Tactical Playbook from Raising $12m Series A from First Round

A few years ago, I was building a consumer transportation startup in Asia, and ended up raising $12m in a Series A financing from First Round Capital. For context, we were looking at investors that had done well in our sector (consumer transportation), and First Round had invested in Uber at Seed.

With my second startup (Metal), we have built the AI-native operating system for founders raising VC that we wish had existed when we were raising for our first startup. The below write-up provides a playbook for founders raising Series A/B/C rounds (based on lessons learned from raising nine venture rounds over the past seven years).

Lesson #1 – There is an investor for most companies out there. You need to manufacture your own luck by finding that investor. And the best way to do that is via data and intelligence.

There are 10,000+ active VCs writing checks globally. Some investors prefer to lead hot rounds at high valuations in companies that have breakout growth. Others prefer to invest in Seed+/bridge rounds into companies that have clear product-market fit and revenue, but are raising at modest valuations. It takes effort and the right set of tools to drill into finding the right investors. And that’s where Metal comes in.

1A: AI Search → Our 25+ filters allow founders to identify very specific types of investors (based on our proprietary data and intelligence): https://kite.video/share/fZIuX3VS6zB

1B: Similar Companies → With <5 mins of work, founders can surface investors that: (a) Have invested in similar companies that you select, and (b) Are otherwise a good fit for your stage, sector, geo, etc.

This is the one signal that we’ve found that most  founders underuse, and the one that worked for us with First Round. Find companies that raised their Series A in your category and work backwards from who led those rounds. Those investors have already done the underwriting work on your thesis. When you reach out to them, name the specific portfolio company they invested in. It shows an investor that you’ve incorporated a lot of research: https://screen.studio/share/m9IiraaX

1C: Market Signals → Metal scans millions of datapoints across all podcasts, blog posts, social media posts and website content across all VCs, and identifies ones that are talking about things that align with your product thesis: https://screen.studio/share/Z1cHjmmW

1D: New Funds → Metal surfaces investors that have raised new funds, or new firms that have recently emerged onto the market.

A GP who just left a top-tier firm to raise their own fund is one of the most underrated targets at Series A. They have LP pressure to deploy, a thesis they've just publicly committed to, and a network built over years at a firm with real deal flow. They're often faster to decide and more willing to lead than an established name that's already seeing 200 emails a week: https://screen.studio/share/wTJtqXTc

Lesson #2 – To close a round, you need to build calendar density with 30-50 meetings within a 90-day period. And that requires a tight process.

There is no shortage of capital or investors out there. There is, however, limited capacity on the time of these investors, and very high demand for it. A successful raise requires that you crack the code on building access to be able to line up meetings in a short period You can do so via the following:

2A: Investor Level Relationship Paths → Metal shows who you know within your network that can introduce you to a given investor: https://screen.studio/share/BT558tMe

2B: Pipeline Level Relationship Paths → Metal surfaces who within your network can introduce you to multiple investors. It may make sense to hold calls with these “super connectors” to get them excited about your Company: https://screen.studio/share/UlLifm0G

Lesson #3 – For a successful round, the narrative you start with is very often different from the one with which you close. Learning during the raise process becomes crucial.

3A: Pre Meeting Analysis → Prior to each investor call, Metal uses proprietary intelligence to surface insight into the likely topics to emerge. That insight is then automatically emailed to you before every investor call.

3B: Post Meeting Analysis → After each investor call, Metal again deploys our proprietary intelligence to provide sharp feedback on what could have gone better on the call.

Lesson #4 – While (1) to (3) focus on the process execution of your raise, the narrative and the collateral often matter enormously.

The highest leverage activity in a raise process is to build a top-decile narrative and collateral. This will accelerate your path to building access, improve intro opt-in rate, and drastically improve your 1st to 2nd call conversion rates.

If you ever want to talk through fundraising, I’m always available and love supporting YC founders. I can be reached at gul@metal.so. You can also check out Metal at metal.so.