How to Convince Early-Stage Investors and get the Startup Valuation you want
In this blog, you'll learn how to navigate early stage startup valuation when speaking with investors. If you are unsure about naming a price or letting investors dictate terms, you're not alone. We'll demystify the process, providing insights and strategies to help you make informed decisions.
How to Find Lead Investors and Secure Funding for Your Pre-Seed Round
Think of a Lead Investor as your fundraising champion. They're not just a source of capital; they're a strategic partner, with a vast network, and the ability to rally other investors. So how do you find this super investor and convince them to champion your cause?
How Uber Founders Built Investor Confidence Into Their Pitch Deck without MVP
In this blog we are going to share how Uber’s aggressive iterations and pivots can be used to tell a compelling story in your traction slide. We’ll prepare you for the types of questions investors ask to assess your appetite for change. Finally we’ll share some other Startups that pivoted aggressively to become billion dollar companies.
13 Top VC Questions you Must Answer to Ace your Investor Meetings
Fundraising – it's the lifeblood of early-stage startups. But navigating investor meetings and their often cryptic questions can feel like deciphering ancient hieroglyphs. Today, we're going to discover the types of questions VCs ask once they’ve reviewed your deck and precisely what they mean, so that you can smash those investor meetings.
How a Creator Economy founder raised his $5 Million Seed Round: Pitch Deck Teardown
This blog dives into the pitch deck used to raise a seed round by John Hu, founder of Stan, John raised $5 million from Eurie Kim, Managing Partner at ForeRunner Ventures. We'll analyze the deck's strengths and weaknesses, drawing insights on what captivated Eurie. Learn how founders like can craft compelling fundraising pitches using Score My Deck as your Eurie.
How to Craft a Traction Slide for your Pre-Seed Pitch Deck with No Product and No Revenue
For growth and later stage startups with customers and revenue, the traction slide is a great place to showcase impressive metrics and growth. However, for pre-seed startups with no product, no customers, and no revenue, the traction slide can feel daunting. Investors crave traction.
How Vivino Raised $ Millions : 30 Pre-revenue Pitch Deck Tips From Heini
Securing venture capital without revenue is not uncommon. I speak to a 100s of VCs including Hustle Fund who invest in pre-seed and/or pre-revenue Startups. Heini Zachariassen and Theis Søndergaard are the co-founders of Vivino, the world's dominant wine app, and they are proof that this is possible.
How to Create Effective Competitor Slides for your Pitch Deck Without Rookie Mistakes
In this blog, you’ll learn the important components of a strong competitor slide. We'll explore common pitfalls and provide actionable tips to help you create a standout slide that will excite VCs and get you more investor meetings. We’ll tell you what investors are looking for in your competition slide and share insights to help you identify key differentiators, and transform your findings into a compelling competitor slide.
8 Major Red Flags When Choosing a Lead Investor for Your Pre-Seed Round
Choosing the right lead investor is critical for startup success at the pre-seed and seed stages. This blog outlines key red flags to watch for when evaluating potential partners for your pre-seed round. By the end, you'll be clear on how to identify risky investor behaviors, negotiate more favorable deal terms and make better informed decisions.
5 Common Pitch Deck Mistakes Killing Your Fundraising Efforts : VC Review
Are you finding it difficult to get investor meetings? Perhaps you’ve put your pitch deck on Docsend where you get to see exactly what slide potential investors hit the close button. The truth is, even the most passionate founders can make mistakes in their pitch decks, unintentionally derailing their fundraising efforts.
Pitch Deck Review : beehiiv’s seed deck scored 74%
In this blog, we'll take a look at how Score My Deck breaks down the pitch deck used by Beehiiv to raise their seed round. Score My Deck helps pre-seed and seed founders refine their fundraising strategies to secure external investment and grow their Startup. Imagine securing $2.
Uber: A Tale of Disruption, Resilience, and Regulation from Seed to IPO
The story of Uber is a modern-day fable of innovation, ambition, and the tumultuous journey of a disruptor. It is a tale of two friends, a movie scene, and a vision that would redefine urban transportation. From Frustration to Innovation: The Birth of Uber It began in 2008, in the heart of San Francisco, when Garrett Camp, frustrated with the city’s unreliable taxi service, was inspired by a scene in the James Bond movie, Casino Royale.
How Michia Raised $250k from Angel Investors in 3 weeks : Fundraising Playbook
In this blog I will share Michia’s step-by-step guide on how he built a network and secured meetings with angel investors. If you lack the VC connections of someone who went to an Ivy league school, this is for you! In this guide, we'll decode the exact process Michia Rohrssen, a successful entrepreneur, used to raise $250,000 from angel investors he'd never even met – all in just three weeks!
Traditional Pitch Deck Reviews OR Free AI-Powered Fundraising Advisor
The pre-seed fundraising landscape is a complex world for early-stage founders. Securing your first external capital starts with one thing: a solid pitch deck. Traditionally, crafting a winning pitch deck meant shelling out significant sums for consultations with pitch deck experts.
How to Nail Your Pre-Seed Fundraising with a Killer Pitch Deck
So you've built your MVP and you're ready to jump into launching your startup. But before you hit the fundraising circuit, there's one major step: crafting the perfect pitch deck. The deck will be your weapon of choice, convincing investors to believe in your vision and open their wallets.
7 Outdated Pieces of Fundraising Advice That could Sink your Pre-Seed Round
If you’re raising a pre-seed round, this blog is going to debunk a lot of the myths banded around by advisors. Fundraising is about convincing a handful of people to believe in something you feel passionate about. Seasoned VC investor Martin Casado, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, sheds light on some of the most common fundraising myths that could be sabotaging your pre-seed round.
How Orca Fraud raised a $500K Pre-Seed as Female Founders from in Africa
Imagine the joy of closing a $550K pre-seed round. Now, imagine you're Thalia Pillay and Carla Wilby, the co-founders of Orca Fraud, and this achievement isn't just a financial milestone, it's a triumph for female founders in African tech and a beacon of hope in the fight against fraud in emerging markets. Their journey wasn't easy.
How to build a Funding Needs slide like Airbnb to secure a seed Investor
This blog will help you with the knowledge you need to write an impactful funding needs pitch deck slide that resonates with investors and gets you into those fundraising calls. We'll leverage the wisdom of venture capital giants like Airbnb and the power of storytelling to transform your "Funding Ask" into a strategic narrative that builds investor confidence. Let’s get startedHow much are you raising?
How Tyler Denk Raised $2.6M Seed Funding for Beehiiv in just 5 Weeks
$2,600,000 seed round closed for your startup with no product, no users and no revenue. Sounds like a fantasy, right? But for Tyler Denk, founder of Beehiiv, a platform that helps content creators to build and monetize newsletters, this was their reality.
How Rella Raised $1M Pre-Seed Capital Without a VC Network
The joy of closing your pre-seed funding round is indescribable. But for many founders without an Ivy League network the journey is arduous and painful. That was the case for Natalie Barbu, founder of Rella, a content creator management platform.
How Melanie Landed a Lead Investor to Raise a Seed Round for Canva
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. But for many aspiring founders, that first step often feels like a daunting leap into the unknown. Fundraising, especially securing a lead investor, can feel like an insurmountable hurdle.
How to Accelerate Investment Readiness with a Customer-Centric Approach to Competition
In this blog, you'll learn how to conduct a comprehensive competitor analysis that goes beyond your direct rivals. Use the insights from this guide to create a competitive strategy and impress potential investors. Learn how to translate your competitive analysis into a persuasive competitor slide for your pitch deck and address common investor concerns.
How to Write a Problem Statement for your Pitch Deck and land Investor Meetings
This blog dives into crafting a compelling problem statement that grabs investor attention and books those first meetings. Learn actionable tips from a seasoned investor, discover common pitfalls to avoid, and leverage a powerful tool to refine your pitch deck. Time to jump in and find out.
How to Craft a Pre-Seed Pitch Deck using Pitch and Score My Deck
Crafting winning pitch decks in 2024 versus 2021 is more than just a matter of luck. The zero interest rates era is now over, investors are finding other assets to put their cash into. The barrier to entry is higher, if you want to grab a VCs attention, you need a killer pitch deck.
How Talon Raised $26M Without Revenue, Find out What Sets Them Apart!
Have you ever dreamt of raising millions for your startup idea, before you've even sold your first product? Sounds like a Silicon Valley fantasy, right? Well, buckle up, because Ofer Ben-Noon, founder of Talon Cyber Security, did just that.
How to Get Funded by Pre-Seed Investors: Gale shares Vitalize VC’s Valuation Expectations
In this blog post, we'll lean into Gale's expertise to guide us through the nuances of coming up with startup valuations that resonate with Venture funds like Vitalize VC. We’ll focus on the key metrics that signal product-market fit and look at the criteria and milestones that allow for future funding rounds. The pre-seed stage is a daunting beginning for any SaaS founder.
How to build Pre-Revenue Financial Projections for your Pitch Deck
For pre-seed founders, building a solid pitch deck is a crucial step towards securing that initial investment. Yet, the pressure to showcase financial projections can feel a little overwhelming, especially when revenue data is scarce. But fear not!
How to Build an Investor Network Without an Ivy League Degree
The pre-seed fundraising landscape can feel daunting, especially for founders without a pre-existing investor network. Convincing investors to write checks to help you close that initial round of funding and build your vision seems like an insurmountable challenge. That’s why we are here!
How to Create Pitch Decks with Market Slides that Convince Investors to take a Meeting
In this blog, we delve into the critical role of the market slide in your pitch deck. Learn why it's essential to impress investors with a clear understanding of your market. Discover how to define your Total Addressable Market (TAM), Serviceable Available Market (SAM), and Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM) to showcase your market potential.
Why VCs and Angel Investors Prioritize Team over Projections in Pre-Seed Pitch Decks
From Product-Market Fit to Team-Market Fit The startup world often revolves around the concept of product-market fit. This refers to the alignment between a product and a market need. While undeniably crucial, there's an equally important concept at the pre-seed stage: team-market fit.
How to Raise Funds for your Startup with Warm Intros to Investors on LinkedIn
In this blog we are going to share the Dos and Don'ts of building an investor network on LinkedIn. When you don’t have an investor network, pre-seed fundraising can feel quite frustrating. As a startup outsider who's been there, this blog will equip you with the knowledge and tools to navigate this crucial step.
How to Create a Pitch Deck with a Team Slide that gets Seed Stage VCs Excited to Meet you.
In this blog, you'll discover the major role your team plays in securing investment. We'll dive into why investors prioritize people over products at seed stage, and how to craft a compelling team story that resonates. You'll learn how to showcase your team's strengths, address weaknesses, and build investor confidence.