Tools
Be confident in raising capital
Our tools help you with calculating a valuation range for your company, profiling potential investors and support you in approaching investors well prepared and with confidence!
Prepare for Becoming Investor-Ready
Be confident and well prepared when you approach investors
You want to be sure that you know the value of your start-up, that you have prepared the necessary documents and that you address the right investors. Last but not least you’ll also want to prepare well for upcoming negotiations. The key2investors platform is designed to help you with this.
Our platform offers an extensive collection of articles about all the relevant topics. Practical and easy to use tools help you put theory into practice.
Check out the overview of the available tools below and head over to our guide section to learn more about the essential topics for becoming investor-ready.
Being investor-ready means…
You have a solid financial plan that links your strategy with your assumptions.
You understand how different company valuation methods work and what your valuation range is.
You know your peak cash need, your financing options and you have a dynamic model which allows you to create different scenarios.
You know which documents to prepare for investors.
You know which investors to address.
Investor Readiness Check
Are you ready to start approaching investors?
You only get one chance to make a good impression! Use our self-assessment checklist to find out how well you are prepared for approaching investors.
The checklist covers the five most relevant areas for investor readiness. Upon completion of the checklist you will receive a personal feedback via email from us.
Are you ready? Find out now!
Negotiation Readiness Check
How can you manage negotiations well?
Negotiations with investors are the final step in getting funded. After you have created your strategy and worked on your financial plan you are now ready to start negotiations.
There will be difficult moments during negotiations. There will be term sheets and many clauses to consider. We support you on choosing the right procedure, and how to negotiate.
Use our quick checklist to find out how ready you are for your next negotiation!
Start-up Valuation Methods
How do you value a very early-stage startup?
There are a number of rough valuation method used by investors which can also be used by you to get a first indication about the valuation range of your company.
Our best-practice advice:
Use multiple methods to check your results!
Before going into negotiations you should have a good understanding of the different methods an investor will use to determine the valuation range for your start-up.
Common valuation methods
- Risk Factor Summation Method (RFS)
- Scorecard method
- Venture Capital Method
- Discounted Cash-Flow Method
- First Chicago Method
Using multiple methods during preparation will also help you in the negotiation process because it will give you a more robust understanding of the valuation process.
Learn more about the differences in the methods and when to use them in our guide to raising capital.
Risk Factor Summation Method
Early Stage Valuation
Use the Risk-Factor-Summation (RFS) method to get an idea of a very rough valuation of your company or early-stage startup.
The RFS-Method is a valuation technique built on a base-value adjusted for 12 standard risk factors.
The Risk-Factor-Summation tool let’s you start with an average valuation for your company based on similar companies in your area and region. You can then adjust the different risk factors on a range from “very low” to “very high” and the tool will calculate the valuation accordingly.
Teaser Deck Creation
How to make a great first impression when contacting investors
Investors get approached by many start-ups. Their selection process starts with a first rough screening of the documents they receive from you:
- Can they understand your product?
- Have you highlighted the market potential?
- Is your founder team well-balanced and skilled?
A classic pitch-deck is not the best choice for the first contact.
Get our free templates and best-practice examples for teaser deck creation to create teaser document that has been proven to work very well with investors.
What our customers say
Really good!
The virtual_lab was very informative with a lot of useful things to make a better approach to investors.
Guillaume B., Technology Officer of easyfeed.io
Petra helped us in structuring the key message and all relating documents for finding venture capital for a newly founded start-up in the field of green chemicals. Petra also provided us contacts and venture opportunities for our mission. We totally appreciated Petras very experienced, well skilled but still hands-on way of working with us. Petra is perfectly capable of sensing what her customers really need. We really learnt a lot! Thank you Petra.
Petra Wolkenstein has supported and consulted us in several phases in a very professional way. Working together has been excellent when looking for new investors. She matched us with qualitatively valuable and very suitable investors. Her cross-border investor network is truly extensive. Many thanks for your excellent and proactive support!
Selling a company is a complex process. When I was looking for a buyer to exit my company, the experience of the consulting team helped a lot. In the end, the professional teaser documentation and the invaluable negotiation support were decisive for the sale.
