
For seed VCs looking to benchmark your portfolio - what is a "good" graduation rate to Series A?
It depends on the time since the seed round, of course.
Date below, but big caveat: having a very high graduation rate is cool, for sure. But is it actually good? Or is an 80-90% graduation rate an indication that you didn't take enough risk in the initial investment pool?
Worth pondering 🤔
𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮:
After Year 1
5% is low, 10% is med, 20% is high
After Year 2
15% is low, 25% is med, 35% is high
After Year 3
20% is low, 35% is med, 45% is high
And of course, as is very clear from the color gradients in the chart, the macro matters! It was MUCH harder to graduate from Seed to A in 2023 than it was in 2021 or than it is likely to be this year.
Hope this is a useful guide as you discuss your graduation rate with prospective LPs 🙏
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