The Startup CEO’s #1 Job

As a startup CEO, it often feels like you are responsible for everything. Product development, creating your investor pitch deck, getting customers, recruiting your team, networking, and fundraising. Entrepreneurs tell me every day that they are frustrated with the HUGE chunks of time that they spend on fundraising, and that they aren’t getting COMMITMENTS from investors.

Every single day, people and task lists battle for your time and attention. You do your best to address all of the needs, and you work ridiculous hours every day. But you still feel like it’s never enough, and that nagging fear that you’re going to run out of cash keeps popping up in your head more and more every day.

The truth is, you ARE responsible for making sure that all of those things happen. The skipper goes down with the ship as they say. So the question is, are you using a PROCESS that successful entrepreneurs already know works, or are you going to figure it out all by yourself and stay bogged down wasting time with rookie mistakes that put your entire company at risk?

You already know this, but if you run out of cash, it’s game over. If you run out of cash, none of the other stuff matters.

You can have the best idea, the best product, the best plan, the best pitch deck, the best team, but if you run out of cash none of that matters because you’re going to have to shut the company down and go do something else.

That is why the #1 JOB of the CEO is to NOT RUN OUT OF CASH.

I hate it when this happens, and I’ve seen it happen far too many times to far too many good entrepreneurs. And it is preventable.

One way to prevent the disaster of running out of cash is by recognizing that the current approach to fundraising is broken. It can cost huge chunks of time, and not give the result that you need. That nagging fear of failure can wear you down, steal your mojo, and put your entire company’s survival at risk.

I get it because I’ve been there before myself. It’s exhausting and I was so disappointed when I realized I was spending my time without a good system for more efficiently bringing cash to my business.

There is a methodical, step-by-step process for fundraising that you may not be using right now that could improve the cash outlook and spirit for your entire startup.

This solution is to manage your fundraising campaign just like any other important project on your list. Build a list, work the list. This process helped my team close over $1B in deals over the last 25 years.

Here’s how this step by step process works:

a) Find investors that you didn’t even know existed by searching in the right places

b) Stop wasting valuable time in pitch meetings with people that are probably never going to write you a check by pitching the right information only to those who are most likely to partner with you.

and c) Dramatically accelerate your fundraising process by getting to a solid yes or no from investors much faster with the right communications and approach.

Most entrepreneurs breathe a sigh of relief when they realize that here is a better way to raise money. When we take a methodical approach to the fundraising, it can end the chaos, anxiety and frustrations that sometimes happen when we approach the need for cash without a clear plan and simply begin asking everyone in our path.

Take the next step right now. Do you have your potential investors list organized in a consolidated spreadsheet or is it bouncing around in your brain and inbox? Take 15 minutes to get that list organized and reflect on who your top potential partners might be.

If that list feels small, your next step is to grow it.