Sage advice if you're seeking funding in this climate š¦
Atom CTO August newsletter
Welcome to the latest Atom CTO newsletter where we share tech news and stories for founders and entrepreneurs who are starting and scaling businesses.
Editorās Note
The summer holidays are almost over and I hope you all had a relaxing break.
I, along with the wonderful marketing team, have spent the past couple of months āworking on the businessā rather than āworking in the businessā and come September, youāll be seeing and hearing a lot more from us at Atom CTO as we launch a number of new initiatives, not least a new incarnation of the Pitch for Investment event that our friends at the Othership have been running so well these past years.
On the topic of investment, it seems that times are changing and the funding climate has become less hospitable.
This was always going to happen with the rise in interest rates, however what is interesting is that many investors are now looking for a path to profitability more than a path to scale.
We at Atom CTO have always been of the opinion that a good business has to be a profitable business but for many years it seemed that profitability was just a ānice to haveā rather than a fundamental principle of running a company.
So called ādown-roundsā are also more in the news, this is where companies are raising based on a lower valuation and though this is seen as a negative sign, it could also be viewed as a signal that investors are becoming more realistic in their evaluation of businesses.
What we are seeing is what we have always seen - good companies with a path to profitability and scale are getting interest - they may not be getting the valuations they want but they are talking with investors however, it is hard work and a long process to raise funding. There is no easy money, but there is still plenty of money out there.
Our advice to companies that are seeking funding is the same as ever:
Target investors or angels that are close to your industry or have an understanding of your product.
Make sure they buy into your vision and are able to provide you with more than just the cash - they must have the ability to open doors.
Know your audience, be precise when you talk with investors, donāt use jargon and be ready to be questioned on the detail.
Ensure that your investors have a network that can bring in other investors at a future date - you may need to tap up your initial investors for more cash further down the road as raising big money takes time and a lot of effort.
Show you have product market fit and a team that can execute the vision and where you donāt have the experience internally, bring it in from the outside.
Most importantly of all, fundraise when you donāt need the money, if you leave it too late, youāll risk running out of cash or getting a very poor valuation.
As ever, if you are interested in learning more or have a tech challenge you need to solve, then we are here for you! Email bhairav@atomcto.com
Bhairav Patel
Managing Director
Atom CTO
Interesting insights
Latest events and articles in tech and entrepreneurship collected by the Atom team:
What 3-word phone setting can help to prevent burnout? No, itās not āDo not Disturbā but āLow Power Modeā which lets you start with the minimum. āļø
Turning initial digital gains into enterprise leaps: from focusing on the customer to developing digital talent and achieving engineering excellence, learn lessons from five companies that made it work. š
What is the right balance between investors and independent board members? The best treat their board like their executive team in the sense they take great care to curate its composition and how they run it. š§
The MVP process from Pre-seed to Series A is an evolving process. Weāve put together an infographic which lays out the main activity you can expect at each stage. š
New Slack redesign incoming, and this one vouches to bring order back into your work day, making things easier to find and manage. š§
Zoom is going to start trialling a generative AI feature which will create meeting summaries. The company iterates that it does not use any meeting content to actually train the algorithm but itās still created a backlash. š¤
If youāre looking for a comprehensive guide to raising early startup capital, check out The Fundraising Playbook full of systematic advice to getting your first round in. š¤
From 33 millimetre film slides to PowerPoint, the format of presentations has changed dramatically. Read this article over on the MIT Technology Review of a brief history of the corporate presentation. š£ļø
Pitch for Investment revival
For anyone also part of the Othership community, you might have come across Pitch for Investment. Itās a monthly online event which enables SEIS / EIS eligible startup founders to pitch their ideas in front of VCs and Angel investors.
Atom CTO will be taking over the facilitation of the event, bringing in some new investors and a new format. If youāre a startup founder who is interested in pitching, just fill in this form and weāll let you know when applications are open. š
Subscribe to the Atom Ventures podcast here š§
Apple: https://tinyurl.com/s9k3zuz
Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/vuny4pc
Google: https://tinyurl.com/4d38hsuv
SoundCloud: https://tinyurl.com/5h4ch2jh
Keeping in touch āļø
Connect with Bhairav on LinkedIn
Follow on Twitter
Send us an Email: info@atomcto.com