[FREE GUIDE]Fundraising and startups
Raising capital is hard, and you have to convince investors your company is worth their time and money. In this 10-page guide, we share five secrets to setting yourself up for success when it is time to raise.
[01]What's inside
The guide as a PDF, delivered the moment you send the form.
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As a tech startup you are up against some of the most competitive odds in business. But by educating yourself and taking the right actions, you can put your company in a much better position when it is time to raise, and to scale.
Start before you need the money. Investors back teams they know, so build relationships early, show traction they can measure, and make it easy to say yes with a clean company, a clear market and protected technology.
| Stage | Typical sources | What investors look for |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-seed | Founders, friends and family, angels | The team and the problem |
| Seed | Angels, seed funds, accelerators | Early traction and a product people use |
| Series A | Venture capital firms | Repeatable growth and a large market |
| SAFE | Convertible note | Priced equity round | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What investors get | A right to future equity | Debt that converts to equity | Shares at a set price now |
| Interest and maturity | None | Yes | Not applicable |
| Typical stage | Pre-seed and seed | Pre-seed and seed | Seed and later |
The terms matter as much as the amount. Have the documents reviewed before you sign, see fundraising agreements.
Investors want to know what stops a better-funded competitor from copying you. Patents filed on your key features, and a company that owns its code and brand, answer that question and can raise your valuation. Read why patents are important to investors.
Build relationships with investors before you need money, show measurable traction, keep the company's legal house in order, and protect the technology that makes you different. The guide covers five of these in depth.
Before you pitch how the technology works. A provisional application secures your filing date quickly, and investors look for protected technology during diligence.
Most venture investors will not sign an NDA for a pitch. That is one more reason to file a patent application before you share how your technology works.
Yes. Send the short form and the PDF opens right after.
[04]Learning Center
U.S. R&D spending reached $937 billion in 2023, and businesses fund about three-quarters of it, primarily driven by companies’ confidence that patents will protect their investments.
Most inventors approach provisional patents backwards. They rush to file a bare-bones application, thinking it’s just a placeholder, only to discover 12 months later that…
Angel investor agreements form the backbone of the relationship between startups and their early investors. Private investors, a category of angel investors, provide…
[05]Free resources
BundlePDF · Word
Five founder resources in one download, from patents to privacy to fundraising.
GuidePDF
How SaaS companies use patents to protect key features and add value.
ChecklistPDF
The legal documents a SaaS company needs, gathered in one checklist.
Talk through your startup's IP with a registered patent attorney. The call is free, with no obligation.
