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Every page and article on Cate Diaz in one place, organized by topic.

Best Posts

Start here -- how Cate Diaz built Market Chemistry and helps founders raise capital.

We Raised Millions With This Seven-Step Playbook : Market Chemistry's seven-step fundraising playbook, built from real campaigns. From proving venture upside to sprinting the raise. Cate Diaz.
Building an Investable Narrative: Lessons from Writing $180M+ Worth of Pitch Decks : Cate Diaz's hook deck framework for startup founders, built from co-writing the pitch decks behind $225M+ in raises. What investors actually want to see.
How I 3X'd Market Chemistry : Cate Diaz on building Market Chemistry: from Texas's biggest seed round deck to a fundraising firm that converts. The founding story.

Fundraising

My fundraising writing pulls from real experience, real frustration, and a few hard-won lessons I picked up along the way. In "VC-Backed Equity Crowdfunding: The New Credibility?," I wrote about how this trend has become the new way to sell credibility at scale. It is an idea I keep coming back to because it shapes so much of how I think about fundraising today.

3 Questions to Ask Investors Before They Write the Check : Cate Diaz shares three questions founders should ask investors before signing: how they define success, what they do when things break, where they help.
VC-Backed Equity Crowdfunding: The New Credibility? : Equity crowdfunding deals with VC backing send a different signal to retail investors. Cate Diaz on the new credibility play.
The Fundraising Reality Nobody Tells You : Fundraising takes longer than first-time founders expect. Cate Diaz on the deal-pace reality and how to plan around it.
Why I Ignore Vague Meeting Requests from Founders : Cate Diaz on why investors ignore vague meeting requests, and how a few sentences on your company, stage, and goals get a founder a meeting booked.
Your Investor List is Full of Zombies : Cate Diaz explains zombie funds: firms taking meetings but not writing checks, plus the signals that show which investors are still deploying capital.
How to Pitch Your Startup : Cate Diaz on how to pitch your startup: why the 'We are the Uber for X' comparison falls flat with investors, and what to do instead.
We Raised Millions With This Seven-Step Playbook : Market Chemistry's seven-step fundraising playbook, built from real campaigns. From proving venture upside to sprinting the raise. Cate Diaz.
Building an Investable Narrative: Lessons from Writing $180M+ Worth of Pitch Decks : Cate Diaz's hook deck framework for startup founders, built from co-writing the pitch decks behind $225M+ in raises. What investors actually want to see.

General

The posts that do not fit neatly into one lane. Market reads, candid founder takes, and the occasional story I could not file anywhere else. In "February Punished Weak Crowdfunding Campaigns Fast," I wrote about how quickly investor sentiment can turn on a raise that is not buttoned up.

February Punished Weak Crowdfunding Campaigns Fast : Cate Diaz breaks down February's crowdfunding data: weak campaigns got weeded out while prepared deals with real traction kept drawing investor dollars.
Being Oversubscribed Kind of Sucks! : Cate Diaz on why being oversubscribed can backfire: extra dilution, lost leverage, a crowded cap table, and why an intentional lineup matters more.

Life & Business

This is where business meets real life, and I do not keep them separate. In "My Unique Bachelorette: A Burlesque Murder Mystery," I wrote about kissing single life goodbye with a bachelorette party that torched the rulebook. It is the kind of story that has nothing to do with business on paper, but everything to do with how I approach life.

My Unique Bachelorette: A Burlesque Murder Mystery : Cate Diaz on planning a 1920s speakeasy bachelorette with a custom murder mystery script, and why she and Alex ditched the traditional playbook.
How I 3X'd Market Chemistry : Cate Diaz on building Market Chemistry: from Texas's biggest seed round deck to a fundraising firm that converts. The founding story.
From Happy Hour to Launchpad: The Finding Funding Experience : Cate Diaz on the Finding Funding Happy Hours in Dallas and Austin: intimate gatherings of founders, connectors, and investors built around community.

Startup Advice

Startup advice from someone who has been in the trenches, not the sidelines. "AI-Proof Your Startup" digs into where AI ends and human ingenuity begins. It is a question I keep coming back to, and the answer keeps changing. "Strategy vs. Tactics: A Founder's Guide to Real Strategy" struck a chord with readers. A lot of founders confuse the two, and it slows their growth. Writing about these patterns helps me see them more clearly.

3 Questions to Ask Investors Before They Write the Check : Cate Diaz shares three questions founders should ask investors before signing: how they define success, what they do when things break, where they help.
AI-Proof Your Startup : AI can't replicate trust with customers or control of distribution channels. Cate Diaz on the human moats that keep founders relevant as AI eats workflows.
Strategy vs. Tactics: A Founder's Guide to Real Strategy : Cate Diaz on the difference between strategy and tactics: strategy is the long-term what and why, tactics are the how and when of executing it.
The Fatal Hiring Mistake : Cate Diaz on the hiring mistake that sinks early startups: hiring narrow specialists over adaptable athletes who can wear many hats on a small team.
The Broke Founder Reality : Cate Diaz on the broke founder reality: survivorship bias hides low salaries and long odds, yet founders still build the future the rest of us live in.
Critical Elements of Successful Founder Partnerships : Cate Diaz on what makes co-founder partnerships last: brutal honesty, complementary skills, shared hunger, an ego check, and clear communication.