Fundraising Strategy

Pitch planning, mock pitches, rejection handling, outreach strategy, investor research, and investor introductions.

The first two decades of the 21st century have revolutionized both the access to and dissemination of money. What was historically referred to as the art of raising capital has slowly begun to seem more like a science of raising capital. Internet connectivity, crowdfunding, remote work, and growing global support to tech-powered entrepreneurship (thanks to Silicon Valley) all have contributed to the availability of a myriad set of avenues to source money to fund an organization’s finances. Whether it is Venture Capital, Debt Financing, Private Equity, or a more traditional bank-loan, fundraising is often one of the most important activities in an organization’s lifecycle. Increasingly, it is a recurring activity, in some cases more than once a year.

Preparing to attract capital can be (and arguably should be) a comprehensive and intense activity. Planning for the right amount, from the right people, for the right reasons, at the right time, and in the right manner, is paramount to success. In other words, fundraising, like any major undertaking, is an optimization exercise, and suboptimal choices in any one of these attributes can spell doom for an organization, and quickly.

We at HKMC have lived through successful fundraisers, and through not-so-successful ones. We helped nonprofits raise money, led tech startups in raising money, negotiated terms for venture debt and government funding, and witnessed processes for getting government grants globally. We have been part of organizations that raised over $1 Billion collectivley in various stages of financing from some of the most venerable financing institutions in Silicon Valley. Our stories, lessons, approaches, and tips are ready for our clients, whenever and however they can help surface rightly optimized capital for their organizations.

“I believe that people make their own luck by great preparation and good strategy.” Jack Canfield