Know That Fundraising Is a Full-Time Job

Fundraising takes you away from building. Plan for it — or it will plan for you.

Who covers for you while you fundraise?

Before you start, ask yourself: do you have team members who can keep the business moving while you're spending most of your time in investor meetings? This is one of the strongest arguments for hiring a great team early. Solo founders will have a particularly hard time here — there's no one to hold the fort.

This is the Startup Flywheel in action: a strong team enables fundraising, and fundraising enables a stronger team.

Time commitment

Block off 6 weeks to 6 months to fundraise. The timeline depends on the round size, market conditions, and how well-prepared you are going in.

The fundraising funnel

Think of investor outreach as a sales funnel:

Stage	Target
Targets identified	150
First meetings	75
Second meetings	25
Term sheets	5

These are rough benchmarks, not guarantees — but they're a useful frame for managing your pipeline. If you're getting fewer second meetings than expected, that's a signal to adjust your pitch or targeting. If you're getting term sheets from fewer than expected, look at how you're handling the later-stage conversations.

Work the funnel deliberately, just as you would a sales process.