A few weeks ago I dropped a podcast episode with my talented founder friend Guta Tolmasquim, telling the story of how she raised a $1.2M pre-seed round for Purple Metrics. It was a crazy story… one that will resonate with anyone who's experienced the sting of rejection or the thrill of perseverance (or both).

This pre-seed was no smooth ride, and I think a lot of you could learn from what she went through. But before you go listen I wanted to share a few of my takeaways from our conversation:

Setbacks Are Only Setbacks if You Allow Them to Be

"So I knew [that this was a real problem], and they weren't seeing it. And I was like why, what am I doing wrong? And then I did what I always do. I went to study. So I had this second chance because I raised again from angels . . . and I had this perfect excuse that it's [because] the market is very bad right now so it's not my fault. And then I can go back in a year after and try again. And that's what I did."

Guta was facing a ton of rejection when she first tried to raise her pre-seed back in 2022. Investors simply didn't believe the problem was as real (or big) as she said it was... I'm sure a lot of you who have experienced rejection can relate to this frustration.

I've said this before, but I hope most of you understand by now that rejection is a part of the fundraising game. Sometimes it's because the investors just don't get it, and sometimes, the rejection you're facing might be a good opportunity for you to pause and in Guta's case, study.

She spent that next year doubling down on her company, studying her market, making sure that the next time she went out to raise no one would question whether it was a big enough problem.

But how did she stay afloat? She did what she knew how to do best...

Know Your Strengths and Execute on Them

"What happened is that our money ended in April, 2022. Not the best time to fundraise. And since I was very good at two things which is bootstrapping a company and raising from angels, I decided to go raise from angels again."

As I stated above, Guta wasn't able to raise from funds the first time she went out to raise, but she still needed money. So instead of giving up she got creative and focused on her strengths.

What I love about Guta is that giving up wasn't even an option. She might have not been confident in her ability to raise from institutional funds, but she was confident in her ability to raise from angels as she had done it already in the past. So... she raised enough to carry her through the year before going out to close a $1.2M pre-seed round in 2023.

THAT'S perseverance.

If you're a founder facing a similar struggle, figure out your strengths. Get creative. Execute. Also don't underestimate the power of talking to other founders who might have been through something similar.

Practice Having No Expectations

"I was very relaxed and we went for coffee and I had no expectations cause he understands a lot about marketing. He's an advertiser and he wasn't very excited about Purple Metrics when I started it . . . and we went for coffee and it was like a match like no other."

Not much to say on this, I just wanted to call out that Guta being so nonchalant and having zero expectations on how this investor meeting would go may have helped her connect better with the investor.

It's so easy to get your hopes up when talking with investors. Ans then when things go south, you start to act desperate (because you expected them to go well).

Just something to keep in mind for your future investor coffee chats.

Alright, that's a wrap! I always try my best to highlight the best parts of the episode, but it's always better to just give it a listen and here from Guta herself.

If you want to hear:

• How Guta built relationships to get funded by angels
• The story behind Purple Metrics’ 1.2M pre-seed
• The struggles Guta faced when raising after the SVB crash

... make sure to give the episode a listen. I'll leave the links below!

Be chased,
Jason