How to Raise Money
Paul Graham's definitive essay on early-stage fundraising, distilled from watching hundreds of YC companies raise. Covers why fundraising feels harder than it is, breadth-first search weighted by expected value, getting to yes/no fast, and the dangers of raising too much or letting fundraising drag on.
A Guide to Seed Fundraising
YC's comprehensive seed fundraising manual: when to raise, how much, SAFEs vs. priced rounds, meeting mechanics, negotiation, and closing documents, written by a YC partner for first-time founders.
My Startup Failed and This is What It Feels Like
Durkin founded 99dresses at 18, got into YC, lost her co-founders, and watched committed funding fall through at the worst moment, killing the company. An emotionally raw account of a collapsed round, visa pressure, and winding down.
Raising a seed round 101
Aggregates advice from founders and investors who have collectively seen 1,000+ seed raises, organized as a step-by-step process with benchmarks for round size, dilution, timeline, and meeting counts.
High Resolution Fundraising
Argues for rolling closes on convertible instruments instead of monolithic rounds: take committed money immediately, reward early conviction with better terms, and dissolve the herd-waiting equilibrium among seed investors.
Process and Leverage in Fundraising
Seibel on the mechanics of leverage: investors respond to scarcity and competition, so batch your meetings, create parallel processes, and never negotiate from a single-bidder position.
How to Raise a Seed Round
YC partner Aaron Harris's operational seed-raising manual: preparing materials, building the target list, running meetings in a compressed window, and closing with SAFEs.
Safe Financing Documents
The official home of the SAFE: current post-money SAFE documents, side letters, and YC's user guide explaining caps, discounts, and dilution math.
Introducing Raise Millions
Launch post for Raise Millions, Hustle Fund's free book-length compilation of tactical fundraising guidance drawn from thousands of pre-seed pitches; the post links the full free resource.
Founder Toolkit: How to raise your seed round from top VCs & Angels
A repeat founder and angel condenses his raising experience into a toolkit: list-building, sequencing angels and funds, materials, and close mechanics, with templates.
Holloway Guide to Raising Venture Capital
A book-length, edited, citation-heavy reference on the entire venture fundraising process, from instruments and terms through negotiation and close, reviewed by dozens of practitioners.
How We Think About Pre-Seeds at NextView
The investor-side view of pre-seed construction: why NextView prefers small aligned syndicates over large party rounds at this stage, and what that means for founders assembling one.