1. Secure most of your commitments before launching a deal:
It sounds obvious, but ideally you should have a confirmed list of hard and soft commitments prior to using Odin. This helps because:
It allows you to be clearer with the investee company/founder(s) about your commitment amount at the outset, which is important in competitive rounds.
We’ve found rounds that have launched with <60% of investors secured can drag on, leading to investors changing their minds on whether to invest. investors are also more likely to end up at different stages of the investment process. For example, one investor might be doing more due diligence, while another is asking for proof of investment documents. All of this adds up to more work for the syndicate lead.
Overall, it’s best to launch a deal with most of your LPs secured, along with clear start and end dates for the round.
If you are a newer syndicate lead, depending on the quality of the deal, we can work with you to introduce capital into the deal if there is part of the allocation remaining.
2. Setup a Wise or Revolut account:
If you are doing deals in currencies other than your investors’ home currency, we recommend asking your investors to open a Wise or Revolut account. International banking is tricky (US banks can be especially so).
Intermediaries can charge high fees. Payments can also be very slow. We’ve seen late payments result in investors missing deadlines and being unable to participate in a round.
If they wire using Wise or Revolut, funds will land in our account in 24 - 48 hours.
3. Nudge your investors.
We send your investors automated reminders about where they are in the investment process and encourage them to complete their investment if they haven’t. But reminders work best coming from someone they know.
When your deal is live, it’s the responsibility of the syndicate lead to follow up with investors regularly and chase them for their commitments.
4. If it is your first time using Odin, book in a call with us before you launch a deal.
If you are using Odin for the first time, we strongly recommend having a call with us.
We’ll explain how we work, take you through the investor UX and answer any questions you may have