FIP71: Fundraising 2/3 – Getting to First Close (Part 2) with Miora Randriambeloma of Chalkboard Education

Today we continue to hear from Miora Randriambeloma, co-founder of the ed-tech startup Chalkboard Education, which is changing the culture of African education through e-learning. Chalkboard Education aims to democratize learning by providing mobile learning solutions that work on all mobile devices – even without internet connection. On Part 2 of the interview, Miora tells us about the importance of having a strong network of critical friends and how long fundraising really takes.

On this episode you’ll learn:

* How Miora herself had to learn about equity investments, such as how do shares work, what are shareholder agreements, what are the long-term implications of equity, as well as other important vocabulary.

* The different types of investors in West Africa, including venture capital, foundations, crowdfunding (including churches and local platforms), incubators, and business plan competitions, and the fact that there is not always a match between the capital that organizations can provide and start-up needs.

* What issues start-ups should take into account when considering equity for acceleration programs, and what the implications of giving up 10-15% of equity to an accelerator can mean over the long-term.

* Why she and her co-founder decided to launch their company in Ghana because of the growing tech scene, but also how they used their international networks to gain valuable connections and advice.

* That for Chalkboard Education, raising the Seed Series took 8 months, even though they knew after 3 months that they would get the capital — and that she wouldn’t recommend accelerating the process because it was important for them to really understand what they were getting into.

* How having strong advisors and networks was key for good decision making during the company’s first raise.

Resources:

* Chalkboard Education

Connect with Miora:

* Linkedin – Miora Randriambeloma

* Twitter – Miora Randriambeloma

* E-mail: [email protected]