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Capital Stack Funding Toolkit for Pre-Seed Founders
How to raise smarter, stay in control, and access capital without giving up your company too early
Raising capital as a pre-seed founder in 2025 feels like playing a game where the rules keep changing. If you’ve tried to raise from traditional VCs, you already know: warm intros, polished pitch decks, and growth-at-all-costs narratives still dominate. But what if you’re building something real — just not on someone else’s hypergrowth timeline?
Continue Reading on Medium.
Product/Market Fit is not the Holy Grail
It all begins with an idea.
Pierre-Jean HillionPierre-Jean Hillion • 2nd • 2ndSr. Growth Marketer @ RayonSr. Growth Marketer @ Rayon5mo • 5 months ago
Product<>Market fit is not the holy grail.
We often obsess over Product <> Market Fit (PMF), but it’s only one piece of a larger puzzle.
PMF doesn’t guarantee a successful monetization model or channels fitting your unit economics.
The 4-Fits Framework, introduced by Brian Balfour in 2017, gives a more complete view of what a company needs to solve to scale to $100M+ 👇
1️⃣ 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 < > 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗙𝗶𝘁
Your product must solve a real problem for a specific market.
Instead of talking about Product<>Market Fit, Brian describes it the other way around: Market first, product then.
○ Identify the needs of your target audience: Research your potential customers’ pain points and behaviors.
○ Hypothesize: Align your product with market needs to solve your audience's problems. Formulate hypotheses around core value propositions, hooks, and retention mechanisms.
○ Validate: Measure engagement and retention rates. Flattening retention curves indicate consistent value delivering, a key Market-Product Fit indicator.
2️⃣ 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹 < > 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗙𝗶𝘁
Align your business model with the market’s willingness to pay and size.
○ Understand Economics: Calculate your Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) to ensure it aligns with market willingness to pay.
○ Design Revenue Streams: Develop a pricing strategy that fits market purchasing behavior. This could include subscriptions, freemium, or tiered pricing.
○ Monitor Unit Economics: Track CAC, Payback Period, and LTV to ensure a healthy balance. Aim for a CAC that is recoverable within a reasonable timeframe relative to the LTV.
3️⃣ 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹 < > 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹 𝗙𝗶𝘁
Find scalable channels, adapted to your model, to reach your target customers.
○ Identify Channels fitting your model: A high ARPU allows high CAC channels like Events. A low ARPU suggests channels like Social Media or Ads.
○ Optimize Channels Efficiency: Ensure chosen channels provide sustainable CAC. Evaluate the scalability of each channel to handle increasing volumes.
○ Align with your audience behaviors: Different industries use different channels. Go where your audience spends time.
4️⃣ 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 < > 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹 𝗙𝗶𝘁
One or two channels generally drive >70% of your Growth (sometimes even more in the early days). Your product should fit important distribution channels.
○ Build Channel-Specific Features: For virality for example, include features like collaboration, a low-friction sign-up flow, and a referral program.
○ Prioritize channels based on your product: Channels should not have to adapt to your product.
○ Ensure a seamless technical integration: Compatibility with platform APIs or having a mobile-responsive flow might be crucial in some cases.
Each of these fits addresses a part of a large Growth Equation. This goes beyond the focus on Product <> Market Fit alone.
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To go deeper, you can find in the comments the full article about the 4 fits framework 💬
Start Up in 13 Sentences
It all begins with an idea.
Burak BuyukdemirBurak Buyukdemir • 2nd • 2ndFounder of Startup IstanbulFounder of Startup Istanbul
💡 Keep your startup on track with these simple, actionable tips. 👇
Stay focused with these key points from Paul Graham’s "Startup in 13 Sentences":
1- Choose Good Partners: Your co-founders are crucial. Pick carefully.
2- Launch Quickly: Don’t wait for perfection. Launch, learn, and improve.
3- Adapt Your Idea: Be ready to change your idea based on feedback.
4- Know Your Users: Understand and meet their needs.
5- Focus on a Few: Make a small group of users very happy.
6- Provide Great Service: Learn from your users and improve.
7- Track Progress: Keep an eye on important numbers.
8- Spend Wisely: Save money to last longer.
9- Cover Basics: Aim to pay your living expenses.
10- Stay Focused: Avoid distractions and stick to your plan.
11- Stay Positive: Keep going, even when it’s tough.
12- Don’t Quit: Keep pushing forward.
13- Stay Ready: Deals can fall through. Focus on your main tasks.
Review these tips often and see how they fit into your journey. 💡
What’s your most important lesson? Share your thoughts!
What do VC’s kow that the rest of us don’t?
It all begins with an idea.
Burak BuyukdemirBurak Buyukdemir • 2nd • 2ndFounder of Startup IstanbulFounder of Startup Istanbul
What do VCs know that the rest of us don't? VCs have a few tricks.
I'll be hosting Professor Ilya Strebulaev on my podcast to discuss his book, "The Venture Mindset"!
Ilya breaks down how top VCs think and make decisions.
He shares 9 key principles that can help anyone make smarter bets in business and life:
1. Business Model: Home Runs Matter, Strikeouts Don’t
2. Deal Sourcing: Get Outside the Four Walls
3. Initial Screening: Prepare Your Mind
4. Due Diligence: Say No 100 Times
5. Selection Criteria: Bet on the Jockey
6. Decision Making: Agree to Disagree
7. Follow-On Rounds: Double Down or Quit
8. Incentives: Make the Pie Bigger
9. Exit: Great Things Take Time
Whether you're an entrepreneur, investor, or just curious about innovation, this episode is for you!
Got questions for Ilya? Drop them in the comments below, and I'll try to ask them during our chat.
5 Leadership points
It all begins with an idea.
Jeremy Connell-WaiteJeremy Connell-Waite • Following • FollowingGlobal Communications Designer 👁️🐝Ⓜ️Global Communications Designer 👁️🐝Ⓜ️
A simple 3x5" record card helped Bob Iger to become CEO of Disney, Barack Obama to get elected, Steve Jobs to take on IBM, and JFK to write better speeches.
When Bob Iger was in the running to become the CEO of Disney in 2005 the board didn’t want to elect him. Some people thought he was a lightweight and represented too much of a carbon copy of former CEO Michael Eisner.
So Bob worked with Scott Miller who had previously helped Steve Jobs to mount an “insurgency campaign” to battle IBM in the 1980's.
Their strategy was to write a “stump speech” which contained all the reasons why Bob was the best candidate for the job, and then summarise it onto a 5x3" record card which Bob took everywhere with him.
The 6 statements Bob wrote on his record card became the foundation of every conversation he had during his leadership campaign:
1. Our job is to find the magic, wherever it is in the world.
2. We must restore our relationship with young families and especially young moms.
3. We must stand for family fun.
4. We must restore our relevance for and relationship with teens.
5. We must be agnostic about how our customers consumer our information / entertainment.
6. We must restore the quality of the Disney brand.
You can read about the full strategic process in Miller's “The Leadership Campaign” or read Bob’s take on the campaign in his autobiography “The Ride of a Lifetime”. Both excellent reads. 📚
Next time you are running a campaign of your own – a pitch, a presentation or a promotion – maybe start by writing down what differentiates you from everyone else, and what you want to stand for 5x3” record card? 📝
⬇️
"If you can't explain something simply, you don't know it well enough". Steve Jobs favourite Einstein quote 🖍️
⬇️
“That's what we storytellers do. We restore order with imagination. We instill hope again and again and again.” Walt Disney 🎬
How are Series A Multiple changing over time?
It all begins with an idea.
Michael HoMichael Ho • Following • FollowingSeries A prep for seed stage founders | former VC & exited founder | Click 'visit my website' to register for my next free Seed to Series A live training session 💪Series A prep for seed stage founders | former VC & exited founder | Click 'visit my website' to register for my next free Seed to Series A live training session
How are Series A Multiples changing over time?
→ Let's look quarter by quarter from 2020 to 2024 👀
There are a couple of factors at play here:
1️⃣ The pre-money median valuations went from $28M in 2020 to a peak of $48M in Q1 2022 and are now sitting at $40M in Q2 2024
2️⃣ The pre-money multiples went from 10-20x in 2020 to a peak of 16-32x in Q1 2022 and are now back to the same 10-20x in Q1 2024
So why have valuations gone up, but the multiples stayed the same?
3️⃣ Because 2024 companies are generally further along than the 2020 cohort
4️⃣ It was common in 2020 for a Series A company to be doing between $1M to $2M ARR but now in 2024, it's more common to see $2M to $4M+ ARR
And we're also seeing the medium time from Seed to Series A going from 18 months in 2020 to 24 months now in 2024
So make sure you're clear on the milestones you need to unlock your Series A and make sure to stretch your seed capital to get you all the way there 💪
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♻️ Repost to help a founder in your network
SEO has evolved
It all begins with an idea.
Rohan ShethRohan Sheth • 2nd • 2ndTop Growth Marketer & Business Owner | We’ve driven over $2 billion in ROI through our marketing strategies.Top Growth Marketer & Business Owner | We’ve driven over $2 billion in ROI through our marketing strategies.
SEO Has Evolved
Here's 7 ways how:
SEO isn’t what it used to be.
The tactics that worked a decade ago?
Most are ancient history now.
Here’s a sneak peek at how SEO has evolved,
and how you can keep up:
1.
Old Way: Keyword Stuffing
↳ Google no longer rewards pages crammed with keywords.
New Way: Intent-Driven Content
↳ Now, understand what users actually want when they search.
💎 Focus on creating content that answers real questions.
2.
Old Way: Backlinks = Authority
↳ Ten years ago, any link was a good link.
New Way: Quality Over Quantity in Link-Building
↳ Now, spammy backlinks can hurt your rankings.
💎 Prioritize building genuine, high-authority links.
3.
Old Way: Exact Match Keywords
↳ Search engines only picked up exact matches, so keywords had to be precise.
New Way: Natural Language and Synonyms
↳ Search engines now understand context and synonyms, not just exact phrases.
💎 Write naturally, using related terms and phrases.
4.
Old Way: Desktop Optimization
↳ Desktop was the primary focus, with mobile as an afterthought.
New Way: Mobile-First Indexing
↳ Google now indexes and ranks sites based on their mobile versions first.
💎 Ensure your site is mobile-friendly, with responsive design and fast load times on mobile.
5.
Old Way: Clickbait Titles
↳ Clickbait was enough to bring traffic, regardless of the content’s quality.
New Way: Engagement-Focused Content
↳ Google now cares about how long users stay on your page.
💎 Write catchy titles but make sure your content keeps readers engaged.
6.
Old Way: Focus on Individual Pages
↳ Each page was optimized individually, without much focus on the broader topic.
New Way: Topic Clusters and Internal Linking
↳ Google values depth on a topic; it’s now about clusters of related content rather than single-page ranking.
💎 Group your content into topic clusters, with pillar pages and supporting articles.
7.
Old Way: Local SEO Was Optional
↳ Local SEO was often ignored, especially if you weren’t a local business.
New Way: Local SEO Is Critical for Visibility
↳ “Near me” searches and mobile searches make local SEO a huge ranking factor.
💎 Optimize your Google My Business profile and get local reviews.
Check out the carousel for more in-depth insights!
Follow these changes, and you’ll stay ahead of the game.
🔘🔘🔘🔘🔘🔘
Want to invest in SEO and ads?
Here is how Limited Partners investing in Venture Capital assess a firm's Partners.
It all begins with an idea.
Myrto LalacosMyrto Lalacos • Following • FollowingEx-VC turned VC Builder | Principal at VC LabEx-VC turned VC Builder | Principal at VC Lab2w • 2 weeks ago
Here is how Limited Partners investing in Venture Capital assess a firm's Partners.
🟢 Green Flags
✦ Anyone who knows them speaks very highly of them.
✦ The Partners are clear in their communication and inspire a high level of trust.
✦ They have significant experience and notable achievements relevant to the fund's investment thesis.
🌕 Yellow Flags
✦ The Partners are building a generalist fund without a clear focus or differentiation in the market.
✦ Their resume shows short role tenure and frequent bumps. VC is a lifelong career, can they commit?
✦ They are not interested in raising future funds, what is the incentive to manage the present fund for the next 10 years?
🟠 Orange Flags
✦ The team dynamic is not great, and the role division is unclear.
✦ None of their investments have been growing rapidly - are they really exceptional pickers and backers?
✦ They have not proven they can lead or win competitive deals. It's easy to spot a good deal, the question is can they get in?
🔴 Red Flags
✦ The Partners lied about or misrepresented their track record or experience.
✦ They displayed unprofessional behavior or withheld important information.
✦ Signs they cannot raise the target fund size - can they set realistic targets and execute on those?
I'm trying to bring to life how LPs conduct due diligence on the Partners of VC firms.
But we're just scratching the surface...
For those wanting to go deeper on the diligence Limited Partners carry out on VC funds, I've linked additional resources below!
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✍️ Myrto Lalacos
Follow for regular content on launching and investing in Venture Capital firms.