Fundability guide
Investor readiness checklist
Twelve statements that show a SaaS company has its evidence in order, each with the artifact that proves it and where to start if it is missing.
Investors and their advisers check claims. They ask whether the problem is real, whether people use the product, whether the numbers mean what they say and whether the company owns what it sells. A company that can answer with documents, rather than assurances, makes that check quick.
This checklist turns those questions into twelve statements. Each one is something you can answer yes or no, and each one has an artifact: a document, a log or a record that another person could open. If you cannot produce the artifact, treat the statement as not yet true.
How to use the checklist
- Read each statement and answer it honestly. “Mostly” is a no.
- For every yes, find the artifact and put it somewhere you can share it. If you cannot find it, change the answer.
- For every no, follow the link in the last column. Each one points to a playbook, a template or a guide that helps you build the missing piece.
- Return in a month. The list is meant to shrink.
The self-check on the investor readiness page runs the same twelve statements in your browser. It stores nothing and never produces a score.
The problem and the customer
Evidence that a real problem exists and that you have learned about it from the people who have it.
| Statement | Artifact that shows it | If it is not true yet |
|---|---|---|
| I can state the problem, and who has it, in two plain sentences that a stranger would understand. | A one-page problem brief | Playbook: validate the problem |
| I have recorded notes from conversations with people who have the problem, written in one consistent format. | Interview notes and a short summary of what they showed | Template: customer interview guide |
The product and the first customers
Evidence that people use the product, that you can count what happens, and that growth is not a one-off.
| Statement | Artifact that shows it | If it is not true yet |
|---|---|---|
| A working version of the product exists, and at least one person outside my team has used it. | A released version and a note of who used it and what they did | Playbook: build and ship v1 |
| I know how my first customers found the product, and what each one committed to or paid for. | A customer conversation log | Playbook: earn your first customers |
| My revenue, churn and activation measures are defined in writing and calculated the same way every period. | A metrics definitions sheet | Research brief: early-stage SaaS metrics definitions |
| I have found customers through at least one channel more than once, and I know what that channel cost me. | A channel log with cost and result for each period | Playbook: build repeatable growth |
The company and its records
Evidence that the company exists on paper, that it owns what it sells, and that the records are in order.
| Statement | Artifact that shows it | If it is not true yet |
|---|---|---|
| Everyone who has written code, design or content for the company has signed a written assignment of that work. | Signed assignment agreements, one per contributor | Insight: IP, contracts and access diligence |
| The company is a legal entity, and ownership is recorded in one cap table that is up to date. | Formation documents and a current cap table | Guide: the seed data room |
| My core company documents sit in one organized folder that I could share within a day. | A data room folder with an index | Template: seed data room checklist |
| I have a written list of where customer data lives and who can reach it. | A data inventory and an access list | Research brief: SaaS security baseline for year one |
Communication and counsel
Evidence that you report progress consistently and that you understand what you are about to sign.
| Statement | Artifact that shows it | If it is not true yet |
|---|---|---|
| I send, or have drafted, a regular written update on progress to people who follow the company. | Two or more dated updates in the same format | Guide: investor updates |
| I understand the instruments I may be offered, and I have a list of questions for my own counsel before I sign anything. | A written list of questions for your counsel | Guide: SAFEs in plain language |
What counts as an artifact
An artifact is a record that stands on its own. Four tests help you decide whether yours does:
- A stranger can open it. It does not depend on you being in the room to explain it.
- It is dated. The date shows whether it describes the company today or a year ago.
- It says what it is. The file name and the first line state its purpose.
- It lives in one place. If the answer is “somewhere in my email”, the statement is not yet true.
A document that fails one of these is not worthless. It is a draft of an artifact, and the fix is usually an hour of tidying rather than new work.
Where a yes turns into a no
Most founders who work through the list find the same few statements slipping. These are the patterns to look for.
- Interviews without a summary. Notes exist, but each conversation is written down differently and nothing says what the pile shows. The guide on customer interview synthesis turns a set of notes into one page of findings.
- Interest counted as commitment. The customer log records who said they liked the product, not what each person agreed to do or pay. Record the commitment, or say that there was none.
- Metrics that move. A measure was calculated one way in March and another way in June. Write the definition down once and keep it. The metrics calculator shows a consistent way to compute the common ones.
- Ownership by memory. Someone wrote code for the company and everyone agrees the company owns it, but nothing was signed. The U.S. Copyright Act says a transfer of copyright ownership is not valid unless an instrument of conveyance, or a note or memorandum of the transfer, is in writing and signed by the owner or the owner’s authorized agent. Ask your counsel how to close the gap, and keep the result in the seed data room.
- A data list that is really a feeling. “We keep it in a few places” is not an inventory. Write down each system that holds customer data and who can reach it. NIST describes version 2.0 of its Cybersecurity Framework as one that is designed for all audiences, industry sectors and organization types, so a small company can borrow its vocabulary without adopting the whole framework. The guide on security questionnaire answers shows how to turn the inventory into answers.
- One update, once. A single investor update shows a habit that has not started. Two or more, in the same format, show one that has. The guide on investor updates gives the structure.
Guides and templates that close a gap
Each gap above has a working document behind it. Use the one that matches.
- For the problem statement and the interviews: the one-page problem brief, the customer interview guide and the interview synthesis sheet.
- For the first customers and the first prices: the guide on pricing experiments and the pricing page checklist.
- For the company records: the seed data room checklist and the decision log, which records the choices you made and why.
- For the terms you may be offered: the term sheet checklist and the guide on SAFEs in plain language.
About the evidence
Two outside sources back the statements in this guide, both read on the dates listed under Sources: the text of 17 U.S.C. section 204 on how a copyright transfer is made, and NIST’s description of its Cybersecurity Framework 2.0. The rest is working practice. The twelve statements are a preparation aid built from common diligence questions, and no public standard defines them. Treat them as a way to find gaps, not as a test you can pass.
What the checklist is not
It is not a rating, and finishing it does not make a raise likely. Whether anyone invests depends on the market, the founders, the timing and the investor, and none of those are on this list. The checklist only helps you make your evidence easy to check.
It is also not legal advice. Several items, including ownership records, assignments of work and anything you sign, are matters for your own counsel. The guide on the seed data room shows where those records belong, and the guide on SAFEs in plain language lists questions to bring to your lawyer.
Sources
- 17 U.S. Code section 204, Execution of transfers of copyright ownership, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School . Accessed October 10, 2026.
- NIST Releases Version 2.0 of Landmark Cybersecurity Framework, National Institute of Standards and Technology . Accessed October 10, 2026.
The checklist, drawn
Each statement becomes true only when a record stands behind it. The shape below grows as the records do.
- Baseline at the diagnostic
- A later review
The six areas: Entity and ownership records, IP and compliance, Product and technology, Market and traction, Financials, Team and governance.
- Baseline The diagnostic records where each area starts, with the evidence behind it.
- Review Each review checks the same six areas against the records the company keeps.
- Close the gaps The plan targets the weakest sides first, so the shape grows evenly.
Illustration only; the shapes are not real scores.
No scores, weights or thresholds. WE makes no promise of funding.
From a statement to an artifact
- Read the statement Answer honestly. "Mostly" is a no.
- Find the record If you cannot find it, change the answer.
- Test it A stranger can open it, it is dated, it says what it is, it lives in one place.
- Close the gap For every no, follow the guide or template that builds the missing piece.
- Return in a month The list is meant to shrink.
Run the list again next month.
These figures describe the wider market, not WE's results.
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