

A $1M seed round's investor connections visually mapped. - mmaunder
http://www.quora.com/Brendan-Baker/Anatomy-of-Seed-An-Inside-Look-at-a-1M-Seed-Round

======
ghshephard
This was my highlight:

"Appmakr dealt with 170+ actors, including VCs, angels, seed funds, middlemen,
corporates and even an angel group.

\- They were rejected 130+ times, but raised $1M from 14 top investors."

Exhausting doesn't even beging to describe what having to even _pitch_ 130
people would be. Forget about being then rejected 130 times.

I have new respect for what founders have to go through to raise money. And I
have new appreciation for the importance of what Yuri Milner's no cap
convertible offering will have in freeing up founders' time and mental energy.

~~~
danielodio
Tell me about it! - DROdio

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iamelgringo
Just had coffee with Brendan (the author) this past week.

I've been making the rounds talking about what our plans are for Hackers &
Founders the past few months. I've had dozens of meetings talking with VC's,
angels and connectors in Silicon Valley in the past few months.

Two hours with Brendan gave me more to think about than several dozen investor
meetings combined. He's sharp, insightful, and he has a phenomenal grasp of
the big picture in Silicon Valley. He's going to do very, very well in this
town.

------
evgen
Interesting, but the conclusions contain a few vacuuous statements like the
following:

\- A large amount of your funds may originate from a few people. These are
your super nodes. Support them and push them.

\- A large number of intros may lead nowhere. Don't invest much in these
intros.

How is one to know the former from the latter? Seems like a bit of post-hoc
reasoning that is apparent when you look at the end state, but impossible to
really figure out when you are in the middle of the process.

~~~
mmaunder
You can tell as you're having conversations. The points you mentioned mirror
my experience. One the one hand you'll have an investor who is well networked
and introducing you to enthusiastic investors, someone who is interested in
driving the process forward and who has made many investments and where amount
isn't an issue. They're more interested in valuation and terms. In my
experience they also add value before you even close. These folks are modest,
extremely accomplished and wicked, wicked smart.

On the other you'll have someone who has made few investments, where the
enthusiasm level is low and where there's a lot of nitpicking and low quality
intros to people with little interest but who wear expensive wrist jewelry.

~~~
bbaker
Perfect. You communicated it much better than I could. Thanks.

