Fundraising

The fundamentals of pitching a startup during a pandemic are no different than pitching in normal times. In fact, there is a strong argument for looking at the crisis as an opportunity to start...

How long does it take to raise capital? Why am I not getting term sheets when other companies are? Is that investor really interested? These are among the most common questions entrepreneurs ask themselves and VCs. Rounds...

You had a great idea. You built a great team. You know that hardware is a significant part of the product but also provides defensibility. Then why are you still hearing too many polite...

The term pre seed has really become institutionalized in the last couple years, before that the idea / powerpoint stage wasn’t called by any other specific name. Let’s delve into definitions before  1) Definitions There is...

Previous articles have talked about party rounds and keeping momentum in your fundraising. This one will focus specifically on the close, which ideally is a foregone conclusion but sometimes becomes the period of highest...

Genius is in the details that other people skim.  Answer me honestly. When’s the last time you bothered to read beyond the first line of a Terms and Conditions agreement or take the time to...

At Tau Ventures we believe the fundraising process is always a bit broken -- it works for some startups some of the time but by and large it’s inefficient. While part of it is...

If there is one thing that most startups misunderstand entirely, that’s probably fundraising. Thus, they create their own mental image of what needs to be done to raise money successfully. After interacting with more...

Examples of previous articles: Raising A Bridge Round -- 3 Core Principles Insider Rounds -- the Good, the Bad and the Ugly How Best to Pitch to a VC The Art And Science of...

Entrepreneurs always look for the right recipe to increase the odds of success. Steve Blank was probably one of the “recipe” pioneers as he started the lean startup movement. Before the lean movement, I would...

$530M round: Snyk snags another $530M as valuation rises to $8.5B $400M round: Cityblock Health raises another mega-round of funding, tipping its valuation over $5 billion $130M round: TrueLayer raises mega-round as open banking heats up These...

When it comes to startup fundraising, using intermediaries is looked disfavorably in many if not most ecosystems. Three key reasons for this trend -- more investors around, technology has made coordination and communication increasingly...

What is the right cap and discount for your convertible? Should you even have them at all? The latter used to be a very rare situation, now it is a commonly asked question. This...

Long sales cycle? Marketing got too expensive? Spent too much time fixing the product? There are so many reasons why things can take much longer than planned. In fact, our experience at Tau is that...

Someone wants to give you money before you start fundraising? When you still have cash in the bank? And you are getting a great valuation? Hurray! But while it’s almost always a good thing, there...

Oculus. Glowforge. Flow. Exploding Kittens. Veronica Mars. Tile. The Coolest Cooler. BauBax. Fidget Cube. What do all of these companies have in common? They are all successful and started with crowdfunding -- the list...

Signaling risk typically happens when a large fund comes into an early round, creating an expectation in the market that they will lead the next round. For instance, if a $1B firm puts in...

If your VC wants to invest more in you then you have a good problem in your hands. Here are five practical ways to think about it. 1) Prorata (and Super Prorata) A prorata is the...