We recently wrote a lengthy article on how to raise money for startups. The process of fundraising. But what about the when?

11 years ago I launched an incubator so we set about defining and developing a process for building a venture. We figured that it was hard enough building one business at a time – so if you needed to incubate more than one you’d better have a secret sauce. 11 years later we have that secret sauce – its called Innovate. Its tried and tested across dozens of ventures. Some more successful than others – but each having tangibly benefitted from following a real startup process.

At the core of this process is what we believe are the 7 key stages to building a business. Starting from the second stage, the @ha Idea, we mix into the process how to raise money at that particular point in your projects life-cycle and what you’ll need to be successful. We’ve researched, analysed and lived the when to raise money for many years and many, many ventures.

We’ve learnt that the ‘when’ of fundraising is as important as the how. Get both right and you could be one of the very few entrepreneurs that succeeds in raising capital. Because over 90% fail. And we would argue that some of those 90% might even have raised money if they’d got the timing right. Fund raising is like comedy – its all in the timing!

Try to raise money too early in a ventures life and you’ll fail. Too late and you’ll get overtaken. Rely on investors rather than customers for your funding and you get screwed either way. At each stage of the venture you need to attract different kinds of investors – as with customers. Early in its life, once you have completed the @ha Idea stage, you can go for a ‘Startup Round’ aimed at friends and family. Once you have completed the Concept Stage you can approach angel investors for a ‘Seed Round’. And never approach VC’s before completing the Market Entry Stage when you’re ready for a ‘Series A’ – or you’ll get profoundly screwed.

Follow the diagram below and you should be in good shape.