Another pitch, another no

So, what really is fundraising?

(If your answer is "to ask for money", leave this sacred newsletter at this instant, you heathen.)

Fundraising is much more than looking for financial support.

It's the process in which you prove, first to yourself, that you are a great investment opportunity. Only at this moment does fundraising become getting investors to discover what you've got. Then, you can BE CHASED BY THEM.

It’s not what you can offer them, but what they can offer you, ya know? 💅

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Yeah… Easier said than done, María Fernanda. Raising capital can be a very hard, long, and extremely frustrating process.

Unless your name is Jason Yeh, you founded Adamant, and presenting yourself as one of the best fundraisers in the world is not audacity because you, in fact, are.

Jason Yeh, besides being a top-tier mentor of our Explore Fellowship program – 🍒 to which, btw, you can apply here 🍒 –, has developed his own Fundraising Keys to make founders (and investors) cry less.

So far, 5 stars. And more emotionally stable fellows.

TL;DR: Jason Yeh's 4 Fundraising Keys to rule them all

1. Founder Mindset

Changing the mindset from chasing to being chased by investors requires, possibly, 4 therapy sessions. So, to help your therapist, the big questions are:

• Why are you doing this?
• Why is it important to you *insert your startup's mission statement here*?
• Why does it all matter?

(Can you feel the existential crisis coming? NICE.)

2. Investor Psychology

For Jason, investors always have to believe there is a good reason why a deal has made it to them. If there isn’t one, they'd probably think you're a bad apple.

So, dust off your sales tactics for this one:

• Do you know who are you selling your ideas to?
• Do you know what they need?

3. Killer Narrative

To sound better to investors is to run a better business. Period.

That's why you gotta work on your narrative frameworks. Nobody is funding boring, disorganized, 25-slides pitches. Huge no.

4. Preparation + Process

This key is all about building a bundled process that organically communicates to investors that you're dating all of them.

When done well, investors know that other sharks are coming, so they are not slow to say yes. This is what building advanced FOMO looks like.

Want to know how to set your own process? Then let's meet!

Jason Yeh and Latitud will be co-hosting the Fundraising Founders event next November 11th in São Paulo and we say it's time for you to take a more practical approach.

So, if you're a Brazilian founder interested in an insightful workshop day, bring all your crayons!

But, do you even go here?

All these fundraising lessons are learned by our fellows at every cohort. And this is just ONE session (very much summarized, sorry Jason.)

We have shared this piece of info with you, even if you don't go to the Super Fellows Academy with us, because you are cool. But the invitation is still open!

Come with us, let's be friends!

Applications for the 9th cohort of the Explore Fellowship Program close on November 11th. Please don't apply at 23:59h, don't be like that…

⛵ Hot News Ahoy!

Mattilda goes to school!

‍Mexican startup Mattilda raised a US$ 10M seed round led by the New York private equity fund FinTech Collective. This SaaS platform is dedicated to solving school finances in Mexico and LatAm, enabling parents to get a personalized payment link via email or WhatsApp.

Lara says you're happy

‍Argentinian startup Lara AI has closed a US$ 1.1M round to help companies improve their employee experience. Lara uses technology to detect disgruntled or at-risk employees at an early stage of departure, providing real-time information about a company's culture.

Who runs the world? Tarasa Collective

‍Our co-founder Gina Gotthilf got together with 15 female founders and investors of the region to build Tarasa Collective, a group of angel investors joining forces to invest in promising technology companies in Latin America. How badass is that?!

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-> Every time one of your friends subscribes to our Newsletter, ✨ an early-stage founder  magically stops getting frustrated with fundraising ✨ So ask them to subscribe!

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