The "Step Up" Process

General Preparation to Improve Your Chance of Success

• Improve your knowledge of the investment process and investment note documents to help close your funding faster
• We'll guide you on what might and might not be convincing, and how satisfying your answers will come across
• Get coaching and honest feedback

Preparation for Investment Meetings

• We'll review your company presentation to see if it makes a convincing business case
• We'll ask you a lot of questions angel investors will ask ahead of time so that you won't be caught off guard. As investors, we know what we ask, and will help you prepare

Funding Needs Review

• We'll discuss your financial plan to verify that your funding plan is consistent with your spending plan

Preparation for Due Diligence

• We'll walk you through a checklist of typical due diligence questions and list of typical requested documents and explain why investors care about these things.
• We'll have you answer a detailed due diligence questionnaire as practice.

Corporate Check-Up and Corporate Clean-Up

• We'll review your key corporate documents, looking for pitfalls and obvious mistakes and "clean up" issues.  This is essential "due diligence" material that investors will ask for
• We'll review your "Cap Table" to see if it matches your documents and try to catch any mistakes you might have made (which is easy to do -- start-ups often get this wrong)
• We'll help you fix your corporate documents (if minor changes), or refer you to an attorney if you have a big mess

Funding Document Customization

• We'll explain advantages of a funding agreement commonly used by Angel investors, the convertible note ("Note")
• We'll help customize the note with your funding needs and specific circumstances (which should be reviewed by your attorney before closing your funding round)
• We'll include terms in the note that strive for a win-win for both you and your investors so that you both are more likely to feel treated fairly during negotiations
• We'll inform you about the key terms in the agreement so you know how to explain to investors why they are important to you
• We'll advise you if you should see an attorney before meeting with investors and make introductions if needed