Funding & Boardroom Lessons
I was part of two big conversations at IdeasFest that will give founders a reality check on two topics that make or break startups:
1) Raising money without losing control and
2) Navigating the chaos of startup boards
A. Funding Without Getting Mugged
At Poacher Turned Gamekeeper, I shared what most founders usually discover the hard way:
Choose your funding route wisely: Friends & family, angels, VCs, crowdfunding; each will come with different expectations and trade-offs.
Pick wrong, and investors could pull you in the wrong direction.Understand what investors really want:
They won’t just be buying a product.
They’ll be buying you, your clarity, and your plan.Show traction, even if small.
Prove demand, even if scrappy.
Avoid the rookie mistakes: Overvaluing your round, signing bad terms, or chasing money from people who don’t get your vision.
A bad cap table can kill a startup faster than lack of cash.
Founder takeaways:
1) Treat capital like fuel for growth, not just cash in the bank.
2) Be selective.
3) Build relationships early.
4) Negotiate from strength, not desperation.
B. Shenanigans in the Boardroom
In Shenanigans in the Boardroom, I joined Jo Dalton, Jordan Brompton, Amber Lort-Phillips, moderated by Julia Elliott Brown, to unpack the drama, dysfunction, and potential magic of startup boards:
Good boards accelerate growth: The best boards will challenge assumptions, bring strategic clarity, and open doors you can’t on your own.
Bad boards create chaos: Personality clashes, power struggles, or passive-aggressive investors can turn board meetings into founder nightmares.
Set the tone early: Be transparent. Come prepared. Align on vision, strategy, and metrics.
A strong founder controls the narrative, not the other way around.
Founder takeaway: Build a board that mixes challenge with support. The right people will keep you accountable without hijacking the mission.
What This Will Mean for You
Money gets you started. Governance keeps you standing.
Pick the right investors, build the right board, and you’ll buy yourself the most valuable startup asset there is: time to learn, adapt, and grow.
Most businesses make the same mistake:
They sell their product.
The features. The specifications. The clever little details they spent months perfecting.
But here’s the truth: nobody cares about your product.
What they care about is themselves.
They ask:
Does this solve my problem?
Does this make my life better?
Do I feel confident and proud when I use it?
That’s where most businesses stop. They identify the pain point, show the benefits, and hope that’s enough.
But it isn’t.
Because benefits live in the mind. Emotions live in the gut.
And the gut is where decisions are made.
A good business knows what its product does.
A great business knows what its product means.
Think about it this way:
Apple doesn’t sell phones. They sell belonging to a culture of innovation.
Nike doesn’t sell shoes. They sell the identity of an athlete.
Starbucks doesn’t sell coffee. They sell a little ritual of comfort and community.
When you attach meaning to your product, you give your customer something more powerful than utility;
you give them a story they want to tell themselves.
So here’s the solution:
Go beyond features and benefits. Ask: what transformation does this product represent?
Anchor it emotionally. How does your customer feel before using your product, and how do they want to feel after?
Sell the identity shift. Show them not just a better product, but a better version of themselves on the other side of buying it.
Do this well, and customers won’t just buy once.
They’ll buy again.
They’ll tell their friends.
And they’ll feel good every single time they do.
That’s the difference between selling products and selling futures.
Thank you everyone for reaching out!
Calls are fully booked for the next week. We are in the process of responding to those who are selected. If you haven’t heard back, be patient, we are on it!
But I don’t want you to leave empty-handed.
Once again, I will give you my FREE Startup Checklist.
It’s the same checklist I used (technologically updated of course) when I started New Covent Garden Soup Company.
A) If you’re just starting out, it helps you block out the noise and zero in on what really matters, because in the early days, speed and focus are everything.
B) And if you already have a business, it’s a quick way to get back on track when things start feeling messy.
Grab it now, put it to work, and start building smarter.
