Which rung should you be on?
Nine rungs from your own savings to a major exchange listing: who invests, the rules that open each door, what it costs, and how real Australian companies climbed.
- The real cost of each rung, in dollars, not percentages
- What VCs, PE partners and brokers check, and their red flags
- How the same rung works in the US, UK, NZ and Singapore
A preview from chapter 1
The ladder at a glance
Rungs are optional. Atlassian bootstrapped for eight years before taking venture money; Afterpay took one venture round before listing. Pick the rungs that fit your business, not the ones that look impressive.
| Rung | Stage | Who invests | Typical raise (AUD) | Cost to raise |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Own capital | Bootstrap | You: savings, redraw, credit, early revenue | $0–150k | 0% |
| 2. Friends and family | Pre-seed | Your personal network | $25k–500k | 2–5% |
| 3. Angels and digital platforms | Seed | Angels, syndicates, CSF investors | $100k–5m | 5–10% |
| 4. Formal wholesale reach | Seed to pre-IPO | Wholesale and sophisticated investors | $500k–20m | 3–8% |
| 5. Venture capital | Series A–C | VC funds, incl. ESVCLPs and VCLPs | $2m–50m+ | 1–3% |
| 6. Private equity | Expansion | Growth equity and buyout funds | $20m–500m+ | 2–5% |
| 7. Liquidity platforms | Any private stage | Buyers of existing shares | $250k–50m | 3–5% (seller) |
| 8. NSX and second-tier | Public, minor exchange | Public investors | $1m–15m | 8–15% |
| 9. Major exchange IPO | Public, major exchange | Institutions and the public | $10m–500m+ | 5–10% |
Indicative ranges from The Capital Raising Ladder (October 2026). Every deal differs. General information only.
Inside the book
Why size matters: fixed costs make small IPOs expensive
Through the VC's eyes: your VC is raising money too
NSX and other second-tier exchanges
Beyond equity: non-dilutive capital
Tokenisation and digital capital raising
When raising goes wrong
Founder checklist: before you climb the next rung
Due diligence: what investors check and how to prepare
The whole ladder: four Australian journeys
Also free · 210 pages
The Founder's Journey
The founder is the business's biggest single risk and its biggest single asset. Yet very few founders protect themselves as carefully as their IP or their cap table. This book follows the whole journey, in three parts.
I · The personal side
Motivation, health, courage, money and relationships
II · The business side
Strategy, key person cover, succession, capital
III · Legacy
Estate planning, the exit and giving well