Silicon Valley Banks's Early Stage Practice hosts a monthly fundraising workshop for clients in our NYC office (among others as well). This deck is used to teach founders how to run an efficient fundraising process through qualifying investors, getting high-quality intros, pitch prepping effectively, and using the existing tools and resources that are publicly available.

1. Fundraising
Workshop
Early Stage Practice

2. 2
Our role in the innovation ecosystem is to
increase your odds of success.
Founders VCs

3. Helping founders scale faster
3
We’re former investors, operators, and mentors
Jake Mendel
@ijakemendel
Chris Behrens
@crisp_aarons
Denisha Kuhlor
@denishakuhlor
.
Jeremy Shure
@jeremyshure
Shai Goldman
@shaig
Natalie Fratto
@nataliefratto

4. Purpose and Goal
VC FUNDRAISING 101
▸Fundraising forces you to articulate three things:
Why You +
Why Now +
Why this Problem
= How will you generate a venture-scale return
▸Goal: Help you qualify investors, get high-quality intros,
pitch prep effectively & run a fundraising process.

5. Disclaimers
▸This is not one size fits all; every deal is different.
▸This assumes that you have decided that raising
institutional capital is right for you -- it’s not for every
company.
▸All investors are unique, just as are all founders.
▸Data in this deck is NYC focused - fundraising and VC
Funds differ dramatically by region.
▸Data in this deck is based on 2016-2018 trends.
Fundraising and valuation norms shift yearly.
VC FUNDRAISING 101

6. START BY ASKING YOURSELF:
▸ What round am I raising and why am I raising?
▸ When’s the best time?
▸ How do I qualify investors?
▸ What does a lead investor do?
▸ How do I get an intro to a VC?
▸ How should I prep for VC meeting #1?
▸ What should be in my deck?
▸ What other resources are out there?
VC FUNDRAISING 101

7. WHAT ROUND ARE YOU RAISING?
Pre-Seed
Seed
Series A
<$1M
$1M-$3M
$5M+
▸ Pre-product
▸ Team is key metric
▸ Angels, F&F,
accelerators (non-
institutional VC)
▸ Unpriced round
▸ <10- 20% dilution
▸ Product launched
(at least a beta)
▸ Early traction is +
▸ Mix of Seed VCs,
Angel Groups,
▸ Either note or
priced round
▸ 10-25% dilution
▸ Product is scaling
▸ Traction signals
product/market fit
Institutional
Series A+
investors w/ a
lead
▸ Priced round
▸ 20%+ dilution
*based on NY 2016-2018 Data
Round Size
Traction
TERMINOLOGY

8. PICK THE RIGHT TIME TO RAISE
Insider Tips
▸ Avg. raise
takes 3-6
months
▸ Avoid closing
during the
holidays
▸ Matters less
at early-stage
PROCESS PLAYBOOK

9. YOUR RAISE IS A SALES FUNNEL
Identify 30 qualified investors
Find best introductions and batch
your meetings
Refine your pitch after each
meeting until you close a lead
Use Lead as momentum to close
rest of round
PROCESS PLAYBOOK

10. 10
Qualify your list of investors
Does this fund
invest at your
Stage?
Stage
Does this fund
invest invest in
Your geography?
Location
Does this fund
invest in your
Industry/sector?
Sector
What size check
will they write?
Size
Is this fund still
actively making
investments?
Vintage
Has this fund
invested in any
competitive co’s
Activity
PROCESS PLAYBOOK

11. Resources to Qualify Investors:
So much of the work has been done for you!
▸To Identify Target VCs:
▸DRF’s VC Wiz, NFX Signal, Investors under 200M, NYC VC Finder, Seed
Deal Leads in NY
▸CRM Tools to Track Your VC Meetings:
▸Streak, Pipedrive, Hubspot, DRF’s VC Wiz
▸More data on Funding Trends, Valuation etc:
▸Cooley Go , Angel List
FUNDRAISING 101

12. START WITH A LEAD INVESTOR
▸ Lead investors = tipping point
▸ Lead sets terms for round
▸ Board seat (maybe at seed,
usually at Series A)
▸ Check size matters (usually >1/3
round size)
▸ It’s okay to ask if a fund leads
PROCESS PLAYBOOK
Credit: Ryan Caldbeck @ryan_caldbeck

13. 13
Not all introductions are made equal
Spectrum of VC Intros
Strong Neutral Weak
Founders
they
previously
invested in
Trusted Partner
(Existing
Investor, SVB,
Attorney,
Accelerator)
Cold Outreach
(Direct or
Indirect)
Other VC that
passed – Don’t
ask for this!
PROCESS PLAYBOOK

14. HOW TO PREP FOR VC MEETING #1
▸ Have a pitch deck & one
pager prepped
▸ Have a thesis on why this
investor is a fit
▸ Don’t ask for an NDA at
the outset.
▸ Know that you’re not
going to get a check
today.
PREPARING TO PITCH
▸ Don’t use it! The best pitches
are conversations
▸ If you don’t, neither will the
investor you’re meeting
▸ Typically not applicable until
due diligence
▸ Every fund has a unique
decision process – ask!

15. At a minimum, your deck should include:
15
Problem Solution Team
Market Size Competition Traction
DECK BEST PRACTICES
Want a deep dive on pitch decks? Click here!

16. TRANSLATING A VC’S DECISION TO PASS
Can mean any of the following:
▸ Company is too early
▸ Doesn’t feel a fit with team
▸ Lack of capital to deploy
▸ Competitive Investments
▸ Concern on sub-sector
FEEDBACK, SIGNALS & WHEN TO SWITCH GEARS
TEST - LEARN - IMPROVE

17. YOU’VE RAISED MONEY?
CELEBRATE & GET BACK TO WORK!
Q&A

18. Appendix

19. Additional Resources
▸Seriously, what’s your (startup’s) problem?
▸Competition is not a bad word
▸Market Size
▸Traction: Invest in Lines not Dots
FUNDRAISING 101

20. Credit: Primary VC “NYC Seed Deal Report” 20
Seed rounds have been getting bigger
Q4 2017 average NYC seed round size reached $2MM

21. Q1 Update – NYC Seed Deals
Credit: Primary VC “NYC Seed Deal Report”
21
• Median deal size dropped
to lowest since Q1 2016
• Most Active Sectors:
• Enterprise SaaS (28%)
• E-Commerce (24%)
• Fintech (20%) Customized
Text block
$60M

22. 22
Valuations
Credit: Cooley LLP - https://www.cooleygo.com/trends/
Early-stage valuations are driven by a number of factors
• Median stage valuation
• Founding Team
– Prev. exits
– Unique sector expertise
• Sector Activity
– Hot sectors have higher valuations
• Ownership Math
– VC’s back into ownership % based on exit
What drives your
valuation?
Seed Valuations
Series A Valuations