How Much Should You Raise (If You Only Raise Once)?
One of the biggest mistakes I see founders make - especially those coming from VC-leaning networks - is assuming that more capital equals better outcomes.
But for seedstrapped businesses, it’s not about how much you can raise, or what others are raising. It’s about how much you actually need to get to profitability - and never have to raise again.
So this week, let's tackle this question:
If you only raise once, how do you figure out how much is “enough”?
Why this matters?
Raise too little, you’ll struggle to reach break-even. You’ll end up back in the market raising again - but without “VC-scale” growth, that second round will be tough.
Raise too much, and you create pressure to chase VC-like outcomes. More money usually means more bloat: over-hiring, trying too many things at once, and setting expectations you can’t sustainably meet.
What should this "one and only" round cover?
There's no one-size-fits all answer to this, but if your focus is on the following areas in the early phase, you can't go wrong:
Founding team full-time (no side gigs)
1-2 key hires (usually GTM or product)
Cover 12-18 months of lean ops (tools & offices if needed)
Avoid big paid acquisition budgets (a red flag unless the product or founder is exceptional)
Important note: this works well for high-margin, asset-light businesses that can be monetised quickly like SaaS, marketplaces or DTC brands.
If your model requires deep R&D or long time-to-revenue, seedstrapping probably isn’t the right fit.
So...how much should you raise?
Let’s look at what others have seen work:
Henry Shi (Super.com) sees $100k–$1m as the sweet spot for first-and-last rounds
Tyler Tringas (Calm Company Fund) eventually settled at $300k–$500k after finding smaller checks left founders short:
Our initial check size was not enough capital to be first check, last check. We anchored our investment size to around $150k, mainly because it was similar to how much accelerators invest and seemed like a reasonable comparison. The issue is that VC-style accelerators are only planning to fund the company for 3-6 months, at which point the company is supposed to raise a proper seed round [...] As a result, our typical check size out of our latest fund is now around $300k and we are comfortable investing up to $500k.
Josh Payne (StackCommerce, sold to TPG), who built an $80m business off a $1m round, suggests $500k–$2M range:
How much? Just enough to get to profitability ($500K–$2M can do it). VCs are helpful at this stage, but don’t let them push you to over-raise or over-spend.
The actual number will depend on your business model, margins, hiring plan, geography and how soon you can start generating revenue.
A practical example
Let’s say you’re a 3-person founding team, planning to pay $5k per person, with $10k in MRR already.
Your burn = $15k/month → $270k over 18 months but with average $10k MRR throughout the period, you most likely don't "need" more than ~$100k–$300k to reach break-even.
The more recurring revenue you have early, the less you need to raise and vice versa. When projecting the mrr, be mindful of monthly vs annual payments and churn.
I’ve included a simple chart showing how much you'd need to raise based on team size and revenue.
This isn't a funding plan - coming up with a solid ask requires a bit more complex thinking than just revenues and team size but it can serve aas quick sense-check whether you’re raising enough to cover the main costs while MRR ramps.
A few battle-tested tips
If you don’t know exactly how you’ll spend the next €250k, don’t raise yet
If your CAC is still unknown, prioritise traction over scale
If you're not monetising yet, validate before you fund
In general, if the answers to any of these aren’t solid, you are almost always better off continuing to test with founder sweat and early customer revenue before raising.
Because raising too early is expensive. And raising too much is even worse.
Next up
The question that always comes right after “how much should I raise?” is: “How much equity should I give up?”
In the next edition, I’ll dive deeper into seedstrapped valuations, dilution trade-offs, and how to make your one and only round work for you, and for the investors.
PS: I’d love to hear from others building this way. If you’re exploring seedstrapping (or tried a version of it) let me know in the comments or DM.