{"id":744670,"date":"2026-08-21T15:35:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T12:35:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/learn-what-vcs-actually-want-from-a-founder-whos-raised-1b\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T15:35:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T12:35:19","slug":"learn-what-vcs-actually-want-from-a-founder-whos-raised-1b","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/learn-what-vcs-actually-want-from-a-founder-whos-raised-1b\/","title":{"rendered":"Learn what VCs actually want, from a founder who&#8217;s raised $1B"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Investors want founders who understand the financial reality of their business. Messy data, misunderstood metrics, or waiting until you\u2019re nearly out of cash to start fundraising can cost founders leverage, valuation, and even a term sheet.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this episode of Build Mode, host Isabelle Johannessen sits down with Sasha Orloff, founder and CEO of Puzzle and Startup Battlefield alum, to talk about what he\u2019s learned from building companies that have raised more than $1 billion collectively.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sasha breaks down what investors look for during fundraising, which financial metrics founders should know by heart, and why VCs don\u2019t expect your startup to be perfect \u2014 they just expect you to understand its reality. He also shares how he nearly lost a term sheet because his data room wasn\u2019t ready, how fundraising diligence changes as a startup grows, and why getting your financial house in order can help founders raise with more confidence and leverage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They get into:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"wp-block-list-item\">What raising more than $1 billion across multiple companies taught Sasha about fundraising.<\/li>\n<li class=\"wp-block-list-item\">Why investors value founders who have a strong grasp of their company\u2019s financial reality.<\/li>\n<li class=\"wp-block-list-item\">The financial metrics founders should know before pitching VCs.<\/li>\n<li class=\"wp-block-list-item\">How investor expectations change from pre-seed and seed through <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/watch-movies-tv-seriess\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Watch Movies &amp; TV Series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Series<\/a> A, B, and beyond.<\/li>\n<li class=\"wp-block-list-item\">Why revenue growth and the quality of that revenue are critical fundraising metrics.<\/li>\n<li class=\"wp-block-list-item\">How runway, margins, sales efficiency, and profitability factor into investor decisions.<\/li>\n<li class=\"wp-block-list-item\">Why waiting until you\u2019re running out of cash can hurt your fundraising leverage.<\/li>\n<li class=\"wp-block-list-item\">How Sasha nearly lost a term sheet because his data room wasn\u2019t ready.<\/li>\n<li class=\"wp-block-list-item\">Why financial organization and compliance can influence investor confidence and startup valuations.<\/li>\n<li class=\"wp-block-list-item\">What founders should have prepared for the due diligence process.<\/li>\n<li class=\"wp-block-list-item\">Why VCs don\u2019t expect perfection \u2014 and why being honest about what isn\u2019t working can make for a stronger pitch.<\/li>\n<li class=\"wp-block-list-item\">How Sasha\u2019s own fundraising and finance frustrations ultimately led him to build Puzzle.<\/li>\n<li class=\"wp-block-list-item\">How AI could change the way startups manage accounting and understand their financial health.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Subscribe to Build Mode on<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/gb\/podcast\/build-mode\/id1561051074\">\u2060<\/a> <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/gb\/podcast\/build-mode\/id1561051074\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Apple Podcasts\u2060<\/a>, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/0Dqmcq2aDrZkS9v1fITOKV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">\u2060Spotify\u2060<\/a>, or<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/pod.link\/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vWUZMNjEyNzkzNjQ5NA\">\u2060<\/a> <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/pod.link\/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vWUZMNjEyNzkzNjQ5NA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">wherever you like to listen\u2060<\/a>. And watch the full videos on<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/1jCGsEOizz8\">\u2060<\/a> <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/1jCGsEOizz8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">YouTube\u2060<\/a>. New episodes of \u2060Build Mode\u2060 drop every Thursday.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMN63nwsw68G3Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" >Technology<\/a><\/span> category.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/video\/learn-what-vcs-actually-want-from-a-founder-whos-raised-1b\/\" target=\"_blank\" >Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Investors want founders who understand the financial reality of their business. Messy data, misunderstood metrics, or waiting until you\u2019re nearly out of cash to start fundraising can cost founders leverage, valuation, and even a term sheet. In this episode of Build Mode, host Isabelle Johannessen sits down with Sasha Orloff, founder and CEO of Puzzle&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[159335,161383,70917],"class_list":["post-744670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-build-mode","tag-build-mode-video","tag-startups"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=744670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744670\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=744670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=744670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=744670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}