1 min read: Tech startup fundraising (as per David Hickson’s no-BS how to guide)

Upstream is delighted to host David Hickson, Chief Strategic Development Officer at Founders Factory on 15th April from 10-11am.

Who should attend: Tech startup, pre-series A, fundraising or going to.

About David Hickson: With 20 years experience as a veteran operator across 6 startups/scaleups, David has helped hundreds of startups with their fundraising strategies. His experience includes time at one Europe’s biggest tech-companies (lastminute.com) from its founder era to its 2005 $1.1bn exit. Since then, he has raised over $100m worth of venture/investment capital for four tech ventures. David’s written what he calls the “no-BS guide” to fundraising which he will draw on for this talk.

Here’s a whistle-stop tour to whet your appetites. Got questions that relate to your own startup and fundraising experience? Sign up to the event to get them answered.

Cash in the bank is good: So don’t be too fussy, don’t worry about ‘losing control’ (just yet) and expect to put your existing shares in a vesting schedule
Raise what you can get not what you need: Yup, you read that right. David’s rationale is that you have to deal with reality (the market) versus theory (a beautiful financial model).
Be in harmony with the market: Standardised terms and expectations are the way to go.
Where the money comes from: Be clear who can and will fund you depending on the stage of your business and whether it fits their own organisation’s criteria. David’s talk will go into this more, especially angels.
Deck the halls with:…lots of good pitches. David’s key tip: show, don’t tell.

About Founders Factory: Founders Factory is a global tech operating and investing business with a portfolio of 200+ tech companies globally, 45 of which they built from scratch. Of these,

Karakuri has raised a total of £14.5m whilst portfolio-companies like Cosmose (retail-tech), Perlego (“Spotify for textbooks”) and Previse have all raised more than £9m. The award-winning pre-seed to Series A venture studio and accelerator are currently investing in

Beauty, FinTech, Home, Healthcare, Media, Retail, Travel & Ai & Big Data. Founders Factory have received investment from leading corporates (incl. M&S, L’Oreal, EasyJet & Standard Bank) to build and invest in transformational new companies, solving global problems. Additionally, they were voted Hottest Early Stage Investor & Accelerator at The Europas 2018 & 2019.