𝐍𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚

I’ve been spending a lot of time talking to funders and people who want funding recently and there are some key points that bare mentioning (esp for people looking for funding)

There isn’t anyone I’ve met who would just flush their money down the toilet.

That is what “funding an idea” looks like.

Most of them want some kind of return.

Some just want the return of their principal

Fewer still, just want reassurance that you are using their money to make a positive impact (and not to make drugs to sell to teens or something)

None of them are interested in running the project for you. That’s why they give the money- so that they don’t have to operate the project.

Here’s what funders aren’t:

Stupid. You can’t slap a coat of paint on a pig and fool them into thinking it’s a prize-winning horse.

Careless. They want details. They will do their due diligence.

Coming to rescue you.

Validation that your ideas are good and worthwhile.

Coddling or putting up with unhealed emotional trauma (in fact, they have an acute nose for that and will give that a WIDE berth)

Interested in shifting you out of scarcity mindset and their radar is attuned to it (Several have said they spotted it early on in a conversation and ended the talks right there)

You need to have a plan. A thorough well thought out one. With contingencies for safeguarding their money.

A team that has some experience- it’s okay if you don’t have much, as long as there’s someone to guide the ship when things go awry.

Proof of concept - you need to actually have something to show them that you’ve done (even a little) bit of what you are planning to do on a larger scale successfully. If you can give them a taste of the experience- even better.

Some people who believe in you. A community. Some support. Some traction.

There are a lot of people who are just tired of being on a grind-y hamster wheel and hope that funding might change that - it won’t! That’s an internal issue (like in your brain)

Some people hope it will be the thing that will move them out of paycheck-to-paycheck status. It won’t. That’s an internal issue.

Some people are just tired. They want someone else to take the wheel or cross the project over the finish line. No one else will do this. It’s up to you.

You have to rest on the go.

Replenish during the day.

Regulate between calls.

Change the behavior patterns that aren’t working.

Funding doesn’t take away the responsibility of managing yourself.

That will always be up to you.

Once you have a great, well thought out plan

With contingencies for safeguarding the money in the case of worst case scenarios

You have a product or a service that clearly works and that people want

You will find the funding. It’s inevitable.

(Ps. And I - who is building a global fund - feel exactly the same way, FYI. The idea behind the fund is to remove the bureaucracy, not the checks and balances )

Pps. And although the title says “No one funds an idea”, people who believe in you and know you are trustworthy actually might fund a round of initial money. It’s worth asking.