Yes, You Can Do This! How Women Start Up, Scale Up, and Build The Life They Want

Chapter 9You Don't Have to Wait for Revenue to Ask for Funding: Create a Compelling Pitch Deck That Gets Others on Board

What you'll take away from this chapter:

In this chapter, we'll explore the ways in which you can succinctly describe what you are working on with a solid pitch deck. You'll also find helpful resources on multiple funding options, ranging from nondilutive to traditional investments.

Six Months Later…

“Sophie, I really need to pay you a compliment.” Jill was being earnest. She, Maria, Sophie, and Hannah were taking a walk together through the streets of the small community.

“I'm really impressed with the way you've bootstrapped your company so far. You've got two months of traction with some really impressive customers. From the outside looking in, it's hard to believe you've only been doing this in your spare time with limited resources.”

“Yeah, Sophie, it's pretty amazing. Do you think you're going to raise capital now, or are you going to bootstrap a little longer?” Maria was curious. With Jill's help Maria had been able to raise a small angel investment round, and was rooting for Sophie's business to succeed as well.

“I'm not sure if I'm going to raise capital or if I'm going to try to build this more slowly and organically, as a consultative business.” Sophie had built her model with multiple assumptions, and knew if she raised capital she could do more faster, but she had also been focused enough on generating cash that she hadn't spent any time thinking ...