The Fundraising Journey with Jonathan Gandolf of The Juice
Overview
Fundraising is difficult. Founders are responsible for hiring, building, and fundraising all at the same time. There are very few people that truly know what it takes to build a company or raise capital while being a strong leader.
The best way to learn is from someone who has been there before. Being a founder can oftentimes be an “asymmetric experience.” As Seth Godin, the business author puts it:
“In these asymmetric situations, it’s unlikely that you’re going to outsmart the experienced folks who have seen it all before. It’s unlikely that you’ll outlast them either.
When you have to walk into one of these events, it pays to hire a local guide. Someone who knows as much as the other folks do, but who works for you instead.”
In order to help you find your “local guide,” we went along for a fundraising ride with a founder in our community.
Jonathan Gandolf is the CEO and Founder of The Juice, The Juice collects and consolidates resources from across the internet onto a single platform where you can save, share, and enjoy content on demand. Be sure to check out The Juice and sign up to discover the best sales and marketing content for you.
Spoiler: The Juice Achieves Major Milestones in Revenue and User Growth
Over the course of ~4 months, we sat down with Jonathan on a regular basis and picked his brain on the state of his fundraise and what he was learning along the way. We cover everything from his first meetings to due diligence.
For founders who are gearing up for a pre-seed or seed round and are feeling lost, Jonathan offers great insight as he shares his fundraising journey from day 1. Give it a listen below:
Week 1 — The Basics of the Round
To kick things off we give more background about the Founders Forward Fundraising series and the goals behind it.
We dig into the business behind The Juice and the fundamentals of their pre-seed funding round. Jonathan is ready to go with a list of 60 potential investors and a pitch deck in hand. Hop around and learn more about what we covered in week 1 below:
- The Juice business model
- How Jonathan is building his investor outreach list
- What Jonathan’s plans are for reaching out to investors
- The pitch deck feedback loop
Where to listen:
- Spotify
- Apple Podcasts
- Google Podcasts
- Where you generally listen to podcasts
Related Resources:
- The Juice — the best sales & marketing content at your fingertips
- Visible Connect — our investor database
- The Fundraising Wisdom That Helped Our Founders Raise $18B in Follow-On Capital
- How Starting Line Helps Founders Address Their Mental Health with Ezra Galston
Week 2 — Finding Investor Intros
Jonathan joins us after his first few weeks of heads-down fundraising. We discuss how he is going about adjusting and tweaking his pitch deck as more feedback comes in and how he is leveraging his network (and customers) to find intros to potential investors.
A few other key topics we hit on:
- Managing pitch deck recommendations and changes
- Designing a pitch deck with a small team
- Finding introductions to potential investors
- Leveraging customers for investor introductions
Related Resources:
Week 3 — Revenue vs. Product vs. Team
In week 3 of Jonathan’s fundraise, we break down what investors are looking for at the pre-seed stage. As The Juice has a strong product, Jonathan has been featuring and demoing his product during pitches.
We also dive into how The Juice ideal investor has transformed since they’ve started their raise and how they are adding new investors to the top of their fundraising funnel.
A few other key topics we hit on:
- How to talk about revenue with investors
- How Jonathan leveraged their product while pitching
- Adding investors to the top of an investor funnel
- Identifying your ideal investor
Related Resources:
Week 4 — Finding a Lead Investor
Jonathan has been busy with investor meetings and pitches since the last time we chatted. Jonathan breaks down the “VC speed dating” event he attended and updates on other investor conversations.
Finally, we hit on financial projections at the pre-seed/seed stage and what investors are looking for in the early stages of financial projections.
A few other key topics we hit on:
- VC speed dating
- Feedback on the size of round
- How to nurture potential investors
- Sharing financial projections
Related Resources:
- How to Raise Your Series A with Michael Rangel of Novo
- How to Build an Investor List with Gale Wilkinson of Vitalize
Week 5 — Pitching Investors
We are back in the heart of The Juice fundraise. They are a few weeks in and starting to get to the middle of the “3 months of pitching.” We discuss how Jonathan is leveraging verbal commits to build urgency with new investors and discuss what is being shared in The Juice’s data room.
A few other key topics we hit on:
- The timeline of fundraising
- Using verbal commits to create urgency
- What Jonathan is sharing in his data room
Related Resources:
Week 6 — Launching on ProductHunt
Coming off of their first ProductHunt launch, Jonathan joins us to share the current status of the round. We discuss what they’ve been focusing on internally as a business. Finally, we discuss the term sheets that are on their way.
A few other key topics we hit on:
- Lessons from launching on ProductHunt
- How to build a campaign for ProductHunt
- Hunting for a lead investor
Related Resources:
Week 7 — The First Term Sheets
The first term sheets are in hand and the end of the raise is in sight. Jonathan joins us to discuss the term sheets he has in hand and what due diligence has been like so far. Finally, we talk through what hiring plans and projections look like once the cash is in the bank.
A few other key topics we hit on:
- Leveraging the first term sheets for urgency
- Modeling different fundraising outcomes
- Lessons from first rounds of due diligence
- Standing on the shoulders of giants
Related Resources:
- 6 Components of a VC Startup Term Sheet (Template Included)
- Navigating SaaS Partnerships as a Startup
Week 8 — Closing the Round
They did it! Jonathan and the team have wrapped up their raise and they are in the process of finishing up the round. Jonathan shares what he has learned during the raise and what is next for The Juice.
Related Resources:
Learn more about The Juice
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