Key Takeaways on The Art of Raising Funds from the PBFIA webinar, 17th November, 2024

This was a 3 hour session, packed with a lot of value and actionable advice about raising funds for vegan startups and vegan brands , the challenges faced and potential solutions. The first half of the session especially is worth watching in full. You can watch it here. 

My favorite takeaways about raising funds:

– Gautam Godhwani shared critical components that need to be in the brand’s story and also how the only things a CEO has to focus on are “vision, team and cash flow”. His other memorable point was about a not-so-great background or past experience. As per him, if you can paint a clear, convincing picture of the future (vision) and back it up with a quality plan, it is still good for a pitch.

– Ashok Subramanian explained types of investors basis types of investment objectives. He also spoke about evaluating when you need money vs when the investor is willing to give it, etc.

– Arjun Vaidya gave doable tips on how to respond to 3 scenarios in which a VC pitch might end.

– Rajesh Srivastava advised that Governance and Succession Planning MUST be a part of your pitch presentation. This was new for me. According to him, investors usually like to reduce the “Key Man” risk.

– Vandana Jain’s recommended one to add “how you’d be able to cross sell” to the plan.

– Jinesh Shah’s point about showing the investment worthiness of your business INDEPENDENT of industry trends was a “penny drop” moment.

– Nicholas Dahl’s visual data on the global investment scenario in the plant-based space gave a much needed bird’s eye view of the current and potential market.

– Aparna Bhatnagar Saxena shone the spotlight on a mostly overlooked criteria. She strongly advised to work with an investor ONLY if you get the necessary respect from them. Also agree with her that the best way to take plant-based segment mainstream is by connecting it with the future of food, food security, etc.

There were many more important takeaways from the extensive line up of expert investors. Too many to share. 

Love Notes:

Tip: Read this post on Linkedin so that you can visit the profiles of these speakers too.

ps: To save time, I clicked images of a few important slides from assorted speakers. Some were shared in the Linkedin post. Some weren’t. If you’d like to see those, please reply to this email or to jinal@theveganmarketer.com. Will share them. 

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