Hello {{First Name | founders}}!
Welcome to ‘Tactical Tips’ by Jerel and Shuo at DECODE, where we cover one new idea to help you build and grow your startup – every week in <5 minutes!
Today, we’ll be answering the question: “How to optimize the fundraising process?”
And here’s some advice inspired by Kevin Ryan, who co-founded multiple companies including MongoDB and Business Insider, and raised $750M+.
If you're thinking about fundraising from VCs, today’s newsletter is for you.
🔥 Inside this issue:
✅ 3 tactics to optimize the fundraising process
✅ 2 traps to avoid
✅ 1 tool to leverage
👇Let’s dive in.
Need personalized advice on fundraising or just want to talk? Grab 20 mins with me here—happy to help and make intros if it’s the right fit.
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3 tactics to optimize the fundraising process
🗓️ Stack investor meetings strategically
Condense all investor meetings into a focused 4-6 weeks sprint
Start with investors who are likely to say yes and commit first
Next, move to investors you don’t particularly care about
End with the top investors you’re most excited about and really want
Time partner meetings of one tranche to align with first meetings of the next
🎤 Use earlier meetings to refine the pitch
Get familiar with the numbers and exude confidence in responses (Eg. “Between 15 and 20%, but it’ll get better over time” is better than “I can’t remember the exact number, let me get back to you”)
Use “When” instead of “If” to talk about the future of the company
Apply feedback and proactively address concerns raised by previous investors
🙏 Start with a lower ask
Fundraising success is often binary: oversubscribed or never closed
Present a smaller supply (Eg. “We are raising 2M and are already fully subscribed” is better than “We are raising 4M and halfway there”)
Increase the ask strategically (Eg. Going back with “I know I said $5-7M, but it’s going to be $7-8M” signals demand and creates FOMO)
2 traps to avoid
🚨Changing the ask downward = investor red flag
Always go up, never down
Adjusting valuation downwards signals weakness and investors will bail
🚨Fundraising at the wrong time
Avoid summers and holiday seasons—fundraising dead zones
Align fundraising with business growth cycles (Eg. September for edtech startups capitalizing on school year ramp-up)
Positive data-driven updates during fundraising keep investor interest high
1 tool to leverage
📖 Best practice on building investor pipeline
Target at least 50 qualified investors to raise a pre-seed/seed—some startups take 200+ investor meetings to close $1M
Leverage tools like Happenstance to source and get referrals to investors
Bonus: 1 trend to spark startup ideas
💵 Consumer-driven wellness is surging and shifting to a buyer’s market
$1.8T spend in consumer-driven health, though only 4% is digital
Wellness is growing up to 10x faster than GDP, with 65% of consumers prioritizing it
>50% of consumers are open to paying out of pocket regularly, even for AI and mental health services
New opportunities include:
Decentralized services: Universal health passport, marketplaces for services and providers
Pay-as-you-go: Transparent pricing, real time financing, customized insurance
Personalized care: Early detection, at-home care, customized treatments
Startup Knowledge Check
Hint: Read our past newsletter on how to craft stories that investors buy.
Continue learning
Other resources
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