5 fundraising mistakes I see founders make every single week (and how to fix them)

Hey everyone! Andres here from Verabro. We talk to founders raising capital every single week and after a while you start seeing the same patterns.

Here are the 5 mistakes that kill rounds before they even get started:

1. Targeting investors who have never invested in your sector or stage. This is the big one. It does not matter how good your cold email is if the investor on the other end has never backed a pre-seed SaaS company. You are invisible to them. Fix: filter by recent portfolio activity, not just fund name.

2. Treating fundraising like a one-time event instead of a process. The founders who close rounds treat it like sales: pipeline, follow-ups, tracking, iteration. The ones who struggle treat it like sending a batch of emails and hoping. Fix: build a simple CRM from day one, even if it is just a spreadsheet.

3. Not following up. Studies show most deals close after 5 or more touchpoints. Most founders give up after 2. That second email you are nervous about sending is probably the one that gets the reply. Fix: schedule your follow-ups in advance so you do not have to think about it.

4. Having no idea how the round is actually going. Founders who are mid-raise and cannot tell you their committed vs soft-circled capital in under 10 seconds are in trouble. You cannot manage what you cannot see. Fix: track every conversation and update it every day.

5. Starting too late. By the time you need money, you are already in a bad position to raise it. The best rounds happen when founders start building relationships with investors 6 to 12 months before they actually need capital. Fix: start now, even if you are not raising yet.

Anything here sound familiar? Drop a comment and let me know which one you are dealing with right now. Happy to go deeper on any of these. Pura vida!