A checklist for when you are researching funds to invest in your startup. As the name suggests, it's kind of like Product-Market Fit, but for finding fit between you and investors.
As they say, launch, launch, and launch again...
It's official. Startup-Investor Fit is now an app. Given the popularity of the concept, it went from being a Google Sheet --> to a Taskable List --> to the simple no-code Bubble app it is now.
What is it again? The definitive index to identify investor-fit for your startup. An 18-point checklist, with three sections to help you find startup-investor fit.
Who is it for? Founders! Use this checklist for when you're researching funds to invest in your startup. There are an abundance of investors out there - so the goal isn't to reach out to all of them, but to find the one that suits you the most. This checklist can also be used when you’re taking a meeting: get on a call and go down the list. See if you are a fit for them, as much as you consider if they have what you need as well.
Why did I make this? Well, for context, I am the head of pipeline at Techstars - sourcing startups across the world for all of our accelerators. I am responsible for helping find over 750 companies a year now, so that's about two investments a day. Needless to say, I see a lot of startups and probably more pitch-decks and cold emails than anyone else. So this guide is to help founders who reach out cold or try to hit up every investor, not realizing fundraising is a game of targeted approach, not spray and pray.
What other stuff have I made for founders? Idea Validator, ClearPitch42 and Startup Starter Pack.
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Much gratitude to Yash Jain for helping build, and Kiley Giebel for QA and marketing. Go follow them!
Thank you also to the following founders for sharing their perspectives and helping me put this together. To ensure I got mixed views, the founders here have raised $0 to $4M. The average raise was $1.25M, and the median was $500K. Check them out and see what they’re building.
Abb Kapoor, Curu Credit
Alex Friedman, Talk Howdy
Alison Anderson, SuccessionMatching
Adam Metz, Cidersoft
Ben McDougal, Author of YDNTB
Danish Dhamani, Orai
Kendall Warson, Cohart
Lindsay Padilla, HelloAudio
Mariam Nusrat, Breshna
Matty Johnson, Taskable
Matt deCourcelle, Paperstreet
Yasin Abbak, The Convoy
Happy Fundraising!
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