Article · 45 min read

How to Raise Money

Paul Graham · paulgraham.com Free Intermediate

The most quoted essay on the mechanics of fundraising, distilled from YC Demo Day advice. It reframes fundraising as a sales process with clear rules that still hold up years later.

  • Be in fundraising mode or not; don't half-do it while running the company
  • Talk to investors in parallel to create real competition and momentum
  • A 'maybe' is usually a polite no; get to a real yes or move on
Open on paulgraham.com ↗

It answers 10 questions

  1. How does seed fundraising actually work, step by step?
  2. How much money should I raise at seed, and how much equity do I give up?
  3. How do I find and get intros to angel investors and seed funds?
  4. How do I create momentum and FOMO so investors commit instead of stalling?
  5. What does an early-stage VC actually look for before writing a cheque?
  6. How much money should I actually raise in my first round?
  7. How do I write a cold email to an investor without sounding desperate?
  8. What is the real difference between angels, micro VCs, and institutional VCs, and who should I approach first?
  9. The valuation the investor is offering feels low. How do I know if I should push back or take it?
  10. What traction or metrics do I actually need to raise a seed round, and can I raise on just an idea?

Read with it

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  2. A concise video lecture that walks through the key concepts and mechanics of running a fundraising process, from a YC partner... Y Combinator Startup Library Video · 40 min Fundraising Fundamentals (Startup School) Geoff Ralston
  3. Long-form, candid interviews with Indian founders and investors on how they actually grew, distributed and built brand, one of... The Neon Show / Neon Fund Podcast · 200+ episodes The Neon Show (100x Entrepreneur Podcast) Siddhartha Ahluwalia
  4. 100X.VC pioneered the iSAFE, India's answer to the US SAFE, and offers the standardized document plus a plain explanation.... 100X.VC Tool · template + explainer iSAFE: The Founder-Friendly Fundraising Instrument for Early-Stage Founders 100X.VC
  5. The YC essay tells you the rules; this shows you real founders following (and bending) them. These are 13 actual cold emails... OpenVC Blog Article · 12 min read 13 Cold Email Examples Sent to VC Investors OpenVC
  6. The Indian mirror to the answer: Kamath built Zerodha to India's largest broker taking zero outside capital, and he is precise... Forbes India Article · 12 min read I wonder why there are only a few businesses like us, built to generate profits and not raise venture capital: Nithin Kamath Nithin Kamath (interviewed)
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