How to put together a syndicate of investors for your seed round

http://robgo.org/2012/03/05/constructing-your-seed-round-syndicate/
shared by damienarlabosse on Mar 6, 2012 @16:15:00 (1 year, 2 months ago)

One area of fundraising that is not that straightforward is how to put together a syndicate of investors for your seed round.

Understand the difference between and a lead and a follower.

Get soft-commitments early.

Fill in the round with value-added followers.

Here’s how I see a typical (if there is such a thing) fundraise shaping up for a $800K seed round:

Phase 1: Talk to leads and angels that know you. Get ~$150K of soft commitments from good folks who know you (hopefully fast)

Phase 2: Close your lead. Get ~$400K from the lead and set terms for everyone else. (could take weeks or over a month)

Phase 3: Fill in the rest. Maybe with $150K from another seed investor, and $100K from 3 angels that are directly relevant to what you are building (hopefully fast).