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# Raise less than you think. Then raise it faster.
- URL: https://weiter-money.nichedthemes.com/raise-less-raise-faster/
- Published: 2026-11-03T07:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-03T07:00:00.000Z
- Description: Most founders ask for a number they can’t defend. Here’s how I size a first round from the milestone backwards.
- Author: Elias Brandt
- Tags: The words, Rounds, #memo, #Import 2026-11-11 10:07

**In short.** Size the round from the milestone backwards. Add a quarter of buffer, not a year. Small rounds close faster.

The most common mistake I see in first rounds isn’t a bad valuation. It’s a number nobody can explain, not the founder and certainly not me.

“We’re raising a million” usually means “a million sounds like a round”. Investors hear that at once. So start from the other end: which milestone makes the next round easy, and how long does it take to get there?

## The arithmetic, on one napkin

Here is the plan of a founder I met last month, with her permission and the numbers rounded.

__Sizing a pre-seed round__
| Months to the milestone | 18       |
| ----------------------- | -------- |
| Real monthly burn       | €42,000  |
| Runway needed           | €756,000 |
| Buffer, 25%             | €189,000 |
| Round size              | €945,000 |

She had planned to ask for €1.5 million. The smaller number was easier to defend, and it closed in seven weeks with two investors who had passed on the bigger one.

> Speed is the cheapest money you’ll ever raise.

The buffer is for surprises. If you need a year of slack, the milestone is wrong.