Fundraising Field Guide

This third edition captured a very interesting period in VC, marking the completion of VC market’s full fundraising cycle. The first edition of the book was written during the linear growth curve of the post-2008 era. The second during the “bubble” in valuations formed post-COVID where we saw large injections of capital into private markets leading to an exponential growth period for startups. This third edition covers the collapse of that “bubble”, and highlights common pitfalls you should avoid as an early-stage founder (such as taking too much money).

If you’re about to raise money as a first-time entrepreneur, you have two choices: Get taken to the cleaners by your early investors, as investors do deals all the time, and you probably don’t. They are better at it! Or read Carlos Espinal’s wonderful, comprehensive and eminently readable Fundraising Field Guide 3.0. Take your pick!

As a founder, it’s easy to get lost while trekking through the fundraising process. The dynamics of speaking to someone who has the capital you need, while discussing terms you’ve never heard of, can all be quite daunting. This book deciphers the secrets to raising capital from investors for early-stage, high-growth startups. Learn about communicating with investors, shareholders and lawyers. We will go over the materials you will need to prepare, the basics of how to understand your deal, and the mindset you will need to approach this journey successfully. The aim is to provide you, the ambitious early-stage founder, with the right information to take your company to the next level.

Whilst the focus of the Fundraising Field Guide Book is to help clarify the fundraising challenges and process for high growth early-stage tech startups, there are many other forms of praise-worthy entrepreneurship. Some non-tech startups are doing very amazing things, particularly in the realm of social entrepreneurship and social development. In particular, I’d like to highlight the work of Resurgo’s Spear Programme in empowering youth.

The original version of the book was published by Reedsy (the best online publishing platform) in 2015 thanks to the help of Emmanuel Nataf, Matt Cobb, Ricardo Fayet, and Rebecca Heyman.