How we raised £250k before launch (UK-focused, step-by-step, with some hacks)
We just hit:
600+ people on the Meet-Ting waitlist
275+ invites sent
50+ meetings booked
~30 weekly actives using it regularly
I’ve just written up the full story of how we raised before our launch - including the hacks and step-by-step approach we used (UK-focused) - on my Substack.
I’m a first-time founder, so if this can save you hours of podcasts, GPT prompts, and late-night desk research, I hope it helps!
Here are a few highlights:
1) SEIS is a cheat code for UK founders
Lets you raise up to £250k with huge tax relief for investors + downside protection.
Get advance assurance before outreach - it makes the conversation easier and warmer.
2) LinkedIn as a dealflow tool
Search your 1st-degree connections for “angel” or “investor.”
DM with self-awareness (“this is awkward, but…”).
You’ll be surprised who replies.
3) The “team” slide matters more than you think
Past mentors -> small equity for advisor roles.
Signals credibility and plugs skill gaps early (for me: senior technical voices).
4) Build an investor FAQ doc
Capture every question after calls.
Sends a transparency signal and stops you repeating yourself.
5) Name the risks before they do
Ours: “What if Calendly or Google do this?”
Answer it straight - it builds trust.
The full post covers:
The POC that got early believers
Writing a deck that makes you pitch-ready
Momentum psychology in fundraising (from £0 to oversubscribed)
Landing $350k in Google Cloud credits
The boring-but-critical legal and insurance stuff
If you’re raising in the UK or thinking about it, hope it is useful: https://chiefting.substack.com/p/from-idea-to-250k-the-ting-journey
Happy to answer any UK-raise or SEIS Qs in the thread?
Replies
Purposeful Poop
im not in the UK so no real comment on that front.
im sure you considered bootstrapping vs raising. do you feel like you made the right choice? or maybe put another way have you gained new info that would change your calculation for a subsequent project?
Meet-Ting
@catt_marroll So far, at this very early stage and with no previous experience, happy with decision and would do again. Expanded network by doing it, forced structure and focus to get into a position to be able to raise, actually really helped with product clarity and storytelling, plus new angels with strategic insights motivated in our success. First time doing it so I’m sure there will be moments ahead where you reflect more deeply on the decision, but so far it’s felt like an advantage and not limiting. I think had it been VC vs. angels it may also be different. We did talk to VCs though, one offered to do the whole round and clear out our angels, but we stuck by them and maybe that was the key learning and best decision we can look back on one day, hopefully.
Purposeful Poop
@dbul nice! yeah it's sort of like people saying that just doing the YC application alone was very helpful as a forcing function.
i hadn't really internalized the difference between an angel and a VC in terms of the "post raise" but it makes sense that angels could be more 'strategically aligned' if they have domain expertise.
sort of unrelated but how did you get 600 people onto a waitlist?
Meet-Ting
@catt_marroll Having just done the YC application, I can confirm it was also helpful! It asked questions in a different way, so was good to review the original pitch and cut some of the fluff, really make it even more succinct and crisp.
Waitlist was a product of lots of tactics, I'll try to do a post about it and really break it down, but a focused effort on the PH launch, lots of social content, a launch video with a good story that we hoped would drive conversation, we're using legacy tools as the 'enemy' to capture imagination and attention, tapping into personal and extended networks on LinkedIn or places where we have community, a lot of outreach here, trying to build in public (whatever that means), committing to regular Substack updates and so on.
My background is marketing and growth, which is our 'unfair advantage'. If you ever need some help or an opinion on that side of things, I'd be happy to try and help!
Never know this much terms and conditions take into account for raising funds in UK and sharing hacks, well a worthful discussion thread i followed already to see what's experienced ones have to say on this.
Appreciate this breakdown Dan, I'm not in the UK but this is super insightful! I am curious though, from your experience, when would you say the right stage to start those investor conversations if you’re just coming out of validating and having early traction?
Meet-Ting
Meet-Ting
@alexs99 Would love to read that and learn about it!
Dope Notes
That's great, @dbul . Congratulations.
Meet-Ting
$350k in Google Cloud credits is no joke. Curious how you landed that.
Meet-Ting
@dharmendra_chaudahri Look online for Google AI Cloud Startup Program. You can apply. Depending on your product and growth, and if you are AI pure play. If you need help just DM me.
Thanks for sharing this, Dan. Super valuable breakdown and very founder-friendly. 🙌
Quick question: if you were starting your raise again from scratch, is there one thing you’d do earlier or differently that could have shaved weeks off the process?
Meet-Ting
@borja_diazroig Careful research of who you take meetings with, understanding their intent, for us angels all felt like high intent, VCs with SEIS funds high intent, and everyone else used us to get category or customer insights, so pitching, listening and recording, but zero follow through and just felt it was a research exercise. I also find some places sent their more junior team as a scout so you’re always another one to two meetings way from decision maker, which all just adds up. I’m sure some of this is just the game, but it’s all just time away from the high intent investors and what you’re building plus for me just mental gymnastics.
Such a well written substack article, simple, honest and insightful. Looking forward to following your journey :')
Meet-Ting
Really appreciate how you broke this down so clearly, especially the SEIS point, a lot of first-time UK founders don’t realize how powerful that is for de-risking early angel investment. The investor FAQ tip is gold too; I’ve seen it save founders so much time and keep messaging consistent. Out of curiosity, did you find LinkedIn outreach brought in more warm leads than cold introductions through mutual contacts?
Meet-Ting
@rodrigo_beckmann LinkedIn outreach through my 1st connections was surprisingly good because either they were not interested or connected me to people who might be. One of those situations resulted in our final cheque. The cold introductions through mutual contacts outside of that seemed to depend on the reputation of the other person, I have one super connector with a good reputation and people just took a call with me because of his borrowed trust.
Curious @dbul - how long did the whole process take you from first conversations to money hitting your account?
Meet-Ting
@ss_df Defining pipeline began in April and entire process ran until three weeks ago, but we did the VC/angel calls in a three week window to avoid it distracting from building. I think the money was squared away well in advance verbally, but actually receiving it in bank and signing sub docs took a long time as people manage their own cash flows!