Founder Hub

Everything you need to raise your next round.

From building a target investor list to understanding what's actually in your term sheet.

Find investors for your stage → Am I ready to raise? → Build my roadmap → Browse all playbooks →

Understanding Investors

Not all VCs are the same fund.

Stage focus

A fund that mainly writes Series B checks is a poor cold-pitch target if you're pre-seed, no matter how strong your deck is. Check what stage a fund actually invests at before you email them.

Sector focus

Sector-specialist funds (fintech, climate, healthcare) weigh domain fit heavily. A generalist seed fund cares more about team and market size than sector match.

Cold vs warm

Large, brand-name funds overwhelmingly prefer warm introductions. Smaller, newer funds and angel networks are often set up specifically to take cold pitches.

Cold Emailing VCs

Writing an email that actually gets read.

What works

A short, specific email: what the company does in one sentence, why now, one or two traction data points, and a clear, low-friction ask (usually "15 minutes to walk you through it"). Reference something specific about the fund's thesis or portfolio if you genuinely know it.

What doesn't

Long biographical backstory before the point, generic mass-BCC'd emails with no personalization, attaching a 40-slide deck to a cold first email, and vague asks like "let me know if you're interested in learning more."

Pitch Deck Structure

The sections investors actually look for.

1. Problem

What's broken, for whom, and why it matters now.

2. Solution

What you've built and why it solves the problem better than alternatives.

3. Market

TAM/SAM/SOM — sized bottom-up, not just a big top-down number.

4. Traction

Whatever evidence you have that people want this — revenue, usage, retention, or a credible plan to get there.

5. Business model

How you make money, and the unit economics behind it.

6. Competition

Who else is solving this, and your honest, specific edge.

7. Team

Why you're the right people to build this specific company.

8. The ask

How much you're raising, at what terms if known, and what it gets you to.

The Fundraising Process

From first email to closed round.

Step 1

Outreach — cold email or warm intro to the right investor for your stage/sector.

Step 2

First meeting — usually with an associate or junior partner; goal is to earn a second meeting.

Step 3

Partner meeting — the decision-maker(s) evaluate directly.

Step 4

Due diligence — references, data room, customer calls, market validation.

Step 5

Investment committee — the fund's internal approval process.

Step 6

Term sheet — negotiation of valuation, board, and rights.

Step 7

Closing — legal docs finalized, funds wired.

Step 8

Post-investment — board reporting, follow-on planning, next round prep.

Tools for Founders

Learn fundraising from what actually happened.

These are not hypothetical examples. Use them to pressure-test your own plan.

Early rejection