Fundraising
Practical guides to planning a raise, preparing materials, managing diligence, and closing capital.
Inside a 2025 Series B Term Sheet Negotiation
Reconstruct a real 2025 Series B term sheet negotiation clause-by-clause. Learn valuation, preferences, board control, and founder tradeoffs.
Why Your Investor Update Should Lead With a Single Number
Learn why leading investor updates with one north-star metric cuts through noise, builds trust, and keeps your cap table aligned. Real examples inside.
January 2026 in Review: Deals, Drama, and Data
January 2026 startup funding roundup: deal volume, valuations, sector trends, and market drama affecting founders and investors raising capital.
Jason Calacanis's LAUNCH Fund: How It Actually Evaluates AI Founders in 2026
Inside LAUNCH Fund's AI founder evaluation process, check cadence, and application patterns. Real insights on what breaks through the noise in 2026.
Lightspeed's Shift to Agent-First Investing: Inside the Thesis
Explore Lightspeed Venture Partners' agent-first thesis and what it means for founders raising capital in 2026. Real examples, strategic implications.
The LinkedIn DM Playbook for Fundraising in 2026
Master cold LinkedIn DMs for fundraising in 2026. Templates, subject lines, and tactics that actually get first meetings with investors.
March Madness: The 16 AI Startups Most Likely to Raise This Quarter
16 AI startups ranked by raise probability this quarter. Real thesis, funding momentum, and investor appetite analysis for founders and VCs tracking the market.
The Mike Vernal Playbook: How Sequoia Writes Early-Stage Growth Checks
Inside Mike Vernal's early-stage growth investing approach at Sequoia: signal patterns, evaluation criteria, and why founders should understand his playbook.
Naval's 2026 Advice for First-Time Founders
Naval Ravikant's 2026 guidance for first-time founders: build specific knowledge, raise capital strategically, and focus on product-market fit.
New Year, New Thesis: How 2026 Venture Differs From 2025
Explore structural shifts in venture capital between 2025 and 2026: LP sentiment, deal structures, sector allocation, and what founders need to know.
OpenAI's Latest Tender Offer: What $500B Signals for Secondary Markets
OpenAI's $500B tender offer signals a major shift in late-stage valuations and secondary markets. What founders need to know about comps and liquidity.
Perplexity's Fundraising Timeline, Reverse-Engineered
How Perplexity raised $9B across five rounds in 18 months. Investor breakdown, valuation jumps, and the storytelling arc that kept momentum climbing.
How to Pitch an AI-Meets-Healthcare Startup Without Falling Into Hype
Master the art of pitching AI healthcare startups credibly. Learn to cut through hype, prove unit economics, and win investor trust with real data.
Pitch Deck Teardown: What Top Seed-Stage Decks Get Right (and Wrong)
Analyze effective vs. ineffective seed-stage pitch decks with annotated examples, design lessons, and narrative frameworks investors actually respond to.
Why the Post-ZIRP Seed Round Looks Different in Q4 2025
Seed rounds have structurally shifted post-ZIRP. Explore 2025 funding trends, valuation resets, and how founders must adapt their capital raising strategy.
Pre-Seed in 2026: When to Skip the $1M Round Entirely
Should founders skip the $1M pre-seed entirely? New data on bimodal funding, capital efficiency, and when a priced seed makes more sense than a mid-sized round.
Pre-Seed Round Structures: Priced Equity vs SAFE, Revisited for 2026
Compare priced equity and SAFE structures for pre-seed fundraising in 2026. Real examples, dilution math, and founder-investor tradeoffs explained.
Sunday Case Study: Ramp's Latest Funding Round Decoded
Deep dive into Ramp's Series E funding: structure, investors, valuation mechanics, and key takeaways for fintech founders raising capital.
The Reid Hoffman Framework for Pitching Network-Effect Businesses
Learn Reid Hoffman's proven framework for pitching network-effect businesses. Real examples, worked mechanics, and insider pitch strategies for founders.
The SAFE Note Playbook: What Founders Need to Know Before Signing
Master SAFE notes: mechanics, valuation caps, discounts, vs. convertible notes, and red flags. Essential guide for pre-seed founders raising capital.
The Sam Altman Stack: What OpenAI's CEO Reads, Backs, and Bets On
Decode Sam Altman's investment thesis, reading list, and policy positions. What founders pitching into AI should understand about his worldview.
The Seed Strategy Memo Every Founder Should Write in Q4
Write a seed strategy memo in Q4 to clarify fundraising decisions. Template, examples, and framework for founders raising pre-seed and seed rounds.
Sequoia Capital's 2026 Fund Construction: What Has Changed
Sequoia Capital restructures its 2026 funds with new early-stage vehicles, token-focused sub-funds, and strategic positioning. What it signals about.
Sequoia's First European AI Investment in 2026, Tracked
Sequoia's $1B Ineffable Intelligence round marks a watershed moment for European AI. What it signals about deal pace, valuations, and founder-investor fit.