The Money Train - by David Pattison (Paperback)

About the Book

As a start-up you may need to raise funds in the shark-infested waters of the investment community; this book will help you navigate your way to control, survival and success.

Book Synopsis

***WINNER STARTUP/SCALEUP BOOK OF THE YEAR: BUSINESS BOOK AWARDS 2022***

Before you get on the Money Train, here's what you need to know...

You have a great business idea but very little money. There are investors out there with lots of money looking for interesting new businesses to invest in. On the face of it, it's a match made in heaven - but beware the details of the deal you do...

You won't be dealing with inexperienced investors. The standard models that investors impose on start-ups and young companies can mean loss of control, overbearing input, disproportionate reward to the wrong shareholders, or founders being squeezed out of their own businesses. The shape of your investment agreements will drive the future success of your business and your ultimate rewards.

This book prepares you for the investment journey and helps you avoid the pitfalls. Once you choose to get on board the Money Train, it becomes a journey with a pre-determined destination. And it can be almost impossible to stop, change direction, or get off.

David Pattison has considerable experience chairing and advising companies looking to raise funds across a wide range of industries. In this book he shares what every young business needs to know about investors before they buy a ticket for the Money Train journey, meaning you have a better chance of riding up front, in control of the journey, rather than in the last passenger coach, being bounced around at high speed, uncomfortable and out of control.

From the Back Cover

Before you get on the Money Train, here's what you need to know...

You have a great business idea but no money. There are investors out there with money looking for interesting new businesses. On the face of it, it's a match made in heaven, with lots of positives - but beware the negatives.

Those investment decisions will shape the future of your business. The standard models that investors impose on start-ups and young companies can mean loss of control, overbearing input, disproportionate reward to the wrong shareholders, or founders being squeezed out of their own businesses. Investment can also prop up a business artificially, building false hope and disappointment in the long term.

This book offers alternatives. It prepares you for the investment journey and helps you avoid the pitfalls. Once you are on the 'Money Train' it can be almost impossible to stop, change direction, or get off.

David Pattison has 20 years' experience chairing and advising companies looking to raise funds across a wide range of industries. In this book he shares what every founder needs to know before they buy a ticket for the Money Train. Providing a better chance that they will be driving the train rather than in the last passenger coach, being bounced around at high speed, uncomfortable and out of control

Review Quotes

As a startup founder embarking on my investment journey this book really helped me learn a lot about the investment process and made me feel much better prepared to engage with investors.

I particularly enjoyed learning through David's personal experiences which made it an easy and enjoyable read.

The book is really well laid out with good summaries at the end of each section, which i'm sure i'll be referring back to when I need a refresher.

Highly recommended!

Having read the book, I wish it had been released when I first launched my own startup 6 years ago. The author has clearly lived through the ups and downs of fundraising and has distilled his knowledge into separate self-contained compartments as the book's title alludes to. If like me you're already part way through your journey, you can save time by simply jumping to the relevant section; I read the whole book anyway.

There are lots of must-read books for founders and most advise on how to build products, iterate, sell, etc. However, in my experience the majority of startups fail not because the founders weren't good at building products or services or selling. They failed because they couldn't convince sceptical investors to invest in their vision or even if they managed that, they got the wrong investors who forced the founders to go in the wrong direction.

No startup founder dreams about fundraising but sadly it's what they will end up spending the majority of their time on. They will also spend more time than they'd like talking with their investors instead of working on building the business.

This is the first book (as far as I know) that is specifically written to navigate the minefield that is fundraising and investor relations from beginning to end. My advice, add it to your must-read list and preferably towards the top.

I wish I had this book three years ago - but I'm glad I've got it now!

An incredibly in depth, yet easy to read, walk through the minefield of attracting, negotiating and dealing with the different types of investors out there.

Everything is explained very simply, in a way that encourages you to ask questions on what you are looking to achieve from raising investment, and ultimately gives you the information to answer all important questions like "why, who, and how much"

So useful I have bought again to send to a friend.

This is a fantastic book - a preparatory guide to help young businesses and their founders make better decisions when it comes to raising money.

It cuts out all of the dross and gets right to the point. The author has clearly been on both sides e.g. fundraiser and investor and gives numerous examples that are based on their own firsthand experiences.

Having raised investment in the past myself, it's helped me identify many of the areas where I went wrong, as well as validate some of the things that I've been doing right more recently.

If you're a budding entrepreneur and need some help and guidance with your first, second or even your third investment round, I highly recommend this book. There's ten key stages, all of which you can flick to and from as you reach that specific part in your fundraising journey. It's become a reference book for me!

A business book that is enjoyable to read is no mean feat but David has managed it with The Money Train. Packed full of David's experience working with small businesses for the past 10 years plus setting up the giant ad agency PHD. David's explanation on what happened with these businesses are really useful and also interesting to understand the human side of financing a business, all the emotions that come into the room when money is involved. I liked the practical tips at the end of each chapter and will find them useful to refer back to.

Insightful and actionable advice written by an author who has seen and done it all. Advice which can be instantly implemented directly into real world scenarios. The Money Train is a great read for anyone who is thinking about raising investment. Condensed key take-aways conclude each chapter, perfect for revisiting because once you're on the money train, there is more than one stop!

Readable, memorable, useable and practical. You can tell this has been written by a successful entrepreneur and a skilled mentor

So excited that I read this book at lightening speed (for me) and about to read it again, as it's so dense with super useful advice - both practical and philosophical - for a start-up founder like me. Already using a lot of it to raise investment for my fashion tech business, and I love how it's just the right balance of pragmatism and compassion and encouragement, which can only be written by someone who has been there and done it themselves, and helps people do it in real life, not someone who writes business books without real world experience. Best book I've found to help me on this exciting and terrifying journey. If you're an entrepreneur, or want to be, make sure you get this for an easy-to-digest guide to what it really takes to raise the money you need to realise your business dream.

This book is the voice of wisdom and experience, not theory and spin. The tone is frank and honest and champions the pragmatism needed when seeking investment. It's a book you want for the journey; a navigation tool - and every entrepreneur should have a copy to hand for those moments when you find yourself suddenly "off grid".

About the Author

David Pattison left school not knowing what he wanted to do. He 'fell' into the advertising industry and made good progress becoming a main board director at the age of 29. In 1990 he started his own business with two partners that was sold and became part of the Omnicom Group. PHD is now a worldwide brand in eighty markets.

He attended Harvard Business School and lived and worked in New York building PHD USA. Before leaving PHD he launched offices in 35 markets including Moscow, Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore.

After PHD he was asked by the founders to sell an independent digital media business, which he achieved successfully just before the world economic crisis in 2008.