VC1.01 covers the following topics: The Business of VC – How Venture Firms Work; Stock and VC Investment Structures; and Key Considerations for Founders & Employees.

guides / Fundraising

Advice for Founders During Uncertain Times

During economic downturns, every company faces a different situation, and what’s right for yours could depend on stage, funding history, cash balance, and space. What to do falls into three buckets: fundraising, operational focus, and reducing burn rate.

guides / Strategy & Operations

How VCs Really Evaluate Potential Seed Investments

The VC’s decision to invest comes down to four core elements: scope, chemistry, unicorn potential and financial match.

guides / Fundraising

How to: Protect Yourself in a Fire Sale

Innovation is hard, and not all startups succeed. Get your carve-out in writing.

guides / Strategy & Operations

How to: Pitch a VC Successfully (Even Over Zoom)

Your pitch deck should be aligned with your audience. Here’s how you can do that, even over Zoom.

guides / Fundraising

Term Sheet Grader

We developed the term-sheet grader, a simple way to compare different term sheets or help characterize whether a term sheet is good or evil.

guides / Fundraising

How To Navigate a Term Sheet in the COVID-19 Era

Winners in the new world—as well as smaller startups or those leveraging existing relationships—will still close deals during this period. But be wary of investors who use this environment to propose term sheets full of red flags.

guides / Fundraising

Part 5: The Final Pieces

In this final part, we close out the remaining terms you are likely to see -Voting Controls, Mandatory conversions, and dividends.

guides / Fundraising

Part 4: Board of Directors

There are many venture backed startups that have a VC representative from every round — seed, A, B, C, D, etc. It is often said that the performance of a company is inversely proportional to the number of VCs on the Board. A better Board would be one that has a mix of VC representatives and industry experts. But how to get there?

guides / Fundraising

Part 3: Anti-Dilution

The standard VC term sheet has the concept of anti-dilution, meaning if the next round is priced lower than the previous round, the VC will be entitled to more shares (retroactively) to make up for this unfortunate circumstance. We don’t like the sound of that at all.

guides / Fundraising

Part 2: Preference / Preferred Stock

A Preference or Preferred Stock is where an investor buys a security that gives them the right to choose whether to get their money back or convert into common stock.

guides / Fundraising

Part 1: Increase to Option Pool

In a typical term sheet, the investor will specify an option pool — a bucket of stock options for future employees. Having an agreed on pool makes life easier for everyone — you don’t have to get shareholder consent every time you want to make a new hire and the VC doesn’t see their ownership get diluted by every hire either.

guides / Fundraising

2019 US Micro-VC Firms

Samir Kaji from First Republic created an Airtable of over 900 micro-VCs (funds less than $100M) across the country.

See on Airtable

guides / Fundraising

Women Angel Investors in the US

Lolita Taub pulled together an Airtable of 500+ women angel investors in the US.

guides / Fundraising

How To: Negotiate a Term Sheet

Just got a term sheet from a VC firm? Congratulations — that’s no small feat. Now we’ll help you navigate how to negotiate your term sheet.

guides / Fundraising

How To: Manage Series A Termsheets

All of your hard work has paid off, you’ve received a term sheet! Now it’s time to manage the investors around the table to make sure you get the best deal possible.

guides / Fundraising

How To: Develop a Series A Pitch

Writing a terrific pitch deck is hard, just like writing a hit song is hard. Don’t shoot for average. Seed was about whether you can get in the game. Series A is about showing how you can win the game, and why this is a game worth winning. Read on for tips on creating the perfect pitch deck.

guides / Fundraising

How To: Build an Investor List

If your company is ready for Series A, your biggest limiting factor will be finding investors. The greatest factor that can reduce the effort required to run the Series A process is to invest heavily in researching your targets well before you’re ready to raise. Read this article to learn how to create the perfect investor list.

guides / Fundraising

How To: Build a Series A Budget

So, you’ve raised your Seed. Congratulations! While it may seem like you’re swimming in cash now, if you’re building a venture scale business, at some point, likely within the next 12-18 months, you will need more money. Read this article for advice on creating a Series A budget.

guides / Fundraising

How To: Raise a Series A Full Guide

80 page guides don’t scare you? Of course not! Follow this A-Z guide to help you raise your Series A seamlessly.

guides / Fundraising

10 Steps to Raising a Series A

Raising seed was a grueling process, and you feel eager now to leave behind all thoughts of fundraising and finally get back to building your business. But, you know Series A is just around the corner. How can you successfully raise your Series A? Read these 10 steps, and apply their lessons.

guides / Fundraising

Read This First

So you are ready to raise a Series A? Check out this quick overview to help navigate our How to Raise a Series A Guide.

guides / Fundraising

Templates

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Term Sheet Grader

Open Link

templates / Fundraising

Pitch Deck Storytelling Template

Open Google Doc

templates / Fundraising

Pitch Deck Template

Open Google Slides

templates / Fundraising

Series A Budget

Open Google Sheet

templates / Fundraising

Series A Investor List

Open Airtable

templates / Fundraising

Series A Checklist

Open Airtable

templates / Fundraising

Startup Software

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Carta

Carta was founded in 2012 to help private companies manage their cap table by eliminating spreadsheets and paper certificates. They've since expanded to valuations, compliance, investors services, and tools and services for public companies. See here for one pager.

Website

tools / Fundraising

Shoobx

Shoobx is a legal operating system for your company, providing the foundation for your growth. They give you a single place to take care of everything from executing your fundraise, to granting equity, to getting board approvals, to hiring employees. The Shoobx platform has over 50 workflows that handle common legal actions with standard documents and legal collaboration. They save valuable time for busy founders like you so that you can focus on what matters: growing your business. Founder's Guide companies receive 20% off their 1st year of Shoobx subscription fees. Learn more here

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tools / Hiring, HR & Benefits / Benefits

Vendors

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Visions in Focus

Contact: Beth Susanne

Visions in Focus

Contact: Beth Susanne

Pitch Coach Beth Susanne has helped her clients raise over $10B in funding to date, working with global leaders such as Singularity University, Oxford Foundry, Barclays, BMW, Disney, and over 3000 international tech startups from 60 countries, across all technologies. Founders have raised an average of $4M each, following her 2-day pitch intensive. Her online and in-person workshops focus on how to craft and deliver a compelling pitch so that you achieve your funding goals quickly, and your value is immediately recognised in the market. Beth came highly recommended to Pillar by one of our portfolio startups, based in Madrid, and will begin coaching our portfolio teams in 2020.

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vendors / Fundraising / Pitch Coaches

Fundraising

Playlists

Is VC Right for Me?

Developing a Pitch Deck

Investor Outreach

Navigating Investor Meetings

VC Relationships

How VC Firms Work

Fundraising & Negotiating Term Sheets

Videos

Part 3: What should I expect from my relationship with my VC?

What questions should I be ready to answer in a pitch meeting?

Part 2: Should I optimize for the highest valuation for my company?

How do VCs evaluate whether a new technology can be commercialized?

How do I share confidential information with VCs?

What should I include on my competition slide, if my company doesn't have true competitors?

How do I find VC firms?

Should I target specific partners at a VC firm?

Which VC firms should I target with my outreach?

How many deals does a VC firm do each year?

How much progress are VCs looking for in seed companies?

How do I negotiate a term sheet?

How do I close a pitch meeting?

How can I really know my VCs intentions?

What should I consider when choosing an investor?

Part 2: What do I do if my relationship with my investor isn't working out?

Part 2: What do I do if two important investors can't agree on anything?

What should my pitch deck include?

Do VCs offer resources in addition to capital?

Which qualities do VCs look for in founders?

Is it okay to socialize with my VC?

Should I raise money from an angel investor or a VC firm?

What is the difference between angel and pre-seed funding?

If I tank a meeting with one VC, will other VCs find out?

How long will my relationship with a VC last?

How do I capture an investor's interest with a cold outreach email?

Do VC firms specialize in industries?

Do VC firms focus on specific stages of funding?

Part 1: How do I tell my personal story so it resonates with investors?

How do the motivations of my investors differ?

Audio

How can I create an awesome pitch deck?

How much ownership should I expect to give up when fundraising?

As an early stage investor, which qualities do you look for in early stage companies?

How are valuations determined?

How do I negotiate on valuation?

How long do pitch meetings usually last?

Should I optimize for the highest valuation?

What advice do you have for moms who are starting their fundraising process?

What relationship should I expect to have with my investors?

How should I approach investors? Ask for advice, not money.

What is a VCs expected time frame for $100M in net revenue vs. run rate?

What is the difference between shares and options?

How does dilution work for founder shares?

How should I prepare for a pitch meeting with investors?

Do I need a pitch deck?

What should I include in my pitch deck?

Should I send my pitch deck out in advance of an investor meeting?

Part 2: What questions should I ask investors during pitch meetings?

Can you describe the relationship you have with your VCs?

How do I decide which investors I want in my syndicate?

When should I tell my VC bad news?

How do I know I'm ready to pitch VCs?

When should I think about selling my company?

Part 2: Should I bootstrap my company?

Part 1: Should I bootstrap my company?

Which VC firms should I target with my outreach?

Part 2: What should I consider when choosing an investor?

Part 2: How much should I aim to raise in my seed round?

How long do pitch meetings usually last?

Do I need a lead investor?

How do I ask my VC for a raise?

Part 2: What should I expect from my relationship with my VCs?

Part 1: What should I consider when choosing an investor?

How do I say no to an investor?

Part 1: What do I do if two important investors can't agree on anything?

Part 1: What do I do if my relationship with my investor isn't working out?

Do I need a pitch deck?

What role should the CFO play in the fundraising process?

What financials should I prepare for pitch meetings?