startup-fundraising

仓库: vasilyu1983/ai-agents-public
安装量: 36
排名: #19385

安装

npx skills add https://github.com/vasilyu1983/ai-agents-public --skill startup-fundraising

Systematic framework for raising capital from pre-seed through growth stages.

Modern Best Practices (Jan 2026):

  • Burn Multiple is king: Investors screen on Net Burn / Net New ARR before anything else.

  • Post-money SAFEs dominate: 85-90% of pre-seed deals use post-money SAFEs (not pre-money).

  • Data room = product: Clean structure, version control, index document, 409A current.

  • 7 due diligence areas: Beyond the deck—financial hygiene, unit economics, founder-market fit, digital reputation, customer validation, technical scalability, cap table hygiene.

  • Milestone-based raises: Map every round to specific milestones and runway (best/base/worst).

Decision Tree: What Fundraising Help?

FUNDRAISING QUESTION
    │
    ├─► "Should I raise?" ─────────────► Raise vs Bootstrap Analysis
    ├─► "How much to raise?" ──────────► Round Sizing
    ├─► "What's my valuation?" ────────► Valuation Framework
    ├─► "How do I find investors?" ────► Investor Targeting
    ├─► "How do I pitch?" ─────────────► Pitch Preparation
    └─► "Full fundraising plan" ───────► COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGY

Fundraising Stage Overview

| Pre-Seed | $250K-$1M | $2-5M | Idea, team, early prototype

| Seed | $1-4M | $5-15M | MVP, early customers, PMF signals

| Series A | $5-15M | $20-60M | PMF, $1-2M ARR, repeatable sales

| Series B | $15-50M | $60-200M | Proven GTM, $5-15M ARR, unit economics

| Series C+ | $50M+ | $200M+ | Scale, expansion, path to profitability

What Investors Look For by Stage

| Pre-Seed | Team, market, vision | Early traction

| Seed | Team, PMF signals, market | Early metrics

| Series A | PMF proof, GTM, metrics | Team, market size

| Series B | Growth efficiency, unit economics | Market expansion

| Series C+ | Path to profitability, scale | Market leadership

Should You Raise?

Raise vs Bootstrap Decision Matrix

| Capital intensity | High upfront investment needed | Low capital needs

| Market timing | Land grab opportunity | Steady market

| Competition | Well-funded competitors | Fragmented market

| Network value | Investors add strategic value | Execution-focused

| Exit timeline | <7 year exit path | Long-term hold

| Growth rate | 3x+ YoY possible | Steady growth fine

Funding Types

| Equity | Sell ownership | High-growth, VC-backable

| Post-money SAFE | Equity at fixed cap, post-investment | 85-90% of pre-seed (2026 standard)

| Convertible Note | Debt that converts to equity | Bridge rounds

| Debt (Venture) | Loan with warrants | Post-revenue, bridge

| Revenue-Based | % of revenue | Predictable revenue

| Grants | Non-dilutive | R&D, specific industries

SAFE vs Convertible Note (2026)

| Market share | 85-90% of pre-seed | 10-15% of pre-seed

| Interest | None | 2-8% annually

| Maturity date | None | 12-24 months typical

| Complexity | Simple (1-5 pages) | More complex (10+ pages)

Why post-money SAFEs dominate: Cleaner cap table modeling, predictable dilution, no debt on balance sheet, faster closing (1-2 weeks vs 2-4 weeks).

Round Sizing

Round Size = Monthly Burn × Runway Months + Buffer

Where:
- Runway: 18-24 months typical
- Buffer: 20-30% for unknowns

Milestone-Based Sizing

| Pre-Seed | Reach Seed milestones (MVP, early customers)

| Seed | Reach Series A milestones (PMF, $1-2M ARR)

| Series A | Reach Series B milestones ($5-10M ARR)

| Series B | Reach profitability or Series C ($20M+ ARR)

Dilution Considerations

| Pre-Seed | 10-15% | 10-15%

| Seed | 15-25% | 25-40%

| Series A | 15-25% | 40-55%

| Series B | 10-20% | 50-65%

| Series C | 10-15% | 55-70%

Rule of thumb: Keep 15-20% for option pool, founders retain >10% at exit.

Valuation Framework

Valuation Methods by Stage

| Pre-Seed | Comp-based | Market × stage adjustment

| Seed | Forward multiple | Projected ARR × 10-20x

| Series A | ARR multiple | ARR × 15-50x

| Series B+ | ARR multiple | ARR × 10-30x

ARR Multiple Benchmarks (2025-2026)

| <50% YoY | 5-10x

| 50-100% YoY | 10-20x

| 100-200% YoY | 20-40x

| >200% YoY | 40-100x

Burn Multiple (2026 Key Metric)

The Burn Multiple is now the #1 investor screening metric.

Formula: Burn Multiple = Net Burn / Net New ARR

| <1.0x | Highly efficient | Strong signal, rare

| 1.0-1.5x | Efficient growth | Attractive

| 1.5-2.0x | Moderate efficiency | Acceptable with justification

| 2.0-3.0x | Inefficient | Yellow flag

| >3.0x | Burning cash | Red flag, likely pass

Investor Targeting

Investor Types

| Angels | $25K-250K | Pre-Seed, Seed | Advice, intros

| Syndicates | $100K-1M | Seed | Access to angels

| Micro VC | $500K-2M | Pre-Seed, Seed | Hands-on help

| Seed VC | $1-5M | Seed, Series A | Portfolio support

| Multi-Stage VC | $5M+ | Series A+ | Resources, brand

| Corporate VC | $2-20M | Series A+ | Strategic partnership

| Growth Equity | $20M+ | Series B+ | Scale expertise

Investor Research Checklist

| Stage fit | Do they invest at your stage?

| Sector fit | Do they invest in your space?

| Check size | Does their check match your raise?

| Portfolio | Any conflicts or synergies?

| Recent activity | Are they actively deploying?

| Partner | Who would be your partner?

| Reputation | What do founders say?

Building Investor List

| Crunchbase | Filter by stage, sector, recent deals

| PitchBook | Comprehensive data

| LinkedIn | Partner research, warm intros

| AngelList | Angel and syndicate research

| Signal NFX | Investor database

| Portfolio founders | References and intros

Pitch Preparation

Pitch Deck Structure (12-15 slides)

| 1. Title | Company, tagline, contact | First impression

| 2. Problem | Pain point, who has it | Establish need

| 3. Solution | What you do, how it works | Show the answer

| 4. Demo/Product | Screenshots, demo | Prove it's real

| 5. Market | TAM/SAM/SOM, why now | Show opportunity

| 6. Business Model | How you make money | Revenue clarity

| 7. Traction | Metrics, growth, milestones | Prove momentum

| 8. Competition | Landscape, differentiation | Show awareness

| 9. Go-to-Market | How you acquire customers | Show scalability

| 10. Team | Founders, key hires | Prove capability

| 11. Financials | Projections, unit economics | Show understanding

| 12. Ask | Amount, use of funds, timeline | Clear ask

Pitch Narrative Arc

SETUP (Slides 1-3)
├─► Hook with the problem
├─► Make it personal/urgent
└─► Introduce solution

BUILD (Slides 4-7)
├─► Show the product
├─► Prove the market
└─► Demonstrate traction

CLOSE (Slides 8-12)
├─► Address competition
├─► Show the path forward
└─► Make the ask

Traction Metrics by Stage

| Pre-Seed | Waitlist, letters of intent, early pilots

| Seed | Revenue, customers, growth rate, retention

| Series A | ARR, MRR growth, NRR, LTV:CAC, payback

| Series B+ | Rule of 40, magic number, NRR, cohorts

References

| cap-table-management.md | Cap table best practices, investor red flags, modeling

| post-investment-operations.md | Post-funding checklist, governance, investor relations

| term-sheets-and-diligence.md | Term sheet terms, data room, due diligence, investor updates

Templates

| fundraising-plan.md | Full fundraising strategy

| fundraising-deck-outline.md | Deck outline and slide takeaways

| data-room-checklist.md | Diligence-ready data room checklist

Data

| sources.json | Fundraising resources (22 sources)

Do / Avoid (Jan 2026)

Do

  • Track burn multiple weekly: Net Burn / Net New ARR is the #1 investor screening metric.

  • Use post-money SAFEs: They're 85-90% of the market and simplify cap table modeling.

  • Get 409A before options: Required for compliance, red flag if outdated.

  • Build data room early: Start 3-4 months before fundraising, use version control.

  • Headline every slide: Say the takeaway ("We reduce fraud 90%"), not labels ("Product Overview").

Avoid

  • Vanity metrics without unit economics: GMV/signups mean nothing if you're burning $3 to make $1.

  • Outdated 409A valuation: Creates tax liability and diligence red flags.

  • Missing IP assignments: Every contractor, intern, employee must have signed.

  • Inflated TAM without bottom-up assumptions.

  • Inconsistent metrics across deck, model, and data room.

What Good Looks Like

  • Narrative: one consistent story across deck, memo, and demo.

  • Metrics: every KPI has a definition (formula + timeframe + source) and matches across artifacts.

  • Data room: diligence-ready folder with cohorts, pipeline, contracts/terms, and key policies.

  • Milestones: the raise maps to a milestone plan and runway model (best/base/worst case).

  • Process: a tracked pipeline with weekly cadence (outreach, meetings, follow-ups, learnings).

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