2025 VC Expectations

👋 Hi there - it’s Egemen. Thanks for reading Scalable.

If you’re launching a startup in 2025, you need to know what investors actually care about.

It’s not just about having a great idea anymore - it’s about showing how your business fits into the trends, like AI or new ways of tackling old problems.

The competition is obviously tough, and standing out means being smart about how you position yourself from day one.

In this edition, I’m sharing practical advice for building a startup that can attract VC interest

Here’s a snapshot of what’s on the menu today:

💡 Spotlight: Linear

I’ve started using Linear with a tech team that introduced it to me for a product we’re working on last week.

This is easily the best technical product management tool that I’ve used in a long time, and I’d like share Linear with you (no, they are not a sponsor).

• Helps teams track and prioritize tasks, bugs, and issues with customizable workflows and fast performance.

• Offers seamless integrations with tools like GitHub and Slack, along with features for sprints, goal tracking, and team collaboration.

• Provides a minimalistic, fast, and user-friendly interface ideal for modern software development and product teams.

It has some sleek designs as well, check it out if you are a product person!

🧠 Deep-Dive: How to fix fundraising expectations with VCs

I’ve seen this graph below on LinkedIn recently, with the title “Why no VC is investing in you”. I must say, it pretty much captures the full picture.

Here’s how to fix fundraising expectations with VCs in 2025:

Often times, you’ll be categorized in one of these 4 categories: Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A, and Series B+.

Coincidentally, these fundraising stages are also parallel with the progress of your startup, these being:

• Idea stage

  • Your startup is pre-validated, funding is tough here, you should focus on keeping your costs low and progress as much as you can.

• Pre-revenue traction

  • Imagine having a early access waitlist. There is some traction, people are willing to take a look at your solution but no revenue yet. At this time, you can attract some VCs, metrics like early access waitlist size, LOIs signed, etc can be convincing.

• Strong unit economics:

  • You are at the brink of scaling up and are showing potential signs of being profitable. Show solid metrics like LTV/CAC ratio. Work towards building an argument around profitability.

• Proven revenue that might indicate a fund-returner for VCs

  • Clearly, this is the most attractive. Significant activity take place here.

  • Consistent MRR/ARR, strong revenue (if transactional), repeatble acquisition strategies should be your focus areas.

At the early days of the journey, you simply just have an idea - and you are not VC-backable.

You need to work your way up and prove to become VC-backlable. If you are at an idea stage or pre-revenue stage, your expectations are probably not on the same page compared to investors.

If you’re asking for funding, you must show them promising signs of them getting their money back in the not-so-distant future.

Until then, keep your costs low, and explore other funding opportunities like grands, friends & family, accelerator programs, and so on.

👉 Keep in mind, investors invest in you because they believe they’ll get a better return in the future by taking this risk.

🎙️ Working on a startup? Grab some time with me.
Tell me what’s going well - or not so well. I’m here to help.

🗺️ Method: Corporate VC Collaborations

If you are zeroing in solving a problem in a specific industry, using successful Corporate VC-backed (CVC) collaborations as inspiration is crucial, simply because it provides tangible proof of how strategic partnerships can drive growth.

By closely following these, you can identify best practices early on, understand what worked in similar partnerships, and discover how others leveraged resources like distribution channels or global networks.

I’d argue this must be a core piece of your strategy in 2025.

Here are some to give you a bit of inspiration:

• Customer Access: Google Ventures with Uber and Google Maps.

• Distribution Networks: Intel Capital with Ring’s IoT integration.

• Brand Credibility: Salesforce Ventures with Snowflake.

• Operational Infrastructure: Walmart with Plenty for US-wide distribution.

• Global Reach: SoftBank Vision Fund with DoorDash’s international expansion.

• Tailored Collaborations: Roadie with Home Depot and SoundHound with Honda.

⚾️ Catch: 5 Trends in Tech and Startups in 2025

I was scrolling through Crunchbase and came across this article, it’s a quick read around 2025 trends. Worth having a peek.

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☝️ Scaled This Past Week: Carecode

Backed by a16z and QED, Carecode $4.3M pre-seed, it’s the scale of the week!

Here’s what Carecode does:

• develops AI agents to handle tasks traditionally managed by call centers, such as appointment scheduling, confirmations, and filling canceled slots, at a fraction of the cost.

• tailors its solution for Brazil by integrating with WhatsApp for text and audio communication, catering to older and low-income users who prefer audio messages.

• aims to reduce the 50% of healthcare companies' revenue spent on contact centers and administrative payroll in Brazil, while improving patient and provider experiences.

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