Hot Seat

Chapter 8. The Fun of Funding

77 investors on the target list. 52 in-person pitches. 10 partner meetings. 27,000 flight miles. 2 months. 1 term sheet.

Those were the numbers for the second round of financing we raised for Ontela in 2008, called the “Series B.” The numbers for our Series A, our first financing round in 2006, were even higher—but my notes aren’t as detailed.

Some memory fragments—let’s call them “highlights”—from my fundraising history with Ontela:

• Brian Schultz, my cofounder and COO, is driving us back to San Jose Airport after a long day of investor pitches for our Series A. His phone rings. A venture firm I hadn’t heard of until yesterday wants us to come back. We have 15 minutes to spare, and we have to make the flight. We reroute, sprint into the firm, shake a line of hands. Partner proposes terms. I ask for it in writing. We board the plane 25 minutes later, panting for breath, with an honest-to-goodness term sheet scrawled on a cocktail napkin.

• Another trip to San Jose. I’m dragging my roll-aboard suitcase onto the Avis shuttle as the phone rings. Seats are jammed, so I have to stand. It’s Sequoia, one of the top venture firms in the world. Can I come back to meet another partner this afternoon? The bus is jostling, Brian’s looking for a later flight back; with no hands free to hang onto anything, random strangers are actually holding me up so that I don’t topple over on them as we go around corners while I blab on the phone, oblivious to my surroundings. ...