Raise venture capital like a builder.
A long-form library on raising VC, written for founders who'd rather ship than memorise the slang. Pitch, terms, process, post-raise — the whole arc, in plain language.
the pillars.
start anywherevc fundamentals
What a venture fund is, where the money comes from, why returns are power-law, and how all of that shapes the way investors look at your company.
- — What Is Venture Capital? A Founder's Plain-English Guide
- — How VC Funds Actually Make Money: 2 and 20, Carry, and Why It Matters
- — LPs and GPs: Who's Really on the Other Side of the Table
before you raise
Whether to raise at all, when to start, traction benchmarks by stage, building a narrative, and the legal and financial housekeeping that pays off in diligence.
- — When to Raise Venture Capital: A Founder's Decision Framework
the pitch deck
A deconstruction of every slide, with examples of what works, what falls flat, and what to leave out. Plus the appendix slides that quietly close rounds.
- — How to Write a Pitch Deck That Actually Closes a Round (2026 Edition)
pitch.md & the markdown-first raise
The case for a single, machine-readable pitch document — what to put in it, how investor agents read it, and how to keep it the source of truth for your raise.
- — Pitch.md: The Markdown-First Pitch Document Investors (and Their Agents) Read First
investor research & outreach
Building a target list that isn't a hundred-name spray, finding warm intros, writing cold emails that actually get replies, and managing pipeline without losing your mind.
- — How to Find Investors for Your Startup (Without Spamming a Hundred VCs)
meetings & process
How a real fundraise is sequenced, what to do in each meeting, how to read the room, and how to keep momentum without manufacturing fake urgency.
- — How to Get a Meeting With a VC (And What to Do When You're In)
term sheets & negotiation
SAFEs vs priced rounds, valuation and dilution math, the clauses that matter (and the ones that don't), and how to negotiate without burning the relationship.
- — What Is a Term Sheet? A Founder's Guide to the Document That Decides Everything
due diligence
What investors actually check, how to organise a data room, the references that move the deal, and the diligence questions that catch founders flat-footed.
- — What VCs Actually Check in Due Diligence (And How to Be Ready)
closing & legal
Definitive docs, the cap table on closing day, 83(b), KYC, side letters, and the small mistakes that delay closes by weeks.
- — From Signed Term Sheet to Wired Money: The Closing Process Explained
after the round
Investor updates, board management, hiring with fresh capital, runway discipline, and setting up the next round from day one.
- — What to Do the Day Your Seed Round Closes (and the 90 Days After)
stage by stage
Each stage has its own benchmarks, investor types, deck shape, and process. This is the stage-by-stage operator's manual.
- — Pre-Seed vs Seed: What's the Difference, and Which Should You Raise?
by geography
How fundraising differs across the US, UK, EU, India, MENA, LatAm, Africa, and Southeast Asia — investor types, cheque sizes, terms, and cultural notes.
- — Raising Venture Capital in the UK: A Founder's Guide for 2026
sector playbooks
B2B SaaS, marketplaces, dev tools, consumer, AI-native, fintech, healthtech, climate, hardware, and biotech — each plays by slightly different rules.
- — How to Raise VC for a B2B SaaS Startup (2026 Playbook)
founder situations
Solo founders, second-time founders, technical and non-technical founders, immigrant founders, husband-and-wife teams, and founders at every stage of life.
- — Solo Founder Fundraising: How to Raise When You're Alone at the Top
alternatives to vc
Bootstrapping, revenue-based financing, grants, accelerators, angels, syndicates, equity crowdfunding, venture debt — when each is the right call.
- — Alternatives to Venture Capital: How to Fund a Startup Without VC
fundraising in the agent era
How AI is reshaping diligence, scouting, and outreach — and how founders should prepare for the day investors read your pitch through an agent first.
- — Pitching to Investor Agents: How AI Is Reshaping the First Read
mistakes & antipatterns
The small wrong turns that turn promising raises into dead ones — sequencing errors, term-sheet traps, misread signals, and the quiet ways founders self-sabotage.
- — The Most Common Fundraising Mistakes — And How to Avoid Them
drop your pitch.md.
the library is for the slow days. when you're ready, the marketplace is ten seconds away. drop a pitch.md, and investor agents will start reading.