If you don’t have an investment banker, replicate one
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If you don't have an investment banker, replicate one
David Teten
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David Teten is an advisor to emerging investment managers and a Venture Partner with HOF Capital. He was previously a partner for 8 years with HOF Capital and ff Venture Capital. David writes regularly at teten.com and @dteten.
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The good news: even if you have a small company and can't afford a banker, you can synthetically and cheaply replicate one. That's part of the value proposition of an institutional VC; I have been the (unpaid) investment banker for many of my portfolio companies.
If you don't have relationships with potential investors, here's how to replicate a banker:
Hire a consultant to make your deck persuasive, thorough, and attractive, and your data room professional. Some suggested consultants and guidelines here.
Make a list of potential investors, using this article as a guide.
Hire someone who has worked in investment banking or VC, even if only as an analyst.
Her job is to lead a professional outreach campaign to investors, writing highly customized emails to each based on your agreed-upon template. If you don't have a pre-existing relationship, it is critical that you write emails which are palpably customized and of course well written, or else you're just spamming.
The person doing outreach should have a title as senior as possible, e.g., "acting COO." The higher the title, the higher the response rate she will generate. Any good business