[INSIDER CALL] Raising Money for your Project

[theag]

Thank you very much for taking the time to do this Z! This will help me a lot.

BTW, "Pitch anything" by Oren Klaff is IMO a pretty good book on this topic, do you know it?

 

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[nitrousflame]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to zen******* again.

Damn speed nazi.


Fantastic call Z. Overflowing with inspirational golden nuggets!

 

[Jake]

Pick up the F*cking phone.
Ask what they need and give it to them.
Learn to tell a compelling story
Find a good attorney.
Identify an expert team.
Find an investor with more than money to offer initially. Make it worth their while.
Go BIG or Go home.
Leverage. Scale.
Pick up the F*ckn phone
Show up. Meet with people.
Stop being a p*ssy

no one benefits from you doing small shit in your basement

 

[hotshot]

Thanks for doing this Zen!

Lots of good stuff to think about. I love the enthusiasm.. I'm actually sweating from the adrenaline rush.

Until today I was basically determined to bootstrap my ventures alone, but this opens up a world of possibilities. Glad I decided to listen to this call.

 

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[Chitown]

Dale,

Big ups for a great call! Speed+

Chitown

 

[tincho1492]

Amazing call, Z! Thank you very much!

---

These are my notes:

* Before pitching, ask: am I good executor? Is this is a good deal for them? Am I worth the investment?
* Bootstraping is slow (and not for everything). Do if for 3-4 months, then LEVERAGE.
* Execute, learn the ropes first before asking for money.
* Get much more than money: Money is a commodity.
* This was eye-opening: Become a storyteller.
* You can't make time. Money allows you to go super-fast.
* Talk with real people before starting a business (by calling customers/vendors, Dale could identify opportunities, build relationships and get INSIDERS secrets.

---

Only could make after 37 minutes of started the call, but it was so worth it. Thanks again Dale!

 

[Michael W.]

Pick up the F*cking phone.
Ask what they need and give it to them.
Learn to tell a compelling story
Find a good attorney.
Identify an expert team.
Find an investor with more than money to offer initially. Make it worth their while.
Go BIG or Go home.
Leverage. Scale. Profit. Everybody wins.
Pick up the F*ckn phone
Show up. Meet with people. Go the extra mile.
Stop being a p*ssy

Should edit that audio and make it my alarm lol.

 

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[drmctcher]

F*****G EPIC call!!!! WOW!! Zen's enthusiasm is on fire and sets the the rest of us a blaze!!!
Thanks for sharing. Brilliant lessons on raising capital~ of course.... But also Huge lessons on mindset, focus, Direct response marketing ~ Story telling... Amazing, and list goes on....!
Rep Speed ++
Thanks again for your time Zen!!:eusa_clap:

 

[LibertyForMe]

Bought the INSIDERS membership yesterday, already paid for itself! Right on the money Vigilante...

One call.. such as today's call... can pay for 20 years of INSIDERS for some. Even if you don't need to "raise funds" --- tune in to the call anyway. It is the MINDSET you need to catch even if the specific content is not relevant to you today

 

[FreeMan]

Speed + for the fantastic call!

You sounded like you were having a ball and your storytelling approach really comes across in your teaching too. Thanks for the taking the time out today.

 

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[AllenCrawley]

Thanks again Zen. Pure Gold!

[video=youtube_share;CF7OnW4XDck]http://youtu.be/CF7OnW4XDck[/video]

FYI, at the peak we had 63 callers.

 

[InMotion]

Thank you very much for taking the time to do this Z! This will help me a lot.

BTW, "Pitch anything" by Oren Klaff is IMO a pretty good book on this topic, do you know it?

I go here excellent free info. book was good also PITCH ANYTHING

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Thanks Zen for taking time to share your wisdom. I'm proud to say that I was finally on a call! Woo hoo! The power of a good story cannot be underestimated!

 

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[DeletedUser2]

Pitch anything

by Oren Klaff is a good book.
I am happy to call Oren a friend of mine, and we have discussed story building in raising capital.

his book is a GREAT read.

he lays out a methodology that's pretty powerful, and if mastered pretty damn good.

Personally I wish I had known him back when I was raising money.
I would have used some of his systems.

Z

 

[miked_d]

Zen - Thanks so much for the call.

 

[InMotion]

Zen, this may be slightly off topic, but is it truth or fiction that VC's typically invest in "fresh" entrepreneurs rather than successful entrepreneurs they have invested in previously? It seems counter intuitive, but most VC studies I have read indicate your odds of getting investment from the same firm twice is much lower than the first time you get investment. Of course the study covered only VC funds. Thanks.

 

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[Likwid24]

Grrrrrr. I missed it. Insanely busy day at work today! Any chance this was recorded????

 

[Chaseb731]

I believe this one was recorded

 

[DeletedUser2]

Zen, this may be slightly off topic, but is it truth or fiction that VC's typically invest in "fresh" entrepreneurs rather than successful entrepreneurs they have invested in previously? It seems counter intuitive, but most VC studies I have read indicate your odds of getting investment from the same firm twice is much lower than the first time you get investment. Just curious. Thanks.

thats more like saying EVERY investor Invests the same way.

if you interview a bunch of coal miners, and ask, whats the best part of the day. you will find MOST of them like either lunch, or after work.


the world is made up of more than Venture Capital investors.



Z

 

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[InMotion]

thats more like saying EVERY investor Invests the same way.

if you interview a bunch of coal miners, and ask, whats the best part of the day. you will find MOST of them like either lunch, or after work.


the world is made up of more than Venture Capital investors.



Z

Point taken. It was a slightly an irrelevant question. The studies are not necessarily representative of what will actually happen. Just got me wondering. Thanks.

 

[Luk391]

I only managed to dial in the last 10 minutes of Q&A A recording would be phenomenal!

From those 10 minutes I felt motivated and learned some of the things mentioned earlier- would love to make some of my own notes!

Thanks Zen for taking your time out to do this.

 

[theag]

Pitch anything

by Oren Klaff is a good book.
I am happy to call Oren a friend of mine, and we have discussed story building in raising capital.

his book is a GREAT read.

he lays out a methodology that's pretty powerful, and if mastered pretty damn good.

Personally I wish I had known him back when I was raising money.
I would have used some of his systems.

Z

Awesome! I'll reread his book over the weekend and listen to your call a few more time to get all the details down. I'm not raising capital but as a CRE broker I am pitching something everyday, mostly to get listings right now, so I'm looking at all opportunites to improve.

Btw, if you would like to have the recording I made send me a quick PM, otherwise I will of course not share it without your consent.

Thanks again for the great value you gave us today!

 

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[AllenCrawley]

Zen has released the recording of this call.

[no longer available]

 

[theag]

Zen has released the recording of this call.

Great, thanks! Cool to hear the beginning that we missed!

 

[LibertyForMe]

Here is a detailed summary I did of the call. I feel like I haven't added much value to the forum yet, but this was something that I knew I could help out with. Thanks Zen!

Just got done listening to a private conference call titled: “Raising Money For Your Project.” Below is a summary of what I learned from the call.

The first three major points that the presenter said were critical to know early on are as follows:

1) Investors only make money when they invest. Investors always have money floating around that is looking for a good home, and it is your job to provide a home for that money.

2) Deals have to be fair for both parties; an investor will just walk away if you don’t provide a good home for his money.

3) Investors want to feel like they are part of something big and important, they want to be able to brag to their friends and tell them about all the cool things they are doing.


The two most important skills that a person needs to have to raise money are as follows:

1) The ability to take a complex set of circumstances and details and then boil them all down into something easily explainable and easy to understand in less than 5 minutes. You should be able to explain what you do to an investor in a sentence or two. An example was given where an investor asked what Zen does, and he said “I sell things online.” He then elaborated by saying, “It costs us $45 to get new customers, and the value of a customer over 6 months is $150.” That is all the investor needed to know to want to be a part.

2) The ability to tell an extremely compelling story that grabs people at an emotional level. You know you are a good story teller when people interrupt you halfway through your story with excitement, asking how they can get involved. Go to toastmasters, read books about storytelling, learn about comedic timing and structure, etc.

The better you can succinctly describe what you do, and the better storyteller you are- combined with a valuable proposition to the investor, will allow you to give away less equity. In the beginning stages though, you should get investors that bring more than just money to the table. You want an older investor who has ‘walked the walk’, who is willing to answer questions, give advice, and provide connections.

DON’T BE GREEDY, especially in your first few businesses. People always want to know what is in it for them, so make sure your investor is well taken care of.

To raise money, you need to be willing to ask everyone for money, or if they know people who have money: you cannot be shy about this.

Cover yourself from a legal perspective. Talk to attorneys to make sure you are in the clear, and to learn what you can and cannot say.


Ask these questions before looking for investors:

1) Is this deal worthy of investment, and would I personally invest in this deal?
2) Am I worthy of an investment?
3) Am I a good steward of money, and will handle the investment with care?

If no, re-evaulate the deal.

Bootstrapping is often too slow, it is ok to bootstrap for a couple of months, but access to capital gives you a lot more speed.



QUESTIONS:

Q: How do you raise capital for real estate?

A: Raise the money 6-9 months in advance! You should be continually cultivating your contacts and investors, so when you find a good deal, the people you know are already expecting it and will jump at the opportunity to invest.



Q: If I have been in business a long time, will that hurt my chances of raising capital?

A: No, time and stability in business matters a lot, as it makes investors less nervous.



Q: What tips do you have on effectively researching a market and doing due diligence?

A: “Pick up the F’ing phone” You should call and talk to people in the industry. Vendors are often a secret weapon, and know people that you should be talking to. Email is ok – phone is good – in person is the ultimate! If you have to buy a $300 plane ticket and rent a hotel just to visit someone, they will take you serious, because they know you want it. TALK TO PEOPLE AND GO MEET THEM WHERE THEY ARE.

My favorite quote: “If you are going to do something, do it big.”


p.s. Sorry I didn't summarize Eskil's question, I couldn't hear him very well...

 

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[Eskil]

p.s. Sorry I didn't summarize Eskil's question, I couldn't hear him very well...

Lol when listening to it again I realized I spoke way too fast there...

Basically:
Q: When approaching investors how do I decide what sort of equity to offer?
On tv shows like Shark Tank – the equity always seems to be correlated to an evaluation. I wanted to know if it was important to have an evaluation and what role it plays in deciding equity.


If you have the notes for Dale's answer you can add them here - if not, let me know and I can add that.

 

[Tom.V]

What an immeasurably valuable call! Telling it how it is and telling it how it should be. Just wow. Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to do this.

 

[oddball]

Appreciate the guys who posted recaps. I really wanted to be on this one but I got stuck doing something for work and forgot to chime in in the car. Definitely regretting missing it.

 

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[DeletedUser2]

Appreciate the guys who posted recaps. I really wanted to be on this one but I got stuck doing something for work and forgot to chime in in the car. Definitely regretting missing it.

Allen posted a link farther up. of the call.

Z

 

[Chaseb731]

Re-listened to the call...So much good info in there. I'd love to get better in the fund raising department, and this is exactly what I needed. Thanks again for your time!

You mentioned that you'd share a link about 8 min and 30sec in for some material that you had created? Did I miss it somewhere, or are you still waiting to push that.

Best Regards,

Chase