I'm Corey Livingston, CEO and co-founder of Splitz. 

We have developed the fastest payment system for creators on the market powered by AI.

We started in 2022 and raised a family and friends round of about $75k. 

My co-founder and I put in our own capital and then went through a couple of accelerators over the last 15 months. 

All in all, we've raised $150k. Our valuation started at $2M, we’ve since increased that to a $6.57M cap as we're now raising a $1.5M seed round. 

It’s coming in nicely and we hope to close by the end of this month.

We’re putting it in places that can see ROI quickly. 

This means doubling down on user acquisition. We're in the creator space, so we have to build tools and get creators on our side quickly. 

We have to be specific about how we're targeting each of them. 

Putting robust targeting programs in place to get our creators on board, get their feedback, and possibly get that feedback advertised is one use of the funds.

Another use is personnel. We have a large network and advising group that's with us here in LA, but bringing in 1 or 2 more key personnel to help us expand to 50k users is something we need as well.

We also want to make sure that our operational capital stays under a sustainable burn rate.

During the pandemic a lot of investors had theses that they threw out there, trying to cast a wide net because they had dry powder to deploy.

We were a startup that wasn't necessarily at a stage to really grab the funding, but we went after it anyway because at that time you could. 

My co-founder Ashley and I sat down and thought about which investors to target. 

We focused on ones who would help us accomplish our goals, but also help us reach the edges of different cultures and industries outside the U.S.

We targeted second generation investors out of Silicon Valley. 

We also targeted investors that are from different countries. We also targeted investors that are focused on the creator economy, FinTech, and AI.

Segmenting it took time, but because we knew that our user base was growing faster overseas than it was in the U.S, we needed strategic investors to have that industry knowledge and connectivity so we can touch some of those places quicker.

It was mostly through advisors and people in the network. 

I was also reaching out a ton. People were at home, so they were by their computers and were able to put us in touch. It was a lot of sales, just touching as many people as I could.

I probably reached out 300 to 400 investors. Out of those, I probably received a hundred replies back. Out of those, we probably had 20 to 25 meetings. 

Then the investment and the accelerator acceptance started to come in around that 20th or 25th meeting mark.

At the end, 2 accelerator programs invited us in, along with one angel investor.

I'm emphasizing the room for a billion-dollar industry to have a major player that can handle payments. I also emphasized data control in financial payments. 

If you do that in any business, you get rich. In layman's terms, I emphasized that at the time, there were no systems available for our users to manage their business. 

As a creator, there's a lot of inconsistencies and antiquated systems that don't allow you to easily make money online. 

There's just no centralized system, and that's what we’re conquering.

I created a story that ensured investors could see why this was such an issue.

Ultimately it's just making sure that I was doubling down on where our future plans were, about where this hundred billion dollar industry was going, and how we could be a mainstay in it.

The fear of missing out was always the tactic, but it's really about first money in.

If you can secure that, then of course, FOMO applies. It has to be an investor who can apply that pressure.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to secure that in the early stages, but we're on the verge of it now. 

I do understand that nobody wants to be first money in. They want to see their friends do it first, and then they’ll come in when some risk is taken off the table.

Touching the right investors and getting the intros. Your network only goes so far. 

When we got our first big check in I got another offer from another accelerator program, but that accelerator program actually didn't offer us any money. 

But when I presented it to the other investors, I thought, we've got a yes. Maybe I can parlay this into an actual check. 

So I went back to the investor that we hadn't heard from and was able to create that FOMO.

I had told my co-founder that I had an idea and that I’d let them know if it worked. 

It worked out exactly how it was supposed to, just by sending a couple of emails within a week. 

All founders understand it's about your network. With us being down here in Los Angeles, it's a different investing market than that in San Francisco.

Understand that it's going to take a little bit longer if you aren’t based in Los Angeles to raise your round. 

If you're a minority or a woman founder, you will have to do 25% more outreach. That's just the name of the game. It doesn't make it good or bad, the facts are the facts, but you just have to push through it.

If you have a platform that users want, these investors will find you. You just have to keep the activity up and be focused. 

Appreciate every call that you have, because these investors don't have to take calls with you. 

Don't take it personal, it's a numbers game. Do your best, and just present to them why you are the one they should be taking their bet on. You don't need 300 ‘yes’s. You just need one.

I would recommend the investors that we're involved with now, MARL, which is based out of Silicon Valley.

If you're starting out and want to get your idea out, and are still trying to hone in what you're doing, I believe in what those investors bring to the table.

They have a lot of different interesting ways to get capital in your hands and programs for you to accelerate.

One newsletter that I would recommend is Houck's Newsletter. 

Houck's Newsletter is wonderful. It’s very succinct and just helped me think about things during the fundraising process, and founder process more generally.

And also leveraging LinkedIn; LinkedIn is where it's at. I would invest in making sure that it is polished

Also make sure you have a clean data room and a nice deck. Just get a simple deck, make sure it's designed cleanly, and make sure everything is neat.

Invest in everything about your branding and make sure that you're presenting the best product out there.

When investors say, “we love what you're doing, Corey, but we're waiting for other money to come in. So let us know when you get that lead investor and we'll be right there.”

The investor is saying “no” We don't want to take the first risk. Remember it is a numbers game touch and take as many calls as you can.