So I haven’t just raised money for my own projects my own ventures I’ve also helped lots of founders and social intrapreneurs and CEOs and executives and physicians and researchers and scientists — I’ve helped a very wide range of people raise anywhere from $100,000-$100 million.

So what did I learn from that?

Specifically from helping other people to raise money for their own projects and visions adventures?

Probably the most important thing from being involved with all of those razors was that I was able to see again and again and again the gap or the distance between my understanding of a vision and organization in a product or service adventure and the team that was making it and the understanding that strangers outsiders potential funders investors first customers first beneficiaries what did all of these external audiences come to think no field believe trust and understand about the opportunities they were being pitched?

If you’re not successful in raising money or getting strategic partners or getting your initial customers or beneficiaries it’s because of one of three primary reasons:

1. You might have a lot of passion behind your desire to make change but the offer opportunity that you’re offering to others it isn’t unique and if it is invaluable enough it isn’t compelling enough to make other people want to get on the rocket with you. 
2. You might be pitching to the wrong people people whose values and vision and priorities are so far out of alignment with your own that even though they theoretically have the capital or the resources or the network or or something else that seems like he could be a productive collaborative component for you to develop a long-term relationship with it’s never gonna happen because they just see you as belonging to a different tribe and headed to a different destination than the one they’re pursuing. 
3. You might have a uniquely valuable solution to a high-demand problem with timely growth potential — but you’re doing a lousy job of communicating all of that in a way that under other people who don’t already know the story and who don’t already know you can visualize can understand can get excited about can find their place their opportunity their value their benefit within. 

So I saw one or more of the of these no magnets play out repeatedly across every imaginable pitching scenario for profit nonprofit hybrid social change text sector scientific research, education — and no matter the context sometimes these challenges were fixable through timely intervention and expert advice – or they were not fixable and resulted in the team and his vision never managing to get enough traction or support to make massive change happen.

So I learned a lot from all of that and it’s great that I did because now you don’t have to suffer the same painful lessons or scramble against dwindling time and financial resources to figure out how to get to yes.