Recruiting Your Startup Team

Justifying Your Use of Funds for VC Investment

The most investible pitch decks demonstrate clear ‘use of funds’. That is, how will the money be spent, more or less exactly, from the capital raise you are asking for. 

A very significant portion of that Use of Funds is likely to be on human resources. That is, your startup and growth teams. For pre-seed (before revenue) startups, perhaps you need a couple of core developers. For seed or series-A startups, perhaps you need an expanded development team plus other operational functions such as sales & marketing, customer service, and finance.

Pitch decks that ‘ask’ for $$$,$$$’s without (a) clear financial forecasting, or (b) specific use of funds (usually for recruiting a team with specific skill-sets) is unlikely to be seen positively by an investment analysis team. While the pitch deck might be short (10 slides or so), the documentation that needs to support that pitch may be extensive. 

Having clear Job Descriptions is one way to help develop your business model and financial plan, as well as clearly communicate the Use of Funds in your raise. Below is a job description template that founders can use to help organize the ‘key hires’ they are looking to make. 

Thinking this through, doing the necessary research to understand the responsibilities and contribution of each role, can significantly help strengthen your business plan and pitch.

Below you can see our job posting application form. If you would like to list available jobs for your business, please complete the form and we will list the opportunities on our Job Wall.