Fundraising is not meant to boost your ego. You are likely to get dozens of nos before one yes. How to make fundraising efficient and effective as possible. If the infusion of capital will be used to grow the company, then the equity distribution is worth it.. Set your funding goals. What you want to do next to make your business grow?. How long you think it will take to do those things?. How much money it will take to reach those goals?. Are there key hires you need to make?. Hire a marketing firm to reach more users or prove there is a significant market to utilize our product. Set your goals for the next 12-18 months and put in timelines for the specific milestones. Calculate how much money we will need to reach those milestones. Augment those numbers by 10-40% to cover unexpected costs. This will be the starting request for how much capital we want to raise. Asking for a specific amount linked to specific milestones will make us seem like a more credible risk instead of asking for a round sum. Investors will be able to see your progress and gauge the funding you need.. Provide a range of investment. ‘This is what I need’ or ‘this is what I can accomplish with this dollar figure’. Create multiple funding plans. Now you need to determine how much equity you are willing to let go of for that investment. Valuation is an art, not a science.. Compare the company to similar companies in our region. Use a cap table to calculate the pre-money price per share. Don’t run the risk of a down round. Losing valuation in future rounds of funding. A relatively accurate valuation will serve the company better in the long run. I like the entrepreneurs to give the first offer in equity. Start targeting your ideal investors. We are founders take money to grow faster. Create and follow your funding roadmap