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Howdy! It’s Doone here, your hype girl 💗 last week one of my posts on LinkedIn went absolutely bonkers and it raised some stellar questions in my founder group chat.

If you’ve been loop thinking about fundraising and investors… I got a few questions you might be able to help me with 👇 but first:

3 Very Real Lessons from Jenny’s First Raise ($310k in pre-seed!)

this is us on the very first day of Techstars!! so cute

Raising isn’t for everyone. Or every company. It could be life-changing-crazier-than-your wildest-dreams. Or a f*cking nightmare. Bottom line is that either way - it’s overwhelming, especially for first-time founders.

And during the Techstars accelerator I got a front row seat to witness my talented, brilliant friend Jenny Rudd go through some of that overwhelm craziness (the good kind). She raised her first round of $310,000 in pre-seed funding - and learned a butt load in the process. Like….

🚫 Investors say ‘no’ first (a lot)

💭 Build the deal room of dreams

☀️ Warm intros help, but it’s not the be all end all

Now the thing about Jenny is she’s a mega geek when it comes to systems, processes, documenting every insight.. (like seriously, I’m not kidding she really nerds out) she has the most comprehensive playbooks, templates, guides, personal anecdotes & insights, back-end systems and databases… I’ve ever seen.

And this was insanely useful for me. Being able to access genuine tools and templates from a founder who is a few steps ahead of the thing you’re trying to do is like walking onto Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and getting to phone your smartest friend.

So.. Why am I telling you this?! 🥁

Jenny and I are co-creating a Fundraising Kit designed specifically from her insights and learnings of what it’s like raising as a female founder with the odds stacked against you. If you are gonna raise at some point, this is the guidance you’ll want. From a founder who just did it. Nothing generic, and you cannot find it anywhere else online.

You’ll get access to proprietary information, templates, tools and personal insights designed to equip you with the knowledge and resources to structure and execute a successful fundraising campaign.

And here’s where your input matters….

If you’re gearing up to raise - and I’m saying all the right things - we can tailor this to be exactly what you need. I’d love your insight:

Your responses will directly shape how we build the Fundraising Kit. The goal is simple: give you exactly what you need to confidently raise your first round, just like Jenny.

PS my inbox is open, if you’ve got more thoughts around what would make it super useful to you, hit reply and drop into my inbox with specifics. We’re listening!

💟 ACQUISITIONS: Huda Beauty sells fragrance brand Kayali to General Atlantic & Celsius to buy energy drink brand Alani Nutrition in $1.8 billion deal

💟 FEM HEALTH: uni spin-out Afynia secures $5M seed to commercialise its microRNA panel test for endometriosis(!!)

💟 REGULATION: a California legislator Is trying to ban anti-aging skincare for minors (again) & Portugal removes CBD-based cosmetics from the market

💟 STATS: women are officially outpacing men in both income and spending growth

💟 FUNDING: Cherryrock Capital (the first black woman-founded multi-$100M venture firm) raises new $172M fund from all-star investors to back diverse founders

💟 AI NEWS: Crystal Brown has founded CircNova (an AI drug discovery biotech)

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And if you missed my interview with Jo Malone, it’s freaking epic and you can pop it into your ears here:

Keep shining bright! See ya next week x