Julia Collins and Sarah Kunst outline how to build a fundraising process

Julia Collins is the first Black woman to co-found a venture-backed unicorn. So it should come as no surprise that investors lined up to bet on her latest venture, Planet FWD.

Investor Sarah Kunst likens Collins herself to Supreme, the ubiquitous lifestyle brand.

“The thing that Supreme has done incredibly well is the same thing I think some very exceptional founders like Julia can do very well, which is to build a brand that stands for something,” said Kunst. “Smart people know that the best time to get aligned with a great brand is at the drop. A Supreme shirt that costs $100 bucks in the store will cost $1,000 online. So, as an investor, I am just a kid on the street corner flipping sportswear.”

Kunst and Collins met well before Collins even had a clear idea for Planet FWD, but the duo knew they wanted to work together in the future. Kunst essentially told Collins that, whatever she was planning to do next, Kunst wanted to invest in it, sight unseen.

Kunst said Collins’ ability to “see around the corner” with Zume gave her the confidence to proceed. When Zume launched, there were a lot of naysayers, recalls Kunst.

“Now, you look at where the world is and there are multibillion dollar companies in the space,” she said. “Some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world, like Travis Kalanick, are leaning into ghost kitchens, which are just less efficiently delivered versions of Zume Pizza robots. To quote Wayne Gretzky, because I’m from the Midwest and therefore care about hockey a tiny bit, you want to skate to where the puck is going.”

The two formed a friendship and eventually, Collins started building out Planet FWD and prepping to raise. By then, the foundation was there. Kunst got in on Planet FWD’s seed round.

Fundraising is a process

Collins says one of the biggest lessons she learned from her time at Zume was to limit distractions and focus on one thing at a time.

“I felt this disorientation at times, and it was hard to navigate,” she said, noting that she not only was starting a company but also settling into the Bay Area. “Now, it’s much easier for me to cut through a lot of noise and focus on a single conversation, a single product’s development, a single thing that I need to get done.”

In that same vein, Collins has learned to be incredibly deliberate when it comes to fundraising. It’s also worth noting that she’s raised some $400 million+ in the last five years.

She advises that founders give their fundraise a start date, a goal end date and to rationalize the funnel well ahead of starting to pitch. Then, track that progress as pitching begins.

She shared how she thought about her Series A fundraise. She planned to start on September 15 with a small funnel of 20 investors she already knew. Before September 15, all 20 meetings had already been put on the calendar. She was oversubscribed for the round before she finished all 20 meetings, and had to deal with “the dance of figuring out allocations.”

She added that “soft circling” is critical to running this type of process.

“You can create some momentum before you’re in market and have a soft circle meeting with an investor but be clear that you’re not in market,” said Collins. “That’s actually kind of sexy for an investor because they’re getting to know you and your business but they can’t have it right now.”

Beyond the business

This type of soft circling led to a very real friendship between Collins and Kunst, which is part of the reason they’re working relationship is simultaneously candid and tension-free. The duo said that they talk pretty regularly but not always about Planet FWD, with Kunst adding that talking about things that aren’t work related builds intimacy.

“Everyone’s excited to say, ‘Hey did you see my latest press release’ or ‘Did you see this great sales figure’ but it’s much harder for founders or investors to say, ‘Hey, I’m concerned about this thing’ or ‘I don’t think XYZ is working,'” said Kunst. “You have to build some mutual trust and respect in order to have hard conversations that are heard.”

In fact, Kunst says that it’s not uncommon for her to pass on deals with founders who are unable to talk about difficult things in a meaningful way.

“When you run a startup, everything will always go wrong,” said Kunst. “Chaos is part of the process. It’s all creative destruction. So you have to be able to look at problems not as a personal attack, but as a way to fix it together.”

She added that there is a common phrase used in self-help books that she loves: “It’s not you against me, it’s you and me against the problem.”

This type of relationship takes effort on both the investor and the founder, but it also takes a certain type of character. Kunst said that founders who are smart and have a big vision are a dime a dozen. “Averagely above average.”

Beyond those table stakes, she looks for integrity as a top priority.

“When you have the chance to take the shortcut or do things the right way, whether it’s to co-founders or investors or employees, customers or the press or whoever it is, what are you going to choose,” she says. “It’s so easy in the moment. If integrity is not a guiding light, I don’t think it works for you long term. And short term, you’re not somebody I want to be spending all this time and effort on.”

Pitch deck teardown

Your startup’s name matters

It’s awesome to have something kind of evocative. But thinking, especially in this moment, you know, about what our names mean, particularly in a historical context, I think shows a level of brand sophistication.

Good design is critical

When I was raising my seed, Sarah and I had one of our famous breakfasts and she told me my deck was ugly. I had a great rate with a really pretty deck. I think it’s worth it. If you’re not a graphic designer, then any incremental minute that you’re spending on trying to make your deck pretty is a waste of time. You need to be focusing on content. Hire somebody, pay them a tiny bit of money to be able to do a nice graphics pass on your deck, and it’s going to make it a lot easier for people to to get the information that you need them to know. You just don’t want people to miss out on the very good information that you’re providing. So I think it’s worth having somebody on the outside to a graphics test for sure.

Ditch the “proprietary and confidential” warning

This is one of my biggest pet peeves. You don’t need to say it’s proprietary and confidential, and that all rights are reserved. One, you’re sending this to people who are going to share it. And secondly, those disclaimers (like the ones on the bottom of emails) are not legally binding. So it takes up space visually, but it doesn’t say anything. The only thing it kind of says is like, “Just joking, we don’t know what we’re doing.”

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