Setup for Startup Fundraising

In this tutorial we’ll be covering how to set up LeadLoft for startup fundraising. 

This is a one time setup. You’ll be ready to begin investor outreach as soon as we’ve completed this tutorial. ‍

How long should this take?

You should be up and running in the next 30 minutes.

What will we be covering?

1. CRM Stages & Segments
2. Importing Investors
3. Outreach & Playbooks
4. Fundraising Workflow
5. Tips & Best Practices

Let’s dive in! 

Bookmark this page.

It’s important to bookmark this page so whenever you have any questions, you can quickly refer back to it. This will not only make your life easier but it will also accelerate how quickly you learn this set up.

1) Lead Stages & Segments

Recommended Lead Segments

You can edit them here.

1. Lead VCs
2. VCs
3. Angels
4. Request Warm Intro

Recommended Lead Stages

You can edit them here.

For this setup, we recommend the below Lead Stages.

1. New
2. Potential
3. Interested
4. Won
5. Keep Updated
6. Not Interested
7. No Response 
8. Bad Fit

Recommended Deal Stages

For this setup, we recommend not using deal stages. You're likely a busy founders so we believe it's best to keep things as simple as possible.

2) Importing Investors

Importing investors is extremely important. It usually is a list of your most valuable connections. So we made a video specifically for it. Watch it below. 

‍

Click here to download a .csv file of the import template.

4) Outreach & Playbooks

Next, we’ll be covering how to automate outreach. In this set up, we recommend having 2 Playbooks built out to start. If you need help writing the copy, we recommend downloading our templates here. 

You can create and edit your Playbooks here.

Playbook #1: Outreach

Use: Used to engage website form submissions and other lead form submissions from digital ads and popups. 

1. Automated Email: Book a Meeting
2. After 7 days - Automated Email: Book a Meeting
3. After 7 days - Automated Email: Send Pitch Deck
4. After 7 Days - Automated Connect - Ask for Interest
5. After 7 Days - Automated Message - Check back for Interest

Playbook #2: Follow Up

Use: Used to add companies who need to be followed up with.

1. Automated Email: Check In
2. After 7 days - Automated Email: Check In
3. After 7 days - Automated Email: Check In - Share a New Feature or Case Study
4. After 14 days - Automated Email: Check In

Playbook #3: Monthly Update

Use: Used to keep investors updated.

1. Automated Email: Send Update

5) Your Fundraising Workflow

Building your team’s sales workflow within LeadLoft is super easy. You simply outline the stages at which you want to engage leads and simply follow the steps. 

This is the workflow we recommend:

Workflow Step 1: New

Overview: This step shows you all of your leads who are marked “New”. This is any investor who has not been contacted. 

Workflow Step 2: Engaging

Overview: This step shows you all of the investors you are actively "Engaging".

Workflow Step 3: Potential

Overview: This step shows you all of the investor leads that you need to follow up with. In most cases, this is any investor who expressed interest or has been sent a pitch deck but you have not yet booked a meeting with them. 

Workflow Step 4: Interested

Overview: This step is your most important. It shows you all of your most interested investor leads that you need to follow up with. In most cases, this is any investor who you've met with and is moving the conversation forwards. 

Workflow Step 5: Keep Updated

Overview: Whenever an investor says to keep them updated, I recommend updating the lead stage to “Keep Updated”. Whenever you have new revenue, product, or fundraising updates, you can blast this list of investors with your new update or use them to follow on once you've received your first term sheet. 

Workflow Step 6: Won

Overview: This shows you all leads where 1 or more investments have been made into your company. 

6) Tips & Best Practices

More coming on this soon!

Wrapping Up

This is our recommended fundraising process. If you want to run a tight fundraising process, this is as close as you can get. 

We understand that this can be daunting if you’ve never run sales but jump in and give it a go. Within a week, we guarantee you’ll be an expert and better yet, you’ll know how to run an effective sales process when it’s time to scale revenue. If you’d like our help setting this process up, simply sign up for LeadLoft here, and our team will be in touch within 24 hours to help you out.