Inside baseball: The founder’s guide to funding health and science organizations

Successful fundraising isn’t just about logic; it’s about trust, your vision and your ability to manage the process

Investors sign hundreds of term sheets over their careers. Founders only do so a handful of times. When you’re raising money to bring your idea to life, there are a myriad of decisions you need to make — what sources of funding to pursue, how to structure your company, what timeline you should work towards. Often, these are decisions you’re making for the first time. And when you search for fundraising advice, most of what you find is directed at tech startups and told from an investor’s point of view.

We’re flipping that script. The Founder’s Guide to Funding Health and Science Organizations is a 50+ page handbook by founders Andrea Coravos and Rachel Katz, that captures their own experiences of building and successfully exiting companies, along with dozens of behind-the-scenes conversations with other health and science founders.

It covers what traditional guides leave out — how to build momentum, how to negotiate when you’re not sure you have leverage, and strategies to make funding decisions that actually align with your mission. Whether you’re exploring venture, grants, philanthropic capital, or revenue-first models, this guide is meant to help you navigate complexity and find sources of funding that let you build your company on your own terms.

At Astera, we are eager to support others who can transform their hard-won insights into public goods that enable others who are building new technologies. You can find links to this guide and other resources for startups and nonprofits on our website. Please reach out if you have insights and tools to share for guiding science and technology toward greater impact!