How to raise money, according to the pros

Last week, YC published their guide to raising a Series A - great, practical advice combined with data from their companies. Some of the highlights:

• It typically takes 30 meetings to find one potential investor
• Most successful funding rounds are the result of building relationships with a select set of investors over a longer period of time
• You should write your own investment memo to clearly articulate your story and pitch
• When negotiating and choosing an investor, remember this fundraising process is the start of a long-term relationship
• Benchmarks don’t matter, but here are Series A benchmarks anyway: B2B SaaS: $0.5-5M ARR, Marketplace: $5-60M+ GMV, Consumer: $3.5-10M run rate