200+ Nos and 12 Wasted Months: Udemy's Seed Mistakes
Gagan Biyani walks through every mistake three first-time founders made raising Udemy's seed: 200+ rejections and 12 months of wasted fundraising before barely pulling through. Each mistake is framed as a lesson for new founders.
Objections & RejectionFundraising StrategySeedFundraising for First-Time Founders: A First-Principles Guide ($70M Raised from 1,500 Investors)
A first-principles walkthrough of how early fundraising actually works, synthesized from Biyani's experience raising roughly $70M from about 1,500 investors across three companies. Covers how to think about investor incentives, sequencing, and running a process.
Fundraising StrategyRaise ReadinessPre-SeedThe 10 Most Common Fundraising Mistakes (From Helping Founders Raise $5B)
Breslow frames fundraising as a game with learnable rules and lists the ten most common founder mistakes, including building investor relationships too late, over-long decks (VCs spend ~3 minutes on a deck), and taking rejection personally.
Fundraising StrategyPitch DeckAny StageThe Reverse Term Sheet: Compressing a Raise Into Three Weeks
Helgesen relays a tactic from a mentor who raised $500M+ and went public: never accept a VC's term sheet, send your own, with a hard deadline and only two blanks (price and amount). Week 1 set meetings, week 2 pitch and send the term sheet, week 3 review offers and sign, exploiting the fact that VCs behave completely differently on 'hot' deals.
NegotiationTerm SheetsAny StageArchivedThink Like a VC: Erik Torenberg's Favorite Seed-Raising Tips
A compilation of seed-raising heuristics anchored on a Paul Graham paraphrase: pretend you're the VC, adopt their incentives, and convince yourself you'd invest, then that you could convince your partners too.
Fundraising StrategyFundraising PsychologySeedFront Raises Its Series D in a Brutal Market
Collin announces Front's $65M Series D (Salesforce Ventures, Battery) at the bottom of the 2022 downturn, linking her written reflections. She is the rare founder who has published her actual Series A, B, and C decks publicly, with commentary; her Series B was famously 11 investor pitches over five days yielding 10 offers.
Closing the RoundFundraising StrategySeries B+Open a SAFE on a Higher Cap: Post-Round Momentum Tactics
Iskold advises founders who recently closed sub-$2M rounds with momentum to open a SAFE at a higher cap and keep taking money, explaining the runway-as-leverage logic in a down market.
Term SheetsValuation & DilutionPre-Seed20 High-Status Questions to Ask in VC Meetings
Frames fundraising as a status game and provides 20 specific questions founders can ask in VC meetings to signal selectivity and flip the chase dynamic.
Investor MeetingsMomentum & SignalingSeedFunding Secured: Lambda School's $14M Series A Announcement
Allred announces Lambda School's $14M GV-led Series A with a two-word nod to Elon Musk's infamous 'funding secured' tweet. An artifact of the ISA-education hype cycle whose later unraveling gives it a cautionary second reading.
Closing the RoundMomentum & SignalingSeries A