Fundraising Hub
31 guides and 14 templates on fundraising, term sheets, pitch decks, and everything between your first angel check and Series A. Built from 40+ investments and 10 companies.
From the book
These guides expand on ideas from Aniol w Piekle, the first Polish book written from an angel investor's perspective.
Read free chapters →When I started iTaxi, nobody from Warsaw was raising in Silicon Valley. It seemed impossible. Today, European founders raise billions from US investors. Most still leave money on the table because
I'm sitting in my Warsaw office, and across my desk is a brilliant 32-year-old engineer who's built a machine learning platform for logistics optimization. The technology is world-class. The team is
Calculate your total (max 100 points). Check your interpretation at the bottom. Use weak areas to prioritize what to fix before approaching investors.
I've sat on both sides of the table long enough to see a pattern that infuriates me: venture capitalists claim to love serial founders, then systematically underestimate them during term sheet
You're in week 18 of a fundraise you thought would take 8 weeks.
SAFEs are simple instruments, but their conversion mechanics confuse founders. This tool walks you through the math, shows real examples, and helps you predict dilution before it happens.
I've looked at thousands of term sheets from both sides of the table. In almost every Series A conversation with a US VC or global fund, one phrase appears: 'We'll need you in Delaware.'
Here's what I've learned from seeing thousands of term sheets: the moment an investor sends you one, you're supposed to act grateful and sign it.
Know which terms matter and which will haunt you. A term sheet is a 10-page document with 50+ negotiable terms. Most founders miss the ones that actually matter. This scanner highlights 30+ red
Your cap table is the secret founder report card.
Your data room is your operational resume.
Build a system for managing investor relationships. Raising capital is a sales process. This tool provides the exact fields, pipeline stages, email templates, and workflows to track 100+ investors
When I walked into my first investor pitch in Stockholm, I carried three languages with me: Polish, Swedish, and English. My English was fluent but accented. My vocabulary was strong but occasionally
You walked out of the pitch meeting feeling good. The investor seemed engaged. They asked detailed questions. They said they'd want to look at your numbers. They said they'd be in touch in 'a week or
For founders building in Europe. Built on lessons from €150M+ in deployed capital and 13+ years of angel investing.
The conventional wisdom in startup fundraising goes like this: warm introductions are important. You need to know someone who knows someone. Your ability to raise capital is directly proportional to
If you're a European founder raising capital, you're playing a different game than Silicon Valley founders. Not worse. Different. Understanding those differences is the difference between a
For founders who need to model cash, runway, and unit economics without a CFO. Includes formulas, two business models (SaaS and non-SaaS), and a realistic example.
Fundraising is not a business problem in spreadsheets. It is an identity problem in a pitch deck.
Investors are not rational actors operating in unlimited time. They are people managing limited capital, processing dozens of opportunities simultaneously, and making decisions under incomplete
For founders who need to know: Are you okay? When to get help. And how to keep going.
Y Combinator publishes benchmarks, and founders memorize them. But what investors actually demand in Series A meetings in 2026 has drifted from YC's public playbook. The gap matters more in Europe
When founders say 'tough market,' they mean one of three things:
For founders deciding if you're ready to raise Series A. 75 questions, parallel structure to the Pre-Seed Readiness Scorecard, used by investors to evaluate Series A companies.
The conventional wisdom is broken. Founders spend 80 hours perfecting 40-slide pitch decks. Investors spend 4 minutes skimming them. Both parties end up frustrated.
I've read hundreds of term sheets. I've signed four of them as a founder. I've invested capital in 200+ startups as an angel, meaning I've reviewed the investor side of the table for many more.
An email to a cold investor takes 45 seconds to read. Make those 45 seconds count with a structure that hooks attention, builds credibility, and closes with a clear ask.
When an investor says no, they are saying no to one of three things. Learning to hear which one determines whether you come back in three months or three years.
When you sell your first company, investors treat you differently. The difference is supposed to be good—better access, faster meetings, higher valuations, enthusiasm. Then you start raising again.
You're six weeks into fundraising. You have a term sheet from a lead investor. Closings are planned. Tuesday morning, your co-founder messages: 'I need to talk about equity before we close this
Split equity wrong on day one, and you're paying for it for 10 years. This tool lets you model co-founder equity scenarios, understand vesting mechanics, and benchmark against what actually works.
European founders are operating in a different game than US founders. Not easier. Different. Here are the five structural advantages that matter when raising capital.
Most founders think of angel capital as a stepping stone—something you pass through on the way to US VCs and institutional money. This is a blind spot.
Before you approach investors, know where you actually are. This 4x4 matrix scores you on team strength, market clarity, capital efficiency, and execution speed.
You close your funding round. The capital hits the bank account. Your cap table updates. Everyone celebrates.
You closed the round. Congratulations. Now comes the part that separates winners from cautionary tales: the first 90 days of execution.
Where to publish: `lechkaniuk.com/fundraising/equity-conversion-esop-tax-guide`
You pitched, you didn't close. Now what? The first 6 months determine whether you come back stronger or disappear.
Where to publish: `lechkaniuk.com/fundraising/founders-guide-aniol-w-piekle`
Anioł w Piekle (Angel in Hell) is a playbook for founders, not just a memoir. This guide turns the book into 8 weeks of founder conversations and positions you as a thought leader in your network.
Ten years ago, raising capital meant hiring expensive advisors or relying on pattern matching from founders who had been through it before. The playbook was opaque: cap tables lived in Excel,
After a failed raise, you can't pitch the same story. You pitch what changed. Here is the five-part structure that works.
You're about to spend the next 25 years of your life raising capital. Not continuously—there will be years without a raise, years building in quiet. But capital will be a constant vocabulary in your
This is the capstone. The master index that ties together all 12 tools, all 26 articles, and all the resources you need to deal with from pre-seed through Series A.
European and US venture capitalists operate under different constraints. Same industry. Different games. Here are the seven criteria that matter.