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Eva Dobrzanska has become an influential name in the startup fundraising ecosystem and we were honoured to invite her to Baltic Ventures HQ to deliver a masterclass session on investor outreach to our Accelerator 2024 cohort.
The feedback on her session was impeccable, so we invited Eva back for a quick chat:
Tell us a little bit about yourself, your background and what you do now?
Ex-VC, Ex-startup, Ex-incubator and occasional Angel Investor who started her career in Sydney. I now run Fundraising Playbooks as part of which I deliver Masterclasses on investor outreach that actually gets replies- both warm, and cold.
Between cold emailing my way to Richard Branson, Mark Cuban, getting replies from Sequoia Capital partners in <24h, VC replies in under 20min, a 7-figure HNWI reply in under five minutes, and an avalanche of other results achieved by founders who use my methodology, I work with founders 1-1 in form of ‘Investor Sprints’ where we get them as many investor meetings as possible. My favourite part is when we get to uncover new fundraising playbooks specifically in the course of working together.
What are the top three mistakes that you see founders making when it comes to investor outreach and engagement?
- Not researching the investor target in depth (sectors & verticals they invest in, geographies of interest, stages of interest are just the basics – you need to look for deeper signals and there are ways of finding them).
- Dumping too much information into the 1st Cold Email and playing all your cards too soon. Leave some information out to give yourself a reason to follow up later. Finish the email with a strategic cliffhanger.
- Overestimating the value of warm introductions. Investors get a ton of introductions to their email inboxes daily, but usually it only matters to them if it’s from someone they know and trust.
What is a creative but non-gimmicky way that founders can stand out?
I like to call this the ‘Meet my amazing Co-Founder’ Playbook and it works especially well at the early stages (pre-revenue, pre-launch) when you don’t have that much traction and metrics, and when you’re trying to reach Angel Investors on whom there is not that much information available and they can virtually invest across anything.
Start your first cold email to that angel investor with “I’d like to tell you about my co-founder, given your background in…. X/ previous investment in Y/ experience with Z” etc. Link something about your co-founder (background, achievement, expertise, what they did for your company, why did you decide to hire them, etc) with something from the background of that angel investor.
You’re building familiarity and you come across much more human when you’re talking up your co-founder rather than jump in straight into the pitching mode, which a lot of investors hate!
What is your favourite thing about founders and do you have a least favourite trait?
My favourite trait among founders is responsiveness and speed of execution – I like to work super fast (which is why it’s called an Investor Sprint) and I like founders who can run with me at the same speed.
My least favourite trait is lack of focus, it often comes with millions of ideas per minute which is entrepreneurial, yes, but in order to execute you need rigour and focus, which is why the best teams are usually formed with an introverted and organised CTO and an extroverted buzzing CEO.
