Just how hard is it for startups to raise capital today?

Hello, friend! If you are a founder looking to raise your first external capital or your startup is a bit further down the line, you need to know what's going on in the world of venture capital. Don't worry, the TechCrunch+ crew has your back.

Building off of TechCrunch's rapid-fire coverage of individual startup funding rounds, we're digging deep into the global trends shaping venture appetite, covering how startups are responding to a new and more conservative reality.

The good news is that while 2023 is no 2021 -- sorry, you won't be able to raise at a valuation 100 times your last year's revenue -- there's still plenty of capital flowing.

The state of play: Tech companies big and small are cutting staff, looking to make their operations more lean. That means costs are under scrutiny -- though just how far startups are successfully cutting burn is not entirely clear -- and the investor demand that tech shops burn less while keeping growth hot is law in startup-land. The overall climate of more conservative venture investors wasn't precisely helped by the recent implosion of Silicon Valley Bank.What investors want: Investors have a lot to say about what they want. If you are a fintech founder, we have some tailored notes for you, but no matter what sort of startup you are building we recently collected a grip of pitching tips from leading venture investors.

The news is not all bad. Some late-stage startups are doing more than fine, even if we're seeing venture capital funding slow to the point that we're worried about the largest startups more generally.

And if you want to keep an eye out for which startups might be the first out of the gate, we dug up a leading indicator for that as well. If you are building something new, there's always something to learn from the next crop of startups ready to shed their private-market label and graduate to a public listing.

The TechCrunch+ crew is busy every day chewing through venture capital data, talking to founders about the current state of play, and working to collect discrete pieces of news into trends and narratives so that you can focus on what you do best: build. See you soon!