Foundersbase Blog
Practical, founder-tested guides on co-founder matching, early teams, equity and getting startups off the ground.
How to build a startup waitlist before launch: why most waitlists fail, how to drive real signups, keep them warm, and convert them into paying customers at launch.
Which startup metrics actually matter by stage: the few KPIs that reveal whether your business works, vanity metrics to ignore, and how to build a simple dashboard.
A founder's guide to startup pricing: why value beats cost-plus, how to choose a model, common pricing mistakes, and how to raise prices without losing customers.
What an 83(b) election is, why founders and early employees with vesting equity file one, the 30-day deadline that can't be missed, and how to actually do it.
A founder's playbook for raising a seed round: how much to raise, the traction investors expect, running a tight process, and closing the round cleanly.
What a startup term sheet is, the clauses that actually matter — liquidation preference, board control, option pool — and how to negotiate the terms that bite later.
How startup valuation really works at pre-seed and seed: why early valuations aren't math, the methods investors use, what sets the number, and how to negotiate it.
How to name your startup: what makes a name work, a step-by-step process, the .com and trademark checks that matter, and why the name matters less than founders think.
How to run customer discovery interviews that reveal real problems: who to talk to, what to ask, the mistakes that fake validation, and how to act on it.
What a cap table is, how startup ownership and dilution work across rounds, how option pools and SAFEs affect it, and how to keep a clean cap table from day one.
What a convertible note is, how it works, the discount and valuation cap explained, and how convertible notes compare to SAFEs for early-stage startup fundraising.
How to bootstrap a startup: fund growth from revenue, stay default alive, decide when bootstrapping beats raising, and the trade-offs of keeping full ownership.