One of an entrepreneur’s most challenging dilemmas is how much money to raise. It has far-reaching implications, not the least of which is how much ownership in your company you’re going to give away. While there is no magic answer to this question, here is a simple guideline that might help you in your fundraising efforts.

 Raise the amount of money it takes to get to the next major milestone that increases the valuation of your company.

Raise the amount of money it takes to get to the next major milestone that increases the valuation of your company. Then add the six-month buffer of cash. The idea is that you want to get to an event such as a product launch or a paying customer that would objectively increase your valuation. But you also want to have a margin for error so by adding six months of cash this provides you the opportunity to make the natural mistakes you will make on the way.