Are you ready to raise a round? A pre-fundraise checklist
You are ready to raise when the fundamentals hold up before you walk into the room: 9–12+ months of runway, a default-alive trajectory, LTV:CAC above 3, CAC payback under ~18 months, churn under ~5%/mo, a 75–85% gross margin, and growth that is credible for your size. Score yourself against each below.
The 7-point readiness check
You have enough runway to run the whole process.
≥ 9–12 months of cash left
A round takes about six months to close. With under six months you negotiate from desperation — investors smell it, and it costs you terms.
On your current trajectory you reach break-even before you hit zero cash.
Default alive: break-even month comes before zero-cash month
Default-alive means you raise to accelerate, not to survive. That is the position of strength that gets a round done on your terms.
Each customer is worth comfortably more than it costs to acquire.
LTV:CAC ≥ 3
Below 3, growth burns cash instead of compounding it. It is the first ratio a sharp investor checks.
You recover the cost of a customer reasonably fast.
CAC payback under ~18 months (pre-seed)
A long payback means every new customer deepens the hole before it pays off — a fragile base to scale on someone else's money.
You keep the customers you win.
Logo churn under ~5%/mo (SMB); NRR at or above 100%
Retention is the leakiest hole in most models. Churn above ~5%/mo caps your ceiling no matter how good acquisition looks.
A real SaaS keeps most of every euro it earns.
Gross margin 75–85%
Low margin means the cost of serving customers is eating your model; investors read it as "not really software".
Your growth rate is believable for your base — not a hockey-stick fantasy.
Growth scaled to your MRR base: a high % is credible from a small base, not from a large one
A 37%/mo curve is plausible from $1K MRR and a fantasy from $100K. Overclaimed growth is the fastest way to lose credibility in the room.
You know your dilution and option pool cold — no surprises.
Founders keep ~65%+ after the round; option pool sized deliberately
If you cannot explain your cap table and expected dilution, you are not ready to negotiate one.
How to use this checklist
Go down the list and tick honestly. This is a self-assessment, not a score — you judge each box against the healthy threshold using your own numbers. An unticked box is not a verdict that you cannot raise; it is a specific thing to fix, or a question you had better have an answer for before an investor asks it.
Two boxes carry more weight than the rest: runway and default-alive. They decide whether you raise from strength or from a corner. If those are red, fix them first — usually by cutting burn or extending your timeline before you start the process.
Why these seven, not a polished pitch deck
At pre-seed, investors bet on the team, the market and the story — not a spreadsheet. So why the checklist? Because a sharp investor still pokes one or two numbers: how long is your runway, and are your unit economics sane? These seven checks are exactly what survives that poke.
More importantly, the list is for you first. Knowing you are default alive with 12 months of runway and a 3:1 LTV:CAC changes how you walk into the room — and whether you even need to raise at all.
What a fundraise-ready model adds
The checklist tells you where you stand. If you want the numbers behind it — a full model with your runway, break-even, benchmarked unit economics, scenarios and a SAFE / multi-round cap table you can defend line by line — that is what Startkeel's fundraise-ready tier is for. It turns "I think I'm ready" into a document you can put in front of an investor.
You do not need it to self-assess. But when the answers above are green and you are actually raising, a defensible model is the difference between sounding prepared and being prepared.
FAQ
Do I need to pass all seven to raise?
No — especially at pre-seed, where investors bet on you more than your model. But each red box is a question you will be asked, so know your answer. Runway and default-alive matter most; the unit-economics checks matter more the later your stage.
What if I am pre-revenue?
Some checks (LTV:CAC, churn, payback) need paying customers to mean anything. Pre-revenue, focus on runway, a default-alive trajectory and credible growth assumptions. The unit-economics checks come online as you get customers — and investors know that at your stage.
Is this the same as a viability score?
Related but different. A viability score computes a number from your inputs; this checklist is a self-assessment you judge yourself against, aimed specifically at the decision to raise. Use the score to measure, use the checklist to decide if you are ready to walk into the room.
Related guides
Related tools
- SaaS Viability Score — Does my whole business hold up? One 0–100 score across five pillars.
- Runway & Burn Calculator — How long until I run out of cash? Your zero-cash date and break-even month.
- See all: Cash & runway
Related benchmarks
Check your own numbers.
Startkeel tells you in minutes whether your SaaS holds up.
Last updated: June 25, 2026. For information only — not financial advice.