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Raise like a PRO - Ready, Aim, Fire: Your framework for fundraising success
How to do the right things at the right time...
David Levine
February 13, 2025
Welcome (back!) to Raise Like a Pro reader; a new newsletter to help you do exactly that.
I'm David, and unlike most people giving fundraising advice, I don't just talk about raising money – I’ve been there as a founder and now I spend my day raising money for startups all over the world from investors all over the world.
I've closed millions in new investment in the past few months alone for startups - and I’m going to teach you how to do it without needing someone like me. This is my playbook; the operational, tactical and yes - sometimes boring stuff you need to do each and every day to raise your round.
No nonsense, no fluff and definitely no fuzzy sheep.
Table of Contents
The reality check
Raising a funding round isn’t rocket science. It’s not even brain surgery. But it's incredibly time-consuming, HARD and emotionally challenging.
As a founder, your time is better spent building product, finding product-market fit, signing up customers, and building your team. Yet fundraising demands an enormous amount of your attention and energy.
I've witnessed countless founders struggle with this balance. They get stuck in the cycle of endless pitch meetings, confusing feedback, and the dreaded "no's" that seem to pile up without explanation.
Even successful companies like Canva, now valued at $25.5 billion, started with their CEO Melanie Perkins hearing "no" over 100 times before getting that crucial first "yes."
I'm going to share my exact playbook – the same one I use to raise millions for startups across the world. This isn't about theory or inspiration. Instead, you'll get:
The actual processes I use to close deals.
Step-by-step morning routines for effective fundraising.
Real email templates that get responses.
Meeting scripts that convert to term sheets.
Pipeline management techniques that close deals.
The stuff you really need to know so you don’t get screwed by investors.
My days are spent navigating negotiations with every type of investor: angels looking for their next big win, syndicates pooling capital for bigger deals, and VC firms conducting thorough due diligence.
I'll share insights from all these perspectives, helping you understand how each type of investor thinks and what they're really looking for.
What's coming up
In the next issues, we'll dive into a whole bunch of stuff including:
How to structure your fundraising for maximum efficiency
The exact outreach strategies I use to get investor meetings
Common terms to watch out for (and how to negotiate them)
Ways to create competitive tension in your raise
Due diligence preparation that speeds up closing
My promise to you
Every piece of advice in this newsletter comes from actual experience: deals I've closed, terms I've negotiated, and strategies I've refined through real-world application.
I'm not here to give you startup platitudes or generic advice. Instead, you'll get practical, actionable tactics that you can implement immediately in your fundraising journey.
The goal? To help you raise money faster, at better valuations, while protecting your interests and your time.
– David
This week - Ready, Aim, Fire
In this edition, I'm sharing the "Ready, Aim, Fire" framework I use when guiding startups through the fundraising process. It’s also at the core of my "Raise Like a Pro" workshop for accelerators.
It's a simple process, but highly effective. This framework helps you strategically approach raising investment from investors worldwide.
The Ready, Aim, Fire framework breaks down into three key stages:
Ready: The essential groundwork you lay before engaging with potential investors.
Aim: The targeted preparation you undertake to refine your approach and messaging.
Fire: The active management of your fundraising campaign once you're ready to launch.
The Ready stage: Laying the foundation for success
The Ready stage is all about preparation. This is where you solidify your foundation, ensuring you're fully equipped to make a strong first impression.
These are the things you absolutely MUST do before speaking to an investor. Don’t go too early; the second you meet an investor the clock starts ticking and they’re judging you (even subconsciously). If you go way before you’re ready often in their eyes you’ll be making progress too slowly and they’ll write you off.
Once you get a No in their CRM against your name, that’s not becoming a Yes.
This stage includes:
Drafting your strategic narrative: Craft a compelling story that resonates with investors.
Understanding the competitive landscape: Analyse your competitors' strengths and weaknesses. Conduct a competitive analysis to understand the market and identify opportunities.
Defining your mission: Clearly articulate your company's purpose and the reason you're passionate about it.
Clarifying your message: Ensure your message is concise, articulate, and highlights the benefits of your solution.
Addressing potential concerns: Identify and address any potential "skeletons in the cupboard" proactively.
Sizing your market: Accurately estimate your market size and outline a clear path to venture-scale growth. Use bottom-up sizing, avoid top-down approaches.
Understanding VC maths: Familiarise yourself with the financial metrics and models venture capitalists use to evaluate your business.
The Aim stage: Targeted preparation and refinement
The Aim stage is about in-depth research, testing, and iterating your message. This is where you fine-tune your strategy for maximum impact. This stage includes:
Deep investor research: Identify target investors whose investment thesis, portfolio, and focus align with your company. Look into their websites, newsletters, blogs, and social media activity to understand their interests. Focus on identifying the right investor, not just the right firm.
Investor segmentation: Segment your target investors into tiers based on their potential value beyond capital:
Tier A: "Force multiplier" investors with strong industry reputations.
Tier B: VCs with expertise in areas critical to your company's growth (e.g., go-to-market strategy).
Tier C: Investors who provide capital but offer limited additional value.
Tool selection: Choose the right tools to support your outreach and communication efforts.
Multi-channel strategy: Develop a strategy that leverages multiple channels like LinkedIn and email.
Email/LinkedIn sequences: Craft outreach sequences that strike a balance between consistent follow-up and respecting investor's time, keeping in mind that three is the magic number for follow ups.
Message testing: Test your messaging with a small group of Tier C investors to gather feedback and refine your approach before reaching out to your top targets.
The Fire stage: Executing and managing your fundraising campaign
The Fire stage is all about managing the fundraising process. With your preparations complete, it's time to launch your campaign and engage with investors. This stage includes:
Personalised outreach: Personalise your outreach to each investor, demonstrating a clear understanding of their investment interests and explaining why your company is a strong fit.
Sales process management: Treat your fundraising efforts like a sales process, using a CRM to stay organised and track interactions. Be disciplined in your follow-up, promptly providing requested materials and maintaining clear communication.
Qualifying investors: If a conversation stalls or progresses slowly (more than four meetings without significant progress), don't hesitate to "qualify out" the investor. Focus your time on promising leads.
Live FAQ: Maintain a live, updated FAQ document to address investor questions efficiently. Share this resource with potential investors to showcase your preparedness and streamline the due diligence process.
Key Considerations
As you implement the Ready, Aim, Fire framework, keep these points in mind:
Don't chase "No's": An investor who has already declined is unlikely to change their mind. Focus your energy on cultivating new opportunities.
Understand VC motivations: Remember that venture capitalists are seeking significant returns on their investments (e.g., turning £1 million into £10 million).
Market size matters: VCs prioritise companies with large addressable markets and clear potential for scale.
By following the Ready, Aim, Fire framework, you can approach fundraising with greater confidence, clarity, and strategic focus, significantly increasing your chances of success.
🥳 Deals we’ve closed recently 🤑
This week we announced that Manchester-based Arcube has secured a $1.5 million seed round, co-led by Fuel Ventures and Oxford Capital Partners, with backing from the chairman of Pegasus Airlines. Founded in 2022, the startup pioneered post-flight ancillary upselling, replacing traditional loyalty programs with AI-driven personalised offers. Their platform, piloted with Etihad Airways, generated $1.6 million in extra revenue, increasing customer spend by 10.3%. With 14 airlines in discussions, Arcube aims to expand beyond aviation into car rentals, cruise lines, and hotels, making loyalty programs more accessible to all travellers. 👉 Read more from Fortune.
Manchester-based Powdr has raised £1 million in pre-seed funding, led by Haatch and private investors. The startup, which simplifies financial modelling for SMEs, used its own AI-powered platform to showcase a transparent, data-driven investment case. The funding will accelerate AI development, enhance enterprise features, and expand the engineering team. Powdr aims to make professional-grade financial modelling accessible and affordable, ensuring businesses secure funding with clear, strategic financial plans. 👉 Read more from UK Tech News.
💰 Deals done this week
Haatch secured an additional £10M from BBI, raising its total commitment to £20 million to back pre-seed B2B SaaS startups. The funding boosts investment capacity, with Haatch and BBI having co-invested in 93 companies valued at £900M+, including Aerocloud and Data Literacy Academy. 👉 Read more
IONATE secured $17M (£13.6M) Series A, led by AlbionVC, to scale its Hybrid Intelligent Transformer and Aurora software for real-time power grid control and AI-driven smart grids. It has partnered with EDP and is expanding into data centres. 👉 Read more
EnSilica won a £10 million UK Space Agency contract to develop OneWeb-compatible chips, part of a £16 million government satellite initiative. The funding supports silicon chip and software development, with Excelerate Technology receiving £6 million for satellite user terminals. EnSilica’s shares rose 10% after the announcement. 👉 Read more
🤖 AI in fundraising
Fundraising is time-intensive and distracts from what matters - building the business. Emerging AI tools will help you save time whether summarising investor requests, preparing for meetings, or managing due diligence materials.
Here are some tools that have been a game changer for me recently:
Kraftful: This tool helps you create smarter surveys that adapt based on user responses, digging deeper into customer insights. It also pulls data from multiple sources into a single knowledge base, making it easier to analyse customer sentiment and spot trends. 👉 Try it
Microsoft Clarity: This free tool helps you understand how people use your website with heatmaps, scroll tracking, and session recordings. Its AI assistant summarises key takeaways, so you can quickly spot friction points, user struggles, and areas for improvement. 👉 Try it
Uizard: This tool helps you quickly prototype app and web designs—just describe your project (mobile, desktop, or tablet), and it generates wireframes. A handy shortcut: take a screenshot of a design, use the Codia plugin in Figma, and turn it into an editable project instantly. 👉 Try it
📖 Have time for some additional reading?
Raise like a Pro is what David Levine does every single day though this business Glenluna Ventures. An exited founder, he raises money each and every day for founders all over the world from investors all over the world.