This is how our team used folk to raise $4.5M

In the early days of a startup, being well-funded helps to engage in ambitious projects. We believe this is the business founders' responsibility, so the team can focus on delivering value. The process should be fast and efficient so as not to hijack the focus from where the priority really lays: building the team and the product.

After closing a $4.5M seed funding round led by Accel and a group of operator angels, we are happy to reveal the simple but effective ways we used folk to reach our goal.

A central hub for inbound and outbound investors

When we announced we were launching folk, we had many inbound investors contacting us to be part of the deal. From the beginning, we used folk to centralize this data.

In addition to inbound, we also wanted to target operators we knew were operating in a similar context. We leveraged teammates and peers' networks to find these investors and reach out to them.

We've used folk to centralize all this data in one hub, so anyone from the team – or anyone willing to help – can add their investors' personal intel. As Simo described:

"We received a lot of help, especially from eFounders. They have a large network of angels and investors, and as they're using folk as well, it was easy to share contacts and ask for warm intros."

Never lose sight of the fundraising process to close deals

When organizing a big fundraising campaign, it's important to have every aspect of it under control to achieve your goals.

When adding an investor to folk, you can keep track of the process adding all the information you need to always stay well-informed. For example, you can add the person that performed the introduction or specify the status of the process using tags, such as 'first meeting done', 'term sheet signed', 'wire received', and so on. While dates and comments are there to remind you when to follow up, so you can make things happen.

You can also easily share the progress with your team and assign tasks to each member so everyone is aligned.

Leverage your angels when you need them

The work doesn't stop after a successful fundraising campaign and it's important to prepare your business for the next big thing.

You can use folk to have your list of investors – and possible future backers – in a single place; ready to be used when you'll need to leverage your network.

When confronted with a major challenge, we often ask ourselves if someone among our investors could help us. This mindset led us to ask Christian Reber for advice on branding, David Breger for advice on partnerships, Arthur Waller for tips on integration strategy, and so on.

But folk is not just about keeping your contacts in one place, it's also the tool with use to nurture our investors. Thanks to tags, comments and customizable fields, you can add any information about your contacts that can help you craft personalized messages that will enable you to build strong relationships or simply send investor updates.

folk is here to help you build your business. Learn more about using folk for fundraising here.