♞ Data Basics Part 2

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What data do you need when fundraising?

This is part 2 of a two-part newsletter covering some of the basic data you must collect when fundraising. The goal is to help you start putting together a very basic overview of the numbers investors may ask for as you raise money.

Last issue we talked about (i) Key Metrics and (ii) Targets. If you missed that check your inbox!

3. Assumptions

   Any data or financial analysis has assumptions, and you want to be very clear about your assumptions when you share data. Especially when making forecasts, you will be assuming that certain variables remain the same, and investors may disagree. So by stating your assumptions when sharing data, you remove the risk that investors will disagree with your figures. Instead, they are more likely to simply ask how the numbers change if you alter your assumptions. This leads to a productive conversation instead of a confrontational one if you don’t acknowledge assumptions upfront.

4. Builds

   Once you have your key metrics, targets and assumptions you should be able to create full builds in excel that start with today’s figures and finish with your 3-5 year targets Those builds should have assumptions that can be changed allowing you to easily alter figures based on how you might need to evolved as you respond to the market. This might be complex when you start, especially after the last few points, which are more high-level, and this requires actually understanding how to build formulas and spreadsheets, but there are templates, and AI is extremely helpful.

5. Health Metrics

   This is something that lots of founders forget, but certain metrics aren’t key metrics for the business but do indicate the health of the company. These can include:

   1. Net Promoter Score - How much do customers actually like what you are selling?

   2. CAC Payback - How long does it take you to earn back the amount you pay to acquire a customer?

   
   These types of figures might not be part of the big picture, but they do become important when you start to focus on cash flow and long-term viability.

Are you looking to grow your business? Here is how I can help:

📱 Book a Strategy Call to get 1:1 feedback on your pitch, pitch deck and/or fundraising strategy. (If you need general startup advice, then reply to this email, and I’ll let you know if/how I can help.)

Onwards and Upwards,

Liam Gill