The first raise is the hardest. You have no track record. No portfolio companies. No warm intros from your last round. You are starting from zero. I know. My first raise was for PizzaPortal in 2005. I had an idea. I had a prototype. I had no investors. I sent cold emails to 80 funds. I got three replies. Zero meetings. It took me 6 months to close €200K. Since then I have raised over €150 million across five companies. The first raise was the hardest. Every raise after got easier. This guide is for first-time founders. What pre-seed is. How much to raise. What investors look for. Where to find them. SAFE vs priced. Timeline. Pitch deck. Common mistakes. Everything I wish I had known. Everything below comes from doing it wrong and then doing it right. The first raise feels impossible until it is done. Then it feels obvious. You will get there. Follow the guide. Do the work. It works.
What Is Pre-Seed?
Pre-seed is the earliest stage of venture funding. Typically €100K to €1M in Europe. $500K to $2M in the US. Sometimes less. Sometimes more. The range is wide. Pre-seed happens before product-market fit. Before proven traction. Before a repeatable business model. You have an idea. Maybe a prototype. Maybe early users. Maybe nothing but a deck. Pre-seed investors bet on the team and the market. Not on revenue. Not on scale. Not yet.
Pre-seed is different from seed. Seed assumes some traction. Maybe €10K MRR. Maybe 1000 users. Maybe a clear path to PMF. Pre-seed assumes you are still figuring it out. You need money to build. To validate. To get to seed. Pre-seed bridges the gap between idea and seed. Between zero and something. It is the riskiest stage for investors. It is the hardest stage for founders. No one has heard of you. No one has invested in you before. You have to prove yourself from scratch.
Pre-seed rounds often have multiple investors. Angels. Micro-VCs. Maybe one small fund. Checks range from €25K to €250K. You might have 5 to 15 investors in the round. Or 2 to 3 if you raise from funds. The structure depends on your market and your network. Europe tends to have more angels and micro-VCs at pre-seed. The US has more institutional pre-seed funds. Know your market. Know who writes checks at this stage. Then target them. One more point: pre-seed is the hardest raise because you have no proof. No revenue. No users. No track record. You are selling a story. A team. A market. A vision. Investors are taking a leap of faith. Your job is to make that leap as small as possible. Clear thesis. Strong team. Large market. Conviction. That is what you are selling. Not metrics. Not traction. Conviction. Sell it well.
How Much to Raise
Aim for 12 to 18 months of runway. Not more. Not less. 12 months is minimum. 18 months is comfortable. Beyond 18 months you are over-raising. You dilute too much. You lose urgency. Pre-seed is about validating. 12 to 18 months is enough to build, ship, and learn. If you need more than 18 months to get to seed, your plan may be wrong. Or your burn may be too high. Fix the plan. Fix the burn. Do not over-raise to compensate.
Calculate your monthly burn. Salaries. Rent. Software. Travel. Everything. Multiply by 12 or 18. That is your target. Add 20 percent buffer for surprises. Investors will ask how long the money lasts. You need a clear answer. 12 months at current burn. 18 months if we cut X. Simple. Clear. If you cannot answer, you are not ready to raise. Know your numbers. Burn. Runway. Use of funds. Before you send the first email.
Typical pre-seed amounts: €200K to €500K in Europe. $500K to $1.5M in the US. The exact number depends on your burn and your market. A solo founder in a low-cost city might need €200K for 18 months. A team of three in London might need €500K for 12 months. Do the math. Know your number. Stick to it. Do not raise more because someone offers. Do not raise less because you are scared. Raise what you need. 12 to 18 months. That is the rule. I made the mistake of under-raising for PizzaPortal. I raised €200K when I needed €400K. I ran out of money in 8 months. I had to raise again. Emergency raise. Worse terms. More dilution. I learned: raise enough. 12 to 18 months. Buffer for surprises. Do not optimize for minimum. Optimize for enough. Running out of money mid-build kills momentum. It kills morale. It forces bad decisions. Raise enough. Then focus on building. Not on the next raise. Not yet.
What Investors Look For
Pre-seed investors bet on four things: team, market, thesis, and founder-market fit. They know you have no revenue. They know you have no traction. They are betting on potential. Make that bet easy.
Team. Can this team build this? Do they have the skills? The grit? The ability to recruit? Pre-seed is a team bet. Investors want to see co-founders who complement each other. Technical and commercial. Or domain expertise and execution. Solo founders can raise. But it is harder. Investors prefer teams. If you are solo, have a clear plan to hire. Or have exceptional traction. Or have done it before. Team matters. More than the idea. More than the deck. Show why you are the right team for this problem.
Market. Is the market big enough? Is it growing? Is it worth building in? Pre-seed investors want to see a large addressable market. TAM, SAM, SOM. They want to see that the market is real. That customers exist. That they will pay. You may not have customers yet. But you need to show the market is there. Size it. Show the trend. Show why now. Market timing matters. Why is this the right time for this idea? Answer that. Clearly.
Thesis. Does the idea make sense? Is the solution right for the problem? Is the business model viable? Pre-seed investors evaluate the thesis. They may not dig into unit economics. But they want to see the logic. Problem. Solution. Why it works. Why it scales. A coherent thesis beats a clever idea. Make the logic clear. Make it believable. Investors are pattern matchers. They have seen similar ideas. Show them why yours works. Why yours is different.
Founder-market fit. Why are you the right person to build this? Do you have domain expertise? Have you lived the problem? Do you have unfair advantage? Founder-market fit is the X factor. It is why some founders raise and others do not. Same idea. Different founder. Different outcome. Show your fit. Your background. Your insight. Your edge. Why you. Why now. Answer that. Make it obvious. I invested in food delivery because I had run restaurants. I had seen the pain. I had the network. That was founder-market fit. When I pitched, investors could see the connection. When you pitch, make the connection obvious. Your past. Your problem. Your solution. The thread should be clear. If investors have to work to see it, you have not made it obvious enough. Spell it out. One slide. Why we are the right team for this problem. No ambiguity.
Types of Pre-Seed Investors
Four types. Angels. Micro-VCs. Pre-seed funds. Accelerators. Each has different check sizes, process, and expectations. Mix them. Do not rely on one type.
Angels. Individuals. Often founders or operators. Check size: €25K to €100K. Sometimes more. Angels move fast. They decide on a call. They do not have a partnership to convince. They invest personally. Pros: speed, flexibility, often bring expertise. Cons: smaller checks, may want more involvement. Angels are great for filling a round. You might have one lead. Then add 5 to 10 angels to get to your target. Find angels through your network. Other founders. Lawyers. Accelerators. AngelList. They are often former founders. They understand the journey. They can add value beyond the check.
Micro-VCs. Small funds. €10M to €50M AUM. Check size: €100K to €500K. They invest at pre-seed and seed. They have a process. But it is lighter than larger funds. Pros: larger checks, institutional backing, can lead. Cons: process takes longer than angels, may have specific thesis. Micro-VCs often specialize. Some do B2B only. Some do fintech. Some do Europe only. Find the ones that fit. They can anchor a round. One micro-VC lead. Then angels to fill. That structure works well for pre-seed.
Pre-seed funds. Funds that focus on pre-seed. They exist in the US more than Europe. Check size: €200K to €1M. They have a dedicated pre-seed strategy. Pros: know the stage, can lead, have support. Cons: fewer of them in Europe, competitive. If you find a pre-seed fund that fits, prioritize them. They are built for your stage. They understand the risk. They have the process. Target them. Get the meeting.
Accelerators. Y Combinator. Techstars. 500 Startups. Local programs. They invest. They provide program. They provide network. Check size: €25K to €150K for a small percentage. Pros: network, credibility, structured support. Cons: time commitment, equity cost, not all fit. Accelerators are a path. Not the only path. If you get in, great. If you do not, you can still raise. Many pre-seed founders raise without an accelerator. But if you apply, treat it as one option. Not the only option. Have a plan B. Always. I did not do an accelerator for PizzaPortal. I raised from angels and one micro-VC. It worked. The accelerator path is valid. But it is not required. Do not put all your eggs in the accelerator basket. Apply. But also build your direct investor list. Run both tracks in parallel. If you get in, you have a structured program. If you do not, you have a round to close. Either way you are moving. That is the right approach.
Where to Find Them
You need a list. 30 to 50 pre-seed investors. Angels. Micro-VCs. Funds. How do you find them?
Matching tools. Some tools let you fill in your profile (stage, sector, geography) and return a ranked list of investors. Investor matching works when you want speed. You define criteria. You get a list. You qualify and add. Use this when you have clear criteria and want to move fast. Pre-seed. B2B SaaS. Europe. Fill it in. Get the list. Verify. Reach out.
Databases. Crunchbase. AngelList. Investor databases with filters for stage and sector. Search for pre-seed. Filter by your sector. Filter by geography. Build a list manually. It takes longer. But you learn the landscape. Use databases when you want control. When you want to see the full picture. Cross-reference with matching. Use both. Database for breadth. Matching for speed.
Network. Other founders. Ask who invested in their pre-seed. Lawyers. Accountants. They see deals. They know who is active. Accelerator alumni. If you know someone who did YC or Techstars, ask for intros. Warm intros convert at 15 to 25 percent. Cold converts at 1 to 5 percent. Use your network first. Fill the gap with cold. Mix both. Network for quality. Cold for quantity.
Portfolio pages. Find a company like yours that raised pre-seed. Look at their investors. Those investors understand your space. They have pattern recognition. Add them to your list. Check their recent investments. Verify they still do pre-seed. Then reach out. Portfolio pages are a goldmine. Use them. I found most of my early investors by looking at who invested in similar companies. Food delivery. Look at Deliveroo's early investors. Look at Glovo's. Add those angels and funds. They understand the space. They have the thesis. They are warmer than random investors from a database. Portfolio pages beat cold search for relevance. Use them as your primary source for Tier 1. Then fill with database and matching for Tier 2 and 3. Quality from portfolio. Quantity from tools. Mix both.
SAFE vs Priced Round
Most pre-seed rounds use SAFEs or convertibles. Not priced rounds. Why? Speed. Simplicity. Defer valuation.
SAFE. Simple Agreement for Future Equity. You raise now. You do not set a valuation. The SAFE converts in the next priced round. Usually with a discount (15 to 25 percent) and sometimes a cap. YC post-money SAFE is common. It is standard. It is fast. Investors sign. You get the money. No valuation negotiation. No legal complexity. Pros: fast, simple, founder-friendly. Cons: dilution is unknown until conversion, can get messy with multiple SAFEs at different caps. Use SAFEs when you want speed. When you have multiple small investors. When you do not want to negotiate valuation at pre-seed. Most pre-seed rounds should use SAFEs. Or convertibles. Same idea. Different name in Europe.
Priced round. You set a valuation now. You issue shares or convertibles at that price. You know exactly how much you dilute. Pros: clarity, no conversion surprise. Cons: slower, requires valuation negotiation, more legal work. Use priced rounds when you have a lead investor who wants it. When you have traction that supports a valuation. When you have one or two investors and can negotiate. Priced rounds are more common at seed. At pre-seed, SAFEs dominate. Unless you have a reason to do priced, do SAFE.
When to use which. Pre-seed with multiple angels: SAFE. Pre-seed with one micro-VC lead: maybe priced, maybe SAFE. Ask the lead. They will have a preference. Pre-seed in Europe: convertibles are common. Same structure as SAFE. Different name. Check your market. Use what is standard. Do not reinvent. SAFE or convertible for pre-seed. Priced for seed. That is the pattern. Follow it. One more point on SAFEs: use consistent terms. If you have 10 angels, use the same cap and discount for all. Do not give different terms to different angels. It creates conflict. It complicates the cap table. Same terms for everyone. Or same terms for everyone in the same tranche. If you do a first close and a second close, you might have different caps. But within each close, same terms. Simplicity. Fairness. Fewer problems later.
Timeline
Pre-seed takes 3 to 5 months from first outreach to close. Sometimes faster. Sometimes slower. Here is a typical timeline by week.
Weeks 1 to 2: Prep. Deck. One-pager. Cap table. Financial model. Investor list. CRM. Get everything ready. Do not start outreach until prep is done. I have seen founders start outreach in week 1 with no deck. They get a meeting. They scramble. They look unprepared. Prep first. Then reach out. Week 1 and 2 are for prep. Nothing else.
Weeks 3 to 4: First outreach. Send first emails. Request warm intros. Contact Tier 1 investors first. 20 to 30 emails. Track every one. Set follow-up reminders. Expect 2 to 5 replies. Maybe 1 to 2 meetings. Conversion is low. Volume matters. Send 30. Get 3 replies. Get 1 meeting. That is normal. Do not get discouraged. Keep going.
Weeks 5 to 8: Meetings and follow-ups. First meetings happen. Send decks. Send follow-ups. Schedule second meetings. Move investors through the pipeline. Researching to Intro Requested to First Meeting to Pitching. Track everything. Follow up on no-replies. Day 7. Day 14. Then stop. Add Tier 2 investors. Expand the pipeline. You want 5 to 10 first meetings. From 30 to 50 contacted. The funnel is wide. Stay disciplined.
Weeks 9 to 12: Commitments and due diligence. Some investors say yes. Some ask for more. Some pass. You start to get commitments. You send the data room. You answer questions. You negotiate terms. You get docs signed. First commitment is the hardest. After one yes, others follow. Momentum matters. Push for the first yes. Then the rest come easier.
Weeks 13 to 20: Close. Final commitments. Legal docs. Wires. The round closes. You announce. You get back to building. Plan for 3 to 5 months. Hope for 3. Prepare for 5. Do not assume it will be fast. It rarely is. First-time founders often underestimate the timeline. Double your estimate. Then add a month. That is realistic. One tip: the last 10 percent takes 50 percent of the time. You have verbal commitments. You are waiting for signatures. You are waiting for wires. Legal drags. Admin piles up. Budget for that. The round is not closed until the money is in the bank. Until then, keep pushing. Keep following up. Do not assume silence means yes. Assume nothing. Confirm everything. Wire in bank. Then celebrate. Then build.
Pitch Deck Structure
10 slides. Problem, solution, market, product, traction, business model, team, competition, financials, ask. That is the structure. Stick to it.
Slide 1: Problem. What pain are you solving? Who has it? How big is it? One slide. One idea. Make it concrete. Not we are disrupting a large market. Specific. We help SMBs lose 10 hours per week on manual invoice processing. That is a problem. Define it. Make it feel real.
Slide 2: Solution. What do you build? How does it work? One slide. Simple. A screenshot or diagram. No jargon. A 10-year-old should get it. If they do not, simplify. The solution should be obvious from the slide. No explanation needed.
Slide 3: Market. TAM, SAM, SOM. How big is the opportunity? How are you segmenting? Show the numbers. Show the logic. Pre-seed investors want to see a large market. Make it credible. Not $10B TAM with no source. Real numbers. Real logic. Cite sources if you have them.
Slide 4: Product. What have you built? Demo. Screenshots. Roadmap. Show the product. If you have a prototype, show it. If you have nothing, show mockups. Investors want to see you have started. Something is better than nothing. Show progress.
Slide 5: Traction. What do you have? Users. Revenue. Letters of intent. Pilot customers. Something. If you have nothing, say so. Honest zero beats fake traction. But if you have something, show it. Numbers. Growth. Signal. Traction at pre-seed can be weak. That is fine. Show what you have. Be honest.
Slide 6: Business model. How do you make money? Who pays? How much? Unit economics if you have them. If you do not, show the logic. Pre-seed investors may not dig deep. But they want to see you have thought about it. Show the model. Make it coherent.
Slide 7: Team. Who are you? Why are you the right team? Background. Relevant experience. Founder-market fit. One slide. Key people. Key credentials. Make it obvious why you will win. Team is the most important slide at pre-seed. Invest in it. Get it right. At pre-seed, investors cannot evaluate the product. It may not exist. They cannot evaluate traction. You may not have any. They can evaluate the team. Photos. Backgrounds. Why you. Spend time on this slide. Get good photos. Write crisp bios. One line per person. Relevant experience. Relevant education. Relevant side projects. Make the connection to the problem obvious. We are building food delivery because we ran restaurants. We are building fintech because we worked at banks. The thread matters. Spell it out. Team slide decides the meeting. Get it right.
Slide 8: Competition. Who else is in the space? How are you different? Honest competitive landscape. Not we have no competition. Everyone has competition. Show it. Show why you win. Positioning. Differentiation. One slide. Clear.
Slide 9: Financials. Projections. Burn. Runway. Use of funds. Simple. One slide. Key numbers. Investors will ask for more. But the deck should have the summary. Revenue path. Burn. Runway at this raise size. That is enough.
Slide 10: Ask. How much are you raising? What is it for? What milestones does it get you to? One slide. Clear ask. €500K. 18 months runway. Get to €20K MRR. Seed ready. Simple. Direct. Make the ask obvious. Do not make them guess. Many founders bury the ask. They put it in small text. They make investors work to find it. Wrong. The ask should be the biggest thing on the slide. €500K. 18 months. Three milestones. That is it. Bold. Clear. No ambiguity. When an investor finishes your deck, they should know exactly what you want. How much. What for. What it gets you. One slide. One message. Make it impossible to miss.
10 slides. No more. Problem, solution, market, product, traction, model, team, competition, financials, ask. That is the structure. Use it. Cut everything else. A 10-slide deck is enough. A 20-slide deck is too much. Discipline. Less is more. I have seen founders add slides for technology, for partnership strategy, for hiring plan. Cut them. If it does not fit the 10, it does not belong. Combine if needed. Technology can go in product. Hiring can go in use of funds. Partnership can go in business model. Force everything into 10. The constraint makes you focus. Focus makes the deck stronger. Investors skim. They spend 2 minutes. 10 slides is 12 seconds per slide. That is the attention you get. Use it. One idea per slide. No more. If you cannot explain a slide in one sentence, cut it. Simplify. Always simplify.
Common Mistakes
Starting outreach before prep is done. Sending emails with no deck. No cap table. No investor list. You get a meeting. You scramble. You look unprepared. Fix: prep everything first. 2 weeks. Deck, one-pager, cap table, list, CRM. Then start. No exceptions. Prep first. Outreach second. Always.
Raising too much or too little. Raising €1M when you need €300K. Or raising €100K when you need €400K. Both are wrong. Fix: calculate burn. Calculate runway. 12 to 18 months. That is your number. Raise that. Not more. Not less. Know your number. Stick to it.
Targeting the wrong investors. Sending to seed funds when you are pre-seed. Sending to US funds when you are in Europe and have no US plan. Wrong stage. Wrong geography. Wrong fit. Fix: qualify your list. Pre-seed only. Your sector. Your geography. Check recent investments. Verify before adding. A list of 30 right investors beats a list of 100 wrong ones. Quality before quantity.
Giving up after 10 no's. Pre-seed conversion is low. You send 30 emails. You get 2 replies. You get 0 meetings. You think it is hopeless. It is not. Fix: send 50. Send 80. Track conversion. If conversion is below 5 percent, fix the list or the message. But do not stop at 10. Volume matters. Persistence matters. The first raise is a numbers game. Play the numbers. Keep going. My first raise took 6 months. I sent 80 emails. I got 5 meetings. I got 1 yes. That one yes led to others. Momentum builds. The first yes is the hardest. After that, others follow. Do not stop at 10 no's. Send 50. Send 80. Track who replies. Track who meets. Fix the list if conversion is zero. Fix the message if conversion is low. But do not stop. The first raise requires persistence. More than any other raise. Accept it. Do the work. It works.
Over-negotiating with the first yes. An angel says yes. You push for better terms. They walk. Fix: take the first yes. Negotiate with the lead. Do not nickel-and-dime angels. Standard terms. Move fast. Get the round closed. Optimizing terms at pre-seed is a distraction. Close the round. Build the company. Optimize at seed when you have leverage. I have seen founders lose their first commitment by pushing for a higher valuation cap. The angel said sure, we can do €6M instead of €5M. The founder pushed for €4M. The angel walked. The round stalled. Take the first yes. Standard terms. Move. You have no leverage at pre-seed. Act like it. Gratitude. Speed. Close. Optimize later when you have traction and competition for the round. Pre-seed is about closing. Not optimizing. Close first. Optimize at seed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need revenue to raise pre-seed?
No. Most pre-seed rounds are pre-revenue. Investors bet on the team and the market. Traction helps. Users. Pilots. Letters of intent. Something is better than nothing. But revenue is not required. Honest zero beats fake traction. If you have nothing, say so. Focus on the team. The market. The thesis. Founder-market fit. That is enough. If you have early traction, show it. If you do not, do not fake it. Be honest. Investors can tell. PizzaPortal was pre-revenue when I raised. I had a prototype. I had talked to 20 potential customers. I had letters of intent. No revenue. That was enough. The investors bet on the team and the market. The letters of intent showed demand. The prototype showed we could build. Revenue would come. We proved that later. At pre-seed, proof of demand and proof of ability to build matter more than proof of revenue. Show what you have. Be honest about what you do not have.
How many investors should I have in the round?
Depends on check sizes. If you raise €500K with €50K checks, you need 10 investors. If you raise €500K with one €250K lead and angels, you might have 5 to 8. More investors means more admin. More signatures. More updates. Fewer investors means larger checks. Less admin. There is no right answer. Mix of lead plus angels works well. One or two larger checks. Rest smaller. Balance signaling (a lead shows credibility) with diversity (angels add network and expertise). Aim for 5 to 15 investors. Adjust based on your round size and check sizes.
Should I raise from angels or funds first?
Depends on your network and your round size. If you have a micro-VC or fund interested, a lead from them can help. Other investors follow. Signaling matters. If you do not have fund interest, start with angels. Angels move faster. They fill the round. You can raise entirely from angels. Many pre-seed rounds do. Or you can get one fund lead and angels to fill. Both work. Start with who you have access to. Warm intros first. Then cold. Do not wait for the perfect lead. Raise from who says yes. Optimize structure later.
What valuation cap should I use for a SAFE?
Pre-seed caps vary. €3M to €8M post-money is common in Europe. $5M to $12M in the US. The cap sets the maximum valuation at conversion. Higher cap means less dilution for investors. Lower cap means more dilution for investors. Balance. Too high and investors do not get upside. Too low and you dilute too much. Check what similar companies in your market used. Ask other founders. Ask lawyers. Use market rate. Do not over-optimize. A standard cap with standard discount (15 to 25 percent) is fine. Move fast. Close the round. Worry about valuation at seed when you have traction. One tip: if your first investor proposes a cap, use it for everyone. Do not give earlier investors a better cap. Same terms for all. Simplicity. Fairness. Fewer cap table problems later. The cap matters. But at pre-seed, closing matters more. Use market rate. Move on. Optimize at seed.
How do I get warm intros if I have no network?
Build the network. Go to events. Join communities. Reach out to founders in your space. Offer value. Help them. They will help you. Cold email investors. It works. 1 to 5 percent reply rate. Send 50. Get 2 to 3 replies. Get 1 meeting. That is enough to start. Use matching tools and databases to build the list. Qualify it. Send cold emails. Follow up. Warm intros are better. But cold works. Do not wait for warm. Start with cold. Build relationships. The next round will have more warm intros. The first round is always harder. Accept it. Do the work. Send the emails. It works. One more path: accelerator alumni. If you know someone who did YC or a local program, ask for intros to their investors. Alumni often help. They remember the journey. They want to pay it forward. One intro can lead to five. Ask. The worst they say is no. The best they say is here are three people to talk to. Build the network one conversation at a time. It compounds.
When should I start fundraising?
When you have the minimum: deck, one-pager, cap table. When you have 3 to 5 months of runway left. Not when you have 1 month. Not when you have 12 months. 3 to 5 months is the sweet spot. Enough time to run a proper process. Enough urgency to focus. If you have less than 3 months, you are in crisis mode. Investors sense desperation. If you have more than 5 months, you may not have enough urgency. You procrastinate. 3 to 5 months. Start then. Prep 2 weeks before. So really you need to start prep when you have 4 to 6 months of runway. Plan ahead. Do not wait until the last minute. One caveat: if you are bootstrapped and have no runway pressure, you can still raise. But set a deadline. Give yourself 3 months to close. If you do not close in 3 months, reassess. Maybe the market is wrong. Maybe the pitch is wrong. Maybe the timing is wrong. A deadline creates urgency. Urgency creates focus. Focus creates results. Set the deadline. Stick to it. Reassess if you miss it. Do not drift. Pre-seed can take 6 months. It can take 12. Do not let it. 3 to 5 months. Target that. Push for it.
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