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If you’re raising a seed round in MENA, this is the best podcast episode you’ll find on how to actually do it. MilkStraw AI’s Jawad Shreim raised $2M in around 45 days. Orbii’s Nauman Ali set out to raise $2M and ended up with $3.6M.
Both joined me to explain exactly how they did it.
We get into what to put in investor updates before you’re raising, building a target list of VCs, stacking meetings and practising your pitch before speaking to your first-choice funds.
Then creating FOMO, deciding whether to reveal who else you’re talking to, setting a firm closing date and checking whether a VC’s promised “value add” holds up when you speak to their portfolio founders.
We also cover negotiating SAFEs, pushing back on liquidation preferences, putting your own asks into side letters, how long the money takes to hit your account and turning the funding announcement into actual customer, hiring and partnership enquiries.
Jawad also has a few thoughts on liquidation preferences... to put it mildly.
Very little wishy washy general advice, a whole lotta “here’s exactly what we did.”
Jawad and Nauman, thanks again for not sugarcoating it or gatekeeping.
We cover:
When a fundraise really starts, and why both founders begin months before formally opening the round
How investor updates can create inbound and help qualify the right funds
Stacking meetings, building momentum, setting deadlines and creating FOMO
How to diligence VCs and assess whether “value add” is actually real
SAFEs, liquidation preferences, side letters and what happens before money hits the bank
How to turn a funding announcement into actual business value
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:10 When does a fundraise actually start?
07:50 Using investor newsletters to build interest
13:35 Doing due diligence on your investors
17:15 What value do VCs actually add?
22:40 Closing a round in 45 days
33:50 Liquidation preferences and preferred shares
40:55 Losing term sheets over Palestine
42:05 SAFEs, side letters and asking for what you want
46:20 Turning funding announcements into customers
54:20 Hiring slowly and building a team you trust
57:20 AI budgets, token costs and how teams are changing
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