PRE-SEED FUNDRAISING GUIDE: RESOURCES

The Essential Pre-Seed Fundraising Resources

YC Videos, Tools, Paul Graham’s essays and more

For any challenging endeavor, you need to have the right tools, resources, and be able to speak the lingo. Here are some of the tools and resources I found to be most helpful.

Resources for Fundraising Tactics

• Paul Graham’s essays on fundraising. There are a lot of good ones, but How to Convince Investors is especially good.
• The Pitch podcast to listen to other founders pitch.
• Look at decks of companies currently raising on Republic or Seed Invest (scroll to the data room at the bottom of the deal). Keep in mind some of these companies aren’t venture scalable businesses, but they are currently raising money at your stage and have had some vetting.
• There are a lot of books on fundraising, but Secrets of Sand Hill Road is solid and up to date.

Source: The Pitch

YC Videos

• How to Talk to Investors by Michael Seibel (starts halfway through)
• How to Get Meetings by Aaron Harris
• Fundraising Fundamentals by Geoff Ralston
• Fundraising Legal Mechanics by Kirthy Natho

Fundraising Tools

• PDFCompressor to compress your pitch deck for emails. DocSend can also work, but in general, I’m not a fan and I don’t think most VCs are either. Although it’s hotly debated, I think this article does a good job explaining why most VCs don’t prefer it.
• SAFE docs (If you use a SAFE you should be prepared to clearly articulate what it is, simple financial upside and downside scenarios, and why you chose it as opposed to a convertible note or a priced round. Be prepared to put your teacher hat on!)
• Docusign to send SAFEs
• Airtable or Streak to track your investor funnel

Source: YC

This story is part of the Pre-Seed Fundraising Guide. Below are links to each article in the guide.
💰 Intro: 10 Tips for Raising a Pre-Seed Round
🕑 Part 1: When to Raise
🤔 Part 2: How Much to Raise
🔍 Part 3: How to Find Your First Investor
📈 Part 4: How to Find More Investors
❗ Part 5: Investors to Avoid
📚 Resources: Essential Resources

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