As someone who spends all day, every day, listening to entrepreneurs share the challenges they face, I’ve learned a few things: Every business may be unique, but business owners have a lot in common.
Lately, I’ve been hearing a lot of anxiety from founders of SaaS companies and other rapidly growing startups as they approach their series A fundraising round.
The Internet is full of great advice for approaching a series A funding round. Most of them emphasize a few basic points:
- Have a marketable product or service and paying customers; prove your business is viable.
- Be coachable; arrogant founders who think they have all the answers are off-putting to experienced VCs and investors.
- Have a kick-ass marketing plan so investors see that you understand the market and know how to grow your customer base.
- Be prepared to offer a seat on your board. Some investors want to be heavily involved in a company’s operations; others don’t.
- Adopt GAAP accounting.
All of this is true, but if you’re involved in mentorship or networking groups (which all of us should be, right?) you’ve probably heard this before.
The founders I’m talking to are looking for more concrete information. Specifically:
What financial information will investors expect to see from companies during a series A funding round?
Fortunately, this is an area where indinero has a lot of experience: We’ve been there and so have many of our clients. So we decided to make things transparent and put together a checklist so you can be financially prepared to meet investor expectations for a series A.
One less thing to worry about.
Quick Note: This article is provided for informational purposes only, and is not legal, financial, accounting, or tax advice. You should consult appropriate professionals for advice on your specific situation. indinero assumes no liability for actions taken in reliance upon the information contained herein.
