Founder Fridays No. 32
Helping founders scale smarter.
Happy Friday!
Since it’s the first Friday of the month, it’s Funding Friday. On the first Friday of the month we recap the startup funding activity in the previous month from Pre-Seed to Series B. The charts below track the general trends over the last 12 months. The goal is to equip you with real-time intelligence so you can be prepared for your next round of funding. Enjoy!
How Modern Fundraising Works
Raising money is the second hardest part of running a startup. (The first is building something people want.) YC Group Partner Brad Flora has seen startup fundraising from every angle: as a founder, as one of the most prolific angel investors in Silicon Valley, and now as a YC Group Partner. Brad has coached hundreds of companies on fundraising. In this talk, he shares stories and advice on how modern startup fundraising works. YouTube (28 minutes)
Series Seed Funding Guide
After 15 years of working with early stage startups I’ve learned a lot about seed funding. In this 5 minute video I hit the most important points founders should understand as they prepare for their Seed round. I'll also give you the tools to navigate Seed funding negotiations to make sure that your company gets the best deal you can. YouTube (5 minutes)
Pre-Seed
Median Money Raised:
$1,110,000
Median Post-Money Valuation:
$9,250,000
Seed
Median Money Raised:
$2,497,500
Median Post-Money Valuation:
$18,500,000
Series A
Median Money Raised:
$10,335,938
Median Post-Money Valuation:
$65,625,000
Series B
Median Money Raised:
$23,383,333
Median Post-Money Valuation:
$115,000,000
About Founder Fridays
Founder Fridays is a weekly briefing designed to help founders level up by learning best practices on startup funding, growth, product and management. After reading you will have industry context, think more clearly, make smarter decisions faster and spot new opportunities before anyone else. It is written by Kyle Westaway – Managing Partner of Westaway All funding data is from our partners at AngelList.
Startup Funding Guides
I’ve put together a series of guides to equip founders to excel at fundraising. These guides break down the deal term by term and give you negotiation tips so that you can speak to investors with confidence.
Should We Work Together?
This newsletter is my passion project. When I’m not writing, I run a law firm that helps startups move fast without breaking things. Most founders want a trusted legal partner, but they hate surprise legal bills. At Westaway, we take care of your startup’s legal needs for a flat, monthly fee so you can control your costs and focus on scaling your business. If you’re interested, let’s jump on a call to see if you’re a good fit for the firm. Click here to schedule a 1-on-1 call with me.
Kyle, love the Founder Friday's email! In a future newsletter, can you help us contextualize the downwards trend in start-up funding we see reported on Carta and other sites? Appreciate your insights and all the work you are doing for the founder community. https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/the-state-of-startup-funding-in-2023