A very comprehensive overview of the start of startup fundraising as of 2022. Includes a breakdown of differences in pitch decks for successful companies (those that completed their fundraise) vs those who didn’t.
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Visible VC’s Guide to raising a friends and family round
An excellent overview of revenue-based financing - what it is, why it can be a better source of working capital than venture or debt financing, and some guidelines for when it makes sense for your company vs. when it’s not a good fit.
An Airtable of 300 investors who do not require (or explicitly refuse) warm intros. Note that no contact info is provided but you can get them through twitter DM or find their email with hunter.io .
A fundraising network that matches companies with individual angels and angel syndicates. An excellent resource for pre-seed and seed-stage companies to identify potential investors.
If you plan to raise funds from investors you’ll need two separate slide decks; an investor/teaser deck and a pitch deck. This template from 500 Startups is a good baseline for your investor/teaser deck. The PDF version is free, but you’ll need a paid Slidebean account to get an editable version.
A public database of over 450 SaaS company valuations, including company name, revenue, type of valuation (funding round, M&A, etc), and revenue at time of valuation. Curated by the team at https://founderpath.com/products/valuations
Short (<2minute) video clips from VCs from firms like Sequoia, First Round, Upfront, and Greylock about how they evaluate pitches, companies, markets, and more.
A DIY tool for startups to build Investor portals. Include information on the team, key metrics, your current investor deck, links to existing investors, and more.
A twitter thread with a few best practices and things to consider before you cold-email an investor with your pitch. Tweets by Elizabeth Yin of Hustle Fund.
Free self-assessment tool to help you determine whether you are in a position to raise venture funds. Very detailed and helpful categories and ratings. Note that the form asks for registration but if you prefer not to be added to mailing lists you can enter fake data during registration.
700+ pitch decks categorized by funding raised, industry, and funding round. Also includes decks used to raise grant funding, crowdfunding, and debt financing.
Website with information about early-stage companies including investments and executives. Monthly and annual subscriptions available, but beware this is an expensive service. The free tier may be enough for most early-stage companies.
Website with information about early-stage companies including investments and executives. Monthly and annual subscriptions available, but beware this is an expensive service. The free tier may be enough for most early-stage companies.
Free, registration required. This calculator helps early-stage founders plan for SAFE and Convertible Note financings by modeling the impact of their conversion in a future priced round. Built using common market terms, but the terms of your financing may be different.
An article by Elizabeth Yin of Hustle Fund about how to think about fundraising. Have 4 plans for your business:
* What if you can't raise any money?
* What if you raise under your goal
* What if you hit your goal
* What if you exceed your fundraising goal
An excellent overview of processes for small businesses to raise capital, including a detailed description of options for raising capital under various SEC exemptions.
A set of 40+ questions you’re likely to be asked by VCs in a pitch meeting, delivered flashcard-style with the question printed and an option to flip the card and see hints for how to answer.
A Google Sheet to help VC-backed companies plan out scenarios around fundraising. You enter the equity allocations for founders, staff, advisors, and amount raised or percentage diluted in up to four fundraising rounds, and the spreadsheet will show you exit outcomes.
A brief but effective example of a forwardable investor intro email, written by Tristan Pollack. This is a good template to use when you’re asking someone in your network to send an email to an investor on your behalf.
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Best practices for leveraging investor warm introductions