Templates and resources
The documents you will be asked for.
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59 resources
Finding the idea
- Problem one-pagerOne page to fill in before writing code: who has the problem, what they do today, and the three things you would have to be right about.DOCX · Sign in to download · Idea
- Customer discovery interview scriptTwenty minutes of questions that find out whether a problem is real, and the question never to ask because the answer is always a polite yes.DOCX · Sign in to download · Idea, Prototype
- Market research and interview logOne row per conversation, in their words rather than your summary. At seed this file answers how you know the problem is real better than any market size slide.XLSX · Sign in to download · Idea, Prototype
Setting up the company
- Founder agreement checklistEquity, vesting, roles, time and what happens if somebody leaves before the company exists. The questions founders regret not answering early, in roughly the order they cause damage.DOCX · Sign in to download · Idea, Prototype, Pre-seed
- Non-disclosure agreementWhat an NDA settles, when it is worth asking for, and the one situation founders reach for it that costs them the meeting.PDF · Sign in to download · Idea, Prototype, Pre-seed
- Intellectual property assignmentThe most common fatal finding in diligence is that the company does not own its own product. Who has to sign, what it must cover, and the agency clause to read twice.PDF · Sign in to download · Idea, Prototype, Pre-seed, Seed
- Incorporation checklistThe paperwork that has to exist from day one: formation documents, agreements between people, IP assignments and the option scheme.DOCX · Sign in to download · Idea, Prototype, Pre-seed
- Corporate bylawsThe internal rulebook most founders adopt without reading. The four sections that decide who can stop the company deciding anything.PDF · Sign in to download · Prototype, Pre-seed
- Founder shares and the tax electionIssuing founder shares, and the election with a deadline measured in days. Getting the first right and the second late is an expensive ordinary mistake.PDF · Sign in to download · Prototype, Pre-seed
- Shareholders agreement checklistReserved matters, pre-emption, drag and tag, liquidation preference and leaver terms. What the document has to cover, so you brief a lawyer in one meeting instead of three.DOCX · Sign in to download · Pre-seed, Seed
- Customer terms and privacy policyTwo documents that must exist the day somebody other than you can sign up, and the parts that have to be true rather than only written.DOCX · Sign in to download · Prototype, Pre-seed, Seed
- Cap table starterFounders, an option pool and convertibles, with the fully diluted maths laid out. The number an investor will assume you mean.XLSX · Sign in to download · Pre-seed, Seed
Equity and people
- Founder vesting scheduleFour years, one-year cliff, modelled per founder with the decisions to settle beside it. Vesting protects whoever stays, and the founder who argues hardest against it is describing the outcome it prevents.XLSX · Sign in to download · Idea, Prototype, Pre-seed
- Advisory board agreementWhat to settle before offering equity to an advisor, the usual range, and the filter that catches most relationships which do not work out.PDF · Sign in to download · Idea, Prototype, Pre-seed
- Offer letter with an equity promiseHow to word a grant you cannot make yet. Writing a percentage with nothing else is the promise that becomes a dispute.PDF · Sign in to download · Idea, Prototype, Pre-seed, Seed
- Equity incentive planThe master document that creates the option pool and the rules every grant runs on. How to size it from the hiring plan rather than from a convention.PDF · Sign in to download · Pre-seed, Seed
- Stock option grant paperworkGrant agreement, notice of grant and exercise notice, plus which option type each person can receive and why it depends on status rather than seniority.PDF · Sign in to download · Pre-seed, Seed, Series A
- Option grant registerOne row per grant, with the valuation it was priced against and the date. A register rebuilt from emails eighteen months later is how share counts stop matching the cap table.XLSX · Sign in to download · Pre-seed, Seed, Series A, Series B+
- Employment paperwork checklistWhat every employee and every contractor must have signed, and the status question that is assessed on how the work actually happens rather than on what the contract calls it.DOCX · Sign in to download · Seed, Series A
- Independent valuation for option pricingWhy the exercise price needs an independent appraisal, when it expires, and why getting it wrong lands on your employees rather than on the company.PDF · Sign in to download · Series A, Series B+
- Post-termination exercise window policyNinety days is standard and can mean four years of work is lost for want of cash in three months. The trade-off, and what makes a policy real rather than a trap.DOCX · Sign in to download · Series A, Series B+
- Cap table migration checklistMoving off the spreadsheet before a round rather than during one. Clean first, because the system will faithfully reproduce whatever you load.DOCX · Sign in to download · Series A, Series B+
- Headcount planEvery role with its fully loaded cost, its ramp and the metric it moves. Headcount is the largest line in the budget and the slowest to reverse.XLSX · Sign in to download · Series A, Series B+
- Option pool and refresh planPool top-up modelled against the hiring plan, and refresh grants on a written policy. The cliff to watch is not month 12. It is month 48.XLSX · Sign in to download · Series B+
- International sub-plans for equityGranting options to somebody employed in another country can fail three ways at once. When you need a sub-plan, and what to check before the first grant.PDF · Sign in to download · Series B+
- Early exercise and promissory notesBuying option shares before they vest, the filing deadline measured in days, and why a non-recourse loan can defeat the whole point.PDF · Sign in to download · Series B+
Raising
- Pitch deck outlineTen to twelve slides in the order investors expect them, and a note on which number gets quoted in the partner meeting you are not in.DOCX · Sign in to download · Pre-seed, Seed, Series A
- Financial modelThree to five years driven off one assumptions sheet, with a downside case. Nobody believes month 47. They believe you understand what drives month 6.XLSX · Sign in to download · Seed, Series A, Series B+
- SAFEs and convertible notesRaising without setting a valuation, and the terms that decide what you actually gave away. Model the stack before you sign the next one.PDF · Sign in to download · Pre-seed, Seed
- Raise trackerEvery firm, the intro path and where each conversation stands. Built before you contact anybody, and run in parallel batches rather than in the order people reply.XLSX · Sign in to download · Pre-seed, Seed, Series A
- Data room checklistEvery document an investor asks for, the stage it should open at, and why they want it. The spine of a data room you can build before anybody requests anything.XLSX · Sign in to download · Every stage
- Diligence request trackerOne row per request, not one per investor. Records what was withheld and why, because a request you declined is a conversation you will have again.XLSX · Sign in to download · Seed, Series A, Series B+
- Investor rights agreementWhat an investor gets besides shares. Three or four clauses decide how much friction you take on, and information rights need a threshold.PDF · Sign in to download · Seed, Series A
- Term sheetMostly non-binding, and it decides almost everything. The four terms to read first, and the one binding clause that can actually hurt you.PDF · Sign in to download · Seed, Series A, Series B+
- Amended charter and preferred sharesThe new share class and the rights it carries. Run the preference stack at half your last valuation before you agree to it.PDF · Sign in to download · Series A, Series B+
- Voting, first refusal and co-saleWho controls the board and what happens when somebody wants to sell. Less discussed than valuation and it matters for longer.PDF · Sign in to download · Series A, Series B+
- Growth round data room indexThe Series B and C diligence list, three times the length of a seed one, with what each document is for and the stage to open it at.XLSX · Sign in to download · Series B+
Running the company
- Metrics one-pagerThe numbers investors ask for, with a column for the definition you are using. Net revenue retention computed two ways is two different companies.XLSX · Sign in to download · Every stage
- Monthly investor updateThe ask first, the numbers in a table, and a section for what did not go well. Investors who hear only good news stop believing the good news.DOCX · Sign in to download · Every stage
- Operating plan and budgetA quarterly plan where every line has an owner and an assumption. The board will challenge the assumption, not the arithmetic.XLSX · Sign in to download · Series A, Series B+
- Board packSent 72 hours ahead, decisions listed first. A board meeting without a decisions section is a status update.DOCX · Sign in to download · Series A, Series B+
- Board minutes and resolutionsWhat every set contains, which decisions must be minuted, and why you record the decision rather than the discussion.DOCX · Sign in to download · Seed, Series A, Series B+
- Contract registerEvery agreement that matters, with the change of control column an acquirer reads first. Track the deviation, not only the contract.XLSX · Sign in to download · Series A, Series B+
- Unit economics workbookCAC payback, LTV:CAC, magic number and burn multiple, each with how to compute it and the benchmark to beat.XLSX · Sign in to download · Series A, Series B+
Growth rounds
- Cohort retention and expansion workbookRetention by cohort and by segment, with expansion and churn on separate lines. A blended number is the one that gets quoted and the one that hides the problem.XLSX · Sign in to download · Series A, Series B+
- Revenue definitions policyOne page fixing what ARR, bookings, churn and gross margin mean for you. A definition chosen generously is found in diligence.DOCX · Sign in to download · Series A, Series B+
- Sales efficiency workbookMagic number, pipeline coverage, quota attainment and ramp, computed per channel before they are computed in aggregate. Growth rounds are bought on repeatability.XLSX · Sign in to download · Series B+
- Audit readiness checklistWhat to have in place before your first external audit, which usually lands between B and C. Start a year early, because auditors test the opening balances.DOCX · Sign in to download · Series B+
- Secondary sale checklistPartial liquidity for founders and early employees, normal by Series C and usually handled badly. Decide the eligibility rule before anybody knows the price.DOCX · Sign in to download · Series B+
- Liquidity programme and tender offerA company-run event where employees can finally sell. Regulated more like a securities offering than a private deal, and it can reset your option price.PDF · Sign in to download · Series B+
- Appointing a transfer agentMoving the register of record to a regulated third party. The migration is the part that goes wrong, because errors become errors of record.PDF · Sign in to download · Series B+
- Disclosure schedules indexEvery schedule, the warranty it qualifies and who owns it. Disclosure is protection, and the uncomfortable items are the ones worth disclosing.XLSX · Sign in to download · Series B+
Governance and compliance
- Security and compliance questionnaireThe questions enterprise buyers and late stage investors ask, in the order they ask them. Answer once, keep it current, and a security review stops costing you a quarter.DOCX · Sign in to download · Series A, Series B+
- Board committee chartersAudit and compensation committees: who sits on them, what they decide alone and what they only recommend. A committee with no written remit becomes a rubber stamp or a second board.DOCX · Sign in to download · Series B+
- Internal control and governance handbookDelegation of authority, financial control, conduct and speaking up. Auditors and acquirers test whether a policy operates, not whether it exists.DOCX · Sign in to download · Series B+
- Compliance and licensing registerEvery requirement, why it applies to you and the evidence for it. What is tested at Series B is not whether you hold every certificate but whether you know which ones apply.XLSX · Sign in to download · Series A, Series B+
- IP portfolio registerRegistrations, renewals and the unregistered assets that carry most of the value. Registration is the visible part and assignment is the part that fails diligence.XLSX · Sign in to download · Series A, Series B+
- Key person insuranceCover on somebody whose absence would damage the business, often required from Series B. The money buys time, and where the exposure can be reduced instead, reducing it is cheaper.PDF · Sign in to download · Series B+
- Opening in another countryEntity or employer of record, and the tax question to answer before either. An entity is easy to create and slow to close.DOCX · Sign in to download · Series B+