Guidance

Here’s where you make your ask. What dollar amount are you raising?

You should aim to raise enough money to cover at least 18 months of runway, but no more than 36 months. 24 months is a sweet spot– this will provide 18 months of undistracted execution, and 6 months of raising the next round of fundraising.

Be sure to indicate the mechanism by which you are raising money. Is the round priced or unpriced? Will the investor be buying preferred shares? Are you raising on a convertible note or SAFE?

Unless you already have a term sheet, I don’t recommend including a valuation in your deck for priced rounds. You can (and should) have a valuation in mind, but this will often be a negotiation between the founder and the investors.

Checklist

• [ ] Dollar amount
• [ ] Fundraising mechanism (preferred equity, convertible note, SAFE, etc.)
• [ ] Runway (how long the money will last)
• [ ] Key milestones you will achieve with the money

Inspiration

The above slide is from Intercom’s $600k Series Seed (2011). I’d prefer the milestones to have some sort of visual representation, but this slide covers all the points you want to hit in “the ask” slide.

<aside> <img src="/icons/compose_blue.svg" alt="/icons/compose_blue.svg" width="40px" /> Now it’s time to internalize this.

• Jot down some planning notes
• Write out the content of your slide
• What visuals and design style should this slide include?

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