Useful tools for your raise - 2023
Raising funding can be a full-time job, and you still have to keep your business growing and progressing at the same time. How does the modern-day founder do it? By using great tech, of course.
Here is a list of our some of my favourite tools that you can use for your whole fundraising journey, from crafting the perfect investor documents to organisation tools that will keep you laser focused and progressing towards your fundraising target.
Create a beautiful pitch deck
Do not settle for a boring powerpoint presentation, create a beautifully designed deck using Canva.
Don’t feel up to designing your slides yourself? Send all your content and get Slidebean to do it for you.
Easily Share documents
Protect and track who views your pitch deck by using Doc Send.
If Google Drive doesn’t cut it, compile your data room into a Notion page.
Share and protect Notion pages or other apps using a handy little tool called Cloakist
Build a financial model
Having a strong financial model is crucial to showcasing to investors what assumptions you’re basing your forecasts.
If you’re not sure where to start, grab a financial model template specific to your type of business via slidebean.
If you want to get really advanced, Finmark has come highly recommended by our portfolio companies.
Calculate your valuation
There really isn’t a one-stop shop for calculating your valuation. If you’re a pre-revenue or early stage company it is more of an art than a science. I recommend trying a number of tools, comparison techniques, sense-checking, and a bit of common-sense. Here are a few tools to get you started:
Check out my early-stage startup valuation guide
Research other companies valuations at investment or exit via crunchbase (tech) or Craft (everything else).
Read this handy article by Seed Legals
Try this calculator by Seedrs
Stay organised & track progress
If you’re not already a spreadsheet fan, you probably will need to become one during a fundraise. From creating financial models to tracking conversations, you’re dealing with a lot of data. Whilst a regular spreadsheet will suffice, if you want to take it up a notch give Airtable a try.
With all the different conversations and relationships to keep track of and communications being spread across different platforms, you may want to give the free CRM tool from Hubspot a try.
Deal with the legal stuff
Automate all the legal requirements that come with raising funding and get step-by-step guidance by using Seed Legals.
The easiest way to get an NDA in place to protect your company’s IP: Meeting Proof.
Want to get some advice and need to know the exact price it will cost you before you commit to anything? Give the new platform LegalDrop a go.
Record & share your pitch
You can simply use zoom to record your pitch by running a call and recording the session. Once finished, you can then download the recording as a video or send a link to investors.
If you’re trying to share a run through of your product and your pitch deck and want it to be a bit more sophisticated, try Loom. Loom is a video messaging tool that helps you get your message across through instantly shareable videos - you can record your camera, microphone, and desktop simultaneously.
Find investors
Find the best-suited angel group for you via UKBAA Directory
Sign up the floww.io platform and connect with investors on their platform in minutes
Find investors via crunchbase
Learn about the world of Venture Capital
Not tech tools but you can’t beat a good book…
To understand how VCs think, read: Venture Deals by Brad Feld
To understand how the UK angel investor thinks, read: Business Angel Investing by Richard Hargreaves
