Rachel Carrell, CEO of Koru Kids, explains what it’s like to raise money from investors while pregnant.
Earlier this year, I raised £3.5m for my startup, Koru Kids. Just over a month before that, I had a baby, Alexander. This post is about what it was like to do both of those things at once while also being CEO of a fast growing startup.
Lots of people know what it feels like to have a baby, and lots of people know what it feels like to raise money from investors. In case you don’t, let me explain.
Raising money from investors is a notoriously tough process. You have to pitch to many people, most of whom will tell you they don’t want to invest. Each time you hear ‘No’, you have to get over it and walk into the next meeting like a rock star. You might meet 50 people who say ‘No’ for every person who says ‘Yes’. Many will ask for extra analysis and documents, which you have to then create. Very annoyingly, many people will say ‘Maybe’ in several meetings and ask for lots of analysis before saying ‘No’. Just getting the intros and scheduling all these meetings is a lot of work, as you may need to pitch several non-investors to convince them to recommend you to their investor friend Super Awesome VC....