In early October 2026 I shared a thread on X with @dunkhippo33 discussing fundraising dynamics, investor outreach, and corporate structure for early‑stage founders.
Back in 2016, I wrote about something I called the "5-100-500 rule" for closing a seed round: over 5 weeks, meet with 100 investors to close $500k. And if you want $1m, double everything.
100 investor meetings in 5 weeks is basically a full time job ser
For Hustle Fund I, we did over 700 meetings!
69% filtered before a person sees it is a pretty strong case for checking fund fit before polishing the deck
47% of passes on incorporation alone, a Delaware flip is still the cheapest due diligence a European founder can do
I decided to prioritize a 5‑week, 100‑meeting sprint for seed rounds, only suggest a Delaware conversion after raising $1 M, and avoid forcing founders to change their legal structure just to secure capital. I also recommend filtering inbound deals early and creating urgency because investors won’t commit if they can join later at the same price.
- Outbound outreach: ~20 meetings per week
- Quick FAQs to drop non‑fit investors early
- Log story gaps after each meeting; act on themes seen in ≥2 meetings
- Pause after 100 meetings if no close, then improve product/revenue before restarting
- Offer Delaware flip only after $1 M raise or investor demand