| A | B | C | D | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Angels Only | Super-Angel Lead | Pre-Seed VC Lead | Seed VC | |
2 | Number of Investors How man investors will I have to raise money from? | 10-20 | 2-10 | 1-5 | 1 |
3 | Minimum Round Size What is the minimum I have to raise (approximately)? | $1,000 | $100,000 | $250,000 | $250,000 |
4 | Maximum Round Size What is the maximum I can raise (approximately)? | $250,000 | $500,000 | $750,000 | $750,000 |
5 | Terms What are the terms they expect? | SAFE | SAFE | Equity, Sometimes SAFE | Equity, sometimes SAFE |
6 | Time to Help Founders How much time do they have available to help? | Depends on other commitments | Depends on fund strategy and number of investments per partner | Depends on fund strategy and number of investments per partner | Depends on fund strategy and number of investments per partner |
7 | Diversity of Help How broad is their expertise? | Low to High | Medium (from GPs, friends of the fund, and angels) | Medium (from GPs, LPs, and friends of the fund) | Medium (from GPs, LPs, and friends of the fund) |
8 | Startup and Fundraising Help Do they understand startups and fundraising? | Low to High | Medium to High | Medium to High | High |
9 | Participation at Seed Will they invest in the next round? | Likely none | Possibly Pro Rata | Possibly Pro Rata | Expect to Lead |
10 | Optionality at Seed How many VC firms could lead my seed round? | High | High | Medium | Low to None |
11 | Risk of Negative Signalling Will not investing at Seed be a negative sign? | Low | Low | Medium | High |
12 | Time to Raise Pre-Seed How long will it take to raise this round? | 4-8 Weeks | 2-4 Weeks | 2-4 Weeks | 1-4 Weeks |
13 | Time to Raise Seed How long will it take to raise the next round? | High (requires outside capital) | Medium (warm intros to Seed VCs) | Medium (warm intros to Seed VCs) | Low |
14 | Credibility to partners, customers, and other investors. | Neutral | Neutral to High | Neutral to High | Medium to High |
15 | Alignment of Incentives between founders and investors | High | High | Medium (VCs have a fiduciary responsbility to LPs) | Medium (VCs have a fiduciary responsbility to LPs) |
16 | Investor Management Time spent communicating with investors | Low to High | Low to Medium | Low to Medium | Low to Medium |