Fundraising Fundamentals for First-Time Founders
Early-stage founder
Raising a pre-seed round typically takes 3 to 6 months and involves 40 to 80 investor conversations. Most first-time founders underestimate both the timeline and the volume of outreach required.
The mechanics behind investor decisions
This programme breaks down how angel investors and pre-seed funds evaluate deals. The focus is on the 5 factors that appear in nearly every investment decision at this stage: team, market size, traction signal, narrative clarity, and terms.
You will build a 12-slide pitch deck reviewed by 2 practising investors who give written feedback within 7 days. The deck structure follows formats that closed rounds in 2023 and 2024.
A realistic picture of the process
Fundraising is not a linear path. This course includes a module on managing rejection patterns and adjusting your pitch after the first 15 conversations produce no commitments.
Petras Vaitkus, who raised a 180,000 euro angel round after completing this programme, described the investor feedback module as the part that changed how he framed his market slide.- Deck construction with annotated examples from real pre-seed rounds
- Investor outreach sequences and warm introduction strategies
- Term sheet basics: what to watch for in a standard SAFE agreement
Program Structure
Programme outline
- Module 1 - How pre-seed investors evaluate deals and what signals matter at this stage
- Module 2 - Building your 12-slide deck with structured feedback from 2 investors
- Module 3 - Outreach strategy: building a list of 60 relevant investors and writing cold emails that get responses
- Module 4 - Running investor meetings: how to present, handle objections, and follow up
- Module 5 - Term sheets and SAFEs: understanding the 8 clauses that affect founder dilution most
- Format
- Self-paced modules plus 3 live Q&A sessions
- Feedback
- Written deck review from 2 investors included in price
- Community
- Private cohort group with 20 other founders at the same stage
Availability
Places are limited per cohort to keep the learning environment focused and interactive.
Published: 2026 08 16
Questions about this program?
The team at Nymiqae is available to help you determine whether this program fits your current stage and goals.
About Nymiqae