I pitched to Sheryl Sandberg and Accel as a young founder. Here's how I raised $5 million and what you can do to get a yes.

"My entrepreneurial ambitions led me to major in computer science, which opened the door to internships at companies like Meta, Slack, and Robinhood. My desire for more agency and autonomy over my work drove me to intern at progressively smaller companies. My first internship was with Facebook, which at that time had about 12,000 employees. When I joined Slack, it was a 1,200-person company. And finally, when I got to Robinhood, it was a 300-person company."

"To many people, joining a brand-new startup as a fresh graduate is a risk. Why take the road less traveled when you can stick to the tried-and-tested path of joining a big company? But it felt right. I was starting my career in the summer of 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. I was living in New York, and people were dying every day. I could smell the ashes in the air from the cremations."

Michelle Lim, 28, is the founder and CEO of Flint, an AI startup based in San Francisco. She raised nearly $5 million in seed funding from investors including Accel, Neo, and Sheryl Sandberg. Lim developed entrepreneurial interest at Yale and majored in computer science, which enabled internships at Meta, Slack, and Robinhood. She pursued progressively smaller companies to gain agency and impact, ultimately joining Warp as its first hire after graduation. Lim began her career in summer 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, which influenced her urgency to pursue meaningful work. Early-stage startup experience and a track record aided her fundraising efforts.

Read at Business Insider