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Startup Fundraising Tools

  • Pitch Preparation Tools – Investor-ready decks and storytelling resources

  • Fundraising Tools – Capital planning, investor tracking, and data rooms

Startup Fundraising Tools

Venture Capital

Pitch Preparation Tools

  • Power to Pitch—A business devoted to helping founders craft a winning pitch, attract investors and grants, and get the funding support they need to scale including:

    • A free tool to help founders unpack how much they actually need and what kinds of capital sources best align with their goals.

    • New 3 Minute Fundraising Trainings - Short, tactical breakdown videos to sharpen a story, deck, and investor conversations.

    • AI Kat Stack for HubSpot - A curated bundle of top AI tools founders can claim or investors can share with their portfolios.

 

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  • ​Cardinal Mistakes we have seen

  1. Investors are not your customers. They might buy into your product, but they’re not necessarily customers for the product itself. Still, too many decks are more product sales/marketing leave-behinds rather than a business plan for the company.

  2.  Keep the product slide simple and put your focus on the business itself and how and why it will bring investors a sizeable exit.

  3. Problem slide: “(Insert vertical you’re addressing here) is broken.” Do you know how many times investors/analysts have seen that line? Investors spend a few minutes assessing a deck – if you’re lucky – and you’ve just wasted major important seconds. Be specific about what that major problem you’re addressing is and on the next slide, your solution for addressing it.

 

  • According to Guy Kawasaki’s Pitch Deck Template​​​​

There’s a 10/20/30 rule: Ten slides, 20 minutes, 30-point type... 1.) Problem 2.) Your solution 3.) Business model 4.) Underlying magic/technology 5.) Marketing and sales/Go-to-market strategy 6.) Competition 7.) Team 8.) Projections and milestones 9.) Status and timeline 10.) Summary and call to action 11.) You need to include the ask: • How much are you raising and for what? Most founders include the use of funds here. Investors want to know what that funding is going to buy them. • How is it going to bring the company closer to profitability and how much longer will that take? Ideally, the funding will last you 18 months and will get you to (provide info here). o You don’t want to raise too little – investors want you to focus on building the company, not constantly chasing money. o And don’t raise too much, either: the last thing anyone wants is a down round as a follow-on.

​Fundraising Tools 

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  • Flowlie streamlines the fundraising process for busy founders who want to focus on growth and product. They are neither a marketplace, nor a broker, but an end-to-end fundraising management platform with built-in automations.

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  • Venture Capital Fund Metrics Cheat Sheet

1. Total Value to Paid-in (TVPI) - Measures the total value of a fund relative to the capital paid in by LPs. • Formula: (Investment Proceeds + Book Value) / Paid-in Capital • Gross TVPI: Includes investment proceeds and book value. • Net TVPI: Adjusts for fees, expenses, and carry. 2. Residual Value to Paid-in (RVPI)- • Indicates the remaining value in a fund, showing unrealized gains. • Formula: Book Value/ Paid-in Capital • Useful for assessing a fund's potential during early and mid- life stages. 3. Distributions to Paid-in (DPI) - Measures the proportion of capital returned to LPs. • Formula: Distributed Capital/ Paid-in Capital • A high DPI is preferred as it shows strong liquidity. 4. Multiple on Invested Capital (MOIC)- Compares the total book value (realized+ unrealized) to investment cost. • Formula: Book Value/ Investment Cost • Helps evaluate a GP's investment selection ability. 5. Internal Rate of Return (IRR) - Represents the annualized return on investments. • Gross IRR: Excludes fees and carry. • Net IRR: Adjusts for fees, carried interest, and fund expenses. 6. Maximum Expected Exposure (MEE) - Shows the LP's actual cash commitment relative to total capital commitment. • Formula: Capital Commitment - Distributed Capital (within drawdown period) • Helps LPs manage capital call expectations. 7. Follow-on Funding Rate (FFR) - Percentage of portfolio companies securing follow-on funding. • High FFR suggests strong portfolio quality and attractiveness. 8. Deployment to Fee Ratio (DFR) - Measures how much capital is invested vs. spent on fees. • Formula: (Paid-in Capital - Fund Fees) / Paid-in Capital • Higher DFR means more capital is working in investments

  • ​​​​​​​​​Earnd--helps its clients recycle their R&D investment dollars into new capital for further growth by putting money back in their pocket from R&D tax credits they have earned. Earnd works with clients who are investing in the development of new or software, products, formulas, inventions or technical processes

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  • This Startup Growth Calculator tool calculates how much funding your startup needs:  https://growth.tlb.org/

 

  • How much equity to give up per round—Median as of 2025: 

  • Seed 20.5%

  • Series A 19.5%

  • Series B 17.2%

 

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  • Wefunder Feedback from a Client:  â€‹â€‹â€‹â€‹â€‹â€‹â€‹

"Long story short: you need to have $500K in committed capital before launch to stand a chance of it being successful. Those types of platforms are all about clout in a weird way, and a lot of commitments early on are the key.  In addition, you need a pretty decent marketing budget for it to work.  Most of the successful ones are spending a lot of money on ads, looking for a 2x+ ROI so that they can justify the spend. We're talking thousands per week to attract enough eyeballs that can convert. The most successful ones also have a PR plan lined up so that they have announcements every week, because you're messaging to folks who express interest throughout the process and trying to convert them. That's another few thousand. "

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  • Benchmarks for Raising Venture Capital - Information from the Founder's Institute

Raise Benchmark Graph

  • Checklist Before Raising:​​

You should check MOST of these boxes before raising
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