📝 My To-Do list for successful fundraising (closed $1M)

Fundraising is a game and you need to know how to "play" it right.

I made my own Notion list of things to do to win the fundraising game. Happy to share it with all makers who might consider raising VC & angels money 💸.

If we haven't met before, I'm running WeLoveNoCode, a marketplace to hire no-code developers for building MVPs & validating hypotheses. It would be awesome to share more of how we are building WeLoveNoCode with the community.

So here are "to-do" items that I used (feel free to copy it into your Notion):

Preparation & Planning

[x] Get familiar with the fundraising process, spend some time reading.

[x] Set up fundraising plan:
[x] Write down a timeline to pitch investors & close round: starting date, ideal close date. 3 months for fundraising. (I closed in less than a month but 3 months is a more realistic timeline). Consider the time of the year: NY holidays and summer can be slower business seasons.

[x] Define roles: who will help in fundraising.
[x] Define round you need to close, valuation, how much equity are you open to giving on this round, SAFE/equity/loan.
[ ] Put all tasks below with responsible in the tasks management system.

Make strong pitch deck + financial modeling

[ ] Make v1 of the pitch deck
[ ] Make 10-15 slides pitch deck. Figma templates for pitch decks: check it here.
Comment: I made more than 30 versions of the pitch deck before it was good.
[ ] Get the sweetest traction you can find. Run market research to show data behind your market potential.

[ ] Get designer and copywriter to clean up the deck.
[ ] Cover the WHY behind your startup. Treat your deck as a sales pitch: having a good story behind building your startup will make emotional connections.
[ ] Get feedback from founders who raised similar rounds ideally from investors you want to get in.

Make business model (BM) ready to be shown, cover:

[ ] Have unit economy
[ ] Cover MoM user and revenue growth
[ ] Cover User acquisition strategy and CAC in BM

[ ] Do not BS. Double-check numbers for accuracy.
[ ] Get feedback on BM from your mentors & adviser to be sure it's meeting investors' expectations. Angels, VCs have a typical set of expectations and you need to meet them in your presentation and your pitch deck.

[ ] Answers on typical questions which you got asked often

Pitch investors

[ ] Create a list of investors you'd love to pitch
[ ] Set up a CRM system. Research relevant investors.
[ ] Asked for the intro, look for ways to get into the investors' radar via the network.

[ ] Make forwardable emails & intro requests. Get pCalendly link with timeslots.

Close the deal!

[ ] Start having investors call, moving via your funnel.
[ ] Make constant follow-ups + investor updates. Get an assistant to help you update investors weekly.

[ ] Ask for introductions from everyone, even if you get rejection.
[ ] Create Momentum with growth numbers & traction, PR, PH launches.

[ ] CLOSE the first LOI.
[ ] Push other interested investors to join the round. Get LOI signed.
[ ] Go via Due & Diligence.
[ ] Have a lawyer to help you if needed.

[ ] Get docs signed. Push to get money on the bank account.
[ ] Plan PR of your round. Here you can find the free base with PR contacts of journalists.

Have fun with fundraising!

If you want to read my previous learnings, you can find them here: https://www.indiehackers.com/post/100k-mrr-and-1m-raised-here-s-what-i-learned-building-my-startup-ama-834c271763