Startup Fundraising: 8 Strategies to Run an Efficient Process

By: Camila Noordeloos

Raising capital is no small feat, whether for venture capital managers like us at Grand Ventures or for startup founders and CEOs. Fundraising requires time, preparation, and endless meetings, but running the process efficiently can make all the difference. In this post, I plan to share some lessons I’ve learned from a few of our portfolio companies that recently secured multiple term sheets within days, giving them strong negotiation leverage.

The Power of Timing in Fundraising

A great company doesn’t automatically guarantee the best fundraising outcomes. Sure, if your metrics are solid, someone will likely offer you capital. But, actually, that’s not the end goal. The real prize is having multiple term sheets in hand, ideally delivered within a tight timeframe. Why? Because having options is your strongest negotiating tool.

When you are armed with multiple offers, you can compare terms, push back on valuations, and ultimately choose the partner that aligns best with your vision. It’s much harder to negotiate effectively when you’re working from a position of need or scarcity.

Here’s an example: one of our portfolio companies had a clear preference for their lead investor. The problem? That investor’s initial valuation was second-to-last among the offers. By leveraging their other term sheets, they were able to negotiate that investor up to offer the best valuation overall.

A disclaimer: if a startup is not performing well, receiving multiple termsheets is unlikely to happen. Addressing this type of scenario is not the focus of this post. My focus is to show that a truly successful fundraise is hard even for the best companies, and I hope to share some key operational actions to increase your odds of success.

How to Run an Efficient Fundraising Process

Recently, a few of our portfolio companies ran very successful fundraises. One had five term sheets arrive in the same week and another four within ten days. During the same period, we also made a new investment in a company with four potential lead investors presenting term sheets within one week. These situations gave them the ability to look at the pros and cons side by side, push back, negotiate, and ultimately land their desired lead investor.

Below are a few strategies that helped these portfolio companies create structured, efficient fundraising campaigns:

1. Treat Fundraising Like a Project

Create a plan: Outline tasks, assign owners, and set deadlines.
Engage your Board: Your Board of Directors (BoD) has seen countless fundraises. Leverage their insights and keep them updated and engaged. Remember that VCs are fundraising all the time and, most likely, your BoD members or investors have had to fundraise as well.

2. Perfect the Pitch

Review your deck: Get feedback from your BoD and trusted investors.
Practice makes perfect: Run mock pitches. Treat your early investor meetings as practice too, but aim to be polished from the start—you never know when a top-tier investor will be in the room.

3. Start Conversations Early

Begin casual chats with potential investors a few months before officially launching your raise. This gives you time to understand or get an update on their interests, investment criteria, and process without the pressure of an imminent close. It is a good way to practice your pitch in a casual format and hear about what investors are looking for as you prepare your story.

Early conversations are also an interesting way to create buzz. One founder we worked with was so methodical in their pre-raise conversations that by the time they officially launched, investors were already talking to each other about them to each other and anxious to learn more.

4. Build an Investor Prospect List

Create a list of potential investors and share it with your BoD or allies so they can collaborate and help with introductions. This is a great way to keep everyone informed of which conversations are being held. Keep it simple, but informative to help decision-making and prioritization. Include names, connections, whether they lead rounds, their investment criteria, or any relevant note.

Despite common advice, something very interesting that came up in conversation with some CEOs was to avoid focusing the early conversations only on the investors who could potentially lead the round. With the emerging manager ecosystem evolving, there are many firms that will not lead rounds but have very strong connections with firms that do. They build conviction on the companies they like and are very helpful in finding a strong lead investor for the startup.

5. Time Your Intro Calls

Try to schedule the majority of the introductory calls over a focused 1–2 week period. This will allow you to practice that first pitch very well, understand the investors in consideration and their processes, and have a sense of who may be interested or not. It also keeps momentum high and helps align investors’ timelines, which is critical for receiving term sheets simultaneously.

6. Qualify Investors Quickly

Make sure you spend some time during your intro call understanding the investor and their due diligence process. You want to understand if this is an investor who could lead the round and how to match their process to your timeline. Find out if they lead, their stage focus, check sizes, due diligence steps and timing. Again, these are the very process-driven aspects of the conversation so you can try to control the timing of the process. There are many more important questions to ask investors that are related to their value-add beyond just providing capital. (just not the focus of this post).

Understanding these details helps you to prioritize conversations and align timelines.

7. Master the Data Room

Your data room is your tool to keep investors engaged and aligned on timing. Keep it simple and organized. It’s about quality over quantity, and, if possible, track access and have document version control to keep the files updated.

Little strategies with big impact:

Wait to share the data room: Interested parties will start asking for materials and access to the data room right after the intro call. Releasing the data room around the same time to all investors is one of your only levers to control the timing of the process. You can explain that you are finishing the materials and will share them as soon as they are ready, but it is important to release it to most people at the same time so you coordinate when they all have access to the information and potentially start real diligence around the same time.
Give enough, but not too much: Include a lot of the good and standard information (pitch deck, executive summary, team bios, high-level financial projections, case studies, etc.), but also leave some more detailed information out. This is a way to see how investors are engaging with it and their level of interest as they come back with questions or requests for more information.
Make investors’ lives easy: Remember that investors, whether they are associates or partners at the firm, will have to compile this information and present it to their investment committee. Therefore, make sure to make their process of building their investment memos as easy as possible. Your data room should be clean, organized, and compelling.

8. Weekly Fundraising Report with investors

The best business plans have regular touchpoints to keep everyone involved and accountable. Establish a weekly report with your BoD or whoever is helping you with the fundraise. One of our portfolio companies had a simple weekly email outlining what had been done during the week, major meetings, reasons why some firms passed on the opportunity, or other relevant information. It is a good practice to keep all the investors on the same page, ask for help, and identify when it is time to jump on a quick BoD call if something is not heading in the right direction.

Final Thoughts

Fundraising is hard, but a strong plan can make it more manageable—and much more successful. Leverage your network, keep your Board engaged, and stay disciplined.

Lastly, remember, investors want to see your authentic self, not a polished performance. Be compelling, but don’t fake it; the story of your business is strongest when it’s grounded in your conviction.If you’re preparing for a raise, ask yourself: How sharp is my axe? Because as Abraham Lincoln said, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”