The mistakes that give away a first-time founder

Hi! I’m glad you’re here. You’ve made it to issue #82 of VC Demystified🪄.

My name’s Nicole - I’m a Principal at an early stage venture fund, and I know firsthand that VC can often be a black box. Breaking into the industry may feel daunting and resources can seem scarce and inaccessible. I wanted to put together a newsletter to give others the playbook I wish I had when I first started.

Today’s deep dive: What separates a repeat founder from a first-timer during fundraising

^{My personal mission is to open as many doors as possible for other people and this newsletter is just one avenue to do that. As always, I will continue to post VC insights daily for free across my socials. This newsletter may contain paid partnerships or affiliate links.}

Read time: 4 minutes

What separates a repeat founder from a first-timer during fundraising

New data from Carta shows that 53% of Seed and Series A capital in 2025 went to founders who previously built a VC-backed startup, the highest share in the past six years.

That means most of today’s venture dollars are flowing to second-time founders, even though the majority of founders are first-timers.

Why? Because VCs trust what they’ve seen before.

They bet on familiarity, experience and pattern recognition.

• Repeat founders now attract 50%+ of early-stage capital

• They make up ~40% of total deals, meaning they’re raising bigger rounds on average

• VC pattern matching is a shortcut for perceived lower risk

How VCs Spot a First-Time Founder

VCs might not say it out loud, but they can usually tell in five minutes whether you’ve done this before.

Here’s what they pick up on and what seasoned founders do differently:

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