Blog
Practical startup guides on founding, fundraising, cap tables, vesting, burn rate, runway, pricing and first hires, with formulas and worked examples.
25articles
Annual vs Monthly Pricing: How Much Discount for SaaS?
Annual vs monthly SaaS pricing: how big the annual discount should be, how to calculate your break-even discount from churn, and the effect on cash and LTV.
Default Alive or Default Dead? How to Work It Out
Default alive or default dead: how to check whether your startup reaches profitability before the cash runs out, with a step-by-step method and example.
How to Find a Co-Founder and Test the Fit
How to find a co-founder: where to look, how to approach people, how to test the fit with a trial project and which questions to settle before you commit.
Liquidation Preference Explained with Exit Examples
Liquidation preference explained: 1x non-participating vs participating, multiples, caps and seniority, with exit waterfalls showing who gets paid what.
Startup Advisor Equity: How Much to Give and How
How much equity to give a startup advisor: typical ranges by stage and involvement, vesting terms, which instrument to use and a worked example with numbers.
Cap Table Explained: How to Read and Model Ownership
A cap table shows who owns what in your startup. Learn how to read one, how rounds and option pools change it, and how to model dilution step by step.
Co-Founder Equity Split: A Fair Framework That Works
How to split equity between co-founders: equal vs unequal splits, a weighted scoring method with a worked example, and why vesting matters more than the number.
Employee Option Pool Explained: Size, Timing, Dilution
What an employee option pool is, how to size it from your hiring plan, why a pre-money pool lowers your effective valuation, and how to negotiate it.
First Hires for a Startup: Who, When and How
Who your first hires for a startup should be, when to hire, how to mix salary and equity, what each hire does to runway and how to run a lean hiring process.
Founder Productivity: A Weekly Operating System
A practical founder productivity system: weekly priorities, time blocks for deep work and sales, a metrics review, decision rules and a template you can copy.
Founder Vesting Schedule: Cliffs, Leavers, Acceleration
How a founder vesting schedule works: the 4-year schedule with a 1-year cliff, a month-by-month example, good and bad leaver terms and acceleration on exit.
Go-to-Market Strategy for Startups: A Practical Plan
Build a go-to-market strategy for your startup: pick a beachhead segment, positioning, pricing, channels and sales motion, then test it with clear metrics.
How Much Equity to Give Up in a Seed Round
How much equity to give up in a seed round: the rules of thumb, a method to work out your number and worked examples of dilution across future rounds.
How to Build an MVP: Scope, Tools and Metrics
How to build an MVP step by step: pick the one assumption to test, choose the right MVP type, scope it to weeks, set a budget and measure what matters.
How to Calculate Burn Rate: Gross vs Net Burn
How to calculate burn rate step by step: gross vs net burn formulas, a worked example, how to handle one-off costs, and how burn translates into runway.
How to Extend Startup Runway: 15 Practical Levers
How to extend startup runway without wrecking the company: cost, revenue and financing levers, a prioritisation method and a worked example with numbers.
How to Price a SaaS Product: A Practical Framework
How to price a SaaS product: choose a value metric, pick a pricing model, design tiers, test willingness to pay and check it against your unit economics.
How to Start a Startup: A Step-by-Step Guide
How to start a startup step by step: pick a problem, validate demand, build an MVP, set up the company, manage runway and decide if and when to raise money.
How to Validate a Startup Idea Before You Build
Validate a startup idea with customer discovery interviews, landing page and pre-sale tests, clear pass/fail criteria and a scorecard before writing any code.
LTV to CAC Ratio: Formula, Rules of Thumb and Payback
How to calculate the LTV to CAC ratio and CAC payback period, what the 3:1 rule of thumb really means, and how to improve unit economics with worked examples.
Pitch Deck Structure: What to Put on Each Slide
A proven pitch deck structure, slide by slide: what each slide must answer, examples of strong and weak content, design rules and a pre-send checklist.
Pre-Money vs Post-Money Valuation: Formulas and Examples
Pre-money vs post-money valuation explained with formulas, worked examples, price per share and the option pool trap that changes what you really get.
SAFE vs Convertible Note: Key Differences Explained
SAFE vs convertible note: how each works, valuation caps and discounts, interest and maturity, worked conversion examples and when to choose which.
Startup Financial Metrics: The 12 Numbers to Track
The startup financial metrics that matter: burn, runway, revenue, margins and unit economics, with formulas, worked examples and a monthly review routine.
Startup Fundraising Guide: From Pre-Seed to Series A
How startup fundraising works: stages, investor types, instruments, the process step by step and the numbers to prepare before you talk to investors.