Raising money for your startup is not a black art, a magic trick or a secret gift that’s bestowed on the chosen few. Successful fundraising is not restricted to the educated, the young, the beautiful, the cool or the famous. It’s a process that takes planning, hard work and more than a little luck.

"Fundraising doesn’t happen overnight. There’s a gestation period of around 9 months. The process of raising a round of funding, selling your company or having a baby all take around the same length of time. All three processes are kicked off in a similar way—with the creation of a ‘team’, they then go through several distinct phases and, after one or more ‘near-death’ experiences, they all conclude with some form of painful, stressful event.

Unfortunately, the fundraising process doesn’t always conclude with the closing of a round of funding—it often concludes with the company running out of cash and shutting down. You’re going to have to inject a tremendous amount of energy and perseverance to prevent the process from grinding to a halt."

This section covers these and other topics in some detail:

• The Fundraising Process
• The Fundraising Team
• Hiring a Professional Fundraiser
• Formulating the Pitch
• Approaching Investors
• Presenting to Investors
• Negotiating the Deal
• Term Sheets