Finnlay names two misinterpretations Australians have — that it's "really easy" to "just go to the valley" and raise a massive round, and the cognitive dissonance that it's both hard and possible at once. What worked for him: he'd actually moved to the US, the attitude that "we have enough capital in the bank anyway and we're going to get it done," real traction, and a thesis fit.
More from this episode
He warns against the "magic button" idea: he "met a bunch of founders" in SF who came to raise and a week later said "I have to go home my visa's up I didn't raise around." For Fluency, four things worked: he had committed to moving to the US "regardless of whether we raised or not"; the attitude that "we have enough capital in the bank anyway and we're going to get it done"; "a good amount of traction on the new product"; and that what they were building "perfectly hit a thesis" Accel "had internally."
He also wanted, above all, "talent attractiveness," because as "unknown people from relatively unknown unis especially over in the US," they had "no network over there to attract really great talent."