What to know about fundraising: A founder's guide to running a tight process

When we raised our €3M pre-seed, I thought I understood fundraising. I've been a Sequoia Scout, sat on boards, and watched dozens of founders go through the process. But doing it yourself? That's a completely different beast.

As a serial founder, the reality is you'll get 20 "no's" before you get 1 "yes." And those rejections will come at 8:30pm when you're exhausted in a hotel room after a day of back-to-back pitches.

This is the honest guide I wish someone had given me before we started, structured around the four fundraising stages every founder goes through: Preparation, Building Your List, The Roadshow, and Closing.

Stage 1: Preparation (3-4 months out)

Here's the first mistake: deciding to fundraise three weeks before you need capital. We started planning three to four months before kicking off. This wasn't overkill, it was necessary.

Start with your core message. A big early learning? Begin with the six-word description, the 20-word mission, the core nuggets you'll repeat 100 times. We did the long-form data room content first and tried to distil it down. Big mistake. Start with the essence, then expand.

Practice extensively before launching. Do practice pitches with every existing investor, get feedback, and iterate. Once you kick off the process, it's so intense that there's no time for major changes.

The golden rule: You need two years of runway from seed to Series A. For pre-seed, plan for 18 months to seed. But always subtract six months for your next raise.

Note on stages: Much of this advice applies whether you're raising pre-seed, seed, or even Series A. The mechanics stay the same, only the players and cheque sizes change.

Build your angel network early

Angels aren't just capital for your current round, they become infrastructure for everything that follows. What you're selecting for:

• Signal value: Can you say "former Google exec" or "founder of [successful company]" is backing you?
• Network access: Will they open doors to 4-6 quality VC intros when you raise your next round?
• Customer pipeline: Do they know your market and potential customers?

The angels you recruit during pre-seed become your warm intros to institutional VCs at seed and beyond. They're the references investors call. Think long-term.

Stage 2: Building your investor list

We built a list of 150 potential investors and immediately cut it in half by filtering out clear mismatches. Then we got to our core 40 top-priority targets.

Research checklist before you start:

• Cheque size compatibility: Can they write the amount you need?
• Stage fit: Look at their last 10 investments. If a fund has backed 30 companies at Series A and written two pre-seed cheques, they're not a great fit for your pre-seed round.
• Geography fit: Do they invest in European startups?
• Portfolio conflicts: Have they already backed a competitor?
• Fund status: Are they actively deploying?
• Decision timeline: Some firms can move to a term sheet in 48 hours. Others need three weeks minimum.

The pre-seed exception

At pre-seed specifically, there's value in taking some meetings with tier-one multi-stage VCs even though they probably won't invest. I used those early meetings as free consulting. The feedback I got led to a major revision of my investment memo. Then I refocused on smaller funds who actually write pre-seed cheques.

Just don't let these meetings dominate your calendar. Use them strategically for feedback early in your process, then move quickly to funds that actually write cheques at your stage.

Warm intros are non-negotiable

I'm going to be blunt: cold outreach is basically dead on arrival. But here's what surprised me: you don't need to know everyone personally before you start. We hadn't met many of our key angels before kicking off the process.

The hierarchy of intros matters:

• Founders and customers (best) — When a founder who fits your ICP introduces you, they're putting their reputation on the line. That signal cuts through.
• Angel investors and operators (good) — Often former founders who know the space.
• Other VCs (acceptable) — But they have skin in the game.
• Your own team (least credible) — Obviously, you'll talk yourself up.

A contrarian approach: "Licking the cookie"

Here's something most people will tell you not to do: I made my initial investment memo public. Not published on LinkedIn, but when I sent the Notion page to the first few angels, anyone with the link could read it.

What happened? People started forwarding it. Within a few weeks, 10-15 investors had reached out inbound. But the real benefit wasn't just the meetings. By getting the idea circulated widely in the VC community, I established territory. Even VCs who didn't back me knew I was solving this problem, which meant they were less likely to back a competitor who showed up six months later.

This won't work for everyone, but at pre-seed when you have nothing to lose, being open can be a competitive advantage.

Stage 3: The roadshow

VCs talk. Their associates live in WhatsApp groups sharing who's raising. Word got out within a week. This reality shaped our entire strategy.

Compress your timeline

We organised outreach in "waves" but these weren't weeks apart. Wave zero launched on a Monday. Wave one started Thursday. Wave two by the following Wednesday. Days, not weeks.

Why? Because momentum is a signal. When VCs hear you're talking to their competitors, they move faster.

When an intro email came in at 9am, we responded immediately with the deck and meeting link. When we agreed to send follow-up materials, they went out same-day. VCs read responsiveness as a proxy for how you'll operate as a founder.

Tactical tip: One founder I advise had their COO manage their inbox during the entire fundraising process. When intros came in, the COO responded within 10 minutes. This level of responsiveness became a signal to VCs that the team was organised and serious.

Use geography strategically

One tactical advantage if you're not based in a major funding hub: use that scarcity to your advantage. I'm not based in London, but I scheduled two weeks there for in-person meetings. On intro Zoom calls, I'd mention: "I'll be in London next week if you want to meet in person." This created natural urgency. Being an outsider became an advantage.

Watch for responsiveness

This is the single biggest signal of serious interest. Investors who are serious will respond quickly to intros, come back within their agreed timeframes, want to get follow-up meetings in the diary immediately, and ask for specific materials. If they're slow, they aren't serious. Full stop.

The emotional reality

Even when your raise is successful, no one prepares you for how depressing this process is. I did 70 meetings in three weeks. Week two is brutal because the rejection emails start flooding in, always late in the evening.

The way through this is process. Keep your pipeline moving. When you have 5-6 firms going to investment committee, you're statistically likely to get term sheets. Focus on the process, not the individual outcomes.

Another thing I've heard from founders who've raised multiple rounds: pre-seed actually feels less stressful than later stages. Why? Because at pre-seed, if you can't raise the capital, you simply don't start the company. So if you're reading this and paralysed by fear, you actually have less to lose than you think.

Here's what some founders get wrong: They think if they send one more piece of collateral, they can turn a "no" into a "yes." Stop. If there was critical missing information, the investor would have asked for it during diligence. Don't burn bridges in your responses to passes. Keep them short, polite, and professional.

Stage 4: Closing

When term sheets arrive

We were lucky to get multiple term sheets during our process. One actually had a higher valuation than the one we chose. But from the first call, I knew which firm was right. Trust your gut. This person will be on your board for years.

When you get a term sheet, don't shop around asking others to match the valuation. Instead, tell the firms still in process: "We have a term sheet. We're making a decision in five days. Can you reach a decision in that timeframe?"

You'll hopefully have 2-3 firms going to the investment committee in that final week. Remember: 80-90% of deals that reach IC get approved at most firms. But don't count your chickens, focus on having backup options until signatures are done.

What if you don't get term sheets?

Not every fundraising process ends with term sheets. If this happens, you have three options:

Reassess the fundamentals: Is the problem validated? Is the market timing right? Use the feedback from your conversations to identify what needs to change.

Pivot to a smaller round: If you were targeting £2-3M from VCs, consider raising £300-500K from angels instead. This gives you runway to build more traction.

Build without raising: Some businesses can get to early revenue without significant capital. If you can generate income from early customers, bootstrap to a stronger position.

Take a week to process with trusted advisors. Fundraising is a moment in time, not a final verdict on your company.

The right investor changes everything

All of this process talk might make fundraising sound transactional. It's not. When you find the right investor, it's one of the best things that can happen to your company.

The right VC brings pattern recognition from seeing your challenges play out across dozens of portfolio companies. They bring a network that takes years to build yourself. They bring credibility that opens doors. Most importantly, they bring genuine partnership, someone who'll take your 11pm "I don't know if this is working" call and help you think it through.

The process is rigorous, not because VCs are adversaries, but because finding the right match matters enormously. When you get it right, it's a multiplier on everything you do.

Here to help

Fundraising is intense, but with the right process and support, you can navigate it successfully.

At Seapoint, we work with early-stage founders across Ireland, the UK, and the EU. Our team includes experienced operators and former founders who've been through this process several times.

We run open office hours every Wednesday at 11am (in our London office and virtually). Whether you're preparing pitch materials, building your investor list, or setting up financial processes after your round, come talk it through with us. Fundraising is one of the most common topics founders bring to these sessions, and we're always happy to help.