How to Answer the Five Questions Every VC Asks When You're Fundraising

When fundraising, you'll get the same five questions in almost every meeting that goes well. They seem simple. They're not. Answer them wrong and you can derail your raise. Answer them right and you create urgency, protect your leverage, and move the process forward.

During our fundraising at BenchSci, I went as far as memorizing my answers word for word. Here's what I said — and why.

"How far along are you in the fundraising process?"

You'll get this question in every meeting that goes well. Investors want to know how urgently they need to act. I always told the truth — but I made sure my answer communicated that a process was running and competition was real. Here's what that sounded like, depending on where I was in the timeline:

"I'm running a fundraising process and focusing on funds I think will be a great fit for us. I'm meeting partners from those funds later this week, and I have second meetings with some of them."

Or, later in the process:

"I'm running a fundraising process and focusing on funds I think will be a great fit. I have all partner meetings this upcoming Monday."

The specifics will vary. What can't vary is this: your answer needs to make clear that a process is running and that waiting is a risk.

"Who else are you talking to?"

Never answer this. It's a small industry — most VCs know each other. Give a name and they might call a partner there. At that point, two competitors become allies. The answer I always gave:

"I don't feel comfortable sharing names. I'd like to honor their confidentiality the same way I'll honor yours."

Clean, principled, and it closes the door without creating friction.

"What valuation are you looking for?"

This question will come from every VC that's genuinely interested. Don't answer it. The moment you name a number, you're negotiating against yourself. You're not a valuation expert — the market is. This question is also a perfect opportunity to reinforce that a process is running. My go-to:

"We're running a fundraising process, and we're going to let the market decide the value of our company. VCs are the experts on that, not me."

"How much are you raising?"

This feels like a simple, factual question. It isn't. Never give a single number — always give a range. For example: "We're raising $5–7M."

Two reasons. First, the rule of thumb is that your raise implies a valuation of 4–5x that number, so anchoring too precisely can work against you. Second, some investors want to write a bigger check than your ask, and some have a specific check size they're targeting. A range keeps those options open.

That said — I wasn't comfortable giving a vague range. We'd done the financial modeling. We knew exactly what we needed and I didn't want to look like we hadn't done our homework. So we found a way to give a range while still sounding precise:

"We're raising $5M and are thinking about adding $2M in venture debt — it's non-dilutive and gives us extra runway if things take longer than expected."

The responses split cleanly into two camps:

"That sounds like a great plan — I can connect you to some venture debt providers."

"I hate venture debt. I'd rather write a bigger check."

To both, the answer was: "Sounds great."

"Can I talk to your customers?"

Every serious VC will want to talk to your customers before investing. If those customers don't say remarkable things about your product, you're probably not closing the round.

The problem: you're running a process with 30–40 VCs. You cannot send all of them to your customers. That would be bad for your business and bad for those relationships. The solution is to ask them to wait — and to frame it as a natural part of the process:

"I'm very excited for you to talk to our customers, and we already have a few of them lined up. Since we're running a process, I can't send every VC we're meeting to speak with them. I'm happy to make introductions after the partnership meeting, if you decide to move forward."

I never got pushback on this. It signals that you're organized, that your customers are a real asset, and that the conversation is a privilege reserved for VCs who are serious.

These are the five questions that came up in nearly every fundraising meeting I had. Nail your answers before you walk in the room — not after.