Self-score your profile
Is your profile tight enough?
Team
Product
Market
Traction
Governance
Fundraising readiness score
Answer all 12 questions to see your score and the 5-axis breakdown (0/12).
How this tool helps and the terms you need to know
When to use this tool
- When preparing data for capital calling documents.
- When you need a quick estimate before discussions with investors.
- When founders and the management team need to agree on a shared view of readiness, rather than assessing it by individual impression.
Basic calculation
Each answer corresponds to a score level, from the lowest to the highest Group score = (Group raw total − Sum of lowest levels) ÷ (Sum of highest levels − Sum of lowest levels) × 100 Overall score = The same conversion applied across all twelve questions
Each question has three options corresponding to three different levels of completeness. Both group scores and the overall score are converted to a 0 – 100 scale by anchoring 0 at the lowest combination of choices and 100 at the highest. This makes groups with differing numbers of questions comparable with one another, and the per-group chart shows where to focus improvement.
Example: The legal and governance group has three questions, each scored from 1 to 5 points, so the minimum is 3 and the maximum is 15 points. If you select the lowest level on all three, the converted group score is 0 out of 100. If you select the middle level on all three, the raw total is 9 and the converted group score is 50 out of 100.
Terms used in this tool
- Product–market fitProduct–market fit
- The state in which the product addresses a genuine need, evidenced by customers returning of their own accord and being willing to pay. It is the condition usually considered before scaling is discussed.
- TractionTraction
- Quantitative evidence that the business is moving forward: customer numbers, revenue, retention rates, pilot contracts or signed memoranda of understanding. Evidence with figures is always more persuasive than qualitative description.
- Cap tableCap table
- A statement of each shareholder's ownership percentage, together with options and convertible commitments. A messy or unreasonably fragmented cap table at an early stage can stall a funding round.
- Data roomData room
- An access-controlled repository bringing together legal documents, financial statements, contracts and product materials for investors to review. Having it ready shortens due diligence considerably.
- Due diligenceDue diligence
- The process by which investors verify all the information a business has provided, covering legal, financial, technology and personnel matters. Discrepancies between what was presented and what verification finds are a common reason deals stop.
- MoatMoat
- What makes a business hard for competitors to catch in a short time: intellectual property, accumulated data, high switching costs or an established partner network.
How to read the results
80 points and above
No group of criteria has an obvious gap left. What remains is finalising the documentation and choosing the right moment to approach investors.
55 – 79 points
The file has a foundation but a few groups are still weak. Resolve the lowest-scoring group before widening the range of investors you approach.
Below 55 points
There are still substantial gaps in the fundamental groups. The convention is to spend more time strengthening the product, the figures and the legal position, because raising too early with an incomplete file often costs the chance of a second approach.
Founder's Toolkit