Whether to raise at all, who the investors are, how a VC fund actually works, valuation, dilution, cap tables, SAFEs and notes, the process end to end, and pitching.
Where the money comes from, and what it costs
Lessons
Should you raise money at all? — Raising is not an achievement, it is a transaction. The first question is whether you need it, and most founders skip it. (12 min)
The funding stages, in order — Friends and family, angels, accelerators, pre-seed, seed, Series A and beyond — what each expects and what each is for. (12 min)
Who the investors actually are — Angels, VCs, accelerators, family offices, corporate VCs, private equity, venture debt. They want different things — pitch them differently. (12 min)
How a VC fund actually works — A VC is not a person with money. They manage a fund with its own investors, and that single fact explains almost everything they do. (15 min)
What investors are actually assessing — Team, market, traction, insight, and whether the outcome can be large enough. In roughly that order, and mostly in the first ten minutes. (10 min)
Valuation, pre-money and post-money — The most confused pair of words in fundraising, and the arithmetic that decides what you own afterwards. (12 min)
Dilution — what you actually give up — Owning less of more can be better than owning all of little. But only if you know which one is happening. (12 min)
Reading a cap table — Who owns what, in what class, and what happens when the next round lands. (12 min)
SAFEs and convertible notes — How most first money is raised now — fast, cheap, and much easier to get wrong than founders expect. (15 min)
Liquidation preference — The term that decides who gets paid when the company sells — and it matters more than your valuation. (12 min)
The pitch deck — Ten to twelve slides whose only job is to get the next meeting. Not to close the round. (12 min)
The fundraising process end to end — Prepare, list, introductions, first meetings, partner meeting, diligence, term sheet, legals, close. Three to six months, run as a process. (15 min)
Due diligence — What investors check before wiring, and the four things that most often kill a deal at this stage. (12 min)
Reading a term sheet — Two to four pages that decide the next several years. What each clause means and which ones actually matter. (15 min)
Investor updates — A short monthly email that turns passive shareholders into people who actually help — and makes your next round dramatically easier. (10 min)