Insights from finance coaching

Fundraising isn’t only a financial decision. It’s a team philosophy.

Coaching founders through fundraising isn’t only about financial decisions. It’s also about team philosophy. One of the best conversations I heard founders have recently during a coaching session wasn't about their pitch or how much they wanted to raise. It was about what would happen if they didn't agree on the fundraising approach.

What if one founder wants to raise while the other wants to bootstrap longer? What if one believes the equity giveaway is simply too high? If a new C-level team member joins, where do they have voting rights? And when there are two founders and the vote is one YES and one NO, who is the tie-breaker?

These are much easier conversations to have before you're sitting in front of an actual funding decision.

What impressed me was that the founders weren't trying to solve a conflict. They were anticipating where conflict could arise, discussing their philosophy around funding, ownership and control, and then asking how those decisions should be reflected in their governance and legal agreements.

This connects directly to something I emphasize in my Founder Capital Journey (FCJ) work: preparing for fundraising isn't only about becoming financially ready. It is also about understanding how the founding team thinks about capital in the first place.

How long are we willing to bootstrap? How much ownership are we willing to give up? How do we make major funding decisions? Where does decision-making authority sit as the leadership team grows?

Some of the most important fundraising conversations happen between founders long before an investor enters the room.