How to raise a seed round?

Elizabeth Yin, General Partner

Last updated: 3/27/2022

I’m a former founder who’s reviewed over 30,000 pitches as a General Partner at Hustle Fund and as a former Partner at 500 Startups.

When I was a founder, I was absolutely clueless about how to fundraise. Hopefully this guide will help you raise a seed round.

Strategy

• Not everyone should raise VC money

• Different types of capital
• Applying to accelerators

• Should you do an accelerator?
• How to ace the interview

• Should you bootstrap?

• Your idea matters a lot

• What makes for a good idea?
• Why I wouldn’t have invested in my former startup?  

• Understanding why investors invest
• You are always pitching
• The hardest thing about fundraising
• You should have 4 fundraising plans
• Generating momentum

• How to raise $1.5m in 48 hours 

Preparation

• How to make a collaborative list of investors

• Do they all need to be value-add?

• How to create a pitch deck?

• Pitch decks that stand out
• Where ppl go wrong with pitch decks
• Should you include financials?
• Ideal email deck
• Ideal in-person deck

• How to get in front of investors?

• Tips for cold-emailing investors

• How to write a cold-email

• How to ask for an investor intro

• Who should you ask for an investor intro?  

• Pitching friends and family
• When you’re not well connected

• What is a cap table?
• What are SAFEs, convertible notes, and equity?

• A tweetstorm on this
• A blog post on this
• Should you raise on notes or equity?
• To SAFE or not to SAFE?

Meeting with and closing investors

• How to tranche your fundraise

• Why tranche your fundraise
• Honoring commitments
• Why seed rounds are dead

• You need to meet with lots of investors
• Why investors take a long time to decide (and how to shorten that)?

• Establishing trust

• How to think about big investors vs small investors

• Should you take small checks?
• Are you an investment or an option? 
• How to close angel investors?

• Video version

• Do you need a lead investor?

• A blog post on lead investors

• 15 Annoying things investors say
• Do VCs fund solo founders?
• What goes into a pitch conversation?

• It’s not really a pitch
• What questions you should ask investors
• What questions an investor will ask you?

• How to follow up?

• Following up with investors who have rejected you before

• How VC partnerships make investment decisions?
• On valuations

• How valuations are determined

Elizabeth Yin, General Partner

www.hustlefund.vc

@dunkhippo33