03: THE FOUNDER PLAYBOOK
SESSION 3: THE FOUNDER PLAYBOOK
Part of the Founder Readiness Mini-Series by Angels Den, supported by Warwick Business School.
📅 Tuesday 28 July · 11:00-13:00 · The Shard, London
The best fundraising advice often comes from founders who have actually been through the process.
This practical session is designed for university founders who want real, unfiltered lessons from founders who have successfully raised.
Who this is for:
This session is for university founders, student founders, recent graduates and early-stage teams, in London and beyond, who want practical fundraising advice from founders who have successfully raised investment.
The Founder Playbook focuses on real fundraising lessons from successful founders: how they prepared, built investor relationships, managed outreach, handled rejection, created momentum and eventually secured investment. You will hear from experienced founders, including raised founders, repeat or serial founders, exited founders and later-stage operators. Contributors will share what worked, what failed, what took longer than expected and what they would do differently.
The session will cover:
How founders prepared before starting outreach
How to identify and target the right investors
Warm introductions, cold outreach and follow-up strategy
Managing an investor pipeline
Building momentum during a raise
How founders handled rejection and slow responses
What changed across different fundraising rounds
The mistakes founders wish they had avoided
Alternative routes to capital, including angels, grants, crowdfunding or sector-specific routes where relevant
This session is designed to be candid, practical and founder-led. It will focus on the real process behind fundraising, not just the polished story after a round has closed.
By the end of the session, founders should leave with:
A more realistic view of what fundraising actually looks like
Practical examples of how founders managed outreach and follow-up
A clearer understanding of investor relationships and momentum
Tactics they can apply to their own fundraising process
A better understanding of fundraising timelines and rejection
Lessons from founders at different stages and with different routes to capital
About Angels Den
Angels Den is one of the UK's longest-established angel investment networks, supporting early-stage founders and investors through curated introductions, investment opportunities and community-led events.
Our mission is to make angel investing more accessible, effective and collaborative, while helping high-potential founders connect with the right capital partners.
500+ startups funded · 21,000+ registered investors · £10M+ invested through the network
About TLT
TLT is a leading UK law firm supporting businesses, founders, investors and institutions across a wide range of sectors. For early-stage and growth companies, TLT provides practical legal support across areas such as fundraising, corporate structuring, commercial contracts, employment, intellectual property, data, regulation and growth strategy.
Through this partnership, TLT is supporting the founder and investor community with access to experienced legal insight and practical guidance for companies scaling in today's market.
Supported by Warwick Business School
This Founder Readiness Mini-Series is supported by Warwick Business School, helping connect university founders with practical startup education, investor insight and the wider early-stage ecosystem.