Beginner fundraising
Angel Investor
An angel investor funds early-stage startups with personal capital for equity, typically before VCs participate. Many are former founders or operators.
#investors
24 results
Glossary
Intermediate fundraising
Bridge Round
A bridge round is a small financing to extend a startup's runway until a larger funding round or key milestone is reached.
Intermediate equity
Cap Table
A cap table tracks who owns what in a startup - founders, investors, and employees - and how ownership changes across funding rounds.
Intermediate fundraising
Down Round
A down round occurs when a startup raises capital at a lower valuation than its previous round, triggering dilution and anti-dilution.
Intermediate fundraising
Due Diligence
The structured investigation an investor conducts before closing a deal, covering financials, legal, product, team, and market validity.
Intermediate fundraising
Liquidation Preference
The right of preferred investors to be paid back before common shareholders in a liquidation or sale event, protecting downside.
Intermediate fundraising
Pre-Money and Post-Money Valuation
Pre-money valuation is a company's value before investment. Post-money adds the investment amount. Both determine investor ownership.
Beginner fundraising
Pre-Seed Round
A pre-seed round is the earliest startup funding stage, covering idea to prototype. Check sizes range from $100K to $1M from angels and micro-VCs.
Intermediate fundraising
Pro-Rata Rights
The right of an investor to participate in future funding rounds to maintain their ownership percentage in the company.
Beginner fundraising
Seed Round
A seed round is a startup's first institutional funding, used to validate the product, build the core team, and reach the traction needed for a Series A.
Intermediate fundraising
Term Sheet
A term sheet is a non-binding document outlining the key terms of a VC investment deal before formal legal agreements are drafted.
Guides
Intermediate fundraising
10 min How to Write a Cold Email to Investors
How to write a cold email to investors that actually gets a reply - anatomy of a great VC email, subject lines, templates, and what not to do.
Intermediate fundraising
12 min How to Manage Investor Relations
Build a systematic investor relations practice - from monthly update emails to board meetings - that keeps investors engaged and working for you.
Intermediate fundraising
9 min Prepare Your Data Room
How to build an investor data room that passes due diligence - the exact documents, folder structure, and red flags to fix before investors ask.
Advanced fundraising
18 min How to Read (and Negotiate) a Term Sheet
A founder's guide to every clause in a VC term sheet - valuation, liquidation preference, anti-dilution, board control, and what to actually negotiate.
Intermediate fundraising
16 min How to Raise a Seed Round
A practical, step-by-step guide to raising a seed round: what to prepare, how to run the process, and how to close.
Intermediate fundraising
15 min How to Write a Startup Pitch Deck
A complete guide to building a startup pitch deck - what slides to include, what investors look for, and mistakes that get decks deleted immediately.
Beginner fundraising
7 min How to Write an Investor One-Pager
Learn how to write a startup one-pager that earns investor meetings - covering the essential sections, formatting rules, and the most common mistakes to avoid.
Articles
Intermediate ai
11 min AI Startup Fundraising
What investors actually look for when funding AI startups in 2025-2026 - the metrics, questions, and red flags that determine who gets funded.
Intermediate fundraising
14 min The Anatomy of a Series A Round
What a Series A actually requires in 2024–25: the metrics, the process, the timeline, and what investors are really evaluating.
Intermediate fundraising
15 min The Startup Fundraising Process
The fundraising process is opaque by design. This article maps every phase - from prep to close - so you can run it like an operator.
Beginner fundraising
11 min What Is Venture Capital?
How venture capital works - VC fund structure, what investors look for, fund economics, dilution, and whether VC is the right path for your startup.
Beginner equity
13 min Startup Equity Explained
Equity is ownership - but most founders and employees can't do the math. Here's exactly how startup equity works, dilutes, and pays out.
Intermediate fundraising
12 min What VCs Look for in a Startup
VCs say they back great teams in big markets. The reality is more specific - and more useful. Here's the actual framework seed investors use to decide.