Sammy Abdullah of Blossom Street Ventures: How to Write a Cold Email that Gets Investors' Attention

Sammy Abdullah is the Founder and Managing Partner of Blossom Street Ventures, which is also known as the anti-VC. Blossom Street Ventures focuses on companies with $2 million to $20 million of run-rate revenue, and year over year growth of 50% plus. They invest anywhere in the US or Canada and they prefer leading one to 10 million series A or B rounds, but can also follow. BSV does traditional growth rounds, inside rounds, recaps, secondaries, and restructings. And unlike a lot of other VCs, they like hearing from founders directly.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn

• Sammy Abdullah talks about asking individuals to invest and trust his company and his strategy in asking
• The biggest mistake founders make when asking for an investment and why they keep doing it
• What a fair deal for both founders and investors looks like
• How agreeing on and turning down deals can affect company reputation and founder-investor relationships 
• Sammy’s preference for publicly provided data as valuation points for companies and where to find them
• Red flags founders should look out for in investors 
• Do’s and Don'ts of a cold email to help you grab an investor’s attention 

In this episode…

One of the biggest mistakes founders make when asking for investments is being overconfident about their business and setting a very high valuation. This turns investors off and it could lead to a reputation within the fundraising circles that can be hard to shake off. According to this week’s guest, Sammy Abdullah, the last thing you want is to be in a situation where your valuation is too high, leaving you with few options and hard-to-please investors whose patience is lower than you would prefer.

Doing your research and preparing for your pitch when sending out cold emails and preparing for your ask is crucial. Why? Because a fair deal is always appreciated and laying out your numbers and milestones in a crisp and straightforward tone will more than likely grab an investor’s attention.

Tune in on this episode of What’s Your Ask as Stephanie Sims talks to Sammy Abdullah of Blossom Street Ventures about the common mistakes founders make when asking for investment, how to do research to get a fair deal, how these can affect investor-founder relationships, and how to draft a cold email that will grab your potential investor’s attention.

Resources Mentioned in this episode

• Blossom Street Ventures
• Sammy Abdullah on LinkedIn 
• Sammy Abdullah’s Email address: [email protected]
• Crunchbase
• PitchBook
• Finance-Ability
• Stephanie Sims LinkedIn

Sponsor for this episode...

Finance-Ability is a boutique consulting firm dedicated to helping business owners and startups find their best options for growth funding. Founded by financial strategist and transaction expert Stephanie Sims, Finance-Ability can help any business owner identify the right funding partners and get through fundraising as painlessly as possible.

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