Fundraising
Slide-Ordering Principles Shared by the Airbnb, Intercom, and Dropbox Seed Decks
Compare slide-ordering principles found in three public seed decks with the changes needed when applying them to a PSST business plan.
7 min read2026.10.01
OPENSEED · WIKI ARCHIVE
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Fundraising
How to Prove Your AI-Built Startup Is the Real Deal — With Data
Why a demo built quickly with AI draws more doubt, and how reproducible execution data builds credibility instead.
7 min read2026.07.24
Fundraising
Why Seed-Stage VCs Weigh 'Team Risk' So Heavily — Persuasion Strategies for Solo Founders, Non-Technical CEOs, and Teams With No Domain Experience
How solo founders, non-technical CEOs, and teams without domain experience write a convincing team section for seed IR.
8 min read2026.07.10
Fundraising
How to Use Follow-Up Emails After an Investor Pass to Stay in the Relationship and Land the Next Round
How to keep the channel alive after a rejection email, from the 48-hour reply to the follow-up touchpoint.
8 min read2026.06.30
Fundraising
Due Diligence and Data Room Prep — What VCs Demand After the Term Sheet
The diligence process and data room materials founders need once the term sheet is signed and real scrutiny begins.
9 min read2026.06.30
Fundraising
They Were Speaking Different Languages — Why Great Technology Fails When It Doesn't Translate
Why good technology fails at demo day when it isn't translated into the language investors actually use.
8 min read2026.06.29
Fundraising
The Shareholder Consent and Board Resolution Documents Founders Must Prepare Before Series A
A checklist of shareholder and board resolution documents to fix before Series A so due diligence doesn't stall your closing.
8 min read2026.06.28
Fundraising
Pre-Series A Convertible Bonds — 3 Key Terms Founders Must Negotiate
How founders facing a convertible bond offer negotiate conversion price, refixing, and maturity terms.
8 min read2026.06.17
Fundraising
LTV/CAC: How to Estimate Honestly When You Barely Have Data
How a team with fewer than ten customers can present LTV and CAC as ranges with assumptions made explicit.
8 min read2026.06.14
Fundraising
Reading a VC Term Sheet: Anti-Dilution, Liquidation Preference, and Board Composition, Explained for Founders
A first-time founder's guide to anti-dilution, liquidation preference, and board clauses — in actual numbers.
8 min read2026.06.12
Fundraising
The Startup Investment Terms Glossary
The investment terms that stall founders in IR, from pre/post-money to TAM, FPF, and convertible preferred MFN clauses, with formulas.
13 min read2026.05.30
Fundraising
Seed IR × OpenSeed — Preparing for the Six Axes VCs Review in a First Meeting
Pre-screening the six axes VCs cut on in a first seed meeting with OpenSeed's relevant review roles.
9 min read2026.05.28
Fundraising
What Kind of Company Does a VC Actually Back — the 4 Lenses Early-Stage Investors Use to Read a Company
One map of the four lenses VCs use to read a company and the red flags that end a review on the spot.
14 min read2026.05.23
Fundraising
When Should a Startup Founder Raise Their Own Salary — the Moral Hazard Line Investors Watch
The stage-by-stage moral hazard line and consent steps to check before raising your own salary right after a round.
10 min read2026.05.17
Fundraising
Raise Overseas Capital Carefully — a Case That Shut Down After a Delaware Flip
Where founders weighing a Delaware flip should stop once they see its irreversibility and the loss of government grant eligibility.
11 min read2026.05.17
Fundraising
Investors Struggle to Raise Money Too — the GP/LP Structure and the Real Cost of Venture Capital
Where VC money actually comes from: the GP/LP structure and the negotiating points venture capital's real cost creates.
11 min read2026.05.17
Fundraising
FI vs. SI: The Startup That Gave Kakao 25% and Got Blocked from Competitor Deals for a Year
The exclusivity and right-of-first-negotiation traps to check before taking strategic investment from a large corporation.
11 min read2026.05.14
Fundraising
Fundraising Takes 4-7 Months: A Reverse-Timeline Guide to When You Should Start
How a founder with six months of runway works backward from a 4-to-7-month fundraise to pick the start date.
11 min read2026.05.14
Fundraising
Without a Lead Investor, Your Syndicate Never Gets Moving
The order for landing a lead investor and running multi-closings when chasing club deals alone leaves your round stuck.
11 min read2026.05.14
Fundraising
Why You Shouldn't Ask an M&A Lawyer to Review Your Seed Term Sheet
Why an M&A lawyer is the wrong reviewer for a seed term sheet, and the order for getting RCPS and put-option advice.
11 min read2026.05.14
Fundraising
Why 8 of Mashup Angels' 100+ Portfolio Companies Capture 80% of the Value
How to reframe a market a VC called too small around the chance of a 10x return, using portfolio home-run math.
11 min read2026.05.14
Fundraising
What Comes After Fundraising Is Harder — Saerom Technology's Fall From a ₩5T Market Cap to Bankruptcy
How Saerom Technology burned through the most dangerous 12 months right after fundraising, from a ₩5T market cap to collapse.
11 min read2026.05.14
Fundraising
A VC Fund's Remaining Life Tells You How Eager They Are to Invest — How to Use Fundfinder
Using KVIC Fundfinder to read how eager a VC is to invest from the remaining life of their fund.
11 min read2026.05.14
Fundraising
Fundraising Is a Marriage Market — Why Market Kurly and Ohouse's Founders Used the Same Metaphor
A marriage-market style matching rubric and priority matrix for founders who struggle to pick the right investor.
11 min read2026.05.14
Fundraising
What Market Kurly Learned From 95 Rejections — Turning No Into Data
How a founder turned down 50-plus times by VCs can convert each rejection into data, the way Market Kurly did.
10 min read2026.05.13
Fundraising
Why Equal-Split Co-Founder Equity Gets You Cut at the First VC Meeting
How founders who split equity 1/N should restructure the cap table before their first VC meeting.
10 min read2026.05.13
Fundraising
The VC Funnel: 100 Reviewed, 2 Funded — Which Stage Are You Getting Cut At?
Working backward from rejection tone to figure out which stage of the 100-to-2 VC funnel you are falling out at.
11 min read2026.05.13
Fundraising
Early-Stage Investing Is Poker — How VCs Really Bet on Just 1–3 Cards
How founders who only defend weaknesses in seed IR shift to selling strengths, the way VCs bet on one to three cards.
9 min read2026.05.13
Fundraising
The Startup That Priced Itself at 200% of Fair Value — and Shut Down 18 Months Later
How pricing your startup at 200% of fair value leads to shutdown within 18 months, and why 130% is the ceiling.
10 min read2026.05.13
Fundraising
Cold Email Only Works at Seed — Mid- and Late-Stage VCs Run on Warm Introductions
When a founder chasing Series A by cold email should switch to warm introductions, and the signals that mark the shift.
9 min read2026.05.13
Fundraising
Don't Raise Money for Your Business — a Self-Diagnosis for Small-Business vs. J-Curve Models
A self-diagnosis to tell whether your business runs on a small-business model or a J-curve model before you raise money.
9 min read2026.05.13
Fundraising
TAM, SAM, SOM: The Market-Sizing Formula VCs Actually Trust
The top-down and bottom-up data to add when VCs start doubting your numbers the moment you state a market size.
11 min read2026.05.13
Fundraising
All What, No How-To: 6 Pitch Deck Patterns That Get You Cut Instantly
Six patterns to fix when a deck full of what and empty of how-to gets you cut on the spot.
11 min read2026.05.13
Fundraising
The Mashup Angels Seed Formula: How a Korean Accelerator Decides in 3 Weeks
How the Korean accelerator decides seed deals in three weeks: team 50%, pain 25%, market 15%, and how to pass each bar.
11 min read2026.05.13
Fundraising
Business Plan vs. Pitch Deck: Not the Same Thing — 7 Critical Differences
Seven critical differences for founders who reuse their business plan as an IR deck without rewriting it.
11 min read2026.05.13
Fundraising
The Cap Table — A Founder's Guide to Early Equity Design
The standard way to build your first cap table and simulate dilution round by round.
11 min read2026.05.05