So far in this series, we’ve explored a wide range of startup fundamentals – from securing angel investment to cultivating leadership and building high-performing teams.
These tools help founders maximise the potential of their seed funding, but this money will eventually run out.
The critical question then becomes: how can you strategically position your project to secure the next round of funding?
The Next Big Thing Will Be a Lot of Small Things
In May, I had the pleasure of speaking at the SOS-International Summit at Ghent University. The event was hosted by GO Ghent, the university’s student-staff sustainability team, led by Riet Van de Velde. Over her decades-long career, Riet has transformed the university, both in policy and landscape, into a greener, more sustainable place.
The title of this section borrows from a former GO Ghent slogan. It also perfectly captures Riet’s approach to change: small actions, aligned and persistent, can overcome institutional resistance.
The unprecedented economic and social crises we face today weren’t triggered by a single catastrophic event. They are the cumulative outcome of countless small, compounding actions.
So if global problems can emerge in this manner, why not global solutions?
Riet explained how GO Ghent had recently launched a campaign to increase bike parking on campus. A building manager had received multiple complaints: students were chaining their bikes to the disabled access ramp of a lecture theatre, blocking entry.
Riet took this small, frustrating issue and used it as a seed to build momentum, bringing together:
- Researchers in urban mobility
- Civil engineering students working on design theses
- Net-zero student activist groups
- A scheduled crane installation that required clearing nearby parking spaces
These seemingly disconnected threads were woven into a broader narrative. A minor local inconvenience became a strategic opportunity. The decision to convert car parking spaces at the main entrance into 50 new bike spots suddenly became not just viable, but obvious.
One stick doesn’t hold much value in a garden. But when many sticks are gathered together, they become a thriving habitat for insects, birds, and small mammals. Likewise, small aligned actions can build ecosystems of change.
In the context of fundraising, framing your product as a solution to many small but real problems can create momentum. It builds a “big deal” from modest wins.
Show Them, Don’t Just Tell Them
Visionaries spend much of their time trying to help others see what they already believe is possible. But no matter how compelling your numbers or graphics, nothing beats showing what your product can actually do.
Humans are visual by nature. Even a simple sketch or photograph can elevate your pitch from good to great. A useful rule of thumb: the less your audience has to imagine, the better your pitch will land.
The same principle applies when seeking your next round of funding.
At the garden, we were preparing to reapply to the funders who had originally granted us £50,000, this time requesting additional capital to scale beyond the pilot space.
Because the funders were already familiar with our mission, our proposal focused less on abstract goals, and more on showing the impact of their initial investment.
We invited panel members to visit the garden and see firsthand what had been achieved:
- Raised beds bursting with crops
- Forest seating areas planted with foragable species
- A fully equipped wood workshop shed
- A new 2,600-litre storage unit filled with tools
- Two 144 square-foot greenhouses
Though our budget was modest, the commitment from student volunteers had been immense. Every structure stood as a testament to their energy and efforts.
As we toured the site, we shared herbal tea blends and fresh-picked berries. A once-overgrown hedge had been cleared to create a literal and symbolic “window of opportunity”, offering a new view into Imperial’s hidden garden.
Funding and the Sunk Cost Fallacy
Numbers don’t come naturally to the human mind, which is why we often fall for counterintuitive traps like the sunk cost fallacy.
The Cloakroom Decision
Imagine you and your friend are queueuing at a Victoria & Albert Museum cloakroom. After ten minutes of waiting, you’re halfway there. Your friend suggests trying another cloakroom that might be empty.
Your instinct says no. You’ve already waited ten minutes – it would feel like a waste to leave now.
That was my reaction, too. But my friend (who studied Pure Mathematics at Cambridge) explained that this thinking was flawed. The time we’d already spent was unrecoverable. It had no bearing on what we should do next. The only question that mattered was: What’s the best decision from here?
We left the queue. The other cloakrooms were completely empty.
When Sunk Costs Aren’t a Fallacy
Later, I realized the sunk cost fallacy doesn’t apply to every situation. As we discussed in Part 4, early stage capital can enhance the fundraising process by building credibility among investors and reducing perceived risk.
So why is sticking with one cloakroom a fallacy, while sticking with early-stage investors a sound strategy?
The difference lies in what the sunk cost signals. In the cloakroom scenario, the time spent provided no strategic advantage, they were simply lost minutes. However, early funding? It signals traction. It shows someone has already vetted and backed your vision.
Fallacy vs Signaling
Funders understand the sunk cost fallacy, but they also recognise costly (and thus credible) signals.
Early investment indicates that others have assessed the project and found it worthwhile. That’s not irrational optimism or a hot hand bias – it’s due diligence. It’s shared risk. It’s momentum backed by evidence.
In this context, early funding isn’t just “money already spent”, it’s proof of traction, value creation, and reduced uncertainty.
Make Your Next Round Rational
As you prepare for your next round of fund raising, make your case with evidence. Show what’s already been built:
- Product prototypes
- Workshops delivered
- Community events run
Bundle your small wins into a cohesive narrative. Highlight how past investments have created real-world value.
At this point, your project is no longer just a hopeful bet. It’s a working mechanism for success, one that investors can reasonably expect to deliver again.
In the next article we reach a milestone and change gears, to focus on the personal characteristics of a successful solo-founder.
Emilio Garcia Padron is an MSc Applied Mathematics student at Imperial College London, specializing in Computational Dynamical Systems. He is a full-stack software developer and founder of NEA Studios. He is also a founder of RE:GEN @ Imperial, a project aiming to protect and expand Green Spaces on Imperial grounds that raised over £39,000 in funding.
Image: DALL-E
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