Phase 0

Bootstrap Proof Phase

This fully fictional scenario starts with no outside capital and a modeled $12k infrastructure grant, then tests whether early customers can support repeatable delivery before any dilution.

MRR Projection — Subscription + Setup

Ownership Split

🏦

What Bootstrap Means

No outside equity — founders fund the company from revenue, savings, and sweat equity.

Full control over product, pricing, and pace
No board seats or investor reporting cadence
Profitable services + subscriptions can compound slowly but safely

🤖

Upsides Without Investors

Zero dilution — founders keep 100% of upside (minus option pool)
Launch support — a fictional $12k grant offsets early infrastructure cost
Small-team delivery — 4 founders validate a repeatable service before hiring
Revenue funds OpEx; no pressure to grow at venture speed

💡

Why You Might Raise Later

Investors are optional acceleration, not a requirement to build a real business.

Capital → capacity — hire sales and devs beyond founder bandwidth
Credibility — qualify for illustrative partner and infrastructure programs
Network — customer intros, advisors, and follow-on investors
Speed — reach platform-scale MRR years faster (see Exit slide chart)

🧭

Your Options From Here

Compare paths using current assumptions — updated live when you change sliders.

Phase 1

Angel Round $30k Recurring MRR Trigger

At $30k recurring (subscription) MRR the fictional company models an Angel round. Setup fees still show inside total MRR/ARR with the split visible, but the funding trigger and valuation are based on recurring revenue.

MRR at Trigger—

→

ARR (×12)—

Multiple—

Pre-Money Val—

Equity Given Up—

Capital Raised—

MRR Projection — Subscription + Setup

Post-Angel Ownership

📋

What an Angel Round Is

First outside capital — usually from angels, a friendly investment firm, or a micro-VC syndicate.

Typical size: $250k–$2M (our model derives it from ARR × multiple × equity %)
Typical dilution: 8–15% of the company
Trigger here: ~$30k recurring MRR (setup fees visible but not used for valuation)
Instrument: priced round, SAFE, or convertible note

☁️

Upsides of Angel Investors

Runway — 12–18 months to hire and invest in GTM
Partner programs — modeled infrastructure credits after institutional backing
Hiring — first non-founder sales and dev capacity (see Post-Angel client rate in Assumptions)
Legitimacy — enterprise buyers and partners take you more seriously
Network — intros to Seed funds, advisors, and early customers

⚖️

How the Round Works

Pre-money = recurring ARR × revenue multiple (e.g. 4× on $480k ARR → $1.9M)
Capital raised = pre-money × equity % given (e.g. 10% → ~$190k)
Dilution — each holder loses the same % of ownership; option pool often expands first
You give: equity, periodic updates, sometimes a board observer seat

🧭

Your Options at Angel

Skip Angel and stay bootstrap-only, raise Angel and stop, or use Angel as a bridge to Seed / Series A.

Phase 2

Seed Round $90k Recurring MRR Trigger

At $90k recurring (subscription) MRR the fictional company models a formal Seed round. Illustrative partner credits unlock. Valuation is on recurring ARR; setup fees stay visible in total MRR/ARR.

MRR at Trigger—

→

ARR (×12)—

Multiple—

Pre-Money Val—

Equity Given Up—

Capital Raised—

MRR Projection — Subscription + Setup

Post-Seed Ownership

🌱

What a Seed Round Is

First institutional round — a lead VC plus angels and strategics, with real governance expectations.

Typical size: $1M–$4M
Typical dilution: 10–20%
Trigger here: ~$90k recurring MRR (~$1.1M ARR base case)
Board: often a VC board seat and formal reporting

🔧

Upsides of Seed Investors

Scale GTM — AE, support engineer, marketing budget
Infrastructure support — fictional partner credits preserve modeled runway
Follow-on path — Seed lead often anchors Series A
Recruiting — credibility to hire senior ICs and first managers
Partnerships — vendor programs and co-sell channels

🏗️

Stop at Seed vs Keep Going

Stop at Seed — lifestyle / mid-market exit ($20M–$40M range at $150k–$200k MRR)
Continue to Series A — pursue venture-scale outcome and larger team
Skip Seed entirely — bootstrap or Angel-only paths stay in the no-raise comparison chart

🧭

Your Options at Seed

Compare stopping after Seed versus pushing to Series A with the live numbers below.

Phase 3

Series A $220k Recurring MRR Trigger

At $220k recurring (subscription) MRR the fictional company models an institutional round. Valuation is on recurring ARR; setup fees stay visible in total MRR/ARR. The multiple remains a sensitivity anchored to retention, margin, and growth quality.

MRR at Trigger—

→

ARR (×12)—

Multiple—

Pre-Money Val—

Equity Given Up—

Capital Raised—

MRR Projection — Subscription + Setup

Post-Series A Ownership

🚀

What Series A Is

Growth-stage institutional round — one lead VC sets terms and expects step-function scaling.

Typical size: $5M–$20M+
Typical dilution: 15–25%
Trigger here: ~$220k recurring MRR (~$2.6M ARR base case)
Expectations: repeatable sales, retention metrics, path to $10M+ ARR

📈

Upsides of Series A Investors

Scale the team — sales leadership, engineering depth, CS, marketing
Enterprise motion — longer sales cycles need balance sheet and references
M&A currency — stock can fund acqui-hires and tuck-ins
Follow-on capital — Series B/C optionality if metrics support it

🎯

Venture Path vs Earlier Exit

Full plan — maximize Yr10 MRR and exit multiple (see annual buyout table)
Angel / Seed stop — less dilution, smaller outcome, faster liquidity option
Bootstrap only — slowest growth but highest founder ownership %
Raising is rational only if time saved > dilution cost — the Exit slide tests this

🧭

Your Options at Series A

Live comparison of all four funding paths at Year 5 and Year 10.

Phase 4

Exit Simulation Founder Payouts

Drag the slider to set an ARR multiple and see founder wealth at exit plus year-by-year buyout options. Each annual option reprices against that year's recurring ARR.

Exit Valuation — ARR Multiple

1× ARR 10× ARR

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Annual Buyout Options

Each row reprices the full-plan company at that year's recurring ARR using the selected multiple. Founder columns include cumulative salary/draws, runway-gated bonuses, and that year's equity buyout payout.

Year	Stage	Recurring ARR	Buyout Value	Cash Earned	Maya Wealth	Jordan Wealth	Priya Wealth	Noah Wealth	Founders Wealth	Investors

Growth If We Don't Raise — No-Raise Scenarios

Same team engine, capped at each funding stage. Without the next round's faster hiring pace, salaried-dev capacity, and capital, growth flattens — this is how far each path gets on its own.

Scenario	MRR · Yr 3	MRR · Yr 5	Clients · Yr 5	Ending Cash	Founder Equity

Budget & Assumptions

📈

Model Assumptions by Funding Stage

Each column applies only while that phase is active

🌍 Market Size (TAM) clients 🤝 Close Rate / Rep /mo 💰 Sales Commission % of setup Sales Rep Salary /mo Sales Ramp mo 👥 Starting Sales reps 👨‍💻 Starting Devs devs 🧑‍💻 Onboards / Dev /mo 🔧 Maintenance / Dev clients 🎯 Target Dev Util % 💵 Developer Salary /mo Hiring Runway mo ⚙️ Auto-Staff Devs follow the book 🚦 Start Hiring From

Sales is the growth lever, devs are the cost that follows. Sales headcount grows at the per-phase hiring pace below; hired reps carry salary immediately and ramp into productivity over the sales-ramp window. Developers are auto-staffed to keep their maintenance + onboarding workload at the target utilisation, so the dev workload knobs (onboards/dev, maintenance/dev) drive how many salaried devs — and how much payroll — a given book needs. Hiring Runway gates new paid hires: capital and recurring revenue must support the projected spend before the model adds more headcount. Start Hiring From gates salaried dev hiring: until that round the founders are the whole team (no salaried devs), so pre-funding you grow only as fast as the founders can deliver. Set the Bootstrap sales pace to 0 to bring on no reps before you raise. Turn Auto-Staff off to freeze devs at the founders for every phase. TAM 0 = uncapped.

Lever	🌱 Bootstrap	💰 Post-Angel	🌿 Post-Seed	🚀 Post-Series A
📈 Sales Hiring Pace	reps/mo	reps/mo	reps/mo	reps/mo
💵 Monthly Sub Fee	$	$	$	$
🔑 One-Time Setup Fee	$	$	$	$
✅ Sub Adoption %	%	%	%	%
🔄 Monthly Churn %	%	%	%	%

Starting Cash ($)

💸

Monthly Expense Report by Phase

Phase-specific overhead — each column feeds directly into that phase's simulation

Founder Bonus Pool % profit Runway Reserve months

Bonuses pay only from positive monthly profit and only after the company keeps the selected runway reserve.

Category	Bootstrap	Post-Angel	Post-Seed	Post-Series A
👤 Founder Draws
Founder Bonus Pool auto · profit-gated	$0	$0	$0	$0
Sales Salaries auto · hired reps × salary	$0	$0	$0	$0
👨‍💻 Developer Salaries auto · hired devs × salary	$0	$0	$0	$0
💰 Sales Commission auto · % of setup fees	$0	$0	$0	$0
🛠️ Software & Tools
📱 SaaS Subs
📣 Marketing
⚖️ Legal & CPA
☁️ Hosting (ext)
Total Monthly OpEx	$4,300	$27,800	$79,700	$244,000

💹

Round Valuation Parameters

Board-normal SaaS range: mostly 2–10x ARR, with higher cases treated as upside

Angel Targets ~m18, ≥$30k recurring MRR · Typical: 2–6x ARR

Target month Min MRR floor $

Revenue Multiple 4.5x ARR

Equity Given Up 9%

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Angel round basics

First check from outsiders — often friends, angels, or a small firm. Usually the lightest governance of any priced round.

Who invests: angels, family offices, pre-seed / micro-VCs
What you trade: ~8–15% equity for 12–18 months runway
What you get back: hiring budget, cloud credits, customer intros, Seed credibility

Seed Targets ~m42, ≥$90k recurring MRR · Board base: 4–8x ARR

Target month Min MRR floor $

Revenue Multiple 5.5x ARR

Equity Given Up 13%

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Seed round basics

Institutional Seed — a lead VC sets terms. This is where the company starts looking like a venture-backed SaaS business.

Who invests: Seed VCs + existing angels rolling forward
What you trade: ~10–20% equity; option pool may refresh
What you get back: scaled GTM, illustrative partner credits, board partner, Series A path

Series A Targets ~m66, ≥$220k recurring MRR · Board base: 5–10x ARR

Target month Min MRR floor $

Revenue Multiple 7x ARR

Equity Given Up 17%

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Series A basics

Growth round — one lead VC, larger check, higher bar on retention, margins, and repeatable sales.

Who invests: institutional Series A funds; Seed lead often participates
What you trade: ~15–25% equity with formal board control
What you get back: team scale, enterprise sales motion, follow-on optionality

🧾

Initial Cap Table

Must sum to exactly 100%

Maya (%)

Jordan (%)

Priya (%)

Noah (%)

Options (%)

Total: 100%

✓ Valid Split

Bootstrap Proof Phase

Angel Round $30k Recurring MRR Trigger

Seed Round $90k Recurring MRR Trigger

Series A $220k Recurring MRR Trigger

Exit Simulation Founder Payouts

Annual Buyout Options

Growth If We Don't Raise — No-Raise Scenarios

Milestone Timeline

Budget & Assumptions

Model Assumptions by Funding Stage

Monthly Expense Report by Phase

Round Valuation Parameters

Initial Cap Table