funding
Bootstrapping versus raising over a ten-year horizon
Most new firms start with little outside money. What Kauffman Firm Survey and federal survival data say about funding choices when the horizon is ten years.
Insights / Funding and capital
Funding desk
Understand the money you can raise or borrow, before you ask for it.
Funding is the desk for understanding the money itself: the routes open to a software company, the instruments investors use, the rules around them and how long cash lasts. It sits beside the Fundable desk, which is about preparing your evidence.
The ten articles cover routes from customer revenue to grants, loans and crowdfunding, how a SAFE differs from a convertible note, how to read a term sheet, how a cap table records ownership, and how to work out burn and runway. Each says where its sources stop and lists questions for your own counsel or accountant.
Two limits apply throughout. World Enterprise makes no promise of funding, and nothing here predicts that any company will raise money. World Enterprise gives no legal or financial advice. An article says what a document or rule is, and what to ask a professional you choose.
- Dream 7 articles
- Build 11 articles
- Grow 6 articles
- Fundable 8 articles
- Starting out 14 articles
- Funding and capital 13 articles
- Legal and company basics 8 articles
- Team and hiring 9 articles
- AI-native building 9 articles
- Go-to-market 10 articles
- Pathways 12 articles
- Business models 8 articles
- Sectors 8 articles
- Operations and wellbeing 11 articles
Show the figures as a table
| Desk | Articles |
|---|---|
| Dream | 7 |
| Build | 11 |
| Grow | 6 |
| Fundable | 8 |
| Starting out | 14 |
| Funding and capital | 13 |
| Legal and company basics | 8 |
| Team and hiring | 9 |
| AI-native building | 9 |
| Go-to-market | 10 |
| Pathways | 12 |
| Business models | 8 |
| Sectors | 8 |
| Operations and wellbeing | 11 |
Illustration: World Enterprise Group Incorporated, drawn at build time from the articles published on this site.
Funding and capital
0 min3 min5 min8 min10 min
Each dot is one article; the amber mark is the desk’s median.
Show the figures as a table
| Group | Article | Reading time |
|---|---|---|
| Funding and capital | Bootstrapping versus raising over a ten-year horizon | 6 min |
| Funding and capital | SBIR and STTR as patient capital for research-based companies | 6 min |
| Funding and capital | The time between funding rounds: what Carta data reports | 6 min |
| Funding and capital | Angels, micro-funds and funds: what the rules say and what to ask | 6 min |
| Funding and capital | Cap table basics for founders | 6 min |
| Funding and capital | Crowdfunding and Regulation CF for a software company | 8 min |
| Funding and capital | Funding a first SaaS from customer revenue | 7 min |
| Funding and capital | Funding a software startup: the routes and what each asks of you | 7 min |
| Funding and capital | Grants and SBIR programs for software companies | 7 min |
| Funding and capital | Reading a term sheet, line by line | 8 min |
| Funding and capital | Revenue-based financing and venture debt: when they apply | 7 min |
| Funding and capital | Runway and burn: the arithmetic | 6 min |
| Funding and capital | SAFE or convertible note: how the two instruments differ | 7 min |
Chart: World Enterprise Group Incorporated, counted at build time from the articles on this desk.
-
-
funding
SBIR and STTR as patient capital for research-based companies
How federal SBIR and STTR awards fund research over years without taking shares, what the 2026 reauthorization changed, and what to ask first.
-
funding
The time between funding rounds: what Carta data reports
Carta reports that the median wait between rounds has stretched past 600 days. The figures, who they cover, and how to turn them into a runway question.
-
funding
Angels, micro-funds and funds: what the rules say and what to ask
Founders talk about angels, micro-funds and funds as different investors. This article sets out what US securities rules say about each and what to ask.
-
funding
Cap table basics for founders
What a capitalization table records, how options, the option pool and unconverted SAFEs appear in it, and what to ask your counsel before you sign.
-
funding
Crowdfunding and Regulation CF for a software company
What Regulation Crowdfunding requires of a company that sells shares online: who is eligible, the limits, the filings, and what to ask your counsel first.
-
funding
Funding a first SaaS from customer revenue
How customer payments can fund a first SaaS, what billing choices do to the timing of cash, what you owe for prepaid service, and the arithmetic to track it.
-
funding
Funding a software startup: the routes and what each asks of you
A plain-language map of the routes to money for a software startup, from customer revenue to grants, loans, investment and crowdfunding, and what each asks.
-
funding
Grants and SBIR programs for software companies
What the US SBIR and STTR programs are, who can apply, how the phases work, and what a software company should check before it writes a proposal.
-
funding
Reading a term sheet, line by line
A walk through the sections of a published model term sheet for a priced round, what each part is for, and the questions to ask your own counsel about it.
-
funding
Revenue-based financing and venture debt: when they apply
What public sources say about sales-based financing, loans and debt beside equity, and what to ask a provider before you agree to repay money from revenue.
-
funding
Runway and burn: the arithmetic
How to work out burn and runway with one worked example, what the arithmetic hides, and how to read the result before a decision about spending or raising.
-
funding
SAFE or convertible note: how the two instruments differ
How a SAFE and a convertible note differ, from debt and interest to what happens on a sale, with the questions to bring to your own counsel.
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.