From my experience, one of the most important realizations of fundraising is that it's an enormous mind game. The hardest part of fundraising was getting the s

From my experience, one of the most important realizations of fundraising is that it's an enormous mind game. The hardest part of fundraising was getting the startup to a point where I actually believed in it. When I looked at our projections and where the company could go, I was no longer thinking, "Yeah, if a miracle happens," but rather, "It'll be hard, but I really, really think we can do that. We just need some help to get there." Fundraising was a relative cakewalk when I was no longer selling investors on our company; I was explaining to investors that we were taking off, and asking them if they'd like to jump on board.