Q&A with Cake Equity CEO Jason Atkins

Carbon Capital is a team of investors ready to assist entrepreneurs who are in the development stage of business. We look to form strong relationships with like-minded entrepreneurs and join them on their business journey.

Carbon are excited to announce our recent partnering with Cake Equity. Cake Equity assists companies of all kinds with their equity – whether to raise their capital, manage their investors or provide ownership to their team.

We sat down with CEO Jason Atkins to find out more about him and pick his brain on some trending topics.

Why did you start the company?

Both Kim (Co-Founder) and I had a strong connection around promoting innovation on the Gold Coast. Prior to Cake I was a Virtual CFO and had run several raises, including for my own company. I was surprised and frustrated at how complex and time consuming the process was, and there was a distinct lack of efficiency. We asked around and found that early stage ventures were commonly struggling in this area, and so we decided to try to streamline and automate these processes – and Cake was born.

How has COVID-19 impacted the way people are investing?

COVID-19 has made people more cautious, unsurprisingly. Investments are still occurring, particularly where investors are supporting their existing portfolio, or where the companies business model or market is clearly supported in the new world that is being created in 2020 and beyond. Investors are taking more time to invest, and portfolios are smaller.

What’re your thoughts on investing in our current economy?

Many of the best businesses are born in and rise from tough times, as weaker businesses are starved of capital and opportunity. Investors should be cautious, but with the right valuation and when investing within their investment mandates and frameworks, I think there is a lot of opportunities to get great positions in the companies of the future.

What does a potential investor look for?

With early stage ventures, investors look mainly for exceptional founders who can deliver a business from humble beginnings to something significant. Investors also love exceptional markets, either by trend or market size and therefore are trying to find trends to invest in. Another key factor is the problem you are solving – it needs to be big enough. And the investor has to accept that it’s worth solving, for your potential customers, and for their view of the world.

Share your top 3 tips for someone looking to seek capital.

Prepare well: Reverse engineer your Investment Readiness with a strong pitch deck framework and DD Checklist that is relevant for your stage of raising
Get great advice: Raising capital is a reasonably well-known process, and you need to be aware of the requirements to be successful
Run your raise as a campaign: With a start and finish, clear offer, lead investor, and a wide net of investors that you can pitch in short succession with a clear result