Raising money as a solo founder is a specific game with specific rules. The documents investors need, the numbers you must know cold, and the legal basics you need to handle first.
Before any investor can give you money, you need a legal company. Services like Stripe Atlas or Clerky can set up a Delaware C-Corporation for about $500 with EIN, registered agent, and help setting up a business bank account.
The "startup edition" of a business. Investors expect it because SAFEs and equity financing are designed around it. Clear ownership structure (shares) makes it easy to give investors a percentage in exchange for money.
An IOU for ownership. The investor gives you money today. When you raise a bigger round later, their money converts into ownership at a price you agreed on now (the "valuation cap"). No interest. No repayment deadline. No board seat.
An LLC is great for freelancers and businesses that will not raise money. But SAFEs are built around C-Corps. Converting later is expensive, complicated, and time-consuming. If there is any chance you will raise money, start as a C-Corp. The $500 is cheap insurance.
Investors consume information in a specific order. Building documents out of order wastes your time.
Gets you a 15-minute conversation
One-pager: Who you are, what you built, why it matters, traction, the ask. An investor decides in 60 seconds.
Elevator pitch: 30 seconds verbal. Not a document — a reflex.
Proves you are credible
Pitch deck: 8-12 slides. Problem, solution, demo, market, model, unit economics, traction, team, ask.
Live demo: Your strongest asset. A working product is worth more than any slide.
Gets the money wired
SAFE document: YC publishes the standard for free. Fill in blanks, sign.
Cap table + use of funds: Who owns what, where the money goes.
The maximum company value used to calculate investor ownership. If the cap is $3 million and the investor put in $300,000, they get 10% ($300K / $3M). If your company is later valued at $10 million, their shares are worth $1 million — a 3.3x return. The cap protects early investors by locking in a favorable conversion price.
When an investor asks these — and they will — you cannot hesitate. No "roughly," no "I think," no pausing to calculate. These come out like your own phone number.
How much are you raising? "$300,000." On what terms? "Post-money SAFE, $3M cap." What does that imply? "10% at the cap." Monthly burn? "$4K personal + $800 infra." Runway from the raise? "18 months." Cost to serve one user? "~$X/mo at our mid tier." Users to break even? "150 subscribers."
If you have to look any of these up, practice until you do not.
A SAFE is telling an investor: "Give me $50,000 to open my restaurant. I will give you a percentage of ownership — but we will figure out the exact percentage later when bigger investors come in. For now, we agree your money converts as if the restaurant was worth no more than $3 million. That protects your early bet."