Use-of-funds one-pager
Set out what the money buys, milestone by milestone, on a single page an investor can read in a minute.
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Fundraising readiness · Copyable template
Key metrics definition sheet
Write down what each of your numbers actually means, so the definition never shifts between meetings.
Investors are not really asking which metrics you track. They are asking whether the numbers are real, whether they are improving, and whether they help explain how the company becomes more valuable. “Active user” means nothing until you say what activity counts, over what period, and why that activity relates to value.
This sheet is a metric dictionary: every number you report, with its definition, its source, its owner, its period, and its known limitations written down beside it. Three honest metrics beat twelve decorative ones, so keep it short.
Arrange it in three layers — one primary customer-value metric, a few supporting business metrics, and the operating indicators tied to your next milestone. The same eight lines get filled in for every entry.
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What is in it
- The primary customer-value metric
- Supporting business metrics
- Operating indicators for the next milestone
- Growth quality
- Definitions that do not yet agree
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The set is ready for a fundraising conversation when an outsider can understand what each metric means, reproduce the calculation, see the trend by the relevant segment, and understand the decision it supports. Do not add a metric because it is fashionable or because another startup reports it, and do not change a definition midstream to preserve a narrative. Where the evidence is incomplete, label it directional or unknown and say what the plan is to improve it — credibility usually goes up when the limitations are visible.
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Investor-readiness self-audit
The twelve readiness questions as a checklist you can keep, work through, and come back to.
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From the publication
Read The Raise Memo
A note for founders raising capital—what investors notice, how conviction gets built, and what to do next.
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