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Welcome to Cutting Through The Fog.
Each week I share the thinking and frameworks I’ve used (and learned the hard way) to help you build with more clarity, more momentum, and fewer avoidable mistakes.
This week it’s fundraising:
Most founders lose months (and burn confidence) for one boring reason.
They pitch the right story to the wrong room.
Fundraising is stage-matching.
Different investors buy different things.
Pre-seed: belief (in the founder and the problem)
Seed: evidence (that it works and can work at scale)
Series A: momentum (repeatability, efficiency, and leadership)
Pitch the wrong proof at the wrong time, and even a great business gets passed.
Why this matters
Different types of funders will be interested in your business depending on your stage of growth.
That sounds obvious.
But founders still treat “investors” as one category.
They’re not.
Different investors have different appetites for uncertainty and risk because the rewards and proof points are fundamentally different.
So let’s break down what actually matters at each stage.
Pre-seed investors
Who are they?
Angels. Founders-turned-investors. Early micro-VCs.
Their mindset:
“Do I believe this person really understands the problem, and can they pull this off?”
They mostly care about five things:
The founder
The problem
Market potential
Early signals of interest
Cost structure
1) The founder
At pre-seed, there isn’t much to prove yet.
So investors judge the inputs.
Credibility and resilience
Lived-in experience with the problem
Pace of learning (not agreeableness, learning speed)
Coachability (will you listen to customers, not just investors)
If there’s no evidence yet, you are the evidence.
2) Problem clarity
A sharp, painful problem, explained simply.
And a clear target customer.
Not “everyone”.
Not “busy people”.
A real person in a real context with a real pain.
3) Market potential
Is it big enough to matter?
Is it scalable?
Ideally: a narrow entry point with a broad expansion story later.
4) Early signals of interest
Not traction yet.
Signals.
Prototype / MVP / mock-ups
Strong customer interviews
Letters of intent
Pilot users
5) Cost structure
Show modest burn.
Show you are bootstrapping.
And show a clear plan to reach the milestones that will convince seed investors later.
Pre-seed funding should buy you proof.
Not comfort.
Pre-seed red flags
Over-engineering the product before you understand the customer
Grand vision with weak customer insight
Chasing valuation instead of learning
Seed investors
Who are they?
Seed funds. Strong angels. Early-stage VCs.
Their mindset:
“Is this working, and can it work at scale?”
They care most about:
Team
Early product-market fit
Traction
Market size and structure
Use of funds
1) Team capability
Execution matters now.
The founder is still central, but you need evidence the business can move without you doing everything.
Early hires should fill real gaps.
You also need to show decision-making under pressure.
Some structure.
Some operating rhythm.
The beginnings of culture.
2) Early proof of product-market fit
The best proof is customers who pay.
Other strong signals:
Repeat usage or repeat purchase
Reorders
Contracts (not pilots)
3) Traction
Investors want to see direction.
Growth trends (percentages and absolute numbers)
Retention, engagement, reorder rates
Unit economics awareness and a credible path to improving margins with scale
4) Market size and structure
This becomes more detailed than pre-seed:
A clearly defined ICP
A credible TAM (logic and data, not hype)
An honest view of competition (including who is actually dangerous)
5) Use of funds
Be specific.
Seed money should buy the milestones that get you to Series A.
Key hires. Growth levers. Product refinement. Distribution. Brand and marketing with a clear mechanism.
Seed red flags
Vanity metrics (followers, views, traffic) with weak conversion
“Hope” as go-to-market
The founder is still doing everything
At best, you are the bottleneck.
At worst, you are the risk.
Series A investors
Who are they?
Institutional VCs and some family offices.
Their mindset:
“This looks good. Can it become a much bigger opportunity?”
They care most about:
A scalable business model
Strong evidence of product-market fit
Leadership and organisational design
Market dominance potential
Financial discipline
1) Scalable business model
Predictable revenue growth.
Repeatable acquisition channels.
Those two are linked.
And your unit economics need to be heading in the right direction.
2) Strong product-market fit
Consistent revenue growth is one signal.
So is customer love:
retention
low churn
testimonials
referrals
genuine pull from the market
3) Leadership and org design
At Series A, investors back companies, not heroic founders.
They want to see:
a founder developing into a CEO
a leadership team taking shape
clear roles, accountability, and a real operating system
4) Market dominance potential
A large, defensible market.
A clear competitive edge.
And a logical path to category leadership.
5) Financial discipline
You need clarity on:
CAC vs LTV
burn multiple (efficiency of growth)
realistic assumptions grounded in what the market can sustain
Series A red flags
Growth without efficiency
No repeatable processes
Founder resistance to delegation
“Hope” is still a strategy
At pre-seed, investors buy potential.
At seed, investors buy evidence.
At Series A, investors buy momentum.
Over time, as assumptions are tested and confirmed (or corrected), risk reduces.
And valuation follows.
Also, a reminder:
At pre-seed you’re not supposed to have all the answers.
But you should have all the questions.
And a plan to prove them.
A practical tip
Before you pitch anyone, write a one-page “Proof Stack”.
Three lines only:
What stage are we at? (pre-seed, seed, Series A)
What do investors need to believe at this stage?
What proof do we have that makes that belief rational?
If you can’t answer those three cleanly, you’re not fundraising yet.
You’re practising.
And if you can answer them clearly, your outreach becomes 10x more effective overnight.
Final thought
The fastest way to lose investor interest is certainty.
Investors don’t back certainty.
They back founders who update their thinking faster than the market changes.
So be stage-appropriate.
Pitch the right proof to the right room.
And you will be amazed how quickly the “no’s” turn into real conversations.
