The Founders' Dilemma:
How to raise capital and is it worth it?
How to raise capital and is it worth it?
The practical guide with implementation materials and real case studies to accelerate your fundraising journey.
No previous fundraising and financial experience are required.
No previous fundraising and financial experience are required.
You need the course if the following sounds familiar:
- I am not sure what's the right time to start fundraising.
- I do not know how to start reaching out to investors and/or where to find them.
- I want to find a dream co-founder that will share my interests.
- I have no idea how much to raise at which valuation, and if the VCs vision is more important than the money they offer.
- I want to continue operating my startup without devoting all my time to fundraising.
- I don't know which fundraising processes and materials are required at each stage.
Why Choose Us?
Let the numbers speak!
$50M
Our startups have raised over $50M in capital
5000+
Investors we have access to
20/80
20% of our investors are angels or HNW, 80% VCs, including early stage
1000+
Founders who've taken our courses
What is inclided?
The course structure
- 6 LessonsEach 1 hour long, with three parts: educational videos, case study and materials.
- 6 Case StudiesReal-life interviews with startup founders.
- 30 Files30 comprehensive and practical resources that help you implement all the knowledge into practice.
- Lifetime aсcess*To all course materials, interviews and videos on the Startup Station educational platform. *starting from the Standard package.
Course Materials
Lesson 1. When is it the right time to start raising capital and from whom?
- Overview of financing stages.
- Comparison diagram of different startup funding sources.
- Sample startup budget.
- Startup budget worksheet.
Lesson 2. How to find a dream co-founder and seal the deal?
- Sample co-founders agreement.
- Step plan how to determine co-founders equity and a sample equity split model.
- Checklist of what should be included in a co-founders agreement.
- Stock options valuation guide.
Lesson 3. How to pique investors interest and get a second investor's meeting
- The structure of a 2-minute pitch.
- Examples of pitch decks that raised money.
- Investor readiness checklist: to check if you have everything ready for fundraising.
- Criteria for evaluating investors.
- Resources for investor research.
- Examples of investors' intro and follow-up emails.
- Strategies for how to connect with the right VCs.
Lesson 4. Valuation: a negotiating tool, a financial fact, or a wild guess?
- Pros and cons diagram of two valuation approaches.
- Step plan outlining how to implement each valuation approach.
- Three examples illustrating how to increase your company's valuation by 50%+.
Lesson 5. What a 'good' term sheet looks like?
- Fundraising materials checklist.
- Term sheet completion checklist.
- Standard Seed Term Sheet (US and UK versions);
- Standard Series A Term Sheet (US and UK versions);
- Pros and cons of main startup financing vehicles: Equity, SAFE and convertible debt.
- Strategies for selecting the vehicle for your startup.
Lesson 6. How to Retain Control after Fundraising
- Sample board structure.
- Sample board responsibilities.
- Step plan on how to conduct a successful board meeting.
- Effective board meeting agenda.
- Five scenarios that may lead to losing control of your company and how to prevent them.
Course Curriculum
- Lesson 1When is it the right time to start raising capital and from whom?1
- Lesson 2How to find a dream co-founder and seal the deal?2
- Lesson 3How to pique investors' interest and get a second investor's meeting.3
- Lesson 4Valuation: a negotiating tool, a financial fact, or a wild guess?4
- Lesson 5What does a 'good' term sheet look like?
Best practices from Silicon Valley and leading European investors.5 - Lesson 6How to retain control after fundraising?6
Who will benefit from the course:
Pre-seed startup
Who does not know any investors and has no idea how to approach the fundraising process.
Beginner
Raising capital from professional investors for the first time.
Founder
Who tried to raise capital in the past 3-12 months, unsuccessfully, and knows he/she needs to change the strategy.
Innovator
With great ideas but no business or finance background.
Co-founder
Who does not know how to align his or her interests with those of their partner and define responsibilities.
After you take the course, you will be able to:
- Decideon when to start fundraising and how much money you need to start a company.
- Determineif venture capital is the right choice for you and select the best financing vehicle.
- Negotiatea fair win-win deal with your co-founder.
- Positionyour startup to get investors' interest quickly and prepare for fundraising.
- Credibly valueyour company and use the resulting valuation in investor negotiations.
- Createa supportive board of advisors who will help you reach your business goals.
- Retaincontrol of your company for as long as you need to.
- Alignyour interests with investors'.
Some of our speakers for the case studies
Learn from the experience of successful startup founders.
- Alexander YampolskiyGlobally recognized cybersecurity innovator, leader, and expert. Co-founder and CEO of Security Scorecard, one of the world's most trusted cybersecurity brands. The company has received numerous awards, including World Economic Forum 2020 Technology Pioneer, 2020 Deloitte Technology Fast 500™, Fastest Growing Cybersecurity Company, and more.
LinkedIn - Stephen ButlerCEO and Co-Founder of StreamLoan, a serial entrepreneur, 5 prior startups, recent exit: the 2013 ionGrid acquisition by NetApp. Stephen has significant experience across strategy, build, and deployment of enterprise software at Fortune 500 companies extending to White House/Executive Office of the President, HP, Visa, MasterCard, Allstate, Kaiser, P&G, and over 50 Fortune 500 organizations.
LinkedIn - Robustiano TubioRobustiano is currently CFO at Tymit, a FinTech company, which raised £7mn in equity + £12mn in debt. Before that, he worked in investment banking in Santander in Argentina, Brazil and the UK. He has spent most of his career providing solutions to institutional customers funding, yield enhancement, and hedging arrangements.
LinkedIn - Oleg DmitrievSerial Enterpreneur20+ years of experience in developing new technologies and products: from software development to mechanical engineering, and to launching rockets.
Supported a few startups with cash and advice, leading to a successful exit and have previously raised over £3m of equity funding and over £0.5m of grant funding.
LinkedIn - Mark Mueller-EbersteinMark is an internationally renowned business leader, entrepreneur, investor, consultant, best-selling author, and teaches at Rutgers University's Business School. Mark is a member of e.g. the Washington IoT Council, and advises with the Shenzhen (China) based Qianhai Institute for Innovation Research (QIIR) the APEC organization. He delivers guest lectures at e.g. Seattle University and is an advisor and board member to selected companies, Investment Funds (https://www.bloccelerate.vc/ ) and initiatives.
Linkedin
Detailed Cirriculum
Press on the lessson to learn more. Press again to close desription.
During the lesson, we will focus on:
Key skills you will learn:
Materials you get to implement the discussed strategies:
- When should you start raising external capital?
- Fears which cause you to start raising too early vs. too late
- Fears which cause you to start raising too early vs. too late
- Bootstrapping and how much money do you need on average to start a business?
- Types of capital: raising equity versus raising debt;
- Top 3 fundraising mistakes;
- Types of investors: friends & family, angels, VCs, strategics, family offices;
- Pros and cons of each type of funding;
- What drives VC firms: the VC funds economics.
Key skills you will learn:
- When you need to start fundraising;
- How to finance yourself, in the beginning, to become eligible for outside capital;
- The differences between different sources of funding and requirements you must meet to qualify for them;
- How to determine if venture capital is the right vehicle for you.
Materials you get to implement the discussed strategies:
- Overview of financing stages
- Comparison diagram of different startup funding sources
- Sample startup budget
- Startup budget worksheet
During the lesson, we will focus on:
Interview with Stephen Butler, founder of StreamLoan, about his experience of looking for and working with a co-founder.
Materials you get to implement the discussed strategies:
- How to determine how much equity to offer to your co-founder;
- Responsibilities: what will they do before and after funding? What is their value?
- Capital requirements: do they have to invest? If yes, how much and under which circumstances?
- In-kind vs cash
- In-kind vs cash
- Time requirements: how much time do they work before/after funding?
- Long-term prospects: what is their role as the company involves? Salary?
- Control & voting: which issues do you have and not have to agree on?
- Vesting period: how long does it take for their equity to vest? Is there a cliff period?
- Unwinding process: what happens if they want to leave or if you want them gone?
- How to look for a co-founder?
- What are the three most important qualities in a co-founder?
- How did you determine how much equity to offer a co-founder?
- How to determine the capital and time commitments of each co-founder?
- How to define the responsibilities of each co-founder?
Interview with Stephen Butler, founder of StreamLoan, about his experience of looking for and working with a co-founder.
Materials you get to implement the discussed strategies:
- Sample co-founders agreement
- Step plan how to determine co-founders equity and a sample equity split model
- Checklist of what should be included in a co-founders agreement
- Stock options valuation guide
During the lesson, we will focus on:
Founders talk with Aleksandr Yampolskiy, CEO of SecurityScorecard:
Materials you get to implement the discussed strategies:
- What investors are looking for and how to make your startup more fundable;
- How to target the right investors and how to communicate with them so that you get a response;
- Top five pitch deck mistakes and how to avoid them;
- What to include in a 2-min pitch and first email to attract investors' interest; and
- How to interpret investor responses and build lasting relationships.
- How to identify the right investors;
- How to create an investors pipeline;
- How to position your startup to get investors' interest quickly; and
- How to communicate with investors to get a response.
Founders talk with Aleksandr Yampolskiy, CEO of SecurityScorecard:
Materials you get to implement the discussed strategies:
- The structure of a 2-minute pitch;
- Investor readiness checklist, to check if you have everything ready for fundraising;
- List of criteria for evaluating investors;
- List of resources for investor research;
- Examples of investors intro and follow-up emails;
- Strategies for how to connect with the right VCs;
- Examples of pitch decks that raised money.
During the lesson, we will focus on:
Founders talk with Robustiano Tubio, CFO at Tymit, a FinTech company, which raised £7mn in equity + £12mn in debt: how to negotiate valuation with VCs.
Materials you get to implement the discussed strategies:
- What does a startup valuation for an early-stage venture represent?
- Pros and cons of main startup valuation approaches: scorecard and quantitative;
- What drives startup valuations?
- Key strategies to increase your company valuation;
- Latest valuation trends and what investors are paying attention to in due diligence;
- Founders dilemma: how do I not give up too much equity - being "rich" vs being "king".
- Dynamics in the current VC investing landscape and realistic valuation ranges for companies at your stage;
- How to think about your company's valuation and use it in investor negotiations;
- Pros and cons of various valuation approaches and being able to select one for your venture;
- How to defend your company valuation;
- Which strategies you can use to increase your company valuation.
Founders talk with Robustiano Tubio, CFO at Tymit, a FinTech company, which raised £7mn in equity + £12mn in debt: how to negotiate valuation with VCs.
Materials you get to implement the discussed strategies:
- Pros and cons diagram of two valuation approaches;
- Step plan outlining how to implement each valuation approach;
- Three examples illustrating how to increase your company's valuation by 50%+.
During this lesson, you will learn what a good term sheet looks like, what conditions are and are not standard, how to negotiate the term sheet and practical fundraising tips from founders who've raised $100M+ from top VCs.
During this lesson, we will focus on:
Materials you will get to implement the discussed strategies:
During this lesson, we will focus on:
- When do you need to have ready for fundraising?
- Overview of three main startup financing vehicles;
- Which terms are important to include in your term sheet?
- Which term sheet clauses are "good" and "bad"?
- Three reasons to walk away from a deal;
- Five term sheet negotiating tips.
- How to prepare for fundraising;
- Pros and cons of each financing vehicle and the pitfalls most often overlooked by founders;
- How to select the best vehicle for your startup;
- How to effectively negotiate with investors;
- Which terms are most important for your company to get right.
Materials you will get to implement the discussed strategies:
- Fundraising materials checklist;
- Term sheet completion checklist;
- Standard Seed Term Sheet (US and UK versions);
- Standard Series A Term Sheet (US and UK versions);
- Pros and cons of main startup financing vehicles: Equity, SAFE and convertible debt;
- Strategies for selecting the vehicle for your startup.
In this lesson, we will discuss:
Interview with Oleg Dmitriev on common gaps in creating and managing a board of advisors and his own experience.
Materials you will get to implement the discussed strategies:
- How to deduce the true intentions of investors?
- Which terms are essential to negotiate to retain control? What is negotiable, and which terms are disadvantageous to you?
- A board of advisors as a tool to manage relationships with investors:
- Top three tips on creating a board of directors;
- Who should be on a board of advisors?
- What is the main purpose of a board of advisors, and how to utilize it to your advantage?
- Key strategies in managing a board of directors;
- Top three tips on creating a board of directors;
- Top five reasons why you may lose control of your company;
- What to do if your position as a founder is threatened.
- How to align your interests with those of investors;
- How to do crisis management;
- Strategies and mechanisms you can use to create a supportive board of advisors who will help you reach your business goals;
- Policies and terms you need to put in place to retain control of your company for as long as you need to.
Interview with Oleg Dmitriev on common gaps in creating and managing a board of advisors and his own experience.
Materials you will get to implement the discussed strategies:
- Sample board structure;
- Sample board responsibilities;
- Step plan on how to conduct a successful board meeting;
- Effective board meeting agenda;
- Five scenarios that may lead to losing control of your company and how to prevent them.
Pricing
Basic
30 Spots Available
$595
Access to the webinar and all materials for 3 months
50% coupon to upgrade to following The Startup Station classes - available as an upsell on the Thank You page:
- 4-Course Series for Tech Startups with Case Study (Accounting and financial analysis, Financial modeling for tech startups, Valuation models and concepts, Case study with a financial model template)
- 4-Course Series for Product Startups with Case Study (Accounting and financial analysis, Financial modeling for product startups, Valuation models and concepts, Case study with a financial model template)
- Flagship Finance Series (Accounting and financial analysis, Financial modeling for tech startups, Financial modeling for product startups, Valuation models and concepts, Introduction to startup finance)
50% coupon to upgrade to following The Startup Station classes - available as an upsell on the Thank You page:
- 4-Course Series for Tech Startups with Case Study (Accounting and financial analysis, Financial modeling for tech startups, Valuation models and concepts, Case study with a financial model template)
- 4-Course Series for Product Startups with Case Study (Accounting and financial analysis, Financial modeling for product startups, Valuation models and concepts, Case study with a financial model template)
- Flagship Finance Series (Accounting and financial analysis, Financial modeling for tech startups, Financial modeling for product startups, Valuation models and concepts, Introduction to startup finance)
Standard
Only 20 Spots Available
$1195
- Basic package +
- Lifetime access to the course.
- Astra Global intros to 5 VCs:
- - Arrange your one-pager and video pitch according to our instructions to market your startup most efficiently.
- - We provide you with a list of 200+VCs with all the info relevant for effective VC targeting: technology, industry, stage, revenue requirements. You can choose VCs that are relevant for you.
- - We introduce your startup to the specified number of chosen funds and inform you if they are interested.
- - Arrange your one-pager and video pitch according to our instructions to market your startup most efficiently.
Advanced
Only 5 Spots Available
$1795
- Standard package +
- 1-hour review of the financial model's structure as well as of the underlying business logic to ensure that the assumptions are credible and that the model is built to reflect correctly the company's business strategy, marketing strategy, and all costs and
- 30-min call to discuss the results.
TESTIMONIALS
FAQs
If you did not find your question below, feel free to contact us at manager@astraglobal.org
- Question:How long is each lesson?Answer:Each lesson is about 1 hour long and contains an educational portion, real-life interviews with startup founders, and materials. Each video is 3-7 minutes long.
- Question:How long do I have access to the course?Answer:Basic Package: 3 months.
Standard or Advanced Packages: Lifetime.
All access is across all devices. - Question:What if I am unhappy with the course?Answer:Unfortunately, we cannot provide refunds, because when you sign up, you gain access to the class materials and can download them. We encourage you asking us any questions and reading the testimonials and the course agenda before signing up to help ensure that each particular course is useful to you.
- Question:How can you contact the instructor?Answer:You can contact us at manager@astraglobal.org
- Question:Do you need to know any finance to take the courses?Answer:No, no prior finance experience is required. We explain every concept and every term from scratch.
WHO WE ARE:
Elena Gusakova is the Founder of Astra Global, a global business development company. Prior to her career in Business Development, Elena spent 8 years working as an M&A lawyer at private equity funds, leading cross border deals with the total deal amount exceeding $600M. She has a deep understanding of investment processes, investors' main concerns and is an experienced negotiator. Elena holds EMBA from Columbia and London Business Schools.
Victoria Yampolsky, CFA is the Founder and President of The Startup Station, an education and advisory platform focused on modeling and valuing early-stage ventures. 1,000+ founders have taken its courses and The Startup Statin's clients raised more than $50M in financing. Prior to founding The Startup Station, Victoria worked for Deutsche Bank Research and Capgemini. Victoria holds BS in Computer Science from Cornell University and MBA from Columbia Business School.