Fundraising

Fundraising & Pitch Deck Skill

Purpose

Guide founders through the complete fundraising journey—from building their first pitch deck to closing their round. This skill covers pre-seed through Series A, with stage-appropriate advice based on how VCs actually make decisions.

Triggers

Use this skill when the user mentions:

• "Help me build a pitch deck"
• "How do I find investors?"
• "What should I include in my deck?"
• "Help me with financial projections"
• "I'm raising a seed round" / "raising a pre-seed" / "raising Series A"
• "How much should I raise?"
• "What's my valuation?"
• "Review my pitch deck"
• "Investor outreach" / "cold emails to investors"
• "What do VCs look for?"
• "Prepare for investor meetings"

Reference Files

• references/pitch-deck-structure.md - Proven 10-slide framework (Sequoia/YC hybrid)
• references/financial-projections.md - 3-year P&L template and assumption guidance
• references/investor-research.md - How to find and qualify the right investors
• references/saas-metrics.md - Current SaaS benchmarks and what "good" looks like
• references/outreach-templates.md - Email templates and meeting preparation
• references/vc-insights.md - How VCs actually make decisions (from research)
• assets/SaaS_Cohort_Analysis.xlsx - Cohort analysis template for SaaS metrics

Workflow

Step 1: Diagnose Stage & Readiness

Before diving in, understand where the founder is:

Stage Assessment Questions:

1. "What stage are you at?" (Pre-seed / Seed / Series A)
2. "Do you have revenue or traction metrics?"
3. "Have you raised before? From whom?"
4. "What's your timeline for raising?"

Stage Definitions: | Stage | Typical Raise | What You Need | Key Focus | |-------|---------------|---------------|-----------| | Pre-seed | $250K-$1M | Team + vision + early validation | Team credibility, problem clarity | | Seed | $500K-$3M | MVP + early traction + clear ICP | Traction metrics, market size | | Series A | $5M-$15M | PMF signals + growth engine | Unit economics, scalable GTM |

Readiness Signals:

• Pre-seed: Strong team, validated problem, clear vision
• Seed: 10%+ weekly growth OR strong engagement metrics
• Series A: $1M+ ARR with path to $100M, or explosive user growth

Step 2: Build the Pitch Deck

Use the proven 10-slide structure from references/pitch-deck-structure.md:

1. Company Purpose - One declarative sentence
2. Problem - Pain point with emotional resonance
3. Solution - Your 10x better approach
4. Why Now - Market timing and trends
5. Market Size - TAM/SAM/SOM with bottoms-up validation
6. Competition - Honest positioning matrix
7. Product - Demo, screenshots, or architecture
8. Business Model - How you make money + unit economics
9. Team - Why you're uniquely qualified
10. Financials & Ask - What you're raising and use of funds

Stage-Specific Emphasis:

• Pre-seed: Heavy on slides 1-4 (vision), 9 (team). Light on 8, 10.
• Seed: Balanced. Add traction slide after Problem.
• Series A: Heavy on slides 6-8, 10. Include detailed metrics appendix.

Step 3: Financial Projections

Refer to references/financial-projections.md for the complete framework.

What Investors Actually Want:

• VCs rarely use DCF/NPV (only 20% even forecast cash flows)
• They prefer: Cash-on-cash multiples (63%), IRR (42%)
• Focus on showing you understand your business drivers

Key Components:

1. Revenue Model - How you make money, pricing tiers
2. Growth Assumptions - Justify with comps or bottoms-up logic
3. Cost Structure - COGS, S&M, R&D, G&A breakdown
4. Unit Economics - CAC, LTV, payback period, margins
5. Burn & Runway - Monthly burn, months of runway post-raise

SaaS-Specific (if applicable):

• Use assets/SaaS_Cohort_Analysis.xlsx for retention analysis
• See references/saas-metrics.md for current benchmarks

Step 4: Investor Targeting

Refer to references/investor-research.md for the complete process.

Investor Fit Criteria: | Dimension | Questions to Answer | |-----------|---------------------| | Stage | Do they invest at your stage? | | Sector | Have they invested in your space? | | Geography | Do they invest in your region? | | Check Size | Does your raise fit their typical check? | | Portfolio | Any conflicts with competitors? | | Value-Add | What do they bring beyond capital? |

Research Process:

1. Build initial list from portfolio analysis of similar companies
2. Validate fit using Crunchbase, LinkedIn, investor websites
3. Find warm intro paths (2nd-degree connections, portfolio founders)
4. Prioritize: Tier 1 (perfect fit + warm path), Tier 2 (good fit), Tier 3 (spray)

Key Insight: 60% of VC deals come through network referrals. Warm intros are 3-4x more effective than cold outreach.

Step 5: Outreach & Meetings

Refer to references/outreach-templates.md for templates.

Outreach Hierarchy:

1. Warm intro from portfolio founder (best)
2. Warm intro from mutual connection
3. Personalized cold email with specific hook
4. Generic cold outreach (rarely works)

Meeting Goals:

• First meeting: Get to second meeting (not close the deal)
• Establish credibility, show traction, create curiosity
• Answer the core question: "Why will this be huge?"

Common Investor Questions to Prepare:

1. Why this? Why now? Why you?
2. What's your unfair advantage?
3. How big can this get?
4. What are the biggest risks?
5. How will you use the money?
6. What milestones will this round achieve?

Step 6: Negotiation & Close

Key Terms to Understand:

• Pre-money vs. post-money valuation
• Option pool (typically 10-20% set aside)
• Liquidation preference (1x non-participating is founder-friendly)
• Pro-rata rights, board seats, protective provisions

Valuation Guidance:

• Let the market set the price when possible
• Seed valuations typically $5M-$15M pre-money
• Don't over-optimize—wrong investor at high valuation < right investor at fair valuation

Closing Tips:

• Create urgency with parallel conversations
• Get verbal commitments before term sheet
• First money in is hardest—leads unlock followers

Output Types

1. Pitch Deck (10-15 slides)

• Use structure from references/pitch-deck-structure.md
• Follow the xlsx skill for creating if PowerPoint format needed
• Include speaker notes with talking points

2. Financial Model

• 3-year P&L with monthly Year 1, quarterly Years 2-3
• Key assumptions page with justification
• SaaS metrics dashboard if applicable
• Use xlsx skill for Excel format

3. Investor Target List

• Structured spreadsheet with: Firm, Partner, Stage, Sector, Recent Deals, Intro Path, Priority
• Include research notes on each target

4. Outreach Materials

• Forwardable email for warm intros
• Cold email template (personalized)
• One-page executive summary
• Follow-up sequence

5. Meeting Prep

• FAQ document with prepared answers
• Objection handling guide
• Key metrics cheat sheet

Anti-Patterns to Avoid

Deck Mistakes:

• Too many slides (keep to 10-15)
• Wall of text (use visuals)
• Unrealistic TAM claims without bottoms-up validation
• Hiding competition (VCs will find them)
• Burying the team slide

Fundraising Mistakes:

• Raising too early (before story is compelling)
• Raising too much (sets unrealistic expectations)
• Spraying to 200 investors (quality over quantity)
• Ignoring warm intro paths
• Not running parallel processes

Financial Mistakes:

• Hockey stick without justification
• Ignoring unit economics
• Unrealistic expense assumptions
• Not knowing your numbers cold

Success Metrics

A successful fundraising process typically shows:

• 50-100 investors contacted
• 20-30 first meetings
• 5-10 second meetings
• 2-3 term sheets
• Timeline: 2-4 months for seed, 3-6 months for Series A

Integration with Other Skills

• Use idea-validation skill first if problem/solution not validated
• Use business-model skill to refine unit economics before financials
• Use docx skill for executive summaries
• Use xlsx skill for financial models
• Use pptx skill for pitch deck creation

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Adapted from Linas Beliūnas's The One-Person Unicorn founder skill set.

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: samuelcastro
• Source: samuelcastro/startup-skills
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.