Milestone-to-raise map
Work backward from the milestone that makes the next round fundable to the raise that pays for it.
Copyable template
Fundraising readiness · Copyable template
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.
A round size that does not come from anywhere is a guess. The number should fall out of one thing: the milestone the company would reach with the money that it cannot reach without it, and what each part of the raise is meant to produce on the way there.
This one-pager is those two answers on a single page — the milestone first, then the three or four line items that pay for it. It is worth writing before anyone asks what the money is for, because answering that question live, from memory, is where round sizes start drifting upward.
Copyable template
What is in it
- The milestone
- The raise
- Where the money goes
- Why it does not happen without the raise
- What the milestone changes
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The template is ready. Add your email to open it, and you will also get The Raise Memo — a note for founders raising capital.
How to use it
Notes
The sentence at the top does most of the work. If you cannot finish “this money gets us to X by Y,” the round size is still a guess, and no amount of line-item detail underneath will settle it. Write the milestone first and let the line items follow from it.
Where this comes from
The thinking behind it
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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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