Fundraising Tools
Tools that answer a specific fundraising question with your own numbers. No signup.
Why it pays to do the arithmetic first
Most founders start a round with a feeling rather than a number. "We will approach some investors and see." The problem is that fundraising is a conversion funnel like any other, and if you do not work it out in advance you find out too late that you contacted half as many people as the maths required.
The arithmetic itself is simple. You want one term sheet. That requires some number of second meetings, which requires some number of first meetings, which requires some number of approaches — where the conversion rate from a warm introduction is an order of magnitude different from a cold email.
What falls out of it
- Count the lead and the followers separately. This is the most common mistake. Lead candidates are few and slow; followers only come in behind them. Blend the two into one number and you get an optimistic fiction.
- Your share of warm introductions changes the answer more than anything else. Moving from 20% warm to 50% warm shifts the required number of approaches more than any improvement to your deck will.
- If the number comes out larger than your list, you have a problem now, not in three months. Either widen the list, raise the share of warm paths, or reduce the round size.
Use your numbers, not the defaults. The defaults are reasonable European pre-seed and seed averages. Once you have fifteen approaches behind you, replace them with your own — your actual conversion rates beat any benchmark.
What the calculator will not tell you
It will not tell you whether your list is qualified — that is separate work, covered in how to find investors. It will not tell you whether you have ready what investors ask for when they reply; that is the fundraising checklist.
And it will not tell you whether to raise at all. The number it gives you is an estimate of effort, not a prediction of outcome. If it says you need to contact a hundred and twenty investors for the round you are raising, the answer is not "contact a hundred and twenty investors" — it is to look at why the conversion is that low.
More tools
There is one so far. Others will follow based on what founders ask about most — a dilution calculator and a round-size check are next. If something specific is missing, tell me.
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The checklist I've given to 500+ startups before fundraising.
5 questions every investor checks before they say yes. Most founders don't have an answer — and it costs them the round.