Comments on: Blow-by-Blow: The First Fundraising

By: Σωκράτης Παπαφλωράτος, ζωντανά από Λονδίνο, Τρίτη 18 Μαρτίου στις 20.00 | opencoffee.gr

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 23:49:47 +0000

[...] άλλο- χρήζει το γεγονός πως η εταιρεία αποκόμισε $1Μ σε 83 ημέρες από την έναρξη λειτουργίας της, ενώ οι Times του Λονδίνου [...]

By: Πέμπτη, 29 Νοεμβρίου, 20.30: O CEO της TrustedPlaces.com στο OpenCoffee.gr, live (streaming) — opencoffee.gr

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 21:22:04 +0000

[...] του Open Coffee.H TrustedPlaces αποκόμισε χρηματοδότηση $1Μ σε 83 ημέρες από την έναρξη λειτουργίας της, ενώ οι Times του [...]

By: harryparkes

harryparkes — Thu, 17 May 2007 08:17:53 +0000

Great post, really helpful as looking to be going through a similar process soon.}

By: nivi

nivi — Tue, 08 May 2007 02:19:46 +0000

Aydin: No shops are described here http://www.burningdoor.com/askthewizard/2007/04/fundraising_no_shop_agreements.html

Adam: 4 weeks is from term sheet to closing. Fund raising can take from 1 month to forever depending on demand.}

By: adambenayoun

adambenayoun — Sun, 06 May 2007 09:07:58 +0000

i’d like to hear more stories like theses, i’d like to hear also the negative stories since we are about to raise money the next few months.}

By: sokratis

sokratis — Sun, 06 May 2007 06:39:49 +0000

Louis, Babak, thanks for the congrats. We were Howzat’s third investment and yes, things were more or less straightforward. Tricky moments did exist and that’s where having some good people to help was critical.

Babak, getting the timing with all the moving parts of the agreement was one of the hardest things. 4 weeks sounds feasible, but probably dependent on the resources you can dedicate to the deal as well. The product relaunch was quite intensive in that respect.
Great points on 1&2 – thanks.

Adam, I’ve had similar quotes in terms of timing from a number of sources as well.}

By: adambenayoun

adambenayoun — Sat, 05 May 2007 18:12:52 +0000

babak, i heard from many sources that such investments (VCs usually) can take up to 6 months.}

By: aym35

aym35 — Sat, 05 May 2007 12:51:43 +0000

Babak, what do you say to the “no shop agreement” if your investors suggest it? What is a typical strategy to use?}

By: nivi

nivi — Fri, 04 May 2007 19:35:09 +0000

Congratulations. I only skimmed the article but here are a couple thoughts:

1. I like to do as much due diligence as possible before signing a term sheet. Term sheets usually have a “no shop agreement” that prevents you from shopping the investment to other firms after you sign the term sheet. If there is still due diligence to do, your investors have too much leverage during the diligence process.

2. It seems like you had no competition for the investment. It shouldn’t take two months to go from term sheet to cash in the bank (although anything is possible with a corporate investor). It should take under 4 weeks. It have seen it done in 2 weeks — although that is really out of the ordinary. Competition and alternatives keep the pressure on your investors and move things along.}

By: ideatagger

ideatagger — Fri, 04 May 2007 19:00:49 +0000

Very useful insight. Congratulations on getting funded. Reads like there were a few tricky moments but generally straightforward once the ball really got rolling. Were you Howzat’s first funding?}