- Win by a small edge. You need to be compelling in two or three ways, such as strategy and team. Richard's view is that a small lead can sometimes decide who wins an allocation, so he suggests stacking three to four ideas.
Related questions
- How do I negotiate valuation with an early investor?Start with a valuation you can defend with traction and numbers, then expect the investor to push back.
- What is a pre-seed round and who invests in it?A pre-seed round is the earliest outside money a startup raises, often before it has real revenue.
- How do I raise capital from Middle East investors?Start with a warm introduction from someone the investor already trusts.
Questions about this video
What should you do when an investor says no?
Richard says his team asks exactly why. They check whether it was the structure, the timing, the asset location or a preference for a different offering. Then they follow up.
Why do investors ignore emails?
Richard says they get hundreds of emails, and an average or low value email is easy to skip. Richard adds that using a Yahoo address instead of a professional domain can signal a lack of care.
How many things should you take from the series?
Richard hopes viewers pick up three to four ideas from the 17 modules. Stacked together, they can give an edge over competitors in a crowded niche.
Put this into practice with the ready to raise checklist. See all capital raising mindset resources.
