Raising is supposed to be hard. Did we do it wrong?

It all started so innocently…

I was first introduced to Folklore by the amazing Lauren Capelin. At the time, we were looking at applying to Startmate’s Accelerator program, so we joined Office Hours, which saw us set up for calls with their mentors to give us a taste of the calibre of the people involved in Startmate. (Clearly, it cuts both ways). I met with Lauren and she said, “I have someone you will like, I’ll set up a meeting”.

The first meeting

My first Zoom meeting with Folklore’s Dan Fleming was great. He picked up what we did super fast (it’s a bit niche so this is not normal) and immediately started asking questions that made me stop and think. We were just starting to think about changing our approach from sales-led to product-led, and this meeting solidified it for me.

We got into Startmate!!

Office Hours convinced us to apply for Startmate and when we got accepted we requested Dan as one of our mentors. All of our mentors were outstanding (and tough, in a good way), but Dan went above and beyond which we always appreciated.

OMG Hannah!!

Once we finished the Startmate program and were ready to raise, Folklore was our first choice. Dan set up a meeting with Hannah, one of the Folklore partners. My takeaway thought: ‘OMG, Hannah is AMAZING!!! Shit, now we definitely want Folklore.’ 

Of course, we are professionals (or at least, try to be, some of the time), and we set up chats with other VCs too. But the others either did not get what we did or it was not their space. There was interest in funding us, but not in our product. We decided to pitch some US VCs.

The offer

While we were building a list of US investors to target, Dan came back with an offer!!! OK damn, it was pretty exciting, but again, we are professionals. Professionals would of course shop the offer, angle for some VC FOMO, and get a better deal, right?

Of course we took their offer!

Nah. The offer was exactly what we wanted, because we believe that working with smart people who we like, who get our vision, is ultimately how we’ll achieve long-term success.

Confirmation

There’s always the fear that you get excited, you pick the VC because “support” and “they will help us achieve success”, but once the deal is done and the rubber hits the road, there is a catch. Not so far. Dan and the whole Folklore team have been AMAZING. Everyone on their team is first class and the question we keep hearing is “how can we help?” Then we ask, and they help!!!! 

It’s been brilliant. We are lucky!