Venture capital
Venture capital is not the right next step. Pursue easier paths first and circle back.
Gates required
- Problem clarity
- Target customer clarity
- Market size estimate
- Competitive advantage
- Team strength
- Founder-market fit
- Traction signals
- Pitch deck
- Financial model
- Legal entity formed
- Public website
Open gates
Problem clarity
Funders fund problems, not solutions. If you can't articulate the pain in one sentence, no check follows.
Action: Write one sentence: 'I'm building X for [customer] who suffers [pain] because [today's options fail at Y].'
Target customer clarity
A clear target customer is the difference between 'cool idea' and 'I know exactly who pays for this'.
Action: Pick one tightly-defined customer (role + company size + geography). Resist the 'everyone' answer.
Market size estimate
Equity-style funders need a believable path to a large outcome. Lenders need confidence the market can sustain the loan.
Action: Use bottom-up math: # of customers × annual contract value = market size. Cite the source for the customer count.
Competitive advantage
Without a moat, every dollar invested gets eroded by the next entrant.
Action: Pick a single defensibility lever (proprietary data, network effect, distribution, technical moat) and write the case for it.
Team strength
Solo founders can win, but funders price in execution risk for one-person teams.
Action: Recruit a complementary co-founder, founding engineer, or formal advisor and document the equity split.
Founder-market fit
Why YOU? Funders need a credible answer or they back the next founder with one.
Action: Write a one-paragraph 'why me' narrative: prior roles, scars, and the unfair information advantage you have.
Traction signals
Traction is the cheapest, most legible proof of demand. Nothing replaces it.
Action: Run 10 customer calls in the next 14 days. Capture quotes + commitments. Even letters of intent count.
Pitch deck
The deck is the artifact every investor expects. No deck = no meeting.
Action: Generate the 10-slide deck (problem, solution, why-now, market, model, traction, team, financials, ask). Use the Persoona capital module.
Financial model
Even an opinionated 3-tab spreadsheet shows you understand the unit economics.
Action: Build a 3-year revenue + CAC + headcount model. Even simple is fine if assumptions are explicit.
Legal entity formed
No funder writes a check to a person — you need a C-corp or LLC.
Action: Form a Delaware C-corp for VC, or an LLC for cashflow businesses. Stripe Atlas, Clerky, or Firstbase handle this.
Public website
A real website signals the bar you hold yourself to. Notion docs don't count.
Action: Ship a 1-page landing site with your value prop, a demo or screenshot, and a way for prospects to opt in.