Is Your Startup Ready to Raise Capital?
Is Your Startup Ready to Fundraise?
Source: Evalyze – When’s the Right Time to Seek Funding?
Why This Matters
This article breaks down exactly when investors expect you to raise—for example, when your startup has the right traction, team readiness, and market opportunity.
Key Takeaways
- Validate core foundations — Only look to raise once your idea is proven, your team is built, and the market is compelling.
- Articulate your strategy clearly — Be ready to explain why you need funds, what you’ll spend them on, and why now is the right time.
- Avoid desperation mode — Investors want momentum and growth, not emergency pitches born from running out of runway.
Actionable Steps
- Run through the article’s three readiness questions (on idea validation, team strength, and market opportunity) — and don’t raise unless you confidently answer all.
- Create a transparent use-of-funds plan, showing exactly where funding will go and why it drives key outcomes.
- Time your fundraising to ride growth momentum—not just to survive — so you retain both leverage and confidence.
How to Evaluate your Startup’s Investment Readiness
Source: Y Combinator Kevin Hale – How to Evaluate Startup Ideas
Why This Matters
Kevin Hale (YC Partner) breaks down a practical framework founders can use to evaluate their own ideas — the same lens investors apply when deciding whether to back you.
Key Takeaways
- A startup idea is a hypothesis — investors test if your problem, solution, and insight make sense.
- Strong startups show unfair advantages (unique founder insight, 10x better product, growing market).
- Investors look for scalable models: clear customer acquisition, defensibility (monopoly potential), and beliefs worth betting on.
