MIT Entrepreneurship and Maker Skills Integrator

Fundraising 101 for hardware startupsJanuary 16, 2017

Stages: Angel, Seed, A/B/C…

2Source:FundersandFounders

3

SOUL DESTROYING PROCESS

Do’s and Dont’sDO• When you raise, you raise.

When you are done raising, focus on the biz.

• Practice milestone based fund raising.

• Raise more than you think you need.

• Choose your investors carefully. Have they invested in companies like yours?

4

DON’T• Trickle fund-raise (your soul

will be destroyed)• Take coffee with VCs when

you are not ready to pitch (you are new once)

• Ask for $15M in your first 60s elevator pitch with a VC• 1 min >> 15 min >> 45 min >>

partner meeting etc

Example fund raising history: Fitbit (Consumer electronics in health and wellness)

5Source:Crunchbase

Founded in 2007

$66M total in 7y

IPO 2015

Example fund raising history: Rethink Robotics (Industrial Automation)

6Source:Crunchbase

Founded in 2008

$131.52M total in 9y

Too soon to tell

Is this a good seed stage VC for you?

7

How about this other one?

8

Or this one?

9

The role of crowdfunding: Cynthia’s story

10

$2.6M+

Resources• Rob go on how to raise a seed round

http://nextviewventures.com/blog/how-to-raise-seed-capital/

• Donna Levin’s January 2016 talk on fund raising (see Google Drive)

• Trust Center: FAQ section on fund raising

11

End

Questions?

12