Preparing a fundraise is not one writing task. The story depends on current traction, customer evidence, the financial model, the market, the team, and the risks an investor will test. The process also has to find the right investors without turning a long list into false confidence.

Strawberry can work across the browser, company files, dashboards, meetings, approved apps, and the public web. Your companion can keep sources beside important claims, carry accepted context from the story into investor research and meeting preparation, and remember the standards you correct along the way.

Start with the raise and the next decision

Define the stage, amount, use of funds, runway, timing, and what the raise should unlock. Then choose the first result that would reduce uncertainty now: a story review, evidence-gap brief, first investor set, deck, data-room plan, or near-term process.

Do not turn the first run into a complete fundraising program. A focused artifact gives you something real to correct before the companion expands the research or materials.

Want to try it?

Ask your Strawberry companion: “I want to prepare my next fundraise with a clear story, evidence, target investors, and a practical process.”

Skill

Prepare my next fundraise

Prepare the fundraising result that would reduce uncertainty now, then connect the accepted work into a practical process.

Build the evidence before polishing the story

Use the latest approved sources that could change the case: the board or investor deck, financial model, dashboards, cap table, customer evidence, product and market research, team material, prior investor conversations, and existing data room. These are possible sources, not a setup checklist.

For each material claimWhat good preparation keeps visible
Traction or financial performanceThe source system, reporting period, definition, and any reconciliation issue.
Market size or urgencyThe source, date, method, assumptions, and where outside evidence differs from the internal view.
Customer proofWhat customers actually said or did, how representative it is, and what remains inference.
Advantage or moatThe evidence today, the mechanism that could strengthen it, and the risk that could weaken it.

Treat model-produced figures as drafts until checked. Keep facts, inferences, stale evidence, contradictions, and missing proof distinct; a polished unsupported claim is not progress.

Shape a story that can survive questions

Build the narrative around the problem, why now, product, market, traction, advantage, team, plan, and ask. Then pressure-test it through the questions investors will underwrite.

  • Which claims carry the story, and what evidence supports each one?
  • Where do the market, customer, product, and financial views disagree?
  • What has to be believed about execution, economics, defensibility, or timing?
  • Which risks should be answered now, and which should remain explicit open questions?

Create only the materials the accepted first run needs. When approved content should become a finished deck, use the dedicated slide workflow rather than treating fundraising preparation as presentation design.

Skill

Create a Beautiful Slide Deck

Turn approved fundraising material into a finished, reviewable deck.

Calibrate the investor set before expanding it

Define fit from the stage, thesis, geography, check size, relevant experience, trusted signals, and explicit exclusions. Research firms and partners separately when the distinction matters, and deduplicate against approved pipeline records and prior conversations.

Review a small, varied first set, often around ten investors is enough, before going wider. Each candidate should have current source links, a concise fit reason, and a partner or introduction path only when the evidence supports it. Report borderline cases and coverage gaps instead of padding the list.

Skill

Map a market before entering it

Map the investor or ecosystem landscape when the relevant universe is still unclear.

Keep research, drafting, and external actions separate

A goal to raise capital is not permission to contact investors, change pipeline records, share materials, grant data-room access, or expose confidential files. Keep internal working material separate from investor-ready artifacts and follow the active permission for each account, destination, and action.

Draft or ask when permission is insufficient. Stop when the identity, audience, scope, impact, or sensitive-data handling changes. Verify completed external actions rather than assuming they succeeded.

Turn the preparation into a fundraising plan

Review the story, first investor set, evidence gaps, and one selected artifact together. Carry the corrections into the remaining research and materials, then build a near-term plan with owners, dependencies, deadlines, and review points. Use a two-week horizon only when it matches the real process.

When an approved contact list should become messages, move into the outreach workflow. Use meeting preparation for scheduled investor conversations and preserve decisions and commitments from a reliable record afterward. Strawberry can remember the accepted story, evidence standard, investor criteria, and review points so the next step does not begin from a blank chat.

Skill

Send founder-led outreach that sounds like me

Turn an approved investor list and accepted research into representative messages, keeping sending separately reviewable.

Skill

Get a concise meeting brief

Prepare for an investor conversation using the company, relationship, and fundraising context that could change it.

Official Strawberry skill
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name
prepare-fundraise
description
Prepare a focused fundraising process with an evidence-backed story, qualified target investors, reviewable materials, and next actions.

Prepare a Fundraise

Help the founder prepare a credible fundraising process without inventing traction, market evidence, or investor fit.

1. Define the raise and first useful result

Establish the stage, amount, intended use of funds, runway, timing, and the decision the raise should unlock. Clarify the immediate audience, deadline, and result that would help most now: a fundraising brief, story review, first investor set, deck, evidence gap review, data-room plan, or near-term process.

Use the founder's existing process when one exists. Otherwise propose a concise approach covering the story, material evidence gaps, investor profile, research depth, first artifact, and review point. Resolve high-impact ambiguity before substantial research or artifact creation without turning the run into a setup exercise.

2. Build the evidence foundation

Use relevant approved context already available across the visible browser, connected apps, files, meetings, and company systems. Useful sources may include the latest board or investor deck, financial model and dashboards, cap table, prior investor conversations or pipeline, product and market research, customer evidence, team material, and an existing data room. These are possible sources, not prerequisites.

Reconcile financial and cap-table figures against their approved source systems. Treat any model-produced number as a draft until the founder has checked it. For every material claim, preserve the source and date, distinguish fact from inference, keep internal figures separate from outside benchmarks, and expose stale, low-confidence, missing, or contradictory evidence.

If the founder's writing style is not already clear, use the internal strawberry/general/learn-writing-style skill installed by the Strawberry harness with approved examples; it is not part of this public repository.

3. Shape the story and reviewable materials

Build a concise narrative around the problem, why now, product, market, traction, advantage, team, plan, and ask. Pressure-test it through the questions investors underwrite: market, team, traction, moat, economics, execution, and risk. Surface evidence that conflicts with the story instead of polishing over it.

Create only the materials needed for the accepted first run. These may include a fundraising brief, deck, financial appendix, data-room checklist, diligence-answer pack, or pipeline tracker. Use strawberry/research-analysis/create-beautiful-slide-deck when the approved material should become a finished deck rather than duplicating its presentation workflow.

Source extracted diligence answers and keep unresolved questions visible. Separate internal working material from anything intended for investors, and keep confidential files inside their approved destinations.

4. Build and calibrate the investor set

Define the target profile from the fundraise stage, thesis, geography, check size, relevant experience, trusted fit signals, and explicit exclusions. Use strawberry/research-analysis/map-a-market when the investor or ecosystem landscape itself needs to be mapped before list building.

Treat firms and relevant partners as separate entities where the distinction matters. Deduplicate against approved pipeline records and prior conversations. For each candidate, preserve current source links and dates, give a concise evidence-backed fit reason, and identify a partner or possible introduction path only when supported. Never imply a relationship, interest, or warm path that has not been verified.

Review a small, varied first set before expanding the research. Around ten investors can be enough for calibration, but adapt the size to the raise and evidence. Report coverage, borderline cases, stale or contradictory evidence, and meaningful gaps instead of padding the list.

5. Turn the accepted work into a process

Review the story, first investor set, evidence gaps, and one selected artifact with the founder. Carry their corrections into the remaining materials and research. Build a practical near-term plan with owners, next actions, dependencies, deadlines, and review points; use a two-week horizon when it matches the founder's process rather than treating it as mandatory.

When an approved contact list should become messages, use strawberry/sales/send-personalized-outreach; keep its research, drafting, verification, and send rules there. Use strawberry/operations/prepare-for-meetings for scheduled investor conversations and preserve decisions and commitments after a reliable record exists.

Deliver an evidence-backed fundraising brief, calibrated first investor set, practical process, and the reviewable artifact agreed with the founder. Do not present uncertain claims as fact or promise a fundraising outcome.

6. Keep sensitive actions scoped

Follow Strawberry's active scoped permission for every company system, investor source, account, destination, and action. Research, drafting, changing pipeline records, contacting investors, sharing materials, granting data-room access, changing access, and sending external artifacts are separate actions. Draft or ask when permission is insufficient, stop when identity, scope, impact, or sensitive-data handling changes, and verify completed external actions.

After the process proves useful, preserve the accepted story, evidence standard, investor criteria, source rules, artifact choices, and review points as a custom or team skill. Add a Routine only when the team has a real trigger or cadence, stable systems, a reviewable output, clear approval behavior, and stop conditions.