Edward Frazer and Sam Brashears have built software together since fourth grade, and that’s exactly what they’ll start with if you’re a venture capitalist listening to their pitch for funding.
The two 22-year-old cofounders and longtime friends started developing the API integration software known as DryMerge last year. For VCs and potential users unfamiliar with software jargon, Frazer usually breaks it down this way: It’s a chatbot that helps link all your apps together in one place and makes them talk to each other.
For example, influencers occasionally hire managers, video editors, photographers, and virtual assistants to help them expand their careers, but it can be difficult to loop in other people on all the details of a specific project. With DryMerge, a creator can ask the chatbot to perform functions like “whenever I get a new email from a brand for a paid sponsorship, ping my manager on Slack” or “add my content planning Google spreadsheet to the Trello board.” Apps that can be linked together include X, Gmail, Outlook, Salesforce, and messaging tools like Slack.
At first, Frazer, the CEO, and Brashears, the CTO, were the only ones building and refining the software, but they quickly learned they needed more help. They applied to join startup accelerator and VC firm Y Combinator’s 2024 Winter Batch and got accepted, which Frazer said was a huge boost. Afterward, they began planning how to reach out to other VCs to secure more funds for growing their team, reaching more potential users, and integrating DryMerge with even more products.
As Frazer himself admitted, the app linking space is very crowded, but DryMerge stood out to investors because of the founders’ friendship.
“We pitched people who really believed in the team because we really focused on what made us special as one,” Frazer told Business Insider. “Sam and I have spent more time with each other than anyone else except probably our families, so we’re just really, really good friends.”
Using an eight-page pitch deck, Frazer and Brashears successfully closed a $2.2 million seed round this summer led by Garage Capital, alongside firms like Goodwater Capital, Ritual Capital, and a few angel investors.
Investors look for co-founders they think won’t break up
Frazer discussed how most founder breakups in tech are very messy, so it’s crucial to convince VC firms of the team’s solid foundational relationship so that there isn’t a high level of “team risk,” which is an important factor that VCs measure against when evaluating where they want to put their money.
“Bad breakups can kill a company,” Frazer said. “Sam and I have been through a lot together in our decadelong friendship, so we leaned really heavily into that.”
When evaluating team risk, VCs also look for whether the co-founders can build the product the way they envision it. That’s why, in the pitch deck, Frazer and Brashears highlighted all the experience they’ve accumulated at renowned tech companies like Meta, Stripe, and Hive, where they’ve interned during the summers between their college years at Yale University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, respectively.
“As a founder, I think there’s almost this branding that you need to have, and if you don’t, it can be much harder to convince people to invest in you,” Frazer said. “We luckily had that experience and could say we have a track record of building things for some of the biggest companies.”
Here’s the eight-page pitch deck that Frazer and Brashears used to secure their $2.2 million seed round for DryMerge.
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