Fundraising Is Not About Hacks
Why thinking beats templates
Every few months, a new fundraising “hack” starts circulating.
The perfect cold email.
The subject line that converts.
The trick to booking 50 investor meetings in two weeks.
It feels productive, aggressive and like progress.
But most of the time, it’s just noise.
I’ve advised companies, both those who choose to work with us and those who don’t, the same thing:
Don’t spray and pray.
In gaming terms: don’t blindly shoot and hope something sticks.
Aim.
Activity Is Not Momentum
I understand the temptation.
When you’re raising, urgency creeps in. You start thinking:
“Maybe we just need more meetings.”
So you:
Pull a list.
Send mass emails.
Book back-to-back calls.
Hope volume compensates for precision.
Calendars might fill up. But conversations feel shallow.
Investors forget what you do by the second meeting. Follow-ups become vague.
Not because the company isn’t strong, but because motion isn’t the same as traction.
Knock on the Right Door, Intentionally
Before you reach out to an investor, it could be of value to know:
What they’ve backed.
What patterns they believe in.
What risk profile they tolerate.
What stage they actually like, not what their website says.
Read up on the person. Understand their experience. Understand how they think. Some good old research.
Then knock.
Not to pitch blindly. But to create value in the conversation. That changes the dynamic immediately.
It turns fundraising from “please review our case” into “this might actually fit.”
Why We Don’t Just Hand Out Introductions
Every now and then someone says:
“Why not just share your network more freely? Make a few introductions here and there.”
It sounds generous. But it erodes leverage.
We see a lot of cases. Many. And when something lands on our table, we take it seriously.
We ask ourselves one question:
Is this a Hell Yes?
Borrowing from Derek Sivers, if it’s not a “Hell Yes,” it’s a no.
Not because we enjoy saying no. But because conviction is a signal.
If we casually pass along every deck to our network, that signal disappears.
When we choose to support a company in conversations, it means:
We’ve thought it through. We’re willing to stand behind it. We have skin in the game.
That only works if it’s rare.
Founders are already operating at full capacity.
Founders juggle product, hiring, customers, and operations every day.
Some believe investor readiness should always sit entirely with them.
In principle, that makes sense.
But in practice, many founder-founders are deeply immersed in building real enterprise value. Fundraising is necessary, but it’s a different discipline.
That doesn’t mean they can’t do it. It means their cognitive bandwidth is finite.
Adding dozens of loosely aligned investor meetings doesn’t necessarily increase probability.
Often, it increases distraction.
The founders who raise well don’t typically do more.
They do less, intentionally.
They:
Prioritize a focused group.
Sequence conversations carefully.
Build conviction before chasing momentum.
They aim.
Skin in the game, on both sides.
Fundraising works best when there’s accountability on all sides.
Founders committed. Investors engaged. Advisors selective.
If there’s no meeting of minds in the room, forcing it rarely ends well.
Alignment isn’t a soft concept.
It’s structural.
And structure beats hacks every time.
Templates might open inboxes.
But thinking, clear, intentional thinking, is what opens the right doors.
