How to Run a Fundraising Process

👋 Hi my name is Roslyn, I’m a founder and executive coach. I help purpose-led founders scale their impact without burning out. Learn about working 1:1 here.

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Hi there,

Happy Tuesday! 

We’re on to week two of fundraising. Just as a reminder, the first two newsletters of the month will cover the tactical side of fundraising. The following two will be all about the inner work and energetics of fundraising.

Last week we talked about whether you should raise venture capital or not, and what other options are available to you. 

This week we’ll go deep on how to actually run a fundraising process end-to-end if you think that this path is right for you.

We’ll cover:

• Preparation: from knowing your why, to creating a deck and pitch materials

• Building your investor pipeline, lining up warm intros and conducting outreach

• Pitching and creating momentum

• Negotiating terms and closing

• Expert advice from a few fantastic purpose-led founders that have been there

Also, I’m running a free webinar on May 28th — How to Fundraise with Magnetism and Resilience. If you’re fundraising now, gearing up for it, or just curious to learn more, I’d love to have you. I’ll be sharing the fundraising advice you’re not gonna hear anywhere else.

By the way, I’ve combined this newsletter and the last one (and added even MORE advice) into a comprehensive fundraising guide. If you find this information useful, feel free to share it with a founder who’s fundraising.

Where we go deep on the outer work or the inner work of building a startup.

How to Run a Fundraising Process

Raising capital from venture capitalists and angel investors can feel overwhelming. How do you do it? Where do you even start? 

This deep dive is going to walk you through the ten steps you can take to raise a round from the very beginning to the close. 

1. BUILD RELATIONSHIPS AHEAD OF TIME 

If you anticipate you’re going to want to raise capital at some point, it’s helpful to go into your raise with pre-existing relationships with investors, and also with other founders and mentors in your space. 

Find founder/investor networking events in your city, befriend other entrepreneurs, consider an incubator or accelerator, anything to start to build your network in the startup space. Nurture those relationships, ask for feedback on your startup.

If you meet an investor or mentor you vibe with and that seems willing to give you feedback or support you in some way, add them to a monthly mentor email. Your monthly mentor email should share your progress on your main KPI’s, your wins, challenges, and any asks from your mentors (advice, feedback, connections, etc.). 

Sending a consistent mentor update email that is showing progress and growth but that is also honest about challenges, builds trust with mentors and potential investors.

2. CLARIFY YOUR “WHY” AND “WHAT FOR”

Get clear on why you’re raising capital. What will the capital unlock? You should be able to answer what milestones you’ll be able to hit with the capital (as opposed to what the capital will be spent on). 

✅ Examples of milestones:

• Build our MVP and obtain early traction

• Find product-market-fit and grow our customers from 5,000 → 30,000

• Grow revenue to $1.5M in ARR

❌ Examples of spend (not a clear why for raising):

• Hire a CTO

• Spend on marketing and growth

• Build out a sales team

Your financial model (which I’ll get into below) should show how you’ll spend the money you’re raising, in order to hit the milestone you’re raising for. It’s hugely important to not only be able to tell the story of your company and how it solves a real problem, but also to convey what capital will allow you to accomplish and how that positions you for further growth.

3. CREATE A CLEAR, COMPELLING, CONCISE PITCH DECK

• Your pitch deck should convey your company’s story, using hard numbers to back it up. It should ultimately get people excited about the opportunity and provide a starting point for the conversation and questions from investors. 

• Keep it short and sweet — assume someone will spend only 5 minutes reading your deck — what are the key takeaways you want them to leave with and the feeling you want to evoke? Try for 10-12 slides max with any supporting slides (for Q&A) in the appendix.

• Before you get into the nitty gritty, plan out the structure of the deck. Think about the story you want to tell and how that story should flow. Order the main components of the deck accordingly.

• For each slide, consider, if someone were to spend a few seconds skimming this slide, what is the main point I want them to take away from it? Consider writing that as a subtitle on the slide.

• Make the deck visual. Don’t underestimate the power of design and use charts, graphics, logos and imagery where you can to convey or support takeaways.

• Consider having a deck for sending ahead of time and a separate deck you present. The deck you send will need to be more detailed. The deck you present can be more simple and visual and you can speak to the details in real life.

• Write a script for your pitch. Each slide should be a couple sentences. Think about the most important insights you want someone to take away from a slide and say that as simply as you can. It can be tempting to want to go into detail and show off your expertise, but it’s better to get your points across simply and clearly, maintain the story arc and their excitement, and leave getting into the details for the Q&A. 

• Send your deck to your network of mentors, founders and friendly investors. Practice pitching with them if they’re open to it. Get feedback and iterate on your deck and your pitch before officially kicking off your process.

You can check out this table I’ve created on what to include in your pitch deck depending on what round you’re raising.

PITCH DECK INSPIRATION

• If you’d like to check out some real live pitch decks startups have used to successfully raise for inspiration, you can go to Pitch Deck Hunt. 

4. PREPARE YOUR MATERIALS

In addition to your pitch deck, you should have the following ready going into your fundraise process.

FINANCIAL MODEL

A financial model isn’t just about numbers — it should tell a story about how your business makes money, spends it, and grows. 

• Keep it simple and use formulas 

• Tell a story — growth should be logical and milestones should align with your raise

• Plan for 3-5 years

A strong financial model includes:

• An assumption tab, which may include:

  • Growth rates, pricing and monetization, hiring plan and salaries, marketing spend and CAC (customer acquisition cost), customer lifetime & LTV (Lifetime Value)

• Revenue forecast

  • How do you make money?

  • Breakdown by revenue stream 

• Cost of goods sold (COGS)

  • What does it cost you to deliver the product?

• Operating expenses (OPEX)

  • What are your core operating costs?

• Hiring plan

  • Who are you hiring and when?

• Profit & Loss Statement (P&L or income statement)

  • Your income statement: Revenue - COGS = Gross Profit - OPEX = EBITDA - interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization = Net Income

• Cash Flow Forecast

  • How much cash do you need—and when?

  • Starting cash + Cash in (revenue, investment) - Cash out (expenses) = Ending cash balance

• KPI’s Dashboard

  • Quick snapshot of key metrics.

INVESTOR Q&A DOCUMENT

Prepare for your investor meetings by anticipating the questions they will ask and have solid, thought-out answers for them. 

For example: 

1. Who are your customers, and what problem are you solving for them?

2. What is your go-to-market strategy?

3. When will you be profitable?

4. Who is the natural acquirer for your business?

Here’s a great comprehensive list (written by an investor) that you can use to prepare. 

DATA ROOM

When you get to the due diligence stage with an investor, they may request additional materials to support what you’ve shared through your pitch deck or investor meetings. What they’ll ask to see will vary depending on the stage you’re at. 

Best Practices

• Use Google Drive, Dropbox, DocSend, or Notion 

• Organize into folders by category

• Label files clearly: 2025_Financial_Model_v3, Deck_SeedRound_Jan25, etc.

• Keep it read-only, update as needed

Check out this table I created with data room requirements by round you’re raising.

5. BUILD YOUR INVESTOR PIPELINE

I recommend using a spreadsheet to keep track of two parts of the fundraising process:

At the building pipeline stage, your focus is on identifying the right investors by researching, talking to other founders and compiling a list of investors that would be a fit based on the stage they invest at and categories they focus on.

By the way, this part of the process will likely take a decent investment of time if you’re starting from scratch. Fundraising is a volume game. To set yourself up for success, and to keep the momentum going, try to build a long list of potential investors you feel would be a fit early on.

Consider what industries they invest in, whether they have any similar (but not directly competing) companies in their portfolio, what stage they typically invest at and what check size they typically provide. All of these can be indicators of whether an investor is a fit for you.

You can set up your first tab of the spreadsheet with the following columns. (You can copy my template here).

At the same time you can set up the second tab of the spreadsheet to monitor ongoing interactions, using the following columns. (Again you can copy my template)

6. LINE UP WARM INTROS 

If you’re able to, finding a warm intro to an investor will be more powerful than cold outreach. Some funds do welcome cold outreach (they may have a link or email on their website or LinkedIn profile), which is a good backup and you can absolutely try that. But a referral or warm intro usually goes a much longer way. 

Here’s how:

• Use your network of founders, mentors and advisors. 

• Once you have your investor pipeline that you’ve researched, use LinkedIn to see if you have any mutual connections with a potential investor. 

• Send a personalized, forwardable intro request to each connector (to make it incredibly easy on the person connecting you). 

• I learned about forwardable emails from Techstars, and specifically Alex Iskold’s blog. He says a forwardable email should include:

  • Introduction: Your name and name of your company, including URL

  • Business: 2-3 sentences about your business & why it’s interesting

  • Traction: 1-2 sentences about your traction / customers you have / progress you made. 

  • Why: Looking for feedback

  • Ask: Could we do a quick 15 min call? 

Here’s a forwardable email template.

7. TIME YOUR OUTREACH STRATEGICALLY

Once you’re feeling good with your fundraising materials, you’ve built out an extensive investor pipeline with potential warm intros and you’ve practiced and gotten feedback on your pitch, you’re ready to start your outreach.

You’ll want to try to schedule your meetings within a bound timeframe in order to build momentum. 

• Try reaching out to investors within a tight 2-3 week window

• You can also stagger by tier. For example, schedule your top investor picks last, so that you can practice with the ones that are lower stakes, and hopefully you can let top investors know you already have a certain amount of capital committed by the time you speak with them (which can help show demand / create FOMO).

8. PITCH & FOLLOW UP

The experience of pitching investors will vary by investor. Some will want you to walk through your pitch deck and ask questions along the way. Others may have been through your pitch deck and will want to jump into asking you questions. Figure out which style you’re more comfortable with and try to lead with however you feel most confident. 

At the same time, you’ll want to be flexible based on the context and vibe of the investor you’re pitching. For instance, if it’s a friendly early coffee chat it will likely feel more like a conversation. If you’re pitching to the firm partners later in the process, a more formal pitch will be more appropriate. Practice both walking through your deck and answers to your Q&A extensively so you feel confident and natural in either context.

• Refine your pitch through live practice and continue to iterate your pitch and Q&A based on feedback and questions

• Log your conversations in the investor pipeline and follow up within 24-48 hours. 

• Address common concerns proactively 

• Send over any requested information in a timely manner 

By the way, the next two “Inner Work”  newsletters will talk about how to manage your presence, anxiety and confidence going into these meetings.

9. CREATE FOMO (ETHICALLY)

• Convey to investors that things are moving quickly and that you have strong interest (if this is the case)

• Use traction and term sheet conversations to build urgency.

• Share updates (wins, commitments) without being pushy.

• If an investor is not getting back to you, you can follow up with “If we don’t hear back from you, we’ll assume you’re no longer interested in this round”, which will prompt them to give you a more clear indication of if they’re truly still interested or just passively following along to see if other investors jump on the opportunity.

10. NEGOTIATE TERMS & CLOSE

Through your investor meetings, ideally you’ll find an investor who is open to leading your round. This means they put in the largest check and set the terms for the round, and the rest of the investors “follow” (aka invest on those terms with smaller checks). In some stages (seed onwards) a lead investor may also ask for a board seat. 

• Review term sheets carefully and get legal review — especially if it’s more complicated than a SAFE. 

• Lean on your founder friends and mentors if you have questions or want a gut check on if the terms of investment are typically seen in the market.

• Read Venture Deals by Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson to get an in-depth understanding of various venture terms like valuation, liquidation preferences and anti-dilution.

• The round isn’t closed until the money is in the bank. Don’t stop scheduling new meetings and moving investors through the pipeline until the paperwork is signed and the money is in the bank. Unfortunately sometimes investors will soft commit and pull out, and you want to ensure that you are keeping the pipeline full in case this happens.

When you close, wow huge congrats and exhale! Take a moment to pause and celebrate this massive accomplishment!!!

READ

• GUIDE: Read more about how to manage your time & energy throughout a fundraise here.

• BOOK: Venture Deals by Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson — Value-packed read for understanding how venture firms work and the details of venture investment terms.

• LIST: 50+ Investors and Funds for Female Founders

LISTEN

• PODCAST: How We're Raising Money in 2025: Annie Evans, Dream Ventures — In this conversation from Female Founder World, Annie goes deep on when and if your company should fundraise, what makes her process different (and why it works!), and fundraising tips from behind the curtain as an investor. 

I have two AMAZING expanders for you today that are here to share their wisdom about fundraising, specifically about authenticity, focus and organization.

Founder Insight: Connie Lo & Laura Thompson, Founders of Three Ships Beauty

“We learned so much over four fundraising rounds. Our first friends and family round took five months to close $135K; our next round closed in just two weeks at $1.4M! In total, we've raised around $6M. The biggest lesson? Fundraising has to be your #1 focus while you're raising. Clear your calendar - no meetings, no social plans - so you’re fully available for follow-ups and new investor intros (we were on calls sometimes from 8AM until 11PM EST). 

Make sure you also have a strong deck. As founders, you're so deep in the day-to-day that it can help to work with a deck designer to tighten your numbers and sharpen your story, since they're more removed from the business.

Finally, organization is critical. Keep a detailed tracker of every contact, including their probability of investing, cheque size, and when you last followed up. Once someone commits, don’t hesitate to check in daily until their funds are wired. It’s not glamorous, but staying on top of it makes all the difference in closing your round.”

Connie Lo & Laura Thompson, Co-Founders, Three Ships Beauty, @threeshipsbeauty, Raised $6M in VC funding

Founder Insight: Tracy Lawrence, Founder Coach, Founder of Chewse

“I learned almost too late in my Series A the value of showing up as my full, heartfelt self. As a female founder, I thought I had to wear a masculine mask—wearing brown Converse, mirroring the warlike language of male peers, muting the soul of what I was building. But all that posturing drained the life from my pitch.

What I was actually building was a love culture—one rooted in the intimacy of sharing food. And it wasn’t until my 29th pitch that I finally let myself show up as me. I spoke from the heart and let my passion lead. That’s when we closed the round.

Fundraising is vulnerable and high-stakes, and it can feel like there’s no room for you. But your authentic energy is your superpower. Trust it. Embody it. That’s what people invest in.”

Tracey Lawrence, Founder Coach. Tracy Lawrence is a post-exit founder and executive coach for founders. She ran Chewse, a catering marketplace, where she raised $40M in venture capital, grew to a team of 300, and sold the company in 2020.

• 1:1 Coaching: If you’d like support with the inner AND outer work of fundraising, let’s chat. You can book a free consultation.

• I’m hosting a free online event on both the outer and inner work of fundraising on May 28th. Reserve your spot.

Finally, tell me how you liked this newsletter. I read every piece of feedback.

Thanks again for being here as I evolve the Within newsletter.

With love,
Roslyn 💚