To Raise or Not To Raise?

If you are a founder reading this, this question can be the bain of your existence. Throughout an entrepreneurial journey, it is often thought about over and over again for months and years. Raising capital is a decision that every founder has to make at some point, and it depends on a lot of factors.

How are the market conditions? Are you first to market? Are you serving a niche market? How much money should you even raise? What kind of money should you raise? Angel checks, venture dollars, debt capital? The questions are endless.

And the answers to those questions aren’t so straightforward. For instance, if you have product-market fit with a company making $10m bootstrapped, raising capital could harm your business. Yet, if you are trying to be first to market and need to hire and build quickly, capital can be the gas that your company needs. The point is, that the need to raise capital is highly variable from company to company.

To that end, there is a sort of in-between option that many founders have benefitted from over the years: accelerators. For both founders and investors, accelerators have proven to be a great way for founders to build quickly, while investors get to form relationships with these new companies. Leaders like Y-Combinator and Techstars are well-known in the Venture ecosystem, but many firms have started to build mini and more niche accelerators that have benefited both investors and founders.

Greg Raiz is an expert in all of the above, so we brought him on our podcast to discuss all things raising capital. As the founder & CEO of Raiz Capital, he helps early-stage founders in the earliest stages of business formation. Prior to starting Raiz Capital, Greg was the managing director of Techstars Boston where he worked with founders across a broad set of technologies.

Before joining Techstars Greg was the founder and CEO of Raizlabs, a four-time Inc. 5000 winner and national leader in developing and designing mobile technology. Greg has led the executive design and engineering efforts on hundreds of products including applications for companies and brands such as AAA, Dunkin Donuts, Verizon, Six Flags, RunKeeper, B&H Photo, Care.com, Costco, LL Bean, Sanofi, HP, GE, Macy’s, and many others.

We’re grateful Greg made the time to discuss the limitations of traditional accelerator programs and share more details on his own differentiated program, which focuses on providing support, resources, and a strong network for founders, regardless of their age or background. As a successful entrepreneur turned investor, he shared from personal experience when capital is a tool, vs when it can become poison for a business.

For more details on the conversation, we highly recommend founders and investors alike give it a listen.

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