• How much money do you need (minimum-maximum)?
• To do what (to reach which milestones)?
• How quickly do you need funding?

Here, you can list the key parameters for your upcoming financing round – the essential numbers, goals and timeline that will form the foundation of your fundraising efforts. This includes specifying what you aim to achieve with the funds raised and noting when you need the money. Keep in mind that fundraising typically takes a minimum of six months, often longer, from the time you start the process, so plan your timeline accordingly.

Learn more on how to handle multiple financing rounds in this chapter.

• Which stakeholders will need to be considered in the liquidity waterfall (earlier investors/ founders/employees/...)?

When designing your ideal financing scenario, you might also need to take into account stakeholders other than your newest investors that need to be considered in the future participation scenarios. Basically list about anyone who you are obligated to or want to participate in financial value created in the company later on. Common groups to consider are past investors and founders but potentially also employees, customers or non-profits.

Learn more about employee participation in this chapter.
Learn more about founder / entrepreneurial compensation in this chapter.

• What are your growth projections?
• When do you expect to break even?
• When do you expect to be able to start paying back investors (how much and when)?
• Are you foreseeing one or multiple financing rounds?
• When do you anticipate needing the next financing round or refinancing?

This is the foundation of the (economic) case you can make for your investors and builds the foundation of designing an adequate return profile for your investment. Ideally, you will generate different financial scenarios for the future which you can present to investors, such as a base scenario, a positive scenario, and a worst-case scenario.

Also think about the future beyond the next financing round. Are you foreseeing one of multiple financing round? It can make sense to already think about future financing rounds and how they will work together with your current one if you are already sure that this won't be the last one.

• What type of investors are you looking for?
• What do they have to bring besides money?

This step helps you filter the investors you are (ideally) looking for.  Are you looking for one or multiple investors? Are you only considering investors that also bring in a specific network, access to markets or expertise? Are you mainly interested in (impact) funds, private individuals, family offices, ...? Should they have expertise in steward-ownership aligned financing and be able to lead the investor cohort? 

• What role does steward-ownership play in your financing journey?
• Which effects does it have on your financial situation and fundraising potential?

For determing our financial need, the role of steward-ownership is also relevant. Are you already steward-owned, are you planning to become steward-owned during the transition or are you planning a steward-ownership aligned financing round with a commitment or openness to steward-ownership later on? 
What does this mean in terms of costs? And depending on your case, do you consider steward-ownership as an asset during fundraising or as a risk?

Potentially re-read the chapter "Investment now, steward-ownership later" to get a good grasp of your options.