Finance: Fundraising & VC
Showing 79 articles for Finance: Fundraising & VC.
Private credit markets: BDCs, wrappers, history, and what comes next
Business Breakdowns
May 15, 2024
Unit economics
9
Fundraising & VC
7
Business models
6
- Banks are partners to private credit funds, not just competitors
- Rising rates boosted BDC returns more than credit losses hurt them
- Brand differentiation will define winners as strategies converge
Buying businesses as a faster path to wealth than building from scratch
Bill Gallagher
May 1, 2024
Exit strategy
9
Business models
7
Fundraising & VC
5
- $200k down on a $2M business can return $600k/year
- Flip businesses every five to seven years to compound wealth
- 50% of businesses listed for sale never find a buyer
How to raise $250k before writing a single line of code
KeyPersonOfInfluence
April 28, 2024
Fundraising & VC
9
MVP & prototyping
7
Growth hacking
6
- A waiting list of 1,100 sign-ups replaced a product as proof of demand.
- Survey data showing £50–100/month willingness-to-pay surprised the founder.
- Launch-day Zoom events converted waitlist into £100k ARR immediately.
Once.com, liquidation preferences, and open source to full-time income
Startups For the Rest of Us
April 2, 2024
Pricing strategy
9
Fundraising & VC
8
- Why one-time software forces you to start from zero every month
- FanDuel sold for $465M — founders got nothing due to liquidation preferences
- A licence paywall turned €750 in donations into a full-time salary
How to buy small software companies using a holding company playbook
Dan Martell
February 10, 2024
Fundraising & VC
9
Business models
7
Processes & SOPs
6
- Why a holding company beats PE, VC, and angel investing for acquisitions
- Missing IP assignment agreements can collapse a deal at the last minute
- Pricing is the first lever to pull in the 100 days after buying a company
Bootstrapping vs. venture capital: how to choose the right funding path
Y Combinator
February 5, 2024
Bootstrapping
9
Fundraising & VC
8
Business models
6
- VC is a narrow tool — most businesses shouldn't raise it.
- Profitable bootstrapped software is a genuine win, not a consolation prize.
- The bootstrapping-vs-VC debate is mostly manufactured engagement bait.
How to become a venture capitalist with $1,000 using syndicates
Starter Story
November 15, 2023
Fundraising & VC
9
Processes & SOPs
6
- Invest in competitive VC rounds from just $1,000 via SPVs
- Sharing deals with VCs for free is how you eventually get access
- One portfolio winner at 50–250X offsets all the losers
Funding, focus, and doing things that don't scale
Startups For the Rest of Us
November 14, 2023
Bootstrapping
9
Pivoting
7
Fundraising & VC
6
- Why taking funding then starting side projects destroys your startup
- Meta's paid no-ads tier: a model Rob wants worldwide
- How Drip and LUGG validated demand by doing things that don't scale
How startup funding works: stages, investors, and when to raise
TK Kader
October 22, 2023
Fundraising & VC
9
Vision & mission
6
- Pitching before a growth inflection point makes you a stale deal.
- VC interest tracks month over month revenue growth, not your idea.
- Stay in 'not raising' mode — build relationships until the numbers speak.
Bootstrapping, venture, and indie funding: how to choose
Rob Walling
September 3, 2023
Fundraising & VC
9
Business models
7
Bootstrapping
6
- 90% of startups should bootstrap — only 1% belong on venture track
- Venture capital kills good businesses that can't become unicorns
- Indie funding offers a middle path: capital without unicorn expectations
Why top VC firms secretly love YC but won't admit it
Y Combinator
August 23, 2023
Fundraising & VC
9
Pitching investors
6
- Top VCs invest in hundreds of YC companies while publicly disparaging it.
- YC filters 20,000 applicants into ~200 fundable, further-along companies for VCs.
- Investors advising you against YC are usually the ones not offering to invest.
What bad investor meetings teach founders about raising money
Y Combinator
August 17, 2023
Fundraising & VC
9
Pitching investors
7
- Bad investor behavior is a signal, not a test to pass.
- Believe the no — but never trust the investor's stated reason.
- Your startup's validity is not determined by investor enthusiasm.
SparkToro's investor payback, Twitter's rebrand, and the VC funding debate
Startups For the Rest of Us
August 15, 2023
Fundraising & VC
9
Business models
7
Branding
5
- SparkToro paid back investors via dividends — no VC, no exit required.
- Twitter's X rebrand trades 15 years of brand equity for a super-app gamble.
- Capital is a tool: raise only when a dollar reliably returns three.
Acquisition multiples, earnouts, and job-switching decisions for bootstrappers
Startups For the Rest of Us
May 23, 2023
Fundraising & VC
9
Pivoting
7
Customer discovery
6
- Growth rate determines whether you get a revenue or profit multiple
- Optimising for profit early can cap your exit value significantly
- If no one talks to you pre-product, they won't post-product either
How to apply and succeed at Y Combinator
Y Combinator
May 12, 2023
Fundraising & VC
8
Vision & mission
6
Case studies
5
- Most reasons founders avoid applying are fear-based, not factual.
- Technical talent on the team gives 5x better odds of an interview.
- The interview is a conversation — treat interviewers as future partners.