Thomas Mueller-Borja demystifies large-scale fundraising by breaking it down into a numbers game. To raise $2 billion with an average ticket of €50 million, you need 40 investors. Assuming a 20% conversion rate, this requires building and maintaining a prospect funnel of 200 global leads.
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Raising billions isn't a single meeting. It’s a lengthy process of due diligence where investors vet the team, track record, and operations. Thomas Mueller-Borja jokes this requires "high levels of serotonin" to handle the long timelines and frequent rejections.
Raise capital when you can clearly see upcoming growth and need resources to service it. Tying your timeline to operational milestones, like onboarding new customers, creates genuine urgency and momentum. This drives investor FOMO and helps close deals more effectively than an arbitrary deadline.
A powerful, low-effort fundraising tactic is to maintain two investor update lists: one for current investors with full transparency, and a "dream investor" list. BCC your dream list on polished, highlight-reel updates showcasing strong traction and momentum, creating inbound interest without a formal ask.
The founder of Simple Mills pitched so many investors (8 per day) that two potentials randomly met in a Whole Foods aisle while looking at her product. This serendipitous moment led directly to her lead investor signing on, proving that sheer volume in fundraising can generate its own luck.
Counterintuitively, targeting significantly larger deals forces extreme focus. A $5 billion fundraising goal might involve only 10 conversations, whereas a $5 million goal could involve 1,000. This massive scale filters for serious professionals and eliminates the distractions common in smaller-scale endeavors, simplifying the process.
The initial capital for a new fund-of-funds doesn't come from cold outreach to institutions. The process mirrors an emerging VC's first fundraise, relying on a personal network of operators, VCs, and high-net-worth individuals who already believe in the founder. The strategy is to work the existing network outward, not pitch institutions from day one.
A clever strategy for first-time fund managers is to raise smaller checks from a large number of operators and domain experts. While harder to execute, this turns the LP base into a powerful, built-in expert network for diligence and support, converting a fundraising challenge into a strategic asset.
Instead of a formal roadshow, founders should let future lead investors invest small amounts months in advance. Providing them with regular updates and hitting stated milestones builds immense trust, making the actual fundraise a quick, targeted process that optimizes for partner over price.
A common misperception is that large firms build extensive fundraising teams because their scale allows them to afford it. The reality is the inverse: these firms achieved scale precisely because they invested in professionalizing their investor relations and capital-raising capabilities early on, creating a flywheel for growth.
The most effective fundraising strategy isn't a rigid, time-boxed "process." Instead, elite founders build genuine relationships with target VCs over months. When it's time to raise, the groundwork is laid, turning the fundraise into a quick, casual commitment rather than a competitive, game-driven event.
