- 1Two years of clean, accrual-basis financials. Month-by-month P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow.
- 2A defensible financial model. Three-statement, monthly forecast for 24 months out, with assumptions clearly tagged.
- 3SaaS / unit metrics. MRR, ARR, gross retention, net retention, CAC, LTV, payback period, gross margin by cohort.
- 4Cap table. Fully diluted, including all option pools, SAFEs, convertibles, and post-money calculations.
- 5Customer concentration analysis. Top 10 customers as % of revenue, churn analysis.
- 6Detailed expense breakdown. By department, by category, with headcount linkage.
- 7Burn rate and runway analysis. Current month, three-month average, scenario-based runway.
- 8A clean data room. Financial documents, contracts, IP, employment, corporate governance.
- 9Board reporting cadence. Recurring board package showing you can communicate financial position to sophisticated investors.
Financial hygiene basics
Clean accrual-basis books for the most recent 18-24 months. All bank reconciliations complete. Revenue recognition methodology documented. Expense categorization consistent over time. These are baseline requirements, not nice-to-haves.
Monthly financial statements produced within 15 days of close. If you cannot produce reliable monthly financials, investors will question how you run the business. The cadence signals operational maturity separately from the numbers themselves.
Reviewed or audited financials are sometimes requested but usually not required at Series A. Reviewed is more common; audited is unusual at this stage unless the lead investor insists. Know what your specific lead typically requires.
Revenue quality signals
Recurring revenue that is clearly separated from one-time revenue. Investors value recurring revenue at 3-10x the multiple of one-time revenue, so the mix matters significantly. Your books should make this distinction clear without manual work.
Retention metrics by cohort. Gross retention, net retention, logo retention. Investors want to see that early cohorts still exist and often still spending more than they did initially. Healthy retention is table stakes for Series A.
Customer concentration. Top 5 customers as percentage of revenue. Top 10 customers as percentage of revenue. Concentration above 40-50% in top 10 raises concerns. Concentration above 20% in any single customer raises concerns. Know your numbers and be ready to discuss.
Efficiency metrics
Unit economics at the customer level. CAC, LTV, payback period, gross margin. These should be trending in the right direction even if absolute levels are not yet ideal. The direction of travel matters as much as the current number.
Burn multiple: burn divided by net new ARR. Under 2x is healthy. Over 3x raises questions. Investors use this to judge capital efficiency. A company with great metrics but 5x burn multiple still has work to do to justify Series A.
Headcount productivity. Revenue per employee, sales per AE, support tickets per CSM. These operational metrics signal whether the team is effectively deployed. Low productivity here combined with high burn is the combination that raises the most concerns.
The forward model
A credible 18-36 month forward model with monthly granularity. Not top-down ("we will 4x in three years") but bottoms-up (hiring pace, sales capacity, pipeline conversion, retention assumptions). Investors can immediately tell the difference between genuine forecasting and aspirational targets.
Scenario analysis showing base, upside, and downside cases. What does the business look like if growth is slower than plan? What if the team needs to extend runway? Showing that you have thought through contingencies signals operational maturity.
Plan for the post-Series A milestones. What gets achieved with the capital? What does it set up for Series B? A Series A pitch that does not clearly connect to a Series B path suggests the team has not thought through the arc.