5-point Friday: How Fuse Energy raised £750M selling gas

Hey

It’s James. 

Fun fact: I started Bankrolling Tomorrow because I kept meeting founders who wanted to raise capital, but had no clue where to start. Plus, I came across so many people who didn't know much about fundraising (idk why, it’s extremely fascinating, I learn so much everyday).

So, this newsletter's purpose is simple: break down capital raises - famous, infamous, successful, unsuccessful, whatever. In a way that everyone understands - business owner or not, jargon fluent or not. And not just understand it, but walk away with actual, practical steps they can apply to their business. Or use it to just sound smart in conversations. Your call. 

Now, back to this week's topic. If you're new here - every Friday, I pull the top insights from my Tuesday newsletter and give you 5 things you can apply to your business (try it if you have any doubts).

This week I broke down Fuse Energy's capital raise, and here are the 5 golden takeaways:

1/ Build a cash cow while chasing your dream: Fuse is literally selling gas to fund their green future (ironic). But sometimes your boring, unsexy product is the one quietly paying for everything else. Don't ignore it. 

2/ Raise when you don't desperately need it: Fuse has cash in the bank, which is exactly why they can be picky about their next raise. When you're not desperate, you set the terms - not the investors (trust me on this one). Raise when you're strong, not when you're three weeks away from shutting down.

3/ Let the haters filter out weak investors: All the bad press about Fuse selling gas - it actually helped them. Scared off the tourists, left them with investors who actually get what they're doing. Ryanair built a whole empire on people complaining about them. Sometimes controversy works in your favour.

4/ Only raise to fix what's actually broken: Fuse didn't raise because they were running out of money - they raised to hire engineers and get regulatory approvals (the stuff that was actually holding them back). Don't raise just because everyone says you should. Raise to solve the specific thing that's stopping your growth.

5/ Prove people want your product before asking for money: Fuse isn't out there trying to convince people they need electricity - this isn’t the lantern era. They're just delivering it faster. Don't ask investors to fund your "maybe people will want this" idea. Show them a line of customers first (also, way easy to pitch).

Most importantly, focus on what actually moves the business forward, and stop subscribing to crash courses on “how startups should behave”. 

Okay now, these newsletters are meant to be short, so I'm going to stop here. 

But if you have any questions, or want to discuss any of my rants on these topics in depth, reply to this email, and I will get back to you ASAP. 

Talk soon,

James