Simplifier

Think of this first round of funding as a "starter kit" for your business. Since you haven't launched yet, you aren't building the whole skyscraper; you’re just building a sturdy model to see if people like the design. Most people in this position ask for enough money to build their basic product and keep the business running for about 12 to 18 months. Usually, this amount falls somewhere between $100,000 and $500,000. To find your specific number, look at your monthly "survival" costs. If it costs $15,000 a month to pay for basic software, a small office, and a couple of helpers, and you want to survive for 18 months, you would ask for $270,000. The goal is to have enough cash to reach a big milestone, like getting your first 100 paying customers, so you can prove to everyone that your idea actually works. It is important not to ask for too much too soon. When an investor gives you money, they are buying a "slice" of your business pie. If you take a massive amount of money before you’ve proven your idea is a success, you might end up giving away too much of your company. You want just enough to get to the next level without losing ownership of your dream.

Startup CFO (Early Stage)

From a financial sustainability perspective, your request should be dictated by the capital required to reach your next "value inflection point," not by a speculative valuation. For a pre-launch MVP, a reasonable range is typically $250,000 to $750,000. This amount should provide a 12-to-18-month runway, which is the standard window needed to transition from product development to initial market validation and early traction metrics. Your budget must be built bottom-up, prioritizing lean engineering costs and initial go-to-market (GTM) experiments. I recommend including a 20% contingency buffer to account for the inevitable pivots that occur post-launch. Requesting too much capital at this stage leads to excessive equity dilution and can foster "lazy" spending habits. Conversely, requesting too little creates a "bridge to nowhere," where you exhaust your cash before achieving the KPIs necessary to secure a Seed or Series A round. Ultimately, the goal is to secure just enough capital to prove your core business hypothesis. Every dollar requested must map directly to a milestone—such as a specific number of active users or a validated customer acquisition cost (CAC)—that de-risks the venture for future investors. Financial discipline now ensures you maintain the leverage needed for more favorable terms in the future.

Early Stage Startup Advisor

At this stage, your goal isn't to fund a multi-year roadmap; it’s to fund the search for product-market fit. For a pre-launch MVP with no traction, a reasonable request typically falls between $150,000 and $500,000. This range should provide 12 to 18 months of runway, allowing you to build the core product, test your primary hypotheses, and secure your first cohort of users or paying customers. Avoid the temptation to ask for millions. Without data, your valuation will be purely speculative, which often leads to excessive dilution or a "down round" later when reality hits. Instead, calculate the minimum capital required to reach a specific, measurable milestone—such as a successful pilot program or a target number of active users—that proves your value proposition to future investors. Focus your pitch on how this capital will be used to de-risk the business. Angels are looking for founders who can execute lean experiments. If you can show a clear path from this initial capital to meaningful market validation, you’ll build the credibility needed to raise a larger Seed round at a much higher valuation later.