I make Pre-Seed to Series B founders successfully fundraise by helping you build your fundraising operating system. | $350m+ raised with founders. | Follow me for tips on fundraising.

I have spent the last 10 years trying to find the "secret" sauce to making you fundraise for your company.

And you know what?

There's no secret. 

It’s just a matter of having: 

- The right preparation & processes
- A clear and concise narrative & storytelling
- Structured relationships built over a long period 

The real "secret", if there's any at all, is that you need to build a system around your fundraise to make sure you do the proper work.

A system means that allows you to: 

- Efficiently build the right relationships with investors and connectors
- Influence investors that YOU are a good bet
- Take them through your process in an efficient manner 

All the while keeping accountability of you doing the boring but important stuff.

During the $400m+ in venture funding I have been a part of, I was able to meet best-in-class  entrepreneurs. 

Some of these entrepreneurs have gone on to raise $100M+ in fundraising each. ​

All of them possessed operating systems for the fundraises. 

I’ve built such a system for fundraising founders. 

And I can help you build yours. 

But as with all things, getting started, maintaining consistency and keeping accountability is easier said than done.

The founders I have helped with their fundraises have gone on to raise $250M+. 

...And I'm doing all of this with a 100% MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE.

Now, are you serious about building fundraising for your startup? 

Let's make it happen.

(I CAN'T HELP YOU IF YOU HAVE ALREADY STARTED YOUR FUNDRAISE). 

👉🏼 Shoot me a DM, or head over to my featured section & check out our offer.

I'll see you at the top!

Gian Seehra

A paid “intro service” just cold-DM’d me… 


asking if I invest.

I don’t.

And a 10-second look at my profile makes that obvious.

You can see the message down below after I asked why they connected with me. 

This is why you should be careful paying for “VC intros”:

𝟭) 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝟱𝟬𝟬 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀

If they did, they wouldn’t be spraying DMs at random people.

𝟮) 𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 “𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝘀” 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗺 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱

You’re not getting "warm" relationships as much as they pretend. 

They will just spam you out in the hopes someone bites. 

𝟯) 𝗜𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗵𝘂𝗿𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴

Investors can smell mass outreach instantly.

Even if you get a call they will think you are desperate and think less of you. 

-

Think about it:

Someone paid this firm to “open doors”…
…and they’re knocking on mine.

So if you’re raising, do this instead:

1. Build a clean target list (100+ funds)
2. Get real warm paths (operators, founders, experts)
3. Send thoughtful, specific outreach
4. Give more than you take 
5. Only then ask for potential intros 

Stop paying for “intros.”

Because they don't work. 

Instead, pay with effort. With work. 
Just like the top 1% of founders do.

What do you think of "paid for" intros? 

P.S. Some paid for intros actually can work btw, but ~5% of the people doing it are like that. And you have no way of knowing who is good or bad. Most are spamming like this!

Failed 2 fundraises. Then raised $16M. Now I teach founders everything I wish I’d known. | Ex-Octopus Ventures VC | $250M+ raised with founders | DM “RAISE” to chat

In 2018, I met a seed-stage company that I was excited about. 

The founders had: 

1. Previously built an app with 1 million users
2. Now building a high potential company 
3. Already hired amazing people  

I was hooked with the new company's vision. 

And believed that they had the potential to be truly game-changing. 

In fact, I still do... 

On paper, everything looked great. 

They were:

• Experienced founders
• Building a great product
• Targeting a large market
• And a track record of growth

But then it all came crumbling down. 

Why? 

Because we never actually met the CEO... 

3 meetings down and he kept saying he was too busy. 

How could we invest into a company when we hadn’t even met the leader? 

We decided not to waste our time and rejected the company in the end. 

This is why its so important to make sure its always the CEO conducting the first few meetings. 

Even if you think someone else may be better at telling the story.

♻️ Repost is you think this can be helpful to other founders

-- 
P.S. Wondering if pictures like below are useful or not. Yay or nay on them? 

#entrepreneurship #startups #venturecapital

A “3-week raise” is real. It just starts 3 months earlier.

Because the “fast raise” isn't something that just 𝗽𝗼𝗼𝗳𝘀 out of thin air...

What it usually looks like in the wild:

1. Over 3–6 months, the market starts leaning in.
2. Multiple "random" signals to investors. 
3. Experts telling them you are one to watch. 
4. Other founders mentioning you. 
5. VCs starting to keep you on track. 

Those investors are watching (even if you don’t realize).

They’ve seen enough cycles to know the pattern:

Great founders execute… repeatedly… over time.

So by the time you “start the raise,” you’re not having to introducing yourself.

But instead just giving them a moment to act. 

RIGHT NOW. 

That’s where speed comes from:

𝗙𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆
You’ve been in their orbit long enough that they are starting to believe you can do it. 

𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝗳 𝗲𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
They've seen you execute so well they know this is the last chance to invest. 

𝗣𝗿𝗲-𝗲𝗺𝗽𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲
A few investors don’t want to “wait and see” anymore, so they try to get in early.

Then one thing happens that changes everything:

A credible investor moves first.
A first term sheet (or a clear lead signal) hits the table.

And now the dynamic flips:

Now you're "hot" and everyone wants in. 

That’s how a "3-week raise" actually happens:

Not from waking up one day and “running a process.”

But from months (sometimes years) of compounding execution + investor awareness. 

Things you need to be spending every day doing. 

Now if you want to learn what the 5 mistakes every founder makes thats making them fail their fundraises. 

Comment "MISTAKE" and i'll send it over.

My friend had the perfect CV, yet still got zero jobs. 

And it was due to 1 simple reason: 

My friend had everything going for him: 

1. Incredible track record 
2. High-level roles 
3. Clear results

So he assumed getting a job would be easy.

But after 6–7 months of applying online, he had 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. 

He was burning time, burning savings, burning confidence. 

Why did this happen? 

Because he was applying 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘥. 

His resume got buried with 200+ others. 
All trying to do the exact same thing. 

Yet when he decided to get respected people to introduce him to hiring managers... 

Everything changed! 

And he was hired within a month. 

Does that sound familiar to you? 

Because founders do the same thing in fundraising. 

You are: 

1. Cold emailing decks
2. Spamming on linkedin dms
3. Submitting through portals…

And wondering why you’re not getting real meetings.

The truth is because its very much like hiring. 

If you aren't leveraging someone else's social capital via warm intros.

Then your pitch deck gets put at the bottom of the pile. 

So don't be like every founder. 

It's not going to work.

How are you making sure you get enough investor meetings? 

P.S. Wanna learn how to get 100+ warm intros consistently in your funding round? Then DM me "NETWORK" and I'll send you more info.

Executive Chair - PatientSource Ltd l Founder - AngelThink l Startup Adviser/Mentor/Coach l Author - 'AngelThink' l Tech Angel.

Most founders can’t raise. Most founders can’t scale. Most founders fail. One in a hundred get to exit. Facts. Don’t be like most founders. 

You have to ask yourself – have you got ‘being exceptional’ in you? 

Only 4% of US companies surpass $1m annual revenue. A founder / founding team that scales successfully has cracked the connection between idea / solution, market, personal strengths and ability to execute. In my experience, founders concentrate too much on idea or product features and neglect scaling processes and their own self-development. Why is that? Too busy? Because it’s uncomfortable? Because they’re not as hungry as they need to be?  

I work closely with a handful of founders on their growth journey – the ones that really want to become exceptional. Support, challenge, provocation, learning. Whatever it takes to move you forward. 
My exact role is negotiable – but will almost always include goal clarity / growth aspirations, finding your strengths and accountability partnering. 

For startup success, I believe there is: 

-  no more crucial founder attribute than your determination
-  no finer obsession than giving value to customers
-  no other commitment more critical than your relentlessness
-  no more important aspiration than looking like a winner
-  no better image to have clear in your head than your vision
-  no mission more important than what you want to happen in the world
-  no more effective endeavour to follow than building an exceptional team
-  no greater use of time every day than building momentum


I've over 17 years of working with companies that put scaling first. 
Feel free to DM me. Opt in only if this is what you really want. Don't be like most founders.

OK - book plug. AngelThink was just the start - helping fundraising founders see the world through an investor's eyes. Highly acclaimed.  Read the reviews!

Paperback here: https://www.browndogbooks.uk/products/angelthink-phil-mcsweeney. 
Kindle here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/AngelThink-founders-guide-business-angels/dp/1839525371/ref=sr_1_1?crid=DANXPMUS0KAQ&keywords=angelthink&qid=1665354662&sprefix=%2Caps%2C52&sr=8-1
Also on Amazon.com and Amazon.In

Known to invest - tell me why you're exceptional.

Phil McSweeney

Some say a great way to help get over failure is to think how far you've come. 
I've only been made redundant once. I was a corporate level Director, top of my game. I was every emotion all at once - angry, depressed, betrayed, all of it.

I sat at home a few months, bruised. Wretched on a bad day. 

But I had assets I didn't know I had. A strong family. Good friends. Connections. Someone led me into contractor work. It was like panning for gold for a few years. 

Meanwhile, I started to properly use my executive coaching skills with founders I met at angel groups.

I discovered positive psychology - explored the importance of happiness and strength-building. CoachPositive Ltd was born. 

I tried writing novels. Getting published was hard - but I developed a love of storytelling, and connected that with my coaching / mentoring work. Such a key skill for founders.

I'd been angel-investing for over 10 years when lockdown arrived. Lots of meetings were off, so I wrote AngelThink to capture a lot of insights into what fundraising founders were getting wrong (and still are). 

I could have quit. Could have retired. Hard to do when you love what you're doing and you're sure you can still make a difference. Onward and upward.

(picture shows my wife and I at our 40th wedding anniversary party with close friends 2 years ago).

I make startups GROW! Growth Mentor/Coach /Advisory /Tech Angel. Creating exceptional companies with exceptional founders.

That feeling you get when you come out of a panel discussion about startups and no-one has mentioned founder investability.

I’ve spoken to innumerable VCs and they all say much the same – they might love the idea and everything about it – but 60% or even 80% of their decision is made on the founder.

The panel talks about the usual stuff – validation, traction, go to market, etc. and the tech, and the features and product-market fit etc. The audience are being given the tablets. 
 
But no-one, I repeat no-one, acknowledges in public that if you want to build a rocket you have to have an astronaut. 

The panel has a VC member on it. It has someone who runs an angel group. 
Founders are not being helped by blinkered perspectives of what’s needed for success in fundraising – that investors are backing a person who has assembled a team they can’t afford with the promise of some future gain and they need to trust that he or she can execute on the promise. The founder needs to compel!

It’s not rocket science, is it. Of course, the pain / problem / solution / financial projections etc. matter, but someone has to show the absolute relentlessness to build it. That’s the biggest risk that investors are underwriting. That's what will drive ROI. 

Let’s tell the truth about what these decisions actually involve and help founders get better prepared to show their edge.

The founders always get the blame. 
“Sorry, you’re uninvestable.” 
And you think it’s your fault.

Many founders aren’t investable - for a host of reasons. No traction, no PMF, no GTM, no financial projections that stack up. 

But I’m not dwelling on that here. 

It’s the startup system – the ‘startupland’ circus - that often tells all these founders to start a company and misleads them into what ‘investable’ means. Investable means that you, emphasis on YOU, are going to deliver ROI. It means you know what that means for investors and, more importantly, for yourself. You can convince them you know how.

Some reasons for failing lie squarely with founders - like building a product no one wants, like kidding yourself that you should build it because that’s what your ego wants, like not knowing what to do with the funds even if you got them. 

But we don’t talk about the double standards - when the system says you need to present like ‘this’ but actually what it’s looking for is ‘that’. 

‘This’ means polished pitchdecks and knowing your financials. Essentially the universal entry ticket that doesn’t make you investable at all. 

‘That’ means knowing what compels investors to take a more detailed look at you - telling a compelling story, creating trust, having the right mindset, behaving like a winner (showing winning attributes like unshakable self-belief, courage, grit, and passion). Finding your edge.

The system invariably fails to set out for you what an exceptional entrepreneur needs to exhibit. It invariably misleads. 

So don’t go believing it’s all your fault. You’re being set a test that no-one tells you what the right answer is. And many people don’t even know what it is either - it’s just easier to label you. 

My advice? Grab yourself a coffee and dip into AngelThink.

Let's stop pretending this entrepreneurship thing is a mystery.
I don’t do spells and magic formulas and (big reveal) - a playbook.
After decades of watching entrepreneurs succeed and fail, the ‘formula’ to entrepreneurship isn't a secret.

It's getting seven things right - consistently. 

Most founders can deliver on three or four. Only the rare ones can get all seven to collide, i.e. not quite so rarely as a planetary parade (visible this month apparently) but pretty rare.

Read on - find out which of the seven you need to get right. 

And do share the 'secrets' with other founders by reposting.

Thanks. 

(How well did you do?)

PLEASE can we stop pretending this entrepreneurship thing is a secret. I don’t do spells and magic formulas and (big reveal) - a playbook. After decad

Open article: The seven not-so-secret secrets about entrepreneurship. by Phil McSweeney • 3 min read

The seven not-so-secret secrets about entrepreneurship.

I have a dilemma. 
I’ve been sent a pitchdeck. TBH I think it’s, well... 
dire. 

I said I wasn’t looking for investment but it was in a sector I’m interested in so I’d take a look. 

There’s a bit of gentle FOMO too – 30% of the round has gone already.
 
There’s so much needs putting right. So much I haven’t got a clue on – even who the customer is, who will pay, how, what and why? 

Validation absent.

The TAM is the size of Saturn and I can’t see most of the constituents being interested at all. 

The language is too complex.

I’ve not been asked for feedback (yet) and part of me prays I don’t get asked, and yet part of me says I should give it regardless.

Should I find the time? Should I risk an unwelcome reply?

What would you do?

We all hear voices. All the time. 
Constant chatter in our heads.
“Are you sure you want to do that?”
“It’d be safer if you just stayed in your job.”
“You’re not really cut out for that, are you?”

Every #exceptionalentrepreneur I know admits to it.

Sometimes these inner monologues are helpful – organising our thoughts, rehearsing our speeches with us, urging us on – but for some they act as a brake on our ambitions.

They’re how we hear self-doubt, imposter syndrome, our fixed mindset. 
They are the soothing balm to our comfort zone. 

We listen most to ourselves when we are telling ourselves we can or we can’t. We carry more weight than anyone else’s voice. One of Henry Ford’s well-known maxims is ‘Whether you think you can or you think you can’t – you’re right.’ It so succinctly captures your mindset. 

If we believe we can, we will more likely persist through challenges and find solutions. If we believe we can’t, we’ve already surrendered to the voices. We’ve made a negative outcome a certainty. 

Perhaps you didn’t realise your mindset has its own voice? Our demons, the monkey on our back, the millstone we carry – or our spirit, or wingman or Tinkerbell. 

If you’re going to succeed in life you need to have control of these voices. Maybe you need to shut them out, tell them to stop, they’re not helpful. Maybe you need to listen at times too – they are your instinct or gut talking to you. 

You know what it’s helpful to listen to and what not to. Just remember, you’re in control.

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The Battle

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Phil McSweeney

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Engagements

Likes

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