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This article was published on April 17, 2020

Looking to close a series A? This comprehensive Y Combinator guide can help


Looking to close a series A? This comprehensive Y Combinator guide can help

If you are looking to raise a series A, then you’re in luck because Y Combinator has published a comprehensive guide to help founders better understand this type of financing and close a round.

The well-known American Seed money accelerator has produced a 70-page guide based on its work with 190 businesses that raised a combined total of $2 billion over the past two years.

“This guide is a distillation of everything we know about successfully raising an A. It includes insights learned from watching hundreds of founders succeed in raising, and in watching dozens fail,” reads Y Combinator’s website.

[Read: Index Ventures launches $2B fund to back tech startups worldwide]

The guide features an overview of to-dos at every stage of series A funding, including best practices for creating a compelling pitch, deck, and memo for investors. It also goes into the theory, strategy, and tactics founders need over the course of a fundraise.

Y Combinator — which has backed tech giants including Stripe, Airbnb, and Dropbox — has been publishing series A-related content over the past two years in a bid to help entrepreneurs.

In January last year, the accelerator published a series A term sheet to help entrepreneurs get a sense of “standard and clean terms from a good Silicon Valley VC” — a favorable move for founders seeking greater transparency in the venture capital world.

Series A: Why it’s important

A series A round is typically the first significant round of venture capital funding closed by a startup company.

The name refers to a class of share which is sold to investors in exchange for their backing.

[Read: Your first step to raising €1M: Fewer investors and bigger sums]

Closing a series A is an important milestone in a startup‘s growth journey.

The funding amount raised is typically bigger than a seed round as companies will already have a minimum viable product (MVP).

Have you successfully raised a series A? Then share your tips and insights with our readers

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