Short answer: enough to get your startup to an accretive milestone plus some fudge factor.
“Accretive milestone” is a fancy way of saying getting your company to a point at which you can raise money at a higher valuation. As a rule of thumb, I would say a successful Series A is one where good VCs invest at a pre-money that is at least twice the post-money of the seed round. So if for your seed round you raised $1M at $2M pre ($3M post-money valuation), for the Series A you should be shooting for a minimum of $6M pre (but hopefully you’ll get significantly higher).
Original Article: What’s The Right Amount Of Seed Money To Raise?
