Your First Pitch Deck

The reduction in your ownership percentage when a company issues new shares — at each funding round, every existing shareholder's slice of the pie gets smaller, even as the pie itself grows.

The smallest, ugliest, most embarrassing version of your product that still lets you test whether anyone actually wants it.

The earliest institutional round — typically $250K–$1M raised before there's real product-market fit, usually from angels, micro-VCs, or accelerators in exchange for 5-10% on a SAFE.

A short, founder-friendly contract where an investor wires money now in exchange for shares at the next priced round — no interest, no maturity date, no debt to pay back.

The first institutional round of startup funding — typically $1-5M raised from VCs and angels in exchange for 10-20% equity, used to chase product-market fit.

The first priced equity round — typically $5-20M raised after a startup has proven product-market fit, structured with full term sheets, board seats, and preferred stock instead of the casual paper of seed.

The short, mostly-non-binding document outlining the key terms of an investment — valuation, amount, board composition, liquidation preference, vesting — negotiated and signed BEFORE the lawyers start drafting the 100-page deal docs.

The maximum company valuation at which a SAFE or convertible note converts to equity — caps the early investor's effective price per share if the next round closes at a much higher valuation.