From 140 open tabs to the 10 that matter

Florina came to her first raise as a solo founder. “I came into fundraising with a lot of conviction, a lot of ambition, and approximately 140 tabs open in my brain at any given moment,” she says.

So much noise

Raising for the first time, alone, meant every question landed on her desk, and every person she asked had a different answer. “There is so much noise. Everybody has an opinion, a framework, a different answer, a slightly different pitch slide.”

More advice wasn’t going to help. She needed to know which of those 140 tabs mattered now, and which could wait.

Fewer tabs, a clearer strategy

Diana worked with Florina to cut through the noise and rethink her fundraising strategy, then to decide what needed her attention right now. “Diana has been amazing in helping me cut through all that noise, rethink my fundraising strategy, and figure out which of those 140 tabs matter right now.”

The work didn’t stop at telling her what to do. “What I’ve really loved about working with Diana and Alex is that they don’t just tell you what you should be doing, they help you actually do it.”

“We need people who are willing to get into the trenches with us and help us create structure and actually move things forward.”Florina Minzat

From founders, for founders

For Florina, it mattered that the people helping her had built companies themselves. “They’re also founders, so they understand that we don’t need another person telling us everything we’re doing wrong.” She describes the support as incredibly patient and practical.

When Alex first reached out, she almost ignored the message: plenty of people offer to help founders. Her gut told her these were the right people, and she went with it. “I’m so grateful I listened, because sometimes you don’t just need another person to give you another answer. You need someone to look at those 140 tabs and say: close those 130, because these are the ones that actually matter.”

What changed for Florina

She now knows which of her priorities matter for the raise, has a fundraising strategy built around them, and has people working alongside her to move it forward. In her words: “So now let’s freaking raise.”