A raise is a sales process with a deadline. You start with a long list of investors, most of whom will pass, and you need enough of the rest to say yes at roughly the same time. Funds see the same arithmetic from the other side: in the Gompers, Gornall, Kaplan and Strebulaev survey of 885 venture investors, firms met the management of about 28 companies for every deal they closed, out of roughly 101 considered. A pass is the normal outcome of most conversations, not a verdict on you.
Founders who track that process in their head, an inbox and a half-finished spreadsheet lose investors to silence: a follow-up that never went out, a partner meeting nobody booked, a soft yes that was never confirmed. Here is how to manage a fundraising pipeline so that does not happen: what the pipeline is, the stages to use, how to build the list, the weekly routine and how to track commitments until the money arrives.
What a fundraising pipeline is
A fundraising pipeline is the list of investors you plan to approach for one round, each placed at a stage that says how far the conversation has gone. It belongs to a round, not to your company forever: a seed round and a later Series A have different investors, different terms and different targets, so give each its own pipeline.
Each investor record should answer five questions at a glance: who they are, what stage the conversation is at, what happens next, who owns that step and by when. Everything else, such as notes from meetings, files you shared and the people you spoke to at the firm, hangs off that record.
- The firm and the partner you are talking to, plus anyone else you have met there.
- The investor type: a fund, an angel, a syndicate, a corporate venture team or an accelerator.
- A likely cheque size and whether they lead or follow, so you know who can set terms.
- The source: a warm introduction, an application through the fund's portal, an event or cold outreach.
- The stage, the next step, its owner, its date and the date of the last contact.
Keep it in one place your co-founders can see. A pipeline split across two inboxes means two people chasing the same partner, or nobody chasing at all.
Stages with exit tests
Stages only help if everyone moves investors the same way. Give each stage a plain test for leaving it, written down before the raise starts, so that "they seemed keen" never counts as progress. The stages below follow a common shape for an early-stage raise; rename them if your round needs it, but keep the tests.
| Stage | What it means | Move on when | Your next step |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prospecting | On your list, not yet contacted | You have sent an introduction request, an email or an application | Find the right partner and the warmest route in |
| Contacted | You have reached out and are waiting | They reply and agree to a first conversation | Follow up once after a set number of days, then move on |
| Engaged | First meeting held, interest shown | They ask for diligence material or a partner meeting | Send what they asked for within a day |
| In due diligence | They are checking your numbers, customers and documents | They tell you they want to make an offer or join the round | Answer questions from one data room, and log every request |
| Term sheet | Terms are on the table or being negotiated | Terms are agreed in writing | Review with your lawyer and compare against your target |
| Committed | They have agreed to invest a stated amount on stated terms | Documents are signed and the money has arrived | Work through the closing checklist with them |
| Closed won | Signed and funded | Nothing left: the cheque is in the bank | Add them to your investor updates |
| Passed | They declined, or you decided not to proceed | Only if circumstances change | Record the reason and whether to revisit later |
Two rules keep the board honest. An investor only reaches Committed with an amount and the terms written down, in an email at least. And Passed is a stage, not a deletion: the reason a fund gave is useful for the next round and for spotting a pattern, such as several funds saying your market looks small.
Build the target list before the first email
Most wasted fundraising time goes on investors who were never going to invest at your stage, in your sector or at your round size. An hour spent filtering the list saves weeks of meetings.
- 1Write down the round: target amount, instrument (a SAFE, a convertible note or priced equity), the minimum cheque you will accept and the date you want to close.
- 2List investors whose stated thesis covers your stage, sector and geography, from their own websites and portals rather than old lists.
- 3Mark who can lead. A round usually moves when one investor sets terms and others follow, so you need several possible leads, not one.
- 4Check cheque size against your round. A fund whose typical cheque is a fraction of your target can follow but rarely lead.
- 5Find the route in for each: a founder they backed, an angel who knows them, or their own application portal if they run one.
- 6Order the list so that investors you would most like to work with are approached alongside others, not last.
A note on outreach in the United States: if you plan to rely on Rule 506(b) of Regulation D, the SEC says that exemption allows no general solicitation or advertising to market the securities. Posting your round publicly can matter, so check how you approach investors with your lawyer before you start. None of this is legal advice.
How to manage a fundraising pipeline week by week
The pipeline is only as good as its weekly review. Set thirty minutes at the same time each week with your co-founders and go through it stage by stage, starting from the investors closest to committing.
- Every investor has a next step with a date. If one doesn't, decide it now or move them to Passed.
- Anyone in Contacted for longer than your follow-up window gets one more message or a new route in.
- Meetings from the past week have notes, the questions asked and anything you promised to send.
- Diligence requests are logged with what was sent and when, so two investors asking the same question get the same answer.
- The total committed is compared with the target, and the round's close date is still realistic.
Keep the conversations in parallel
Approach a batch of investors over a short period rather than one at a time. When first meetings, partner meetings and offers fall close together, you can compare terms and set a date for decisions. When they are spread over months, early interest goes cold before later interest arrives, and every new conversation starts with "who else is in?"
Use what investors tell you
Write down the questions each investor asks and the reasons people pass. If three funds ask the same question about churn, the answer belongs in the deck. If several say the round is early for them, look for investors who back an earlier stage rather than pitching harder.
Track commitments, terms and the round's total
Near the end, the pipeline becomes a ledger. For each investor in Term sheet or Committed, record the amount, the instrument and the terms that apply to them, and keep a running total against your target. A soft commitment ("we're in for something") is not the same as a stated amount, so track them separately and don't count soft interest towards the total.
Terms depend on the instrument. A SAFE usually carries a valuation cap, a discount or both; a convertible note adds an interest rate and a maturity date; a priced round sets a pre-money valuation and a price per share. Some investors ask for extra rights, such as pro rata rights to invest in a later round. Y Combinator's SAFE documents keep pro rata rights in an optional, standard side letter rather than in the SAFE itself, and note that granting them is optional. Record any side letter against the investor it belongs to.
- Keep one row per investor with the amount, instrument, cap or price, discount and any side letter.
- Model what the round does to ownership before you agree terms, for example with a cap table and dilution calculator or a SAFE conversion calculator.
- Once commitments cover the target, switch from the pipeline to a closing checklist. Our guide to a seed round closing checklist covers every step from agreed terms to funds received.
Keep the pipeline private. Your notes on what each fund thinks, who else is talking to you and how likely each is to invest are yours. Share the round's status with investors when you choose, in the words you choose.
Where Delsivo fits
Delsivo is an AI investment workspace for venture funds, at the design partner stage, and nothing is generally available yet. For founders, a fundraising CRM is planned for after the first release, at my.delsivo.app.
The plan: one Delsivo founder account that signs you in to every fund portal that uses Delsivo, on any fund's subdomain or domain. Inside it, each round holds its terms by instrument and an investor pipeline as a board and a table, using the stages in the table above. Each investor opens in a side sheet with an overview, activity, notes, meetings and files, and a round overview shows committed against target, the round's lifecycle and a closing checklist.
Every application you make through a Delsivo portal is planned to appear in your pipeline with the fund's live status, such as Received or Interview requested, and Delsivo suggests a stage change that you accept or ignore. Funds never see your CRM: not your notes, stages, other investors or terms. See for founders for what applying through a Delsivo portal is like today.
Sources
- SEC: Private Placements, Rule 506(b) (checked 6 November 2026)
- Y Combinator: SAFE financing documents and pro rata side letter (checked 6 November 2026)
- Gompers, Gornall, Kaplan and Strebulaev: How Do Venture Capitalists Make Decisions? (NBER Working Paper 22587, September 2016) (checked 6 November 2026)
Delsivo publishes this guide and makes software for venture funds, so we have a stake in the topic. Facts about other companies, research and regulations come from the sources listed, on the dates shown, and can change. Corrections are welcome through our contact page.