1 00:00:04.740 --> 00:00:09.900 Vlad Sherbatov: Policy Me recently raised $3.3 million in 2 00:00:09.900 --> 00:00:13.050 funding just a couple of months ago in March, what are some of 3 00:00:13.050 --> 00:00:16.050 the biggest things you've learned from working with 4 00:00:16.050 --> 00:00:20.640 investors raising money for a growth startup success policy? 5 00:00:20.640 --> 00:00:26.450 Laura McKay: A few learnings. It definitely is not easy, I would 6 00:00:26.450 --> 00:00:30.800 say, I'm not sure we went into it naive about it. But 7 00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:36.290 typically, you're just used to seeing headlines of this company 8 00:00:36.290 --> 00:00:39.050 raise this much money. And it feels like everyone is getting 9 00:00:39.050 --> 00:00:41.720 money without doing a lot of hard work. And I wouldn't say 10 00:00:41.720 --> 00:00:45.890 that's the case at all. So definitely be prepared to invest 11 00:00:46.190 --> 00:00:51.410 a lot of your time into doing this. And our, in our case, we 12 00:00:51.410 --> 00:00:57.650 had, my co founder, Andrew and our CEO pretty much invest his 13 00:00:58.070 --> 00:01:02.300 almost full time capacity for about four months to get us 14 00:01:02.300 --> 00:01:07.160 through this raise, starting from initial conversations to 15 00:01:07.160 --> 00:01:12.860 investors, through to much more kind of extensive conversations 16 00:01:12.860 --> 00:01:15.590 with some who wanted to participate in kind of second 17 00:01:15.590 --> 00:01:19.850 and third conversations through a due diligence cycle where they 18 00:01:19.850 --> 00:01:24.170 want to look at kind of all of your metrics and data in a lot a 19 00:01:24.170 --> 00:01:27.710 lot of detail through to actually getting all the legal 20 00:01:27.710 --> 00:01:33.890 paperwork in place in order to close the round. So that is like 21 00:01:33.890 --> 00:01:38.360 a significant amount of time. And it doesn't happen without a 22 00:01:38.360 --> 00:01:42.800 lot of hard work. And, and a lot of kind of support from your co 23 00:01:42.800 --> 00:01:48.170 founders as well, who are now kind of down in person in the 24 00:01:48.170 --> 00:01:52.490 company, too. And at the same time where it's very important 25 00:01:52.490 --> 00:01:56.330 to maintain like strong growth, because investors will be 26 00:01:56.330 --> 00:01:59.270 looking at that month over month, as the process drags on 27 00:01:59.270 --> 00:02:03.110 for quite some time. So it's definitely a team effort. And 28 00:02:03.110 --> 00:02:06.530 it's something that you should be prepared to, like invest a 29 00:02:06.530 --> 00:02:11.270 lot of time in. And then I think that's the first the second is 30 00:02:11.270 --> 00:02:15.650 trying to narrow down your list earlier, versus just going 31 00:02:15.650 --> 00:02:21.860 through the like spray and pray process. It's not, cold emails 32 00:02:22.160 --> 00:02:28.970 are have a much kind of lower chance of being responded to 33 00:02:28.970 --> 00:02:34.190 then a warm intro from someone that you know. So definitely 34 00:02:34.190 --> 00:02:37.550 spend time looking at your network, understand what 35 00:02:37.550 --> 00:02:41.120 connections they have with investors, and try and get them 36 00:02:41.120 --> 00:02:44.990 to kind of open that door for you, don't get too discouraged 37 00:02:44.990 --> 00:02:49.640 there's a lot of ups and downs, through the process a lot, a lot 38 00:02:49.640 --> 00:02:54.500 of no's when you think you got pretty far with them, or that 39 00:02:54.500 --> 00:02:58.040 they were really sold in a meeting that can make you feel 40 00:02:58.040 --> 00:03:02.630 like oh, man, this was never been close. But one day, it'll 41 00:03:02.630 --> 00:03:06.260 happen and you'll find the right partner, and it'll be worth all 42 00:03:06.260 --> 00:03:07.790 the work that you put into it. 43 00:03:08.390 --> 00:03:11.030 Vlad Sherbatov: And when you first got the news that it's 44 00:03:11.030 --> 00:03:14.510 going through, and it's happening, what are those first 45 00:03:14.510 --> 00:03:19.790 feelings? Is it excitement and motivation? Or is it pressure 46 00:03:19.790 --> 00:03:23.990 because now you have to really, you know, get to work? What are 47 00:03:23.990 --> 00:03:26.450 those first feelings that you get when you go through a 48 00:03:26.450 --> 00:03:26.930 funding round? 49 00:03:26.940 --> 00:03:30.508 Laura McKay: I think for us, it was a bit of relief. Just to get 50 00:03:30.578 --> 00:03:34.357 those last couple of weeks, especially through the due 51 00:03:34.427 --> 00:03:38.416 diligence process, they start asking really specifics and 52 00:03:38.486 --> 00:03:42.754 every time you have to hand over a piece of data where you're 53 00:03:42.824 --> 00:03:47.093 like not convinced it's the best KPI out there that you could 54 00:03:47.163 --> 00:03:51.432 have done better and you just like worry that it's gonna make 55 00:03:51.502 --> 00:03:55.560 you lose the deal or kind of like end the conversation. So 56 00:03:55.630 --> 00:04:00.179 there's a lot of that anxiety in those final weeks where they're, 57 00:04:00.249 --> 00:04:04.657 they're really digging in deep into kind of your operations and 58 00:04:04.727 --> 00:04:08.996 your data and stuff like that. So that part is nerve racking. 59 00:04:09.066 --> 00:04:12.985 So day one, you're just like, wow, I can't believe it is 60 00:04:13.055 --> 00:04:17.113 actually over. And then after that, a lot of excitement. I 61 00:04:17.183 --> 00:04:21.312 wouldn't say our investors have put on this feeling of like 62 00:04:21.382 --> 00:04:25.231 extreme pressure or anything like that they are kind of 63 00:04:25.301 --> 00:04:29.499 winning alongside of us and providing a lot of good feedback 64 00:04:29.569 --> 00:04:33.838 on the way, along the way. You got to remember that they they 65 00:04:33.908 --> 00:04:37.827 do this as a profession. So they've seen if they've seen 66 00:04:37.897 --> 00:04:42.235 highs and lows from all their portfolio companies, so I'm sure 67 00:04:42.305 --> 00:04:46.854 they're, they're used to it, and it's always good to be like very 68 00:04:46.924 --> 00:04:51.332 transparent with them along the whole way. So they're bought in 69 00:04:51.402 --> 00:04:55.671 to kind of some of the issues that you're facing and can help 70 00:04:55.741 --> 00:04:59.940 you solve them versus trying to hide those issues from them. 71 00:05:00.510 --> 00:05:02.869 Vlad Sherbatov: Don't forget to subscribe to the Smarter Loans 72 00:05:02.920 --> 00:05:06.152 YouTube channel for more videos that will help you make smarter 73 00:05:06.204 --> 00:05:07.230 financial decisions.