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Today, Sterling Road is proud to announce its 2nd fund, investing in pre-seed B2B founders with a commitment to help them emerge stronger from the current economic crisis. This 2nd fund will deploy $9M, tripling the 1st fund and continuing our focus on coaching resilient teams.

The world has changed for startups in the last several weeks. Many have closed offices, seen their top customers shut down, or had fundraising efforts come to a halt. For almost all founders, this new environment means you will need to cut costs in the near term.

Raising your seed round is a big milestone for a startup, as it gives you runway for 2 years to scale both your team and customers into a rapidly growing and sustainable business. Venture funds that lead rounds in the SF Bay Area will often write checks between $500k — $1.5M; so targeting a total round of $2M is common for entrepreneurs.

Setting performance goals is a key part of startup success that allows you to focus on the most important problems facing your company and account for their resolution. Here’s a simple framework to set company goals from idea stage through to ~$150k/year annual run rate.

Building a company from zero to millions in revenue is incredibly tough; and creating a product people want is rare. However, in the earliest stages of a startup there are some tactical errors that often lead to failure.

Requesting introductions is one of the best lead generation tools for fundraising, sales, and recruiting. They are simple and effective; but they’re also easy to get wrong.

Receiving a Term Sheet from a VC usually takes weeks of work and is often accompanied by understandable euphoria. However, signing a Term Sheet for a “priced round” is a much larger commitment than for a SAFE/Convertible Note. Thus, you need to ensure you follow the right steps to secure the best deal for your company.

When your meeting with an investor concludes, you still have work to do. A lot of investor meetings end with something like “I will think about it and get back to you”. You should expect to follow-up — multiple times — to convert this to a “yes”.

Investors don’t like saying “No” to your face as a founder, even if there is zero chance they will invest. This creates difficult situations for founders while fundraising, which can be catastrophic for your round.

Deciding the right price to charge for your new product is difficult as you must estimate its value to customers. Most entrepreneurs under-price their product, trying to make a sale, which can lead to small, unsustainable margins.

Potential investors may ask who else is investing in the round, and — before you answer — you need to consider the potential consequences.

Seed Fundraising is extremely competitive but you can make the task much easier by managing your meetings properly; these small tactical changes can have a big influence on your efficiency and outcomes.

Seed Fundraising is one of the most competitive professional environments and having a great company is not enough — you must also have great pitch.

The venture capital (“VC”) meeting process can be opaque and leave you wondering when you’ll get a decision on if they’ll invest in your company or not. Here’s an overview of the standard process for seed funds (in Silicon Valley) and what you should expect at each stage.

Founders are responsible for the first sales a startup will make. For many founders, this is one of their very first experiences of sales and mistakes are often made.

After making a sale to a customer, you need to start the process of ensuring they stay a customer. Here are the basics of keeping customers happy and increasing revenue.

Getting a customer to pilot your product is an exciting moment, but it’s only one step toward a more important milestone: getting a customer to pay.