Startup Funding: The Handbook

How to win over investors with solid preparation
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-3-6967-5967-4
Verlag: BoD - Books on Demand

Buch, Englisch, 192 Seiten, Paperback, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 220 mm, Gewicht: 314 g

Raising your first round should not feel like guesswork. Many first-time founders start with just a pitch deck and a list of investors, then hope the round comes together. This book shows you a better way: how to treat fundraising as a process you can actually run.
Startup Funding: The Handbook gives founders a clear, step-by-step framework for their first investment round. You will learn how to identify the right investors, build a realistic timeline, and prepare your pitch deck, financial plan, and data room. You will also learn how to research angel investors and venture capital firms, manage investor conversations, navigate due diligence, understand the term sheet, and close your round.
At its core is a structured five-phase fundraising framework, supported by real fundraising scenarios, reflection prompts, and a practical glossary of investor language.
Barbara Fischer built and sold her own company in Sydney, Australia. Since 2016 she has coached more than 160 founders across Europe through their funding rounds.
If you are preparing your first funding round, this handbook gives you the structure, language, and confidence to approach it with a clear plan.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Fischer, Barbara

Über Autor(innen)

Fischer, Barbara
Barbara Fischer is a startup coach and entrepreneur based in Zurich, Switzerland. She founded her first company, Trendhaus Pty Ltd, in Australia and later sold it successfully. In 2016, she founded Arena Ventures AG in Switzerland with a clear mission: to help founders scale their startups and find the right funding for their company. Since then, she has guided hundreds of startups across Europe through the capital-raising process.
For Barbara Fischer, startup fundraising is a strategic process, not a one-off event. What matters most to her is the question of what kind of capital truly fits the company, its stage of growth, and the people behind it: because bringing investors on board usually means entering a relationship that lasts for years.
Barbara's work draws on 15 years of experience in strategic communications and a network of experts spanning co-founding, legal, sales, storytelling, and finance. She knows exactly where the biggest levers for startup success lie: in a clear strategy, thorough preparation, and compelling communication.
"Startup Funding: The Handbook" is the book she wishes she'd had back then: a practical step-by-step guide for anyone preparing to close their first funding round successfully.

Barbara Fischer:
Barbara Fischer is a startup coach and entrepreneur based in Zurich, Switzerland. She founded her first company, Trendhaus Pty Ltd, in Australia and later sold it successfully. In 2016, she founded Arena Ventures AG in Switzerland with a clear mission: to help founders scale their startups and find the right funding for their company. Since then, she has guided hundreds of startups across Europe through the capital-raising process.
For Barbara Fischer, startup fundraising is a strategic process, not a one-off event. What matters most to her is the question of what kind of capital truly fits the company, its stage of growth, and the people behind it: because bringing investors on board usually means entering a relationship that lasts for years.
Barbara's work draws on 15 years of experience in strategic communications and a network of experts spanning co-founding, legal, sales, storytelling, and finance. She knows exactly where the biggest levers for startup success lie: in a clear strategy, thorough preparation, and compelling communication.

"Startup Funding: The Handbook" is the book she wishes she'd had back then: a practical step-by-step guide for anyone preparing to close their first funding round successfully.