On Tuesday, August 20, the Chicago Connectory welcomed member, Nick Moran, general partner at New Stack Ventures and founder of the 1st Venture Capital Podcast (The Full Ratchet), as he hosted a workshop on How to Raise Capital.

The workshop was focused on the strategy and the materials that every entrepreneur and startup should think about before looking for investors. Nick advised to make a list of all the cons an investor would say about your business. By doing this, you are able to identify your weaknesses and how to overcome them.

During the brainstorming session, all attendees were asked to list investor and startup driven points (product, market, etc.) that could cause their business to receive a “no” from investors. To overcome them, Nick suggested that startups ask for advice and establish solid communication between customers to show confidence to investors.

After sharing his strategy, Nick explained the importance of creating a presentation and gathering the supporting documents you will need to convince your future investor. The presentation deck will be a sales tool, and there should be two versions of it – a long and a teaser one. Both presentations should drive interest and intrigue. The narrative should be so simple that a 5^th grader could understand it. Lastly, Nick suggested to build a target list of potential investors and analyze their profiles before engaging with them.

Thank you New Stack Ventures for this great workshop. We look forward to the next one!