All stages
💰Stage 08
Startup Finance
Unit economics, runway, and cash management.
7 lessons19 operating guides
Lessons
Expand any topic for concept, action steps, and pro tips.
Concept
Bootstrapping vs Venture Funding: fundraising is a sales process with asymmetric information. You sell a narrative backed by evidence of learning velocity and market pull.
Why it matters
Bad process wastes months and signals amateur hour to the best investors.
Action steps
- 1Decide if you should raise: default-alive path vs need for capital to unlock a wedge.
- 2Build a 10-12 slide narrative: problem, solution, why now, market, product, traction, model, team, ask.
- 3Create a target list of 50 investors who actually do your stage and sector.
- 4Warm intros only when possible; track CRM stages religiously.
- 5Practice a 3-minute and 15-minute version of the pitch.
- 6Run process with multiple parallel conversations; avoid single-threaded hope.
Done when
You can run a tight 4-6 week process with a real list, CRM, and data room.
Metrics
- · Meetings per week
- · Second meetings
- · Term sheets
- · Process length
Anti-patterns
- · Raising to feel validated
- · Sending decks cold to everyone
- · Negotiating valuation before fit
Operator tip
Traction is the best pitch. If you can delay a raise by growing, you usually should.
Tools
Notion data roomDocSendPulley / CartaFounderWise Capital
Stage quiz
finance readiness (fundamentals baseline)
5 questions · pass at 70%
1.A startup is best described as:
2.The best early focus is usually:
3.Co-founder equity should typically include:
4.An MVP primarily tests:
5.A strong PMF signal is:
Answer all questions to score.