Raising a Series A has no single formula right now, and three investors who spoke at TechCrunch's October conference said so plainly. TechCrunch's write-up of the panel features Shailendra Singh of Peak XV, Jahanvi Sardana of Index Ventures and Janelle Teng Wade of Bessemer, who each described what they look for and what worries them about the current market.
If you are a founder in the Bay Area planning a raise in the next year, the panel is worth reading closely because it covers the story you tell, the metrics you show and the way rounds are being structured. This post pulls out the practical points, adds context for founders and operators, and links to the other pieces we have written on fundraising.
Why a Series A is harder to define in 2026
According to the report, no single metric defines a Series A today. Singh said he has never seen seed and venture investing as dysfunctional as it is now, and described the market as one of the hardest to raise in that he has experienced. His reasoning was that the bar for convincing a top firm that you are one of the few companies able to break out is high, while the range of outcomes on price, round size and terms is very wide.
One symptom he pointed to is a company trying to close a round at as many as three different prices at once. Sardana called the pattern "tranchopalooza," referring to rounds being split into separate tranches. For a founder, the takeaway is to read the term sheet structure as carefully as the headline valuation, since the same number can mean different things depending on how and when the money arrives.
What investors want to hear in a Series A pitch
The first item on the panel's list was a persuasive story about why you have a shot at building a big company. Singh added that founders who attract high-quality talent have an advantage, which matches what many early-stage operators already see when strong engineers choose which startups to join.
What you build matters as well. Teng Wade said capital is flowing into areas such as robotics and AI infrastructure, and she noted that foundation model companies are moving toward vertical integration while leaving room for newer players, including neo-clouds that rent out AI computing power and neo-labs focused on AI research. If your company sits near one of those areas, say so early and explain what you do that a bigger company would find hard to copy. You can see a recent example in our post on Trajectory's $45M raise.
Metrics that still help, and one chart to avoid
Metrics still help a great deal, the panel said, but they are less defined than they used to be, especially in AI where running a company is expensive. Teng Wade described how her firm weighs a company with negative margins that spends heavily on compute, and the question comes down to whether the market is big enough to pay off if the company becomes one of the leaders.
Singh was blunt on one point of presentation. He said that if you ever show a chart of cumulative revenue or cumulative ARR, investors read it as a major red flag, because cumulative data hides weak time series. Show monthly or quarterly figures instead, and be clear about what each number counts. Honest revenue reporting comes up again in a second panel from the same conference, which covered how to judge product-market fit.
The warning about 2027
Singh also tacked on a warning. With money pouring into AI and revenue numbers being inflated to justify high valuations, he said he thinks 2027 will be different and that a correction is likely. He called this the most optimistic the venture world has been in two decades and said that is normally a sign of trouble.
You do not need to agree with him to act on it. A founder can plan runway as if raising again will take longer than expected, keep the cost structure flexible and avoid building a roadmap only because a category is getting funded. Sardana said she worries about founders deciding what to build based on what is getting funded, and that remark is a good test for any plan.
How to prepare your raise in the Bay Area
Teng Wade offered one more piece of advice. Her usual counsel was to be conservative with projections and requests, but she said that has not held up lately and that she now suggests being audacious in your ask and adjusting from the response. Treat that as one investor's view, and compare it with what the people you actually pitch say.
Before the first pitch, build a short list of firms by checking their recent deals. Our Sand Hill Road guide for first-time founders is a starting point, and our post on founder-led sales covers the customer evidence that makes a round easier. Tribe is also hosting an Enterprise Sales Workshop for Founders with Peter Kazanjy on Nov 11 in Redwood City, according to its Luma page.
Find your people
Fundraising goes better when you can compare notes with founders who are a few weeks ahead of you. Tribe organizes South Bay Renaissance to rebuild the South Bay and Peninsula startup community in person, with founder dinners, AI deep dives and demo nights across cities from San Mateo to San Jose. Follow the full list of gatherings on the Tribe Events calendar on Luma, and join the AI Trends Tribe to talk through funding news with other builders.
