Lluís Cañadell on Raising $60 Million: A Founder's Guide to Navigating Fundraising Rounds, Shifting Markets, and Hard Decisions
Treinta raised $60M by mastering the founder's journey. This is the guide to how fundraising changes from Seed to Series A, how to pitch in a tough market, and how to manage runway before it’s too late.
TL;DR: Raising capital isn't one skill; it's a series of evolving challenges. Early rounds are about vision and team, but later rounds demand hard metrics and a clear path to profitability. In today's market, founders must prioritize capital efficiency and extend runway, even if it means making painful decisions like layoffs.
Key takeaways
- Treat each funding round like a different game with new rules.
- Your story gets you your seed round; your metrics get you your Series A.
- The 'easy money' era is over. Default to capital efficiency.
- Your runway is your most critical number. Calculate it pessimistically.
- If you must do layoffs, cut deep once and treat people with respect.
- Shift your pitch from 'growth at all costs' to 'sustainable, profitable growth'.
''' Lluís Cañadell’s startup, Treinta, raised over $60 million from top investors. But that headline number isn’t the real story. The real story is that every fundraise is a different game, played on a different field, with a different set of rules.
Raising a big round is the outcome of navigating several distinct stages. What investors need to see at the pre-seed stage is radically different from what they demand at Series A. What worked in the "easy money" environment of 2021 will get you laughed out of the room today. And through it all, you have to manage your cash with brutal discipline.
This is the founder’s guide to the real journey—not just the victory lap.
The Fundraising Ladder: How the Game Changes Round by Round
Founders often talk about "fundraising" as a single skill. This is a critical mistake. You’re not playing the same sport; you’re advancing through different levels of a video game, and each boss battle requires a new set of weapons.
Pre-Seed & Seed: Selling the Dream
Your first rounds are about the story, the team, and the size of the opportunity. Investors know your metrics are nascent or non-existent. They are betting on you and your vision.
- What Investors Look For: A world-class team uniquely suited to solve a massive problem in a huge market (TAM). They need to believe that *you* are the person to make this happen. Your deck should be 80% vision, 20% traction.
- Your Goal: Convince them that the future you’re painting is not just possible, but inevitable. You need to sell conviction and velocity. Early user love, even from a tiny sample, is more valuable than a flashy but meaningless vanity metric.
- The Common Mistake: Over-indexing on a flimsy financial model or obsessing over product details. At this stage, no one believes your 5-year forecast. They’re buying the dream, not the spreadsheet. Focus on the "why," not the "how."
Series A: The Metrics Gauntlet
The game flips. The dream is no longer enough. Series A is about proving you have a repeatable, scalable business. Your story gets you the meeting; your metrics get you the check.
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