The Dwolla team is introducing investor meetings at Monetery this year to connect early stage companies with investors they might not otherwise meet.
These meetings are structured as sit down introductions between the VC and company. They are low stress and are simply a way for people to get to know one another. Which is how that relationship starts in the real world.
Raising capital as you get your company started is constantly hard for somewhat obvious reasons, more-so in non coastal regions.
- There isn’t an established deal-flow that everyone understands.
- We don’t have all the investment stages covered so at some point you have to source capital from many geographies.
- You have to reach people out of town to get your idea in front of others.
- You need to quickly grow your network to find investors in other geographies. This commonly leads teams to one of two coasts in US.
This also can also cause teams to believe there is no capital in the no-coast but i think that’s a fallacy. There is capital, it’s just not well connected to up and coming talent. That disconnect goes both ways.
That’s not just a no-coast problem. Not finding a great investor+team match happens in a number of other places as well.
In the name of making things better, and creating some new efficiencies in the community we’re taking a unique opportunity at Monetery this year to help early stage teams raise capital and help investors find deal flow with companies they probably wouldn’t see without the matchmaking session.
A big thanks to the VCs who supported the idea and are making an effort to get to Des Moines for the event. Costanoa, Firebrand, Manchestor Story, Next Level Ventures, and Chicago Ventures.
To the founders out there,
We will help you raise capital by introducing you to investors we already know who are actively looking for investments in the region. We’ll even provide you the meeting space to help make the conversation easy. We’ll make sure the wifi works and there is even a nice glass of water and coffee available.
The Dwolla team has done a tremendous job finding a way to work with excited investors looking at new opportunities in the region. Now we just need you to show up and talk to them.