Gust Founder David Rose's Tips for Fundraising Startups

David S. Rose is a serial entrepreneur, founder of Gust, New York Angels, and USREM, with over four decades of investing in more than 120 startups. He’s famously known as “New York’s Archangel” and authored bestselling guides like Angel Investing and The Startup Checklist. Here are four quick tips on fundraising for your startup, from his Fundraising 101 lesson: - You Must Be Your First Investor: “If you don’t risk your personal money on your personal venture, nobody else will ever invest a penny.” - Raise Money Only If You Must: “Don’t take my money! If there’s any way you can avoid taking investor money then you should do so.” - Articulation Wins Capital: “Be as clear as you can about what you’re doing because the business will live or die on its own.” - Integrity over Everything: “You’re making decisions every minute, every hour, and if I can’t trust you to make decisions for the good of the company, I’m not going to invest.”

Why these four land so hard

Rose has watched thousands of pitches as the founder of New York Angels and Gust, and each of these rules maps to the way angels actually decide. Your own money in the round answers the commitment question. Raising only when you must answers the discipline question. Clear articulation answers the competence question. And integrity answers the only question that has no second chance.

Before pitching angels, it is worth understanding how organized groups of them make decisions. Our guide to angel groups walks through their process step by step.