How I Raised Money for My Startup in 3 Days

I started my first company when I was 25. Here’s how I convinced my seed investors to give me money.

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

My investor said to me with a chuckle, “I only invest in gambling, porn and children’s toys.”

I replied, “Well, it’s not quite any of the three, but it’s close enough to the last one. I’m starting something in educational books distribution.”

I was 26. I had been a banker for two years and wanted to do more with my life than just making rich people even richer.

My first seed investors were a retired audit firm partner, a financial controller of a listed company, and a semi-retired pilot who was a colleague in a stock-broking firm.

Day one

The financial controller was the first person I spoke to.

I met up with him on his invitation to catch up and my pretext of needing some budget modeling advice.

You see, people with money have lots of other people asking them for money. So meeting them on the pretext of wanting investment is seldom a good approach. However, successful people are usually quite willing to share and help others. So asking them for advice is always an easier way to secure a meeting.