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Startup Funding - The Friends and Family Round
Most successful tech startups raise their first capital from friends and family investors. The startup funding sources are illustrated here.
Avoiding the Pitfalls
Friends and Family financings are always the easiest to complete - often taking less than two months from start to finish. Friends and Family rounds usually raise $25,000 to $150,000 in total – the amount depends a lot on who your friends and family are.
The only problem is that most people who invest in Friends and Family financings probably shouldn’t.
Well meaning, but inexperienced, entrepreneurs often treat their friends and family investors unfairly and cause considerable damage to their startup and future funding opportunities.
Guidelines on how to avoid the startup funding pitfalls are available here.
Over-valuation
The most common way entrepreneurs get into trouble and end up treating their friends and family unfairly is by over-valuation. This causes serious structural problems that must be rectified before the next round of financing. Some of the ways to avoid this common mistake, and to fix it if necessary, are described at this link on startup funding valuation.
Legal Requirements
All financings and share sales are governed by securities legislation. Entrepreneurs must know what the legal requirements are before accepting that first dollar of investment, even if it's from a family member. An outline of startup funding legal requirements is available here.
Presentation and Video
I did a PowerPoint presentation on Friends and Family Financings for New Ventures BC. The presentation, "Your First Financing is the Most Important" and a link to the video are available here.
