Florian Horbach

Several of my portfolio companies just closed rounds in this tough market. Not because they got lucky. Because they understood how fundraising actually works. Here's the fundraising playbook nobody tells you: The Fatal Numbers: • Seed stage: ~10% get promoted to partner meeting • Of those: ~10% get a term sheet • Your odds per pitch: 1% To get one term sheet, you need 100 conversations. Maybe more if you're outside the typical pattern. Most founders pitch 10 investors and wonder why they can't raise. The ones who close? They pitch 100. But here's what kills most founders: They treat every investor equally. The 3rd Meeting Test: If you're on meeting #3 and they're still "sizing the market" - it's dead. They're being polite. Move on. VCs rarely will say "no." I watched a founder waste 3 months on an investor who kept asking for "just one more data point." Meanwhile, another fund that was excited from day one was ready to wire. The Truth About Data Rooms: No investor finds conviction in a spreadsheet. Data rooms are for confirming what they already believe. Not for convincing skeptics. One of my founders shared this: "The investors who funded us barely looked at the data room. The ones who spent weeks in it all passed." The Winning Playbook: Week 1: Cast wide. 50+ intros queued. Week 2-3: First meetings. Quick yes/no filter. Week 4-6: Double down on believers only. Week 7-8: Drive to term sheets. Track everything: • Response rates • Meeting conversion • Speed of follow-up • Quality of questions Fast no > slow maybe. The Position of Strength: My companies that raised successfully all had one thing in common: They didn't need the money yet. They raised with 6-12 months runway, not 2-3. They had leverage. They could walk away. Desperation is visible in every pitch. Confidence comes from options. The Simple Framework: Think of fundraising like dating. Wide funnel, quick qualification, then depth with the right matches. The investor who's excited after meeting one? That's your champion. The one who needs 5 meetings to "get comfortable"? They're just not that into you. My advice to every founder: Start with 100 names. Expect 10 first meetings. Fight for 1-2 term sheets. Those aren't depressing odds. That's reality. Plan accordingly. Of course, it also helps having your existing investors champion you! #Fundraising #Startups #VentureCapital #FounderAdvice #SeedFunding

111

38 Kommentare

💰 How to Find the Right Investors In the past 15 years, I watch so many founders walk into rooms with brilliant ideas… and walk out with nothing more than a polite smile from the investor across the table. Here’s what still surprises me: most of those founders never bothered to learn who they were pitching. Every fund has its own internal physics—its power dynamics, its secret motivations, the odd little quirks that drive decisions. If you understand those dynamics, your odds improve dramatically. If you don’t, you’re flying blind. Behind every successful round is not just a great company, but a founder who took the time to understand the person on the other side of the table. Read my article on Substack so you can too build up your investor market map: https://lnkd.in/gnxuq6Ra #fundraising #venturecapital #VC #funding #startup #pitching #investors #seed #seriesA #growthcapital #capitalraising

55

3 Kommentare

2009: The financial crisis had crushed fundraising. Barely any new capital went into venture funds. Yet the vintages from those years went on to deliver some of the strongest returns in history. Fast forward to today (2024/2025): Venture capital fundraising is at its lowest point in more than a decade. What does that mean? - ⁠Less money will be available to startups over the next years - The bar for raising capital goes up again: quality matters - ⁠Entry valuations will reset to saner levels --> Funds raised now are likely to outperform, just as history shows The paradox of venture: the best time to commit capital is exactly when most people hesitate. Investors (Limited Partners) should lean in now, not when the next boom makes it easy.

85

13 Kommentare

10 things I wish I knew before my first startup investment. Three years ago, I jumped into angel investing with ROI VENTURES. Looking back, I wish someone had handed me a cheatsheet. Here’s what I learned the hard way: 1️⃣ Dealflow doesn’t come to you. You need to hunt for it. Go beyond your network-use LinkedIn, events, universities, accelerators. Meet as many founders as you can. 2️⃣ Find 5–10 investors with the same focus as you. Share every good deal. These are your dealsharing buddies and co-investors - your real support system. 3️⃣ Build a network of +100 investors. Track who invests in what and at which stage. Share deals with them - especially for follow-on rounds. Expand your network with intention. 4️⃣ Say NO fast. If a deal isn’t a fit, say it right away. If a founder wants a call but you know you won’t invest, decline. Saves time for everyone (including you). 5️⃣ Don’t always trust industry experts. Experts can miss new ideas because they’re too close to old ways. Listen, but trust your own analysis. 6️⃣ Stay away from FOMO. If the price goes up and everyone wants in, step back. Don’t chase hot deals. 7️⃣ Don’t bother portfolio founders for updates. Send them clients, intros, or insights instead. Be helpful - not another report to fill out. 8️⃣ Respond fast to founders. Reply to emails, sign docs, answer WhatsApps. Don’t make founders chase you. 9️⃣ Know every funding round, ownership and team change. Protect your interests as an early investor-no one else will do it for you. 🔟 Invest conviction-driven, not consensus-based. Your best investments come from your own belief, not from following the crowd. The job of an angel investor is to find great founders & then doing everything you can to make their lives easier. 💸 What’s the one lesson you wish you knew before your first investment? #investments #startups #venturecapital 📸 Fabian Klima

219

66 Kommentare

𝗥𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗿𝗲-𝗦𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘃𝘀 𝗦𝗲𝗲𝗱 (𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝗕𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝘀 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝟭𝟬𝟬+ 𝗩𝗖 𝗗𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘀) What does “traction” actually look like when raising early-stage capital? If you’re gearing up for a pre-seed or seed round, here’s what the data says about ARR benchmarks from 100+ funded startups: 1. $1.5M Pre-Seed Round • 46% were pre-revenue • $150K ARR → 27% • $500K ARR → 15% • $1M ARR → 9% • $2M ARR → 1% 2. $4M Seed Round • $500K–$1M ARR is the sweet spot • $500K ARR → 29% • $1M ARR → 28% • $2M ARR → 20% • $150K ARR or Pre-Revenue → 17% each 3. Key Insights • Pre-seed is still a bet on the team, vision, and potential • Seed investors look for product-market fit and revenue repeatability • Hitting $500K–$1M ARR can significantly improve your odds This is why some founders wait to raise — and others sprint to get even $100K in early ARR. Where do you think the line between pre-seed and seed is really drawn today? #startups #fundraising #venturecapital #seedround #founder #startupfunding

97

22 Kommentare

Don't ship your fundraising pitch deck to your homepage. Your pitch deck is for VCs. Your homepage is for prospects. When you reuse your pitch deck deck, you end up with a site that: ❌ Talks about big vision, not the pain your prospects feel today ❌ Focuses on your entire total addressable market, not a niche ICP ❌ Leaves prospects confused about what exactly you do A great homepage should answer, in seconds, in the hero: ✅ Who the product is for ✅ What it does ✅ Why it’s better than alternatives 📰 I wrote about how to translate your story from a fundraising pitch deck slide by slide to your website in First Round Capital Review this week 1️⃣ (It's a natural fit, we both have 1s in our name) Like everything in marketing know your audience, know what they care about, and don't copy and paste from one audience, format, or channel to the next.

82

23 Kommentare