Book Club Review: The Start Up Fundraising MBA

Since the launch of the Six figure Niche Book Club we first reviewed a finance book to understand more about how to scale faster as a founder. For this month’s Book Club we decided on The Startup Fundraising MBA, a book that was selected by one of our Marketing Mavericks, who is building a scalable business in the next 12 months and looking into the backing of VC’s (Venture Capitalists).

Initial Thoughts:

Personally, before I started reading the book, I already knew that the VC route isn’t a fit for Six Figure Niche at the moment and after reading the book, I still felt the same after. However, I felt it was essential to take in the knowledge and expand my understanding, especially since I know clients who are exploring the VC route and could benefit from what this book has to offer.

Topics we discussed:

Looking ahead with funding needs: Knowing 3 years in advance what funds should be in the business, and what might need to be raised.

Ownership vs Scale: The book makes you ask yourself if you’d rather own a “large percentage of a small number or a small percentage of a large number?”.

Bootstrap vs Venture Capital:

- Founders have a 1% chance of being backed by a VC.

- Founders spend 60-100% of their time raising funds, need to be IN the business.

Cost of raising capital: There are hidden costs for raising money, which range from 5-15% of the funds raised.

Choosing the right VC: When you’re looking for a VC it’s not just about money, they also have to align with your values too.

Handy Highlights from the Book:

Helpful Qs & Concepts: Pages 134 and 135 feature some great reflection questions such as whether you’re going for funding or not and new concepts like ‘Tam Sam Som’, which none of us in the book club had heard of before, that guide you through the realities of fundraising.

Practical strategies for building revenue: We discussed how you can build a monthly recurring revenue into your business and how to implement it into a business model.

Positioning Your Business: There are some handy acronyms in page 177, a fun and insightful framework that asks whether your business is a “painkiller, vitamin, or candy”, which helps founders position their offerings in a more memorable way.

Personally, I enjoyed the first half more than the second half, because I found it the most engaging and interesting. I also really like how Jim Shirley included the softer skills of presenting your best self as the founder and business to VCs, and how to approach meetings with VCs across different settings. For me, I was less bothered about the VC valuations, and all the actual nitty gritty figures because it doesn’t really apply to my business.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, we decided that The Start Up Fundraising MBA is a must read, and it’s a solid addition to any entrepreneur’s bookshelf. While it might not be for every Founder, especially those not seeking venture capital, the book’s insights into startup growth, funding strategies, and building resilient revenue models make it worth reading, so you can figure of whether this is a route for you and your business.

The overall agreement we had in the online book club meeting was that we enjoyed how the book was laid out as it was nicely designed, and also followed a logical structure. However, if there was only one thing we were critical about, it was that the illustrations were a bit cheesy and childish for us given the serious content.

You can order Jim Shirley’s Start Up Fundraising MBA book here on Amazon.

Make sure to order our upcoming Six Figure Niche book to secure your spot at the next exclusive Book Club meeting. Connect with like-minded people, share insights, and grow together.