It can seem like a trivial thing to plan growth just a couple of months before raising money, but investors are peculiar. They want to buy when growth is just starting to explode. Sure, sometimes you can’t help it, but often you can self-engineer growth as you prepare to go out and raise.

First, plan your launch with an eye on growth, figuring: ‘We want (X number of users), and this ad spend will get us the solid-gold investor-bait growth uptick of 20 percent+.’ The time that launch of other spendable-expendable channels, referral programs, and viral-everything to coincide with fundraising. PR can also be timed to create the impression of steady, impressive growth.

Your business shouldn't be run by fundraising rules, but a little planning can go a long way. If you can figure out a way to juice your growth-hacking techniques, your ad budget, and your customer-acquisition strategy to produce a sexy, exponential growth chart – do it. It will make your slide deck look like you’re hitting on all cylinders, and increase your chances of actually getting funded.