Make your fundraising announcement count
When I was building gtrot in 2010, I read TechCrunch funding announcements like they were gospel. There were numerous companies that made it and we wanted to be one of the. So when we did finally close our round, a funding announcement in TechCrunch was high on the wishlist.
We hired a PR firm, talked to a number of reporters and held our embargo until 9am to grab a prime spot for East Coast and West Coast readers. We were so excited about the big announcement.
Looking back, man did we get it wrong.
We viewed getting published in a tech publication as arriving and external proof that “we are a legit -company- startup.” We thought that the launch announcement would serve as a powerful user acquisition channel that would drive thousands of new customers. We also assumed that by adding that TechCrunch logo onto our website homepage would further convince new customers to give our product a shot. We tied up a lot of energy, time and excitement to something that wasn’t a game-changer for our business.
Thankfully, there are companies who’ve avoided these mistakes of ego and unrealistic expectations. Last week, VHX announced their fundraising the right way. (PS - Welcome to the USV Network!)
Let’s take a closer look at what they did well: