Fundraising Assumptions
Explicit assumptions underlying the fundraising plan: valuation expectation, lead-investor probability, time-to-close, post-close runway, and what changes if any assumption breaks. Common pitfall: assumptions are made implicitly and only surface in the postmortem. Boards should require this section to be reviewed each update — a board update where assumptions never change suggests they are not being tested, not that they are correct. — Fundraising KPI, I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier).
I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier)
No public third-party standard anchors this KPI yet, so I'mBoard authors and maintains the definition — transparently labeled as editorial tier. See the ontology methodology for the published vs editorial tier system and the back-attribution workstream.
Rogue ID: fundraising.assumptions
Type: Text
Domain: Fundraising
Definition
Explicit assumptions underlying the fundraising plan: valuation expectation, lead-investor probability, time-to-close, post-close runway, and what changes if any assumption breaks. Common pitfall: assumptions are made implicitly and only surface in the postmortem. Boards should require this section to be reviewed each update — a board update where assumptions never change suggests they are not being tested, not that they are correct.
Formula
Narrative — enumerated assumptions, each ideally with (1) the assumption, (2) the rationale, (3) what changes if it breaks.Why it matters
Anchors the fundraising plan to falsifiable beliefs. Lets the board pre-agree on what would constitute a "this is not working, change the plan" trigger.
How to interpret
Assumptions that diverge from risk_factors are a signal of inconsistency. Assumptions that have been broken without triggering plan change are the strongest red flag — pair with a board discussion of when to change course.
Related KPIs
fundraising.strategyfundraising.risk_factorsfundraising.target_raisefundraising.planned_close_date
Source
I'mBoard editorial — authored and maintained by I'mBoard, first published 2026-04-01. No third-party standard is cited for this KPI; when one emerges, the definition is back-attributed and promoted to the published tier (a minor version bump). Read the ontology methodology for the published vs editorial tier system, attribution rules, and dispute process.
Stage relevance
| Company stage | Priority |
|---|---|
| Pre-Seed | Recommended |
| Seed | Recommended |
| Series A | Recommended |
| Series B | Recommended |
| Series C+ | Recommended |
Suggested for stages: Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A, Series B, Series C+.
Default owning functions
- Finance
Machine-readable
- This KPI as JSON:
/api/ontology/fundraising/assumptions.json - All Fundraising KPIs:
/api/ontology/fundraising.json - Full catalog:
/api/ontology/index.json
Fundraising KPIs
Round status, investor pipeline, cap table. 23 KPIs in this domain — 5 anchored to third-party standards, 18 editorial.
Committed Amount
Capital that investors have agreed to invest — including both soft commitments (verbal / handshake / IOI) and hard commitments (signed term sheet or executed subscription docs). Treat this as the round-progress odometer. Common pitfall: soft commitments are notoriously squishy — every published fundraising postmortem (per First Round Review and Bessemer founder essays) warns that founders over-count soft commits. Board-best-practice is to track soft vs hard separately or to define a haircut convention (e.g. 50% of soft) at the start of the round. — Fundraising KPI, I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier).