Investor outreach, pitch decks, and fundraising strategy from founders who closed real rounds.
Investors spend under 2 min 30 sec on cold decks. Your cover slide has about 5 seconds. The data shows what works and what kills deals instantly.
85% of pitch decks are missing a financial projections slide. Here is what investors look for and what gets your deck closed without a meeting.
Startup runway meaning explained with real benchmarks, burn rate tables, 3 calculation methods, and the 18-Month Law that applies no matter how much you raise.
How much startup runway do you need, when do you start raising, and how do you extend it? Benchmarks, burn rate data, and founder-tested tactics.
The written app kills 90%+ of applicants. Here's what accepted founders did differently - real numbers, real timelines, real traction thresholds.
I see this every week - founders burying their best insight on slide 8. Here is how to write a pitch deck problem slide that gets investors to keep reading in under 20 seconds.
The original Airbnb pitch deck had a grammar error, 7 rejections, and a $200M projection that proved wildly conservative. Here's what made it work.
64% of pitch decks fail on the business model slide. Here's what investors look for, what kills deals, and how to build a slide that converts.
The pitch deck one pager is a standalone document built for a different purpose than the deck. Here's what goes in it, when to send it, and how I see founders use it wrong.
Uber's original pitch deck raised $200K but got the customer, product, and market size completely wrong. Here's the full slide-by-slide breakdown and what founders should learn from it.
Real anti-dilution clause examples with the math. Understand full ratchet vs broad-based weighted average with step-by-step numbers founders use.
I see this every week - startup elevator pitches failing before the first sentence ends. Founder data and investor feedback show what works right now.
The pro rata rights agreement decides who keeps equity when you raise again. How it works, what to grant, and the cap table traps most founders miss.
TAM SAM SOM explained with real formulas, industry benchmarks, and the one number investors fund. Stop guessing your market size.
Build a startup data room that closes rounds faster. Stage-by-stage checklist, what NOT to include, IP assignment traps, and the information layering strategy VCs love.
The $27M average Series B figure is outdated. Medians sit at $90M for announced rounds, with AI startups raising 2.5x more than non-AI peers.
Series B funding rounds decoded: median $118.9M valuation, 13% dilution, $5-7M ARR floors, and the mistakes that kill rounds before they start.
The complete VC due diligence checklist founders need before their first investor call. Real documents, red flags to fix, and what kills deals after the term sheet.
Your 409A is a separate valuation from your post-money. Learn exactly why the two numbers differ, what each one does, and what happens when founders mix them up.
Pre money vs post money valuation: the formulas, the founder math, SAFEs, the option pool shuffle, and benchmarks every founder needs before signing.
Pre-money vs post-money valuation - formulas, current market benchmarks, SAFE traps, and accelerator numbers every founder needs before raising.
Pre vs post money valuation explained with real numbers. Learn the formulas, how dilution works, and what mistakes cost founders millions at exit.
Investors spend 15% of their total deck time on the team slide. What they're looking for, what kills deals, and how to build one that converts.
Investors spend 21 seconds on your traction slide. What to put on it by stage, what metrics matter, and what kills credibility fast.
The median Series C is $20M on Carta but $170M in public announcements. Both numbers are right, and here's what they mean for founders.
Series C funding explained with real numbers: round sizes, valuations, investor types, dilution data, and what happens after you close.
I've watched founders lose money on their term sheet before closing. Liquidation preferences, option pool traps, and board control are where it happens.
Real data on finding angel investors for pre-seed funding: close rates, check sizes, outreach strategy, platform rankings, and cap table warnings founders miss.
Real numbers on pre-seed funding check sizes, valuation caps, investor criteria, and the tactics founders use to close rounds fast. No theory - just data.
The Series A pitch deck has changed. Here is what VCs are looking for right now - with real deck structures, slide-by-slide breakdowns, and funded examples.