The Fundraising Journey with Jonathan Gandolf of The Juice

Matt Preuss
Marketing Manager

Overview

Fundraising is difficult. Founders are responsible for hiring, building, and fundraising all at the same time. There are very few people that truly know what it takes to build a company or raise capital while being a strong leader.

The best way to learn is from someone who has been there before. Being a founder can oftentimes be an “asymmetric experience.” As Seth Godin, the business author puts it:

“In these asymmetric situations, it’s unlikely that you’re going to outsmart the experienced folks who have seen it all before. It’s unlikely that you’ll outlast them either.

When you have to walk into one of these events, it pays to hire a local guide. Someone who knows as much as the other folks do, but who works for you instead.”

In order to help you find your “local guide,” we went along for a fundraising ride with a founder in our community.

Jonathan Gandolf is the CEO and Founder of The Juice, The Juice collects and consolidates resources from across the internet onto a single platform where you can save, share, and enjoy content on demand. Be sure to check out The Juice and sign up to discover the best sales and marketing content for you.

Spoiler: The Juice Achieves Major Milestones in Revenue and User Growth

Over the course of ~4 months, we sat down with Jonathan on a regular basis and picked his brain on the state of his fundraise and what he was learning along the way. We cover everything from his first meetings to due diligence.

For founders who are gearing up for a pre-seed or seed round and are feeling lost, Jonathan offers great insight as he shares his fundraising journey from day 1. Give it a listen below:

Week 1 — The Basics of the Round

To kick things off we give more background about the Founders Forward Fundraising series and the goals behind it.

We dig into the business behind The Juice and the fundamentals of their pre-seed funding round. Jonathan is ready to go with a list of 60 potential investors and a pitch deck in hand. Hop around and learn more about what we covered in week 1 below:

  • The Juice business model
  • How Jonathan is building his investor outreach list
  • What Jonathan’s plans are for reaching out to investors
  • The pitch deck feedback loop

Where to listen:

Related Resources:

Week 2 — Finding Investor Intros

Jonathan joins us after his first few weeks of heads-down fundraising. We discuss how he is going about adjusting and tweaking his pitch deck as more feedback comes in and how he is leveraging his network (and customers) to find intros to potential investors.

A few other key topics we hit on:

  • Managing pitch deck recommendations and changes
  • Designing a pitch deck with a small team
  • Finding introductions to potential investors
  • Leveraging customers for investor introductions

Related Resources:

Week 3 — Revenue vs. Product vs. Team

In week 3 of Jonathan’s fundraise, we break down what investors are looking for at the pre-seed stage. As The Juice has a strong product, Jonathan has been featuring and demoing his product during pitches.

We also dive into how The Juice ideal investor has transformed since they’ve started their raise and how they are adding new investors to the top of their fundraising funnel.

A few other key topics we hit on:

  • How to talk about revenue with investors
  • How Jonathan leveraged their product while pitching
  • Adding investors to the top of an investor funnel
  • Identifying your ideal investor

Related Resources:

Week 4 — Finding a Lead Investor

Jonathan has been busy with investor meetings and pitches since the last time we chatted. Jonathan breaks down the “VC speed dating” event he attended and updates on other investor conversations.

Finally, we hit on financial projections at the pre-seed/seed stage and what investors are looking for in the early stages of financial projections.

A few other key topics we hit on:

  • VC speed dating
  • Feedback on the size of round
  • How to nurture potential investors
  • Sharing financial projections

Related Resources:

Week 5 — Pitching Investors

We are back in the heart of The Juice fundraise. They are a few weeks in and starting to get to the middle of the “3 months of pitching.” We discuss how Jonathan is leveraging verbal commits to build urgency with new investors and discuss what is being shared in The Juice’s data room.

A few other key topics we hit on:

  • The timeline of fundraising
  • Using verbal commits to create urgency
  • What Jonathan is sharing in his data room

Related Resources:

Week 6 — Launching on ProductHunt

Coming off of their first ProductHunt launch, Jonathan joins us to share the current status of the round. We discuss what they’ve been focusing on internally as a business. Finally, we discuss the term sheets that are on their way.

A few other key topics we hit on:

  • Lessons from launching on ProductHunt
  • How to build a campaign for ProductHunt
  • Hunting for a lead investor

Related Resources:

Week 7 — The First Term Sheets

The first term sheets are in hand and the end of the raise is in sight. Jonathan joins us to discuss the term sheets he has in hand and what due diligence has been like so far. Finally, we talk through what hiring plans and projections look like once the cash is in the bank.

A few other key topics we hit on:

  • Leveraging the first term sheets for urgency
  • Modeling different fundraising outcomes
  • Lessons from first rounds of due diligence
  • Standing on the shoulders of giants

Related Resources:

Week 8 — Closing the Round

They did it! Jonathan and the team have wrapped up their raise and they are in the process of finishing up the round. Jonathan shares what he has learned during the raise and what is next for The Juice.

Related Resources:

Learn more about The Juice

The Juice collects and consolidates resources from across the internet onto a single platform where you can save, share, and enjoy content on demand. Join for free to explore the best sales and marketing content here.

You may also enjoy:
Product Updates
Shaping the Future: Unveiling Our Brand Refresh
Visible started as a way for founders to update their investors but has since transformed into a purpose-built platform for both founders and investors. Since 2014, we’ve powered over 3M interactions between founders and investors. Our brand refresh represents our commitment to equip founders and the investors who back them. Founders can now manage their investor relationships and capital raises from start to finish. Investors can centralize data, uncover insights, and report to their LPs and stakeholders—all from one place. We are excited to unveil our refreshed brand, marking the beginning of the next decade in our dedication and commitment to founders and investors. Equipping Founders and Investors for Growth Raising capital is fundamentally about building relationships. Founders and investors spend months forging connections that, once solidified by a term sheet, can evolve into partnerships lasting 8 to 10 years and beyond. We set out to highlight the people behind the investments, not just the companies or firms they represent. As we continue to grow, you'll notice more familiar faces from different startups and venture funds featured on our site (👋 Hi Lacey!). Shaping Our Future Across our website and marketing assets, you’ll see 3D shapes floating in the background. While they add aesthetic appeal, they also carry a deeper meaning. For example: We believe raising capital from VCs or LPs closely resembles a fundraising funnel, a concept brought to life through the funnel shape that appears across various pages and assets. Sphere, torus, and pill shapes symbolize the connections between VCs, founders, and stakeholders, reflecting the interwoven nature of these relationships. These forms also symbolize forward momentum and the continuous progression within the venture ecosystem. As our product has evolved to offer greater flexibility in moving data into and out of Visible, you'll notice pipes integrated into the design, visually representing the seamless flow of data through our platform. Logo and Wordmark To maintain and perpetuate our brand equity, we opted to anchor our brand to our current logo and wordmark. The Visible logomark is made from three overlapping, equilateral triangles. Each triangle is slightly transparent, allowing the mark to interact with other design elements. These triangles represent human relationships and the connection between founders and investors, which is core to our mission and vision for our company. Color Palette Our signature black primary color remains, but we've refined our palette for a fresh look. We've transitioned from a complex, rich color scheme to a more cohesive and defined palette, creating a unified and bold approach to color across our brand. Introducing the new Visible color palette: Product Guided by our core values of trust and transparency, we designed our product to embody these principles. Our product visuals across the site are predominantly high-fidelity for the first time, highlighting its capabilities visually rather than relying solely on words. The updated typography and refined color palette are seamlessly integrated into our product screens, further enhancing the overall brand experience. Voice & Tone A brand is more than just its visual identity; it requires a voice and tone that harmonizes with its design. We aimed for our voice to be authentic, credible, and consistent, supporting both investors and founders alike. This commitment led us to define key principles for our voice and tone: Be a guide Less is more Recognize that different users face different challenges As you explore our marketing site, we hope Visible reflects these values and resonates with you. Transparency = Trust As we noted earlier, raising capital is fundamentally about relationships. Trust and transparency form the foundation of any strong connection. Throughout our website, you'll notice subtle transparency elements that embody this core principle. This new iteration of our brand is built to scale, but that doesn’t mean we won’t continue to evolve and elevate the experience for the betterment of our prospects and customers. Here's to shaping the next 10 years! Up and to the right,  The Visible Team
Product Updates
Product Update: Turn Emails Into Insights With Visible AI Inbox
Customer Stories
Case Study: Airtree Venture's Transformation with Visible
Fundraising
9 Tips for Effective Investor Networking