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A Kavanah Course — Free · 5 modules · Intermediate
Twenty lessons on raising private capital — the economics, the instruments, the rules and the process — run as a pipeline you can see.
A practical course for founders raising a round, from a first SAFE to a Series B, and for the placement agents, boutique banks and fund managers who run raises for a living. It starts with why investors behave the way they do — fund economics, the power law, what a venture partner is actually selecting for — then the instruments and the arithmetic of dilution, the rules that decide who you may ask and how, and the market as it stands in 2026. The second half is the work: the narrative and the data room, the investor list as a ranked funnel, outreach as a pipeline with stages, the pitch, the term sheet and the close, and the reporting that follows. Every lesson ends with a concrete step inside Kavanah's Deal Room and a metric that tells you whether the step is working. Nothing here is legal advice.
An Introduction
Who this course is for, what it covers, and how to use it alongside the Deal Room.
Most first-time founders treat a fundraise as a series of conversations. The people who raise for a living treat it as a pipeline: a ranked list of investors, a defined sequence of stages, a conversion rate at each stage, and a deadline. The difference is not style. A conversation can go well and still lead nowhere; a pipeline tells you, week by week, whether you will close. This course teaches fundraising as the second thing, and teaches it against a system that can hold the list, run the outreach, and show you the funnel while you get on with running the company.
Two readers, and the course keeps them apart where their work differs.
The first is a founder raising a round — a pre-seed on SAFEs from angels, a seed led by a fund, a priced Series A or B. You raise rarely, the stakes are personal, and the main risk is spending four months on investors who were never going to say yes.
The second is a professional who raises for others: a placement agent or boutique investment bank running a private placement for an issuer, or a fund manager raising from limited partners. You raise constantly, your counterparties are institutions, and your work is regulated — the communications you send are records, and who you may solicit is a question of law. Kavanah's Deal Room has an investor funnel and an issuer funnel because both halves of that job exist.
Where a lesson speaks to only one reader it says so. Most of the discipline is shared.
Five modules, twenty lessons, each ten to fifteen minutes of reading.
Module 1 — Foundations. How venture capital works as a business, the full menu of capital (not all of it is equity), the market as it actually stands in 2026, and the rules of raising under Regulation D.
Module 2 — Instruments and the arithmetic. Priced equity, SAFEs and convertible notes; cap tables and dilution worked through with numbers; how early-stage valuation is really set; and the two public-facing alternatives, Regulation Crowdfunding and Regulation A.
Module 3 — Preparing the raise. The narrative and the deck, the metrics investors read, the data room and the diligence it has to survive, and the investor list built and ranked before the first email goes out.
Module 4 — Running the process. Outreach and warm introductions as a staged pipeline, the pitch meeting itself, negotiating the term sheet against the NVCA model documents, and closing — including the Form D.
Module 5 — After and around the raise. Board and investor relations once the money is in, raising a fund from limited partners as an emerging manager, the placement-agent business, and running an agent-assisted fundraising operation with the governance it needs.
Read in order the first time; the later modules assume the vocabulary of the earlier ones. Each lesson ends with a Kavanah-in-practice block — a few steps in the Deal Room, the agent or Settings that put the lesson to work — and a metrics block naming the numbers to watch. The healthy ranges in those blocks are Kavanah's recommended starting points, not research findings; every outside-world claim is cited at the bottom of its lesson, and every regulatory figure was read from the rule as it stands in October 2026.
Two cautions. This course is not legal, tax or investment advice: securities law turns on facts, and a raise needs counsel. And if you are preparing for the Series 82 licence, the course built for that — Series 82: Private Securities Offerings Representative — covers the exemption framework in the depth an exam requires. This course covers it in the depth a raise requires, and links there when you need more.
Capital follows conviction, and conviction is mostly built before the meeting: in who you chose to ask, what you showed them, and how quickly you could answer the question they asked next. That work is a process, and a process can be run well. This course is the playbook.
Module 1
How private capital works, what it costs, and the rules it runs under
4 lessons · ~51 min
Fund economics and the power law, the whole menu of capital from revenue to grants to debt to equity, the venture market as it stands in 2026, and the Regulation D rules that decide who you may ask and how.
Lesson 1.1 · 13 min
How Venture Capital Actually Works
Fund economics, the power law, and why a good company still hears no
Start lesson
Lesson 1.2 · 12 min
Capital Strategy: Revenue, Grants, Debt and Equity
Choosing the money before you chase it
Start lesson
Lesson 1.3 · 12 min
The Market You Are Raising Into: 2026
Record dollars, extreme concentration, and what that means outside the AI megadeals
Start lesson
Lesson 1.4 · 14 min
The Rules of Raising: Regulation D and Accredited Investors
Rule 506(b) or 506(c), who may invest, and what you may say while you raise
Start lesson
Module 2
What you sell, what it costs you, and what it is worth
4 lessons · ~51 min
Priced equity, SAFEs and convertible notes; cap tables and dilution worked through with numbers; how early-stage valuations are really set; and Regulation Crowdfunding and Regulation A as alternatives to a private round.
Lesson 2.1 · 13 min
Priced Equity, SAFEs and Convertible Notes
What you are actually selling, and when each instrument fits
Start lesson
Lesson 2.2 · 14 min
Cap Tables and Dilution, Worked Through
Pre-money, post-money, the option pool, and what SAFEs add up to
Start lesson
Lesson 2.3 · 12 min
How Early-Stage Valuations Are Really Set
Exit math, comparables, target ownership — and why a spreadsheet rarely decides it
Start lesson
Lesson 2.4 · 12 min
The Public Routes: Regulation Crowdfunding and Regulation A
Raising from everyone, within limits — and what it costs
Start lesson
Module 3
The story, the numbers, the room and the list — before the first email
4 lessons · ~51 min
The narrative and the deck, the metrics investors read and how they read them, a data room built to survive diligence, and an investor list matched to your round by thesis, stage and cheque size.
Lesson 3.1 · 12 min
The Narrative and the Deck
One sentence, ten sections, and evidence of how people actually read it
Start lesson
Lesson 3.2 · 12 min
The Metrics Investors Read
Defining the numbers so they survive the first question
Start lesson
Lesson 3.3 · 13 min
The Data Room and the Diligence It Must Survive
Build the room before anyone asks for it
Start lesson
Lesson 3.4 · 14 min
Building and Ranking the Investor List
Thesis, stage, cheque size and warmth — scored before the first email
Start lesson
Module 4
Outreach to wire — a pipeline with stages and a deadline
4 lessons · ~53 min
Warm introductions and outreach as a staged pipeline, the pitch meeting, negotiating terms against the NVCA model documents, and the mechanics of closing, including the Form D.
Lesson 4.1 · 14 min
Outreach and Introductions as a Pipeline
Run investors in parallel, by stage, against a deadline
Start lesson
Lesson 4.2 · 12 min
The Pitch Meeting
What the first meeting is for, how to run it, and what to do in the hour after
Start lesson
Lesson 4.3 · 15 min
Negotiating the Term Sheet
Liquidation preference, anti-dilution, the board and pro rata — read against the NVCA models
Start lesson
Lesson 4.4 · 12 min
Closing the Round and Filing the Form D
From signed term sheet to money in the bank — and the notices that follow
Start lesson
Module 5
Investor relations, fund raising, placement desks and agent governance
4 lessons · ~54 min
The board and investor reporting once the money is in, raising from limited partners as an emerging manager, the placement-agent business with its compliance obligations, and an agent-assisted fundraising operation governed so it can be trusted.
Lesson 5.1 · 12 min
The Board and Investor Relations After the Close
Reporting that builds the next round, and a board that earns its seats
Start lesson
Lesson 5.2 · 13 min
Raising a Fund: LP Capital for Emerging Managers
The hardest raise of 2026, and how to run it
Start lesson
Lesson 5.3 · 15 min
Running Raises for Issuers: The Placement-Agent Desk
Two funnels, one compliance record
Start lesson
Lesson 5.4 · 14 min
An Agent-Assisted Fundraising Operation, Governed
What to delegate, what to approve, and what the law still holds you to
Start lesson