FORBES – June 1 – Former Tinder CEO Sean Rad revealed that their early marketing strategy was anything but ordinary. They enlisted the help of fraternities and sororities to get the word out about their product, making it cool and desirable to use.
- Define your market strategy.
- Propose an innovative concept.
Having a product that is similar to something else that is on the market, even if it is significantly better, will not get you funded. - Gain traction at the pre-seed and seed round stages.
If you are a founder who has had multiple successful exits, this won't apply to you. If you are a first-time founder and are raising money, traction is going to be one of the most important parts of your pitch because if you have traction, we can see that you have product-market fit and the risk of you failing is significantly less likely. - Know your numbers.
Customer acquisition cost, lifetime value and other elements must be considered. If the words "I believe" or "I think" are mentioned during the call or you start wavering and changing your previously stated numbers, we will start to doubt all of your numbers. You should know all of your numbers inside and out and be able to answer any questions surrounding them. - Check your attitude.
If we are investing in your seed round, it means we will have a relationship with you for the next three-to-seven years. If we do not like you, I can guarantee we will not invest in you. - Diversify your team.
This goes for both sides. If you are an all-engineering team, an all-business team or a group of individuals with a homogenous background, we will be far less convinced of your ability to execute on your pitch deck than if you had evenly divided skill sets. - Divide ownership amongst your team.
If the CEO has 95% and the CTO has 5% (or even in some cases none), this could raise a red flag. Your entire team needs to be bought into what you're doing.