Listed below are the teachings I realized.
This isn’t an exaggeration, this actually occurred. Let me provide you with some context: The $1.3 million was an funding verify. The publish was a picture. The funding got here from somebody I’d by no means spoken to earlier than and had seen the publish and despatched me a DM. Since this occurred, I’ve had time to mirror on what made this attainable, and there are some distinct classes, which I’ll share on this story.
However first, a bit background. I run a startup (Stakester), we’re two years outdated, we’re in e-sports, so it’s a cool sector, and we’re experiencing some nice person development. I’ve simply over 7k connections on LinkedIn.
I wasn’t aiming to boost any cash at this stage; we’d simply closed a funding spherical. However we’re a startup, and the reality is we’re all the time elevating, simply possibly not formally. We’d dried up a bit on the eye so I wished to get observed.
I’d realized a useful lesson throughout our final funding spherical: that with regards to getting cash, the chance for traders to make a big return is every part, so I wanted to seize their consideration with one thing that confirmed this.
With that in thoughts, right here had been the priorities;
- Present development.
- Present it’s occurring rapidly.
- Get numerous folks to see it.
- Get numerous the proper folks to see it.
Right here’s how I did it:
- Decide a metric. Doesn’t actually matter which, so long as it’s significant and rising. Make this the spotlight of the publish. I made the picture a easy graph exhibiting a steep curve.
- Point out a timeframe within the publish that appears quick. The trick right here is to make use of a bigger time interval so it has a decrease quantity. So as an alternative of 4 weeks, 1 month. Half a yr, as an alternative of 6 months. It is because the reader will see the quantity, not the interval.
- Hold all the info on LinkedIn — in the event you want a hyperlink, put it within the feedback. LinkedIn prioritizes posts that preserve folks on the positioning. Additionally, add a related hashtag. TOP TIP: the image is prime actual property, however so is your first line, so make it attention-grabbing. Mine, “WARNING. HUGE BRAG BELOW,” was an invite to click on “learn extra.”
- That is the magic: In case you add somebody right into a publish, as persons are usually well mannered, they are going to virtually definitely Prefer it. This implies it can present up on their feed. Subsequently, tag people who find themselves both within the sector you wish to attain, or related to folks which are. I tagged everybody who since beginning the enterprise has invested, or has raised funding themselves. As a result of all of them could have related networks.
Lesson 1 — Shapes Promote
It doesn’t matter what the graph reveals, simply the form of it. It offers an prompt emotional response. We see the Covid stats going up, we panic, we see them happening, we chill out. Will we have a look at the numbers and what they signify? Hardly ever. It’s the identical right here, present a horny curve, persons are going to get excited.
Lesson 2 — Don’t Ask
The second you ask for cash, the tables flip, you lose the ability. As an alternative, make them come to you. Feed that FOMO they usually’ll begin reaching out.
Lesson 3 — Put in The Groundwork
The chance of 1 publish getting $1M is, nicely, one in one million. I used to be extraordinarily fortunate, I do know this. However I made myself extra more likely to be fortunate by placing within the groundwork first. I grew my LinkedIn neighborhood, I commented on different folks’s posts so they’re more likely to reciprocate. Your profile might be the making of your small business. Make investments time and vitality into rising it and your probabilities of being fortunate might be exponentially elevated.
And at last, right here’s the publish.
Just a few stats (on the level of elevating):
- 99 Likes
- 26 Feedback
- 9,866 Views
However these stats are largely meaningless.
The stats that matter:
- 5 chilly DMs from traders
- 1 deal closed
- $1.3M raised
The way it began…
The way it completed…
Pen drop.