TBC: Why Smart People Struggle With Fundraising

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Hey all welcome to this episode of the back channel. Uh, I'm excited to talk about this topic because it's near and dear to my heart. I feel like it speaks to a different version of me. And then sometimes, uh, it speaks to me when I'm pitching things and I'm not comfortable with. but the topic is why smart people struggle to pitch.

SometimesThere are a lot of things that go on in the heads of smart people. That can lead them down the wrong path. And I have a few of them listed out of here. We did some research on them. We did some prep for it. So I'm excited to talk about, there are things about smart people that can lead them in the wrong direction, especially when they don't know what's going on in the minds of investors.

And especially when they sort of fall into patterns that [00:01:00] might've helped them in different situations in their lives. So, let me jump into it. The first one is the realization that in so many cases, when we're trying to convince an investor, it's more about the emotions than it is data. And the books, super communicators.

They talk about this idea of people struggling to effectively communicate when they think they're in a conversation about data, but it's really a conversation about emotions. And that is something that I think lends itself to pitching all the time. Investors are trying to make a decision that they feel is the right decision, but there is so little data on the future. That they have to rely on their guts. Which is really influenced by their emotions. And so for a founder, a founder needs to reject and resist. The smart, intelligent urge to lean into specific pieces of the data And do more to influence the emotional connection [00:02:00] with the investor. In particular, we want to make sure that we can stimulate an investor's emotions around the excitement of the deal, the excitement of the team and the excitement of the opportunity.

Second thing. Imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is this feeling of I'm not supposed to be here. So now I need to convince everyone here that I belong. And when people start running into. Imposter syndrome through the fundraising motion. That can come into play when a founder tries to over-complicate their pitch, add more detail, prove that they belong and in, so doing. Can confuse an investor.

Also the overcompensation that comes around with imposter syndrome can be felt is palpable by investors. And when you feel someone overcompensating, you can tell that they're not confident.

And when an investor thinks that the founder's not confident. Everything falls [00:03:00] apart. So think about. How you avoid imposter syndrome and all the behaviors that come along with it, As you try to present yourself as a competent, clear communicating founder. Three. Cleverness versus clarity.

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[00:04:00] This is somewhat related to what we just talked about. I find that really smart founders. Love the opportunity to sound clever, love the opportunity to demonstrate how smart they are and in so doing impact how clear they are as a communicator. They might try to use turns of phrase. Fun vocabulary words. They might do all those things in order to show how clever and smart they are.

And all it does is shoot them in the foot, as it impacts how clear they are.

when it comes to decks. Being overly smart means that you can start feeling like things can't be left out of a deck. Unless the deck is comprehensive unless every slide represents every component of the business, it will feel incomplete. [00:05:00] And wrong for an intelligent founder. What this ends up doing is driving smart founders. To include too much detail on a slide, too many slides in a deck. and make a deck harder to consume for an investor. We want a deck super simple, which might actually mean leaving out some details.

So smart founders need to deal with this. Desire to be complete, to be comprehensive. And know that they will have an opportunity to fill in the gaps. If their initial simplified version of their story can attract an investor to want to learn more. All right. The last thing I want to say, which. Lends itself to a lot of smart founders. Is this fear of rejection. Right. Does being rejected by an investor. Indicate that I'm not as smart as I think I am.

that feeling comes out a lot in very smart founders. I think it's related to imposter syndrome. Will they find out that I am not. [00:06:00] Worthy of being here that I'm not good enough to be here. And when you enter into fundraising, Overly concerned with the fear of rejection,

You will come off as less confident and investors will not be as excited about the words that you have to say.

So embracing the fact that rejection is just another step towards finding the investors that will be excited to do your deal. Is an important part of being great at fundraising And something that I think smart founders need to get great at.

So as an intelligent founder, as you think about these things that we covered, emphasizing data, when you really should be thinking about how you influence the emotions of investors. Imposter syndrome battling that feeling like you don't belong, that you need to prove yourself. That desire, that tendency to want to be clever at every turn. Uh, as opposed to just being simple and clear. or that feeling like your deck has to be comprehensive. The sentences you use have to cover every detail of your company and [00:07:00] story. Knowing that you need a battle that because simplicity is more important at this stage of the game.

And lastly, again, Knowing that rejection is just part of the fundraising game. It has nothing to do with you. It's just another step in the right direction. If you think about these things, start processing them the right way. I guarantee your ability to fundraise. Or improved dramatically. All right.

That's this episode of the back channel. We'll see you next time.

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