Executive brief
Early-stage diligence
How to weigh the records of an early-stage software company: ownership, rights, share sales, tax filings, security and reported numbers, and their limits.
Executive brief
A pre-seed evidence pack
What each kind of record shows, and what no record can show
Before a first conversation with an outside investor, a founder can gather records that show who owns the company, who owns the work, what has already been signed and what the company has learned from customers. This brief describes those categories and what each one shows about a young company.
It reads public sources on the SAFE and on model financing documents, on how securities may be offered, on the parts of a business plan, on market research and on how copyright and patent ownership are transferred. It keeps the sources’ reports apart from its own analysis, and it gives no statistic about what investors ask for or prefer.
It cannot say how any investor will respond. Nothing in it says or implies that assembling a pack leads to an investment, and every legal point is for counsel to check against the facts of the company.
It is general information for founders. It is not legal, tax or investment advice.
The brief at a glance
The chapters in reading order, and one public figure that frames the question the brief answers.
The chapters, as a constellation
These figures describe the wider market, not WE's results. WE makes no promise of funding.
- Format
- Written brief
- Updated
- October 11, 2026
- Sections
- 13
What the brief covers
The sections of the full brief, in order. WE sends the full text by email to the address you give.
- The question this brief answers
- About the evidence
- What an evidence pack is for
- Who owns the company
- Who owns the work
- The instruments already signed
- How the raise may be talked about in public
- The plan and what it has to support
- Evidence about customers and the market
- Keeping the pack current
- Questions to ask before you share the pack
- What this brief cannot tell you
- Sources
Request the brief
This brief gives considerations for founders. It is not legal, tax or investment advice.
Start a readiness review
Tell WE where the company stands. WE replies to arrange a conversation and a written read of your company's timeline.
A short PDF of the charts and sources, sent by email to the address you give.
Talk to WE : A question that does not fit a form.