Typical band for stage
—
US median round size
Before a partner reads a single slide, they run a handful of arithmetic checks on your ask — in their head, in seconds. If the number fails one, the deck is already discounted. There's no judgment in these; they're just sanity ratios. Here are the four, with the math and the bands, plus a calculator to run them on your own ask.
Your ask is compared to the US median round-size band for your stage. Ask more than 2× the top of the band and it trips a hard flag — the partner will ask why you need that much now. Ask well under half the bottom and it flags too: either it won't buy enough runway or you're under-selling.
| Stage | Typical round (US median) |
|---|---|
| Pre-seed | $500K – $1.5M |
| Seed | $2M – $5M |
| Series A | $8M – $18M |
| Series B | $20M – $45M |
If your round were priced at the stage median post-money P, an ask A implies A / (P + A) dilution. Outside a healthy 10–25% band, the ask is mispriced for the stage — too much dilution means the raise is too big or you're implicitly pricing above the median; too little can leave you under-capitalized or read as small ambition.
| Stage | Median post-money |
|---|---|
| Pre-seed | ~$10M (typical SAFE cap) |
| Seed | ~$24M |
| Series A | ~$78.7M |
| Series B | ~$145M |
Worked example: a $4M seed ask at the $24M median post-money implies 4 / (24 + 4) = 14.3% dilution — comfortably inside the band. A $9M seed ask implies 9 / (24 + 9) = 27.3% — over the band, and a red flag unless you're pricing above the median.
Stage median post-money ÷ your ARR gives an implied revenue multiple. Above a wide per-stage sanity ceiling (~100× at seed, ~60× at Series A, ~40× at Series B), a partner re-anchors the valuation down unless there's an AI or hyper-growth story to justify it. At Series A/B with no ARR at all, the whole story rests on non-revenue proof — expect intense scrutiny.
A round should buy roughly 18–24 months to reach the next round's ARR bar. Under 12 months of reported runway flags: you'll be back raising before you've generated the proof the next round needs. The next-round bars the engine uses: seed should fund the path to ~$1.5M+ ARR (the Series A bar); Series A should fund the path to ~$5M+ (the Series B bar).
The report runs all five checks with the worked math, plus rewrites your use-of-funds slide to be milestone-anchored and sized to the next round's bar.
Request the report — $490 Landing calculator