Evan Loomis talks about his new book "Get Backed"

Evan Loomis talks about his new book "Get Backed"

Where are you from originally? 

I’m one of those rare natives who was born and raised in Austin, TX

What university did you go to? 

Texas A&M University

What brought you to Austin? 

After graduation I spent almost a decade as an investment banker in New York and venture capitalist in Washington DC.  I moved back to launch a home improvement concept called TreeHouse.  You can think of it as the “Whole Foods version of Home Depot.”

What is your group’s mission? 

We wrote Get Backed to demystify one of the most intimidating parts of launching a venture: raising money. There’s no shortage of advice on fundraising. Most of it is terrible. We asked ourselves: What if we could give entrepreneurs what we wished we had had when raising money for our ventures?

At a deeper level, this book is about helping people bring their ideas to life and building meaningful relationships in the process. We want you to crush it with your startup. But even more than that, we want you to build friendships that outlast any term sheet and create true value for you, your community, and your venture.

What need does it fulfill?

Entrepreneurs don’t need more advice; they need to be able to look over other founders’ shoulders. They need to see the real pitch decks of ventures that have raised money, what kind of investors they closed, the email scripts they used to close them, and the mistakes they made along the way. That’s what we do in Get Backed.

What exactly does it bring to startups?  

Get Backed shows you exactly what Evan, I, and dozens of other entrepreneurs did to raise money—even the mistakes we made. We teach you a step-by-step process that can be used to initiate and build relationships with anyone, from investors to potential cofounders, and help you create a pitch deck, building on the real-life examples of 15 ventures that have raised over $150 million.

What type of startup would benefit from your group?  

Get Backed is for anyone who has an idea and needs to move people to get it off the ground. If you’re raising money, thinking about raising money, or just need to know how to better pitch your idea, Get Backed is for you.

What was the most challenging aspect of starting up the initiative?  

Time!  We wrote this book over the course of two years while we were launching our own startups. 

What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?

The secret to raising money is one simple principle: successful fundraisers don’t raise money, they raise friends.  

What Austin-based resource have you found to be the most helpful and why?

There are phenomenal accelerators here that support startup founders. Places like Techstars, Capital Factory, SKU, DreamIt, and UnLtd USA provide community, mentorship, and focus in those critical early days.