Startup founders: Keep your cool to raise capital

To raise capital you need to keep your cool and be strong when facing investors. Using cold outreach to consistently get into meetings with qualified investors will help you with that. 

Raising capital for an early startup requires mental strength. Most founders go through wild ups and downs, big dreams and hopes along with disappointments and strife. On your way to the investors you want, the ones that support you with capital and beyond, you will likely meet investors who will doubt you, reject you, shatter your confidence, raise your hopes only to disappear and ghost you, the list goes on. 

When financial pressure rises, and your funds start depleting, there is the risk of going into a downward spiral. Another rejection becomes another blow to your ego, and you feel like you’re sinking. Losing your spark and optimism, stepping into a meeting with an investor without your fullest confidence and inner strength, your chances of winning that investor over diminished. Next, you might start looking for excuses to avoid meeting investors or shunning away from meeting investors when you feel doubt as to how they will respond to your pitch. 

To stop going down that slope, you must maintain your mental strength and your confidence in yourself and your vision. 

Surely, you know you should always maintain your mental health and well-being; spend time with people you love and who appreciate you; exercise; read and learn; find inspiration in the greatness of others around you; eat well; and everything else you need to do to keep yourself mentally fit. 

On top of that, you should also keep reaching out to investors. Knowing that you will keep meeting qualified investors puts things in perspective. Each investor meeting is important, but it isn’t crucial. You’ll meet another investor tomorrow, and you will use what you learned from your meeting today to increase your chances of success with the next one. If it goes well, great. If it doesn’t, you just move on. There was no intro so you don’t need to explain or report to anyone, just move ahead and prepare for your next meeting with the next investor, till you find the ones that will believe in you, join you and support you on the way to bringing your vision to life.