The 13 Must-Haves for Raising from VCs
What raising from a16z taught me
Michael Houck
November 26, 2022
Raising from a16z taught me a lot about what VCs actually look for.
And successfully raising is harder than ever — interest rates are up, VCs are trying to extend the life of their current funds, and deals are down as a result.
Most advice I see about how to fundraise is contradictory or incomplete. The list below tries to be neither of these things.
The 13 Must-Haves for Raising from VCs
The Right Investors
Not all VCs are looking to invest in every sector. In fact many are thesis-driven, meaning they invest in startups that align to ideas about the future that they already have, or in sectors that are particularly interesting to them.
You can tell what most VCs are interested in at any given time with a little research. The reason VCs post on twitter, write newsletters, and appear of podcasts is to advertise the areas they're interested in at any given time to founders who may be paying attention.
This is good news for founders — you can self select into reaching out to investors who are more likely to already believe in what you're building.
Your job isn't to make them believe in the problem behind your idea, it's to find the ones who already do.
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