Startup Resources

Walking a Founder Through the First Board Pack After a Series A

Mark Wald — Wed, 04 Nov 2026 04:55:23 GMT

The first board meeting after a Series A is usually the first time a founder shows the plan they sold against what actually happened. In my experience that pack gets built in the two weeks before the meeting, from a spreadsheet, a bank export and a lot of Slack messages.

Walking a Founder Through Series A Diligence Before the Raise Starts

Mark Wald — Wed, 04 Nov 2026 04:55:21 GMT

The question a founder asks me two quarters before a Series A is some version of "are we ready?", and the honest answer depends less on the numbers than on whether anyone can rebuild them quickly when a partner's associate sends over a forty-line diligence request on a Tuesday afternoon.

Walking a Seed Founder Through the Cash-Out Date

Mark Wald — Wed, 04 Nov 2026 04:55:19 GMT

"What's your runway?" is the first finance question an investor asks a seed founder, and in my experience it's the one most founders answer least cleanly. They divide cash by last month's burn, round to a number of months that sounds safe, and move on – and the number they give depends a lot on which month they happened to pick.