Leon Eisen explains why landing a big corporate investor won't close your funding round. Rounds with corporate money actually score below average unless they also have repeat investors or real customer relationships. A corporate check just signals you have a customer, nothing more.
Fundraising Rule 4 is about the big corporate name almost every founder wants as an investor. A big corporate name on your cap table will not carry your round. When I score rounds with corporate money in them, they barely beat the rest. Take away the points for the corporate check itself, And they score lower. In one round, a large private credit firm invested and signed a partnership in the same announcement. It still scored in the bottom half. The corporate rounds that did well had something underneath— an outside approval or an investor coming back. A corporate check proves you have a customer.
From Hope to Promised Money: A Smarter Way to Plan Your Next Fundraising Round
