Introducing Fundraising Bootcamp [Closed]

Applications for our fundraising bootcamp is now closed. To the founders who applied, thank you so much. We'll be hosting a new bootcamp soon. Please subscribe to us here if you'd like to stay tuned for next one!

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Fundraising is one of the hardest, most confusing things a founder needs to do. This is the case for three reasons (the first is obvious, the other 2 are less so):

1. High Volume Rejection – Founders get discouraged because they receive a lot of rejections, and they're not sure if it’s normal (it is).
2. Context Specific – There’s plenty of advice on the internet on how to fundraise but it tends to be generic. The best pitches are not generic. To meaningfully help a founder fundraise, you need context. What are they working on? How far along are they? etc.
3. Bad Feedback Loop – Investors are not incentivised to give transparent or useful feedback. They’re incentivised to give feedback that doesn’t take too much effort and preserves their optionality.

As a result, the typical experience for most founders is, they pitch a dozen investors who decline to invest. They wonder what they’re doing wrong, but it’s hard to tell because of the bad feedback loop and the lack of context-specific advice available.

Regardless, they do their best to improve. Pitch another dozen investors. Those investors decline. The founder gets discouraged, and stop.

It's why we’ve been running a fundraising bootcamp inside of our core program since the beginning. It helps with the problems listed above and seems to be effective. We think this bootcamp can help more startups, so we'll be hosting it for startups outside of our core program, for free.

How it Works

The bootcamp is four weeks long and consists of the following:

1. Orientation – At the beginning of the bootcamp, we will host a one hour session and cover the same materials as the one we use in our core program. This includes learning how to design pitches and run an effective fundraising process, as well as understanding what investors are really looking for.‍
2. Pitch Iterations – Companies will spend the first week working on a pitch outline (easier to iterate on) before creating a pitch deck. Each week, they will work on an iteration, get feedback from pitch practices and iterate again.‍
3. Pitch Practice – Each week, we will host one hour group sessions where each company will pitch, and get feedback from the other founders and me (Hsu Ken).

Except for hosting individual office hours to help with pitches, this is how we typically get companies ready for Demo Day.

Apply [Closed]

The program is designed for early stage startups who have some traction and are looking to fundraise in the next nine months. If you’re not sure whether you have enough traction, we recommend you apply and we can help you figure that out.

Unfortunately, due to the hands-on nature of the program, we have to limit the number of companies for this inaugural program. If you're interested, apply here!

Questions?

Is this free?

Yes. We will not charge a fee and will not ask for any equity.

How is this different than the core program?

The core program comes with an investment and much more individual help on all aspects of running a startup, not just fundraising.

What's the format of this bootcamp?

It's entirely online! Like our core program, the bootcamp is not geographically restricted and founders across Southeast Asia can apply.

What's the time commitment like?

The bootcamp is four weeks long, and we estimate you'll need about 4-5 hours per week for the practice sessions, as well as iterating your pitch based on feedback. Successful applicants will receive a more detailed agenda of how the four weeks would look like.

If I apply for this, am I also applying for the core program?

No. This fundraising bootcamp is independent of our core program. In some cases, we may encourage companies from this program to apply to the core program.

Is there a demo day?

No. We only host a demo day for our core program.

Does this come with an investment from Iterative?

No. This is a bootcamp solely on helping founders become better at fundraising, and does not come with an investment.