Searchable List of Tools, References, and Best Practices

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

A comprehensive playbook on raising a Series A round, from Alpaca VC

A web application that allows you to search for Angel Investors that match your criteria of interest.

A Google Sheet with contact info and typical check size for hundreds of Angel Investors. This is crowd-sourced and entries are not vetted.

A list of Gen Z VCs. If your product is aimed at younger audiences, it may be an easier 'sell' with younger VCs

A comprehensive and up-to-date list of 750 VC funds that make seed-stage investments, including the sectors they focus on.

A very thorough set of best practices and tips for presenting your startup to potential investors. From Stripe Atlas and Y Combinator.

Self-evaluation tool that gives founders some idea of what VCs will ask in technical due diligence

Free term sheet generator. Incorporates best practices. Still needs legal review.

Sample forms used by Foundry Group when investing. Useful for review of common terms or as a starting point for negotiating.

Model legal documents from NVCA

YCombinator benchmarks for raising a Series A

from Mark Suster's blog

Investor update newsletters

Powerpoint alternative for pitch desks and other presentations

Glossary of common VC terms

100+ templates that can be themed. Imports directly to PPT, Google, and Keynote

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.

700+ pitch decks categorized by funding raised, industry, and funding round. Also includes decks used to raise grant funding, crowdfunding, and debt financing.

A searchable database of VCs by thesis - sector, check size, series, etc.

Guided pitch practice questions that can help you address weaknesses in your pitch.

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.

Guideline for startup technical due diligence. Useful for founders and for potential acquirers.

Having trouble getting started with a pitch deck? Try writing out answers to these questions first.

Track files you share externally. Useful for investor management as part of a fundraise or for salespeople to work with enterprise customers.

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 meta-blog-post from Mark Suster with some practical advice before you start your fundraise, including links to other posts on the subject.

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 list of VC funds from emerging fund managers. Exclusively lists VCs whose fund is under $100MM and primarily focus on checks under $4MM.

Investor lists by stage (seed, A, B), sector focus, and location. Most investors list funding range and sweet spot for check size.

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.

An overview of the differences between pre-money and post-money SAFEs and how they can impact your startup fundraising.

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.

1200 Pitch Decks from well-known companies, categorized and searchable.

A twitter thread from Warren Schaeffer with best practices for leveraging your network to get connections to 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 ‘list of lists’ curated by OpenVC.app . It contains pointers to 23+ databases of active investors that you can use to target your fundraise.

A basic spreadsheet you can use to help organize your pre-seed or seed fundraise, from Elizabeth Yin (GP at Hustle Fund). Instructions for how to use it at https://twitter.com/dunkhippo33/status/1387175910453907460

Free searchable list of active angel investors, compiled and maintained by First Round Capital.

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.

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 research-backed reference for developing your early-stage pitch deck. Includes templates in PPT and Google Slide format.

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.

A list of nearly 600 female-identifying active angel investors. Curated by Lolita Taub.

Based on a spreadsheet tracker by Elizabeth Yin, you can use this to keep track of your investor outreach and progress while you raise VC money.

A very comprehensive guide from Elizabeth Yin (GP at Hustle Fund) on raising a Seed Round.

A detailed guide from Alpaca.vc on how to craft an announcement about your fundraising round to maximize press coverage.

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.

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.