Pre-seed investor pack checklist

The documents and data pre-seed investors commonly ask for, a readiness checklist, and the gaps that most often stall a first round.

Quick answer

A pre-seed pack normally contains a deck, a short written plan, a driver-based financial model, evidence of demand or usage, a cap table, incorporation and IP basics, and a clear use of funds tied to milestones. Consistency between those documents matters more than polish.

The core documents

These are requested in almost every process. Have them in one place, exportable, and dated.

• Pitch deck — 10–15 slides
• Written plan or long-form memo
• Financial model with visible assumptions
• One-page summary you can paste into an email
• Cap table, including options and any convertibles
• Use of funds mapped to specific milestones

Evidence of demand

At pre-seed the product may be early, so the evidence question shifts from revenue to signal. Bring whatever you genuinely have and describe it precisely — a small number honestly framed reads better than a large number with an unclear definition.

• Usage or analytics exports, with the measurement window stated
• Waiting list or sign-up numbers, and how they were collected
• Pilot agreements, letters of intent or paid trials
• Customer interview notes and what they actually said
• Retention or repeat-use data, however short the history

Corporate and legal basics

These rarely win a round but frequently delay one. Getting them tidy early costs little and removes a common source of friction in diligence.

• Incorporation documents and registered details
• Founder agreements and vesting arrangements
• IP assignment from founders and any contractors
• Key contracts, including any customer or supplier commitments
• Data protection position where you handle personal data

The team section investors actually read

Investors look for the match between what the business needs to prove next and who is available to prove it. Describe roles as they are today, name the gaps, and say how you intend to close them. Claiming an advisor as a team member is a common and easily detected overstatement.

Readiness self-check

Work through these before the first meeting. Every 'no' is either a task or a sentence you should prepare to say out loud.

• Can you state the problem and the customer in two sentences without jargon?
• Does every number in the deck appear identically in the model?
• Can you explain how each forecast driver was derived?
• Do you know what you would do with half the raise?
• Can you name the assumption that, if wrong, breaks the business?
• Is there anything in the pack you would not want quoted back to you?
• Can you produce all of the above within 24 hours of being asked?

What usually stalls a first round

In practice, delays cluster around a few avoidable causes rather than around the quality of the idea.

• Numbers that disagree across documents
• A market size with no derivation
• A use of funds that reads as runway rather than milestones
• Missing IP assignment from a former contractor
• Metrics defined loosely enough to mean two things
• Slow responses because material lives in five different tools

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