The 240 Days to Raise Finale; Everything I've learned Over 8 Months of Fundraising
A recap of everything I've learned about fundraising as a solo founder fundraising in 2024
Hey there 👋🏾,
First of all, thank you for bearing with me as this newsletter is a week late! I was hit by another bug last week but managed to shake it off.
After 8 long months of shedding light on my fundraising journey, we’re now at the end of the road. So, this will be my last fundraising recap for now.
Before we get into it, I’d just like to say thank you for all of your support over the past few months. Fundraising in this market has been tough, but it’s been an incredible experience to do this publicly and receive so much support from different people.
That said, I hope you’ve enjoyed these updates as much as I’ve loved sharing them.
💰 So, did you close the round in 240 days?
While I would have loved to close the round in time — because who doesn’t want the fairy tale ending? 😄 — it didn’t quite work out that way. I’ve had to change my strategy several times from targeting different types of investors, making changes to the amount we’re raising and shifting some of my attention to grants.
It has definitely been a tough market to raise in. But it’s made me a better and more strategic founder, and I wouldn’t be in the position to build and grow right now had I not gone down this path. So, for that, I’m incredibly grateful.
As this is the last of my fundraising recap newsletters, today I’ll give an overview of the following:
Wins🏅: Our biggest wins
Losses🤕: The loss that hit me the hardest (and several times)
Lessons💡: 6x lessons I’ll never forget
Next: What’s the plan for Mane Hook-Up now
Tools 📚 : Tools that will have a permanent place in my toolkit
To all the founders out there who are fundraising (or thinking about it), I hope everything below helps!
WHAT'S HAPPENING WITH THE NEWSLETTER? I'll continue to send the bi-weekly episodes of The Raise out every Tuesday morning and will let you know if I decide to kick-start another newsletter about building in public further down the line. 🏅 The Wins
WIN 1️⃣: We have commitments from 3x Angels and we’re still in conversations with others
Getting our first Angel investors has been the most significant win.
I originally planned to channel most of my energy into targeting Angel investors, and the conversations I’ve had with VCs (from micro to large funds) has confirmed that this is the best path for us to go down.
The additional support that we’ve gained from Angels who are heavily invested in our industry and the problem we’re solving means everything and, given the stage that the business is at, I believe that Angels will offer us the network and expertise that we need to continue building our community in the textured hair world.
It has been eye-opening to see how so many Angel investors have different processes to identify and vet the start-ups they interact with. I’ve been through it all from completing forms to having one conversation and getting a yes. It really does vary.
But, if you’re a pre-seed Founder who is considering raising, don’t forget to also speak to your family and friends about joining the round. It’s not always an easy ask, but it is worthwhile. If your nearest and dearest are prepared to back you, that’s a green flag to Angel investors too 😉.
P.S. Shout-out to Haley Bryant for becoming our first Angel in January! You have been nothing but a joy to work with and an incredible support system. We’re so lucky to have you.
TIP FOR MANAGING RELATIONSHIPS WITH ANGELS: Don't be afraid to ask your Angel investors questions and open up about what's happening in the business (good and bad). The quality of their advice and support depends on how open you're prepared to be with them. WIN 2️⃣: We have a fully formed team — 4x new advisors, a Head of Product and Technical Support
Having the right people on the team is everything. Not just for the sake of gaining investment, but also for the trajectory of the business. By sharing our fundraising journey publicly, I’ve been introduced to many people that, otherwise, I just wouldn’t have met.
One of the most valuable wins we have gained from all of our warm introductions has been building a solid team. Before kick-starting the 240 Days newsletter, the team was made up of myself and 3x amazing industry advisors who have decades of experience in the textured hair industry. Now, we also have:
An advisor who is a 2x time founder and has raised millions
Another founder, who built and sold a beauty booking platform for mobile hair stylists in the UK
An advisor who sits on the board of one of the world’s biggest Black hair and skin care brands
An engineering advisor who has decades of experience in start-ups and marketplaces
A head of product who has been building and scaling start-ups from 0-1
Given that investors of early-stage start-ups spend as much time looking at the team as they do the product, I know that we’re in a much better position now than we were all the way back in October of last year.
TIP FOR BUILDING YOUR ADVISORY TEAM: Think of your advisors as a sports team. Each person plays a different position, and you need to consider covering your blind spots when you're onboarding new people. It's great to have industry leaders, but also consider the functions that each person is in (e.g. sales, marketing and product). This will help you to build an A-star team. WIN 3️⃣: We found new opportunities to grow via events and content🎙️
Even though fundraising is a full-time job, that doesn’t mean that I could afford to let the product or marketing slip. Given I spent the first three months heads down and in the weeds of relationship-building with investors, I promised myself that in 2024, there would be a better balance between building our audience and improving the product as well.
That decision led to some major changes in our strategy, and we’ve managed to:
Co-host our very first in-person event and start building a micro-community of customers and stylists.
Launch The Mane Cut Podcast by speaking to 10x celebrity textured hair stylists, to answer the many questions that our community has about hair care & building a business.
Run a monthly AMA session with celebrity hair stylist Kya Bilal so that stylists and customers alike can get their hair care questions answered in real-time.
All of which have provided us with more face-time with our community, and helped us to gain a better understanding of what we need to do to solve their problems. Plus, all of the above has provided us with some impressive updates to share with investors.
TIPS FOR INVESTOR UPDATES: Use these monthly updates as a chance to share more than just stats. If you've run an event, grown your community or established relationships with industry leaders, those are all updates worth sharing. Remember to share the things that carry weight and demonstrate the value that your business is providing. WIN 4️⃣: Built my network and have a community of support that wasn’t really there before 🤖
It takes a village to get a business up and running.
As a founder, there are moments I need support, an introduction or even just a minute to vent when things feel rough. Going through the fundraising process hasn’t just helped me to be more transparent about the ups and downs that typically happen when running a business, it has also helped me to build a solid network of people I can rely on.
Founders and investors, alike, have been incredibly supportive, offering more advice and connections than I can count. In the most recent episode of The Raise, Tom spoke about the importance of building a network (he even up and moved to the States to make sure his network is rock solid).
Invest time in getting to know people within your industry and be prepared to offer some of your time and connections to help others. It’s all swings and roundabouts, eventually, the energy that you’ve put into others will come back to you.
TIP FOR BUILDING YOUR TRIBE: Look for Founders in your industry to speak to and collaborate with as well as investors to build a relationships with. There are a lot of industries that are cliquey, so finding a group of people that you can both learn from and support, will play a massive role in getting you to the next stage. Is this helpful? Share the 240 Days newsletter with your community.
🤕 The L that hit me the hardest
LOSS 😩: Burnout kicked in five times in 8 months
It’s fair to say that burnout is inevitable when you’re building and fundraising at the same time. Couple that with an “I won’t stop until this is done” personality type and you have a recipe for multiple rounds of burnout 😅. Having been through this several times past 8 months, it has taught me a thing or two about myself and how to prevent this from happening.
I often feel like there’s no time for rest when there are so many things that have to be done (not to mention, I don’t want to be a bottleneck to my team). That leads to early mornings, late nights and weeks on end without taking a day off. As a result, I was going through burnout every 8-10 weeks.
But, I’ve learned that rest is essential to bring the best version of myself to the table. I’m no use to myself or anyone else on the team if I’m too exhausted, stressed or sick to make decisions. So, I now plan my time off a few months ahead to make sure it’s embedded within my routine. One of my best friends kindly reminded me that people have 25-30 days of holiday a year, so I need to schedule that time into my calendar to make sure I rest and recharge.
So, this is a reminder to all Founders (fundraising or not), to prioritise your rest. It’s just as important as all of the work that needs to be done.
TIPS FOR FOUNDERS WHO NEED A BREAK: People typically have 25 days of holiday a year. That works out to 2 days of holiday a month. Take your time off and enjoy it. Your mind and body will always thank you for it.💡 The lessons
Quote of the week
“Be stubborn on vision but flexible on details.”
— Steve Johnson
LESSON 👩🏾🏫: There is no direct correlation between input and output in fundraising
We are often taught that, the harder we work, the more likely we are to succeed at something (or, for it to eventually work out as we planned).
Fundraising isn’t quite like that. You can put in a tonne of effort and have next to no calls booked, and then you can take the foot off the gas and have warm intros or investors reaching out in abundance. Commitments can fall through and people who said no can change their mind and eventually say yes.
It’s definitely not a linear journey, and that essentially goes against everything that we’ve been taught since childhood.
This reality check makes it challenging to navigate through the fundraising experience to begin with. While this is easier said than done, it’s really important to not take the negatives personally and get to a point where you take seemingly bad news like water off a duck’s back.
Fundraising is a game and a sales process. In this climate, the game is harder than it has been before and the process is longer. Go into the process with the vision of walking out with the right investors, and you will have the level of patience and tenacity that you need to get through it.
DON'T LET NO'S DERAIL YOU: It's easy to fall into the trap of blaming yourself for not working hard enough when the no's roll in. Remember this is part of the game and 'no' doesn't always mean work harder. Sometimes it means be smarter, more specific and fine tune your messaging. So, resist the urge to go into hyperdrive.LESSON 👩🏾🏫: Not all investors will have your best interests at heart
This doesn’t mean that all investors are out to steal your idea or cause you a problem (I personally had more positive than negative experiences when speaking to them). It just means that, like all people, they have an agenda and outcomes of their own to fulfil, and they won’t always align with yours.
The best investors will give you a quick no (even better if it comes with a reason). But, on the other end of the spectrum, there are investors who know it’s a no before they get on a call, yet they’ll still take it. Some will even soft-commit and then withdraw. There are moments where your time will be wasted so it’s really important to protect it as much as possible by setting your boundaries. Whether this is a time limit — to make sure conversations don’t stretch on for months on end — or asking the right questions, do what you need to do to make sure you’re channelling energy into conversations that have a higher chance of being fruitful.
There are some questions that I’ve engrained into my routine, like:
What are the next steps in your process?
Are you actively investing?
What are your initial thoughts?
How would you like to proceed?
Should we have a follow-up meeting on X day at Y time?
Asking the right questions upfront can save you a tonne of time and headaches further down the line. So, don’t be afraid to ask because you deserve to protect your time too.
THE POWER IMBALANCE BETWEEN FOUNDERS AND INVESTORS CAN BE CHALLENGING: Investor conversations are tiring (even if the people are nice) and Founders are typically speaking to investors when they're in a stressful place. That means they often feel obliged to bend over backwards even when an investor is wasting their time or dragging conversations along. Remember, it's OK to say, actually 'let's speak again when you feel more comfortable with moving to the next steps' and leaving the ball in their court. You don't have to keep chasing if they aren't biting. Save your time and energy for something far more pressing (like speaking to customers or an investor that's showing genuine interest). LESSON 👩🏾🏫: If I’m not speaking to customers, investors or building the product, it is not worth my time
At the beginning of my fundraising journey, I was doing everything from looking for investor details to creating email automations, running our social media accounts and more.
In short, I was acting as if I had 36-hour days and missing out or outright not completing the most important tasks that would help the business to flourish OR allow us to get closer to closing the funding round.
After a few weeks of peddling away, I realised that my time was being spent on the things that weren’t important, leaving me with less headspace for all the right things, like:
Speaking to customers: allows me to build up a bank of ways to better serve the textured hair community.
Speaking to investors: to learn what they expect from Founders and start-ups of a certain stage.
Building the product: to measure how effectively we are building Mane Hook-Up and make sure we have interesting things to share with investors and the team.
That said, I have learned that, if I’m not doing any of the above, then it needs to be handed over to someone else on my team (or a freelancer). Time is the most precious resource and it’s the only one that you can’t get back.
WHY SAYING NO WILL HELP YOU SAY YES TO THE RIGHT THINGS: No doesn't mean never, it means not now. It can be a struggle to say no when you want to help people as much as possible, but it will save you from wasting time on tasks that should be handed over to someone else. LESSON 👩🏾🏫: Angel Syndicates are harder to crack than you might think
Late last year, I learned that Angel investors often band together to invest in businesses that they believe in. A friend of mine then shared a map with the details of almost every Angel Syndicate in the world, giving me a chance to double down and complete applications for the ones I considered a great fit.
As I mentioned above, I genuinely believe that Angels are often the best type of investors for founders to approach initially. Especially if they understand and are heavily connected to the industry you operate in.
But, after completing 40-odd applications for these syndicates and making it through the process for 4x of them, I can honestly say that (while Syndicates are appealing), they are no easier than any other investment process.
Here’s a brief summary of what I found:
The application process is often thorough, but you can re-purpose answers so you don’t have to start all over again.
There are platforms that Syndicates use to receive applications (register for them).
You stand a better chance of making it through the application process IF you can be referred by an Angel within the syndicate.
The one thing I did find, is that Angel Syndicates are more likely to give you an answer (e.g. let you know that they are/aren’t interested) as there’s a thorough application process. Plus, they do give you access to a wider pool of people to speak to and potentially collect feedback from.
P.S. Here’s the post I wrote with a link to the map!
WHERE TO FIND ANGEL SYNDICATES ONLINE: There are platforms you can use to find and complete Angel Syndicate applications. Take a look at Gust and Dealum, both platforms open the door to Syndicates around the world that you can connect with. LESSON 👩🏾🏫: It is worth doing cold outreach, but make sure it’s targeted enough
For the past 8 months, I have set up hundreds of cold email automations with the hopes of reaching investors who are both a good fit and genuinely interested in Mane Hook-Up.
These automations helped me to book countless calls, increase my investors update email list to 100+ people, as well as find 2x advisors and 2x investors.
But it wasn’t all bliss, at the beginning my content was strong but my targeting wasn’t. My luck with automations started to change when I, a) started targeting investors who live in countries where this issue Mane Hook-Up solves is felt quite strongly and b) targeted people who work in the Black hair industry.
As I narrowed down my outreach, the better the results were. While a lot of people will say that cold outreach doesn’t work, I disagree. It can work when you write a compelling message and you reach out to the people who understand the industry that you’re operating in.
I suggest you take the time to do your research before kick-starting any cold outreach. And, most importantly, learn how to write a compelling email.
LEARN HOW TO WRITE COLD OUTREACH EMAILs: Even if you target the right people, you won't book any calls if you don't know how to write a compelling cold email. Here are some good examples: Mailsuite, Streak and Open VC.LESSON 👩🏾🏫: Listen to all of the feedback that people give you because one small change can make a huge difference
Plenty of people in your circle will want to help while you’re fundraising, and a lot of that help will come in the form of feedback — which can feel overwhelming at times.
But, every time I gathered feedback and applied it to my deck, pitch or fundraising process, I started to work my way further down the funnel and got closer to securing investors. Not to mention, the most valuable feedback often came from active investors or those who work closely with them.
These conversations aren’t easy. It can feel painful to have someone pick apart your work. But there’s more value in letting go of your idea of what should work when it comes to fundraising and accepting what investors and founders tell you definitely does the job.
That said, I’ve learned that applying any investor-related feedback is always valuable. It would be impossible to apply every bit of feedback you hear (not to mention you’d end up being pulled in 1,000 directions), so learning how to distil that information and apply the best of it is a skill that every founder has to learn.
HOW TO APPLY FEEDBACK EFFECTIVELY: If you head investors or Founders asking the same question continually, that's probably something you should add to your deck. Feedback doesn't always come in the guise of someone directly saying "try this", sometimes it's just a question that you hear over and over again that you should be addressing upfront. 🪮 What’s next for Mane Hook-Up?
The big question that everyone keeps asking me is, what are you going to do next? Fundraising aside, there’s still plenty to do, especially as we’re now launching in New York this summer.
For the rest of the year, our main focus will be:
Product development and growth: We’re in the process of redesigning our platform and developing it in low code to improve the speed of delivering new features and help us to test some pricing strategies. Given that revenue is high on the agenda for many investors (even for pre-seed) the sooner we can do this, the better.
Creating content & running events that serve our community: Launching the Mane Cut podcast has helped us better understand our audience and how to acquire customers/stylists who need our product. So, we’re doubling down on creating content that drives growth and community. This means we’re looking for a freelance social media specialist who can support our team (if you know anyone who would be great at this, please share their info with me!).
Speaking to Angel investors: Finally, I’ll continue having conversations with investors by narrowing my focus and speaking to people who either understand the textured hair industry or show an interest in making it better tomorrow than it was today.
The other questions that keep cropping up are:
How long will I continue to raise?
And, will I stop if the market continues as it is?
To answer both of those questions, in this climate, it looks like a lot of start-ups are raising for 12ish months. So, I’ll continue my outreach lightly for the next few months.
If we get to 12 months and haven’t raised as much as planned, I’ll probably make a call to close the round early and just channel all of my energy into building and growth. Mainly because our rebuild will play a significant role in our next steps as well.
🧰 Tools that are permanently in my toolkit
Having the right tools to help stay organised and manage the 101 fundraising tasks on your to-do list is everything. Here are six tools that will have a permanent place in my toolkit from now on.
Wobaka: The CRM I’ve used for the majority of our investor outreach. It’s $20 a month and you can send unlimited emails and create as many automations as you like.
Dex: A relationship management system that helps me to stay on track with all of the conversations I’m having with investors and founders alike.
Reclaim.ai: Calendar and task management that keeps me organised (and automatically blocks out time for recurring tasks in my schedule.
Slidebean: Pitch deck tool that can be shared privately with specific investors. There are templates that you can replicate and make your own.
Fathom: AI meeting recording and transcription tool (that is free, unlike similar tools on the market).
Skrapp & Hunter.io: The tools I used to find and validate potential investors’ email addresses.
And that’s it for now! I’ll continue to share The Raise podcast every two weeks as I interview founders who have closed a round in the past year or two. If you have any questions about fundraising, feel free to drop me a line and I’ll happily share more.
Thank you for joining me for the ride!
J x
P.S. Here are some of my other posts:
The pre-work framing is right, but the deeper problem is that most founders conflate investor interest with investor conviction - they count soft verbal commitments as pipeline and build false momentum signals off of them. A 240-day raise usually isn't a data problem; it's a pattern of mistaking "let's stay in touch" for "we're close." The 30-45 day raisers aren't just more prepared - they're better at disqualifying early and hard. When did "no" become the skill no one wants to talk about?
Bookmarking this to share with founders who are navigating the early days of their journey. Grateful for the time you took to build in public throughout the raise and for the opportunity to work with you. Burn out is so real, especially for a solo founder doing all of the things at once. Hard won lessons, congrats on all of the progress.