Startup Funding Espresso – How To Answer “What’s Your Timeline?”
Release Date: 06/26/2025
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info_outlineHow To Answer “What’s Your Timeline?”
Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.
Investors often ask startups raising funding, “What’s your timeline?”
They want to know if the process is so far along that it’s too late for them to join.
They have limited resources and can’t afford to chase a deal that will close before they can complete it.
Investors are also looking for an indication of interest from other investors.
The founder's answer to the question must address these concerns.
Here’s an example response:
We have meetings lined up for the next three weeks.
We’re seeing investors go into diligence.
We have more investors showing interest.
So we hope to wrap up in the next six to eight weeks.
This shows the prospective investor that there’s interest in the deal.
The team has a process for finding investors, pitching them, and closing the investment.
Six to eight weeks is an ideal time for closing, as it gives the investor enough time to run diligence.
More than eight weeks means the investor can procrastinate.
Less than six weeks, and the investor may not have enough time to run their own process.
Show prospective investors that others are interested in the deal and there’s still time to get in.
Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.
Let’s go startup something today.
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