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Articles

Narrow & useful.

Where a guide covers a whole phase, an article settles one tight question. Filter to what you need.

01Valuation

Pre-money vs post-money, settled in one page

The single distinction that quietly costs first-time founders two or three points of ownership.

Elena Marlow6 minRead →
02Dilution

The option-pool shuffle, and how to avoid it

Why the new option pool usually comes out of your slice — and the one sentence that changes that.

Anya Söderberg8 minRead →
03Term sheets

Reading a term sheet, line by line

Economics and control are the only two things a term sheet decides. Here is each line, decoded.

Elena Marlow11 minRead →
04Diligence

What investors actually do in diligence

Behind every data request is a question the partner is trying to answer. Know the question.

Julien Khoury10 minRead →
05Updates

The monthly investor update, structurally

The five-block format that keeps a round warm without turning updates into a second job.

Anya Söderberg5 minRead →
06Instruments

When to raise a priced round vs another SAFE

The thresholds that should tip the decision — and the mistakes founders make waiting too long.

Elena Marlow8 minRead →
ESC
Guide
GuideHow to run a pre-seed raiseThe full sequence — from writing the brief to confirming the wire — with the decisions that actually move a round.↵GuideHow to build a pitch deck that gets meetingsThe eleven slides investors expect, what belongs on each, and the one that decides the second call.↵GuideHow to assemble a founder-ready data roomThe 38-item seed packet, organised section by section — including the documents founders forget.↵GuideHow to source warm introductionsTurn the people you already know into a pipeline of introductions to the funds you actually want.↵GuideHow to structure your roundSAFEs vs priced, caps, discounts & pools — the levers that decide dilution before the term sheet lands.↵
Article
ArticlePre-money vs post-money, settled in one pageThe single distinction that quietly costs first-time founders two or three points of ownership.↵ArticleThe option-pool shuffle, and how to avoid itWhy the new option pool usually comes out of your slice — and the one sentence that changes that.↵ArticleReading a term sheet, line by lineEconomics and control are the only two things a term sheet decides. Here is each line, decoded.↵ArticleWhat investors actually do in diligenceBehind every data request is a question the partner is trying to answer. Know the question.↵ArticleThe monthly investor update, structurallyThe five-block format that keeps a round warm without turning updates into a second job.↵ArticleWhen to raise a priced round vs another SAFEThe thresholds that should tip the decision — and the mistakes founders make waiting too long.↵
Section
SectionGuidesStep-by-step playbooks for each phase of the raise↵SectionArticlesNarrow topics, explained in one sitting↵SectionAcceleratorsLive deadlines for the major programs↵SectionBooksThe founder & fundraising reading shelf↵SectionPlaybooksBest third-party guides from Sequoia, YC & more↵SectionGlossaryFundraising vocabulary, plainly defined↵SectionVideos & talksOffice hours, workshops, founder talks↵
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