Tag: pre-seed funding

What a difference 60 days make

60 days ago I was in Miami visiting family before my daughter, Taj, and I headed back to Europe after our 3-month road trip around the United States. It was a difficult and turbulent time.

A week earlier, I was at The Fontainebleau Las Vegas attending RFDC, surrounded by restaurant industry friends who were all encouraging me to follow my heart and to continue building. Meanwhile, a few people close to me wanted me to find a stable job at a stable company.

I seriously considered it…

But I had investors telling me, “Whatever you do next, I’m interested.”

I had restaurant executives telling me, “You need to go build your vision, because the industry needs it.”

I had a team of people telling me, “Build something new, I’m in. Don’t worry about the money. We will figure it out.”

I had a network of followers reaching out and telling me, “Whatever I can do to help, just say the word.”

It felt like the universe had made up its mind for me. How could I ignore this inertia and go find a job with an established company? It felt like I would be letting so many people down. Most importantly, it felt like I would be letting myself down.

In December I posted my opening bank balance after opening my business account for High Margin. Investors have now started wiring funds. It’s real now. I don’t have the words to express my gratitude to all of you for helping me create this company.

I’m turning 49 on Saturday. Lots to do over the next 365 days before the big one.

You’re under-selling yourself

Yesterday I experienced something that I never thought I’d hear. An investor told me that my valuation was… wait for it… “too low”. The call started out with us getting to know each other. I explained how my family and I moved to Europe in 2018 after I sold my first startup and how we immersed ourselves in France, Italy and Austria. I also told them how I leveraged that personal experience to create digital story-telling content, and how that helped raise money and grow a network of customers and mentors in the restaurant industry.

During the second-half of the conversation, I explained what we are building here at High Margin. When I told him the valuation I was using to raise money, they said it should be between double and triple what I had suggested. I found myself suddenly justifying why I thought the valuation was fair given where we are as a company (while the voice in my head said “shut up” “shut up”…).

What came next was an extremely valuable pep-talk that I think I needed to hear. He said that investors looking at early stage companies are investing more in the founder than anything else, and that although I told him my personal story about raising our kids across several countries as a personal anecdote, it was actually an illustration of unconventional out-of-the box thinking that investors love. He said that doing what we did took a lot of work and courage to do something in a way that 99% of the world would never have the guts to do. That’s what they look for in a founder.

I proceeded to tell them about how my 12 year old daughter, Taj, and I traveled around the US in a pink polka-dot unicorn RV for 3 months, attending restaurant industry conferences and visiting restaurant executives in their offices.

He said that I was under-selling myself with the valuation that I had suggested. With a track record that shows that both in my personal and professional life I’m able to achieve ambitious goals while approaching them in creative and unique ways, investors should and will see why that makes the company much more valuable than a typical pre-seed startup. “Your humility is your own worst enemy.”

So to those two gentlemen, thank you.