[{"id":398783,"date":"2025-01-02T18:20:24","date_gmt":"2025-01-02T18:20:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/startup-funding-strategies\/"},"modified":"2025-01-02T18:20:24","modified_gmt":"2025-01-02T18:20:24","slug":"startup-funding-strategies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/resources\/startup-funding-strategies\/","title":{"rendered":"Startup funding strategies for 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With data, experience and insights gained from \u00a32B+ raised on SeedLegals, we\u2019ve curated these top three funding strategies for 2025. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":82,"featured_media":403578,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"event_tags":[],"class_list":["post-398783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-funding-guides-ie"],"acf":{"revision_date":"","has_custom_post_authors":true,"is_expert_reviewed":true,"has_sources":false,"related_posts":[{"post":false},{"post":false},{"post":false}],"custom_post_authors":{"authors":[{"author":{"ID":77,"user_firstname":"Kirsty","user_lastname":"MacSween","nickname":"Kirsty MacSween","user_nicename":"kirsty","display_name":"Kirsty MacSween","user_email":"kirsty@seedlegals.com","user_url":"","user_registered":"2022-02-15 17:07:44","user_description":"","user_avatar":"<img alt='' src='https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1916614a44124dcab268fd918605c6a506a48a45559a29792e2ed0effbc4a02?s=96&#038;d=mm&#038;r=g' srcset='https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1916614a44124dcab268fd918605c6a506a48a45559a29792e2ed0effbc4a02?s=192&#038;d=mm&#038;r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-96 photo' height='96' width='96' loading='lazy' decoding='async'\/>"},"role":"Copywriter"},{"author":{"ID":82,"user_firstname":"Kaylin","user_lastname":"Sullivan","nickname":"Kaylin Sullivan","user_nicename":"kaylin","display_name":"Kaylin Sullivan","user_email":"kaylin@seedlegals.com","user_url":"","user_registered":"2022-04-11 11:06:43","user_description":"","user_avatar":"<img alt='' src='https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0652066345ed869ee09c20fad9ad22d5dadc0ee3bb4ca278683547efbb5d93d4?s=96&#038;d=mm&#038;r=g' srcset='https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0652066345ed869ee09c20fad9ad22d5dadc0ee3bb4ca278683547efbb5d93d4?s=192&#038;d=mm&#038;r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-96 photo' height='96' width='96' loading='lazy' decoding='async'\/>"},"role":"Copywriter"},{"author":{"ID":106,"user_firstname":"Liliana","user_lastname":"Conrad","nickname":"Liliana Conrad","user_nicename":"liliana-conrad","display_name":"Liliana Conrad","user_email":"wordpress15@seedlegals.com","user_url":"","user_registered":"2022-08-25 08:28:09","user_description":"","user_avatar":"<img alt='' src='https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/301951f23c80729bdda2c4d1affaf156b965c0736bec92040b727d4cc6b00ad1?s=96&#038;d=mm&#038;r=g' srcset='https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/301951f23c80729bdda2c4d1affaf156b965c0736bec92040b727d4cc6b00ad1?s=192&#038;d=mm&#038;r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-96 photo' height='96' width='96' loading='lazy' decoding='async'\/>"},"role":"Funding Strategist"}]},"expert_reviewed":{"heading":"Expert reviewed","tooltip_message":"This article has been fact-checked by a SeedLegals subject matter expert.<br><br><a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/authors-and-experts\/\" target=\"_blank\">Meet our experts<\/a> and learn more about our review process and quality assurance in our <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/editorial-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\">editorial policy<\/a>."},"post_content_width":"default","post_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<p>With evolving investor expectations, the rise of alternative funding options, and economic fluctuations shaping decision-making, founders in 2025 need to be more strategic than ever.<\/p>\n<p>Based on our data at SeedLegals, we can see the shift to more flexible ways of raising capital continues to gain popularity. Using agile funding tools, companies are raising in faster, smaller rounds to extend their runway and fund the work needed to hit key milestones.<\/p>\n<p>This article will cover our top three fundraising strategies for a lean and agile approach to your fundraising in 2025. We\u2019ll also give you some extra tips to boost your appeal to investors and have a successful year.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"cta","cta":{"type":"light","subheading":"Raise startup funding","heading":"Free ebook: the 2024 funding playbook","content":"Get the latest insights from our funding experts, find out what investors are looking for and gain practical tips on how to raise this year. ","bullet_points":false,"form":{"type":"none","hubspot_form":{"layout":"newsletter","hide_founderinvestor_toggle":false,"default_community":"founder","custom_form_id":"","gdpr_disclaimer":"By subscribing, you agree to receive information from SeedLegals. You can unsubscribe anytime. View our <a href=\"\/privacy-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">privacy policy<\/a>"},"custom":{"embed":""},"gtm_form_type":false,"gtm_form_location":false},"button":{"title":"Download the ebook","url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ebooks\/startup-funding-guide\/","target":"_blank"},"image":403564}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<h2><a id=\"agile-funding-shift\"><\/a>The shift to agile funding<\/h2>\n<p>The traditional method of fundraising in formal rounds is far from the ideal scenario for a lot of startups:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong> They take a long time &#8211;<\/strong> the average funding round takes three to six months.<\/li>\n<li><strong>They involve a lot of admin &#8211;<\/strong> negotiating <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/uk-term-sheet-explained\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Term Sheets<\/a>, completing due diligence, gathering signatures, etc. You get the picture.<\/li>\n<li><strong>They&#8217;re inflexible &#8211;<\/strong> you need to agree every detail with every investor before you can take in funds.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"expert_highlight","expert_highlight":{"":null,"image":false,"quote":"","name":"","role":"","company":"","linkedin":"","facebook":"","instagram":"","twitter":"","hide_image":false}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<p>Luckily, there are other ways to fundraise that allow you to take in money quickly at a fair valuation, without going through each and every step of a priced equity round.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Agile funding allows you to take in cash quicker, when you need it:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\ud83e\udd73You don\u2019t need to wait until all investors are lined up and on the same page to take the money<br \/>\n\ud83e\udd73You don\u2019t have to settle for raising a smaller amount than you planned to access the money you have negotiated<\/p>\n<p>There are three agile funding agreements that are easy to access on SeedLegals. <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/raise\/raise-before-a-round\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SeedFAST and SeedNOTE<\/a> allow you to raise before your round, and <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/raise\/top-up-a-round\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instant Investment<\/a> allows you to top up your round after it closes.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":false,"caption":"","width":"100","alignment":"left"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<p><strong>What\u2019s a SeedFAST?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/seedfast-is-the-new-seed-round\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SeedFAST<\/a> is a type of Advance Subscription Agreement (ASA). These are individual, simple, quick agreements for future equity in the company where investors pre-pay for shares that will then be allocated to them in the next funding round. SeedFAST is our version of the YC SAFE and it can be used for overseas investors as well as UK investors.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s a SeedNOTE?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/what-really-is-a-convertible-loan-note-cln\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SeedNOTE<\/a> is a type of convertible loan note. Convertible loan notes (or just convertible notes) give investors debt in your company. This will then be converted into shares at the next funding round. Being in debt gives an investor more protection if things go wrong, and SeedNOTEs usually have an interest rate which your company pays to the investor.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s an Instant Investment?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/introducing-instant-investment\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instant Investment<\/a> is a legal agreement that allows you to top up a previous round and add new investors anytime.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<h2><a id=\"startup-funding-strategies\"><\/a>3 startup funding strategies for 2025<\/h2>\n<h3><a id=\"bridge\"><\/a>1. Bridge between rounds &#8211; extend your runway<\/h3>\n<p>Running out of runway? You can use agile funding as a bridge between rounds to keep you going for longer.<\/p>\n<p>Whether you\u2019re in crisis mode and need an emergency capital injection or you want to delay your next round so that you can raise at a higher valuation than you could now, you can use <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/raise\/raise-before-a-round\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SeedFASTs<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/raise\/top-up-a-round\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instant Investments<\/a> to bridge the gap between rounds.<\/p>\n<p>Both SeedFASTs and Instant Investments can work wonders in this scenario. Use <strong>Instant Investment<\/strong> if you\u2019ve got a valuation you\u2019re happy with. Use <strong>SeedFAST<\/strong> if you haven\u2019t pinpointed a valuation.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\ud83e\udd29 Benefits of this strategy<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Get the cash you need instantly<\/li>\n<li>Skip the valuation and wait until you can raise at a higher valuation<\/li>\n<li>Buy yourself time before your next funding round<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><a id=\"replace-a-round\"><\/a>2. Replace a round &#8211; raise as you go<\/h3>\n<h3>SeedFAST<\/h3>\n<p>Since we launched <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/raise\/raise-before-a-round\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SeedFASTs<\/a> in 2018, we\u2019re increasingly seeing founders using full-round-size SeedFASTs to skip the traditional round altogether (read more in <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/seedfast-is-the-new-seed-round\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">our post<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>If you use this strategy, remember:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A SeedFAST must convert into shares within six months to qualify for SEIS or EIS<\/li>\n<li>The shares convert at a longstop valuation (see definition in the box below) that you pre-agree with investors when you first sign the SeedFAST<\/li>\n<li>When you sign a SeedFast, you\u2019ll set a longstop date (six months or less from the date of signature). If you don\u2019t do a funding round before this date, the SeedFAST converts into shares.<\/li>\n<li>If you pick the longstop valuation wisely &#8211; perhaps your best estimate of the company valuation as it would be in six months &#8211; then this is an effective strategy to defer the need for a funding round and simply raise as you go.<\/li>\n<li>Using SeedLegals, you can convert a SeedFAST into shares using something called Instant Conversion, which allows you to issue shares to a SeedFAST investor.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content_highlight","highlight_type":"link","background_colour":"blue","show_icon":true,"content":"","link":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<h3>Instant Investment<\/h3>\n<p>We\u2019ve also seen founders using Instant Investments to continually top up their last round for longer than we first anticipated. Instant Investment allows you to raise small amounts as and when you need them, based on your last valuation.<\/p>\n<p>You can <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/raise\/top-up-a-round\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">create an Instant Investment<\/a> agreement in minutes on SeedLegals, so many founders prefer to ditch the full funding round altogether and just raise money as they need it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\ud83e\udd29 Benefits of this strategy<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Save time and energy by <i>not <\/i>doing a funding round<\/li>\n<li>Sort your investment legals in minutes<\/li>\n<li>Raise only what you need<\/li>\n<li>Raise frequently and avoid runway panic<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"cta","cta":{"type":"light","subheading":"No valuation needed","heading":"Take investment instantly ","content":"Use Instant Investment to top up a previous round and add new investors anytime","bullet_points":false,"form":{"type":"none","hubspot_form":{"layout":"newsletter","hide_founderinvestor_toggle":false,"default_community":"founder","custom_form_id":"","gdpr_disclaimer":"By subscribing, you agree to receive information from SeedLegals. You can unsubscribe anytime. View our <a href=\"\/privacy-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">privacy policy<\/a>"},"custom":{"embed":""},"gtm_form_type":false,"gtm_form_location":false},"button":{"title":"Learn more","url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/raise\/top-up-a-round\/","target":"_blank"},"image":false}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<h3><a id=\"round-hack\"><\/a>3. Hack your round &#8211; drive up your valuation<\/h3>\n<p>So far, we\u2019ve covered the two main ways to think of agile funding strategies: to get you from one round to another and as a replacement for a full round.<\/p>\n<p>But at SeedLegals we\u2019re seeing the huge benefits of using SeedFASTs <em>inside<\/em> a funding round. More powerful than a bridge &#8211; with this strategy, SeedFASTs work as rocket fuel for your raise.<\/p>\n<p>With SeedFASTs, you can:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>lock down the earliest investors in your round<\/li>\n<li>access funds to add value to your business<\/li>\n<li>close the round at a higher valuation than you would otherwise have been able to<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Let\u2019s break down how it works.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Drive up your valuation<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>As a founder, you\u2019re at a disadvantage by committing to a valuation at the beginning of your round. You probably haven\u2019t yet built enough traction to justify a high valuation to your investors. But you still want to give away as little equity as possible in the early stages of your business.<\/p>\n<p>With SeedFASTs, you can defer the valuation and use the early investment to make your company more attractive to investors.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content_highlight","highlight_type":"link","background_colour":"blue","show_icon":true,"content":"","link":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<p>What\u2019s in it for investors? If their gamble pays off and you grow your valuation significantly before their SeedFAST investment converts, they benefit from a discount on shares at a higher valuation. They get more equity at a lower price.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Build traction with investors<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>It\u2019s easier to win over investors when you already have an investor in your corner. If you can show you already have investors committed to your round through a SeedFAST, that helps you build credibility with other investors later in your round.<\/p>\n<p>It also can help you get over the lead investor problem. With a traditional round, you typically can\u2019t get any momentum until you\u2019ve secured a lead investor and agreed the terms with them. But with SeedFASTs, you can take funds from investors without waiting to fill the rest of the round &#8211; or even securing a lead investor.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"expert_highlight","expert_highlight":{"":null,"image":{"ID":26890,"id":26890,"title":"Jonny Seaman","filename":"Jonny-Seaman-profile.jpg","filesize":75389,"url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Jonny-Seaman-profile.jpg","link":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Jonny-Seaman-profile.jpg","alt":"Jonny Seaman","author":"77","description":"Jonny Seaman","caption":"Jonny Seaman","name":"976194896f87499d83a100d1bbe4144c","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":26854,"date":"2022-06-10 11:25:51","modified":"2024-01-18 11:44:25","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":800,"height":800,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Jonny-Seaman-profile-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Jonny-Seaman-profile-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Jonny-Seaman-profile.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Jonny-Seaman-profile.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":800,"_themosis_media":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Jonny-Seaman-profile-100x100.jpg","_themosis_media-width":100,"_themosis_media-height":100,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Jonny-Seaman-profile.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":800,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Jonny-Seaman-profile.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":800,"themosis":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Jonny-Seaman-profile-200x150.jpg","themosis-width":200,"themosis-height":150,"tog-small":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Jonny-Seaman-profile-300x300.jpg","tog-small-width":300,"tog-small-height":300,"tog-medium":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Jonny-Seaman-profile-600x600.jpg","tog-medium-width":600,"tog-medium-height":600,"tog-large":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Jonny-Seaman-profile.jpg","tog-large-width":800,"tog-large-height":800,"tog-huge":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Jonny-Seaman-profile.jpg","tog-huge-width":800,"tog-huge-height":800}},"quote":"<p>Make sure you have enough runway in your bank account (minimum 9 to 12 months, ideally 18 months or more) and prioritise getting towards break-even. Keep your customers happy and focus on generating revenue from them. This will make you a safer bet for investors.<\/p>\n","name":{"title":"Jonny Seaman","url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/author\/jonny-seaman\/","target":"_blank"},"role":"Investor Partnerships Manager","company":{"title":"SeedLegals","url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com","target":"_blank"},"linkedin":{"title":"","url":"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jonnyseaman\/","target":"_blank"},"facebook":"","instagram":"","twitter":"","hide_image":false}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<h3>Retain employees<\/h3>\n<p>It\u2019s expensive to replace employees. Make sure you\u2019re taking measures to keep your employees engaged and happy. This can also contribute to building the type of consistent, solid company investors are looking for.<\/p>\n<p>A common way for startups to incentivise and motivate employees and contractors is with <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/grow\/share-options-scheme\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">share options schemes<\/a> &#8211; set up an EMI scheme for full-time employees and an Unapproved scheme for contractors, advisors and employees overseas.<\/p>\n<h3>Boost cash flow with R&amp;D<\/h3>\n<p>If your company has spent money developing a new product or service, or significantly improved one that already exists, you could claim <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/grow\/rd-tax-credit-claim\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">R&amp;D tax credits<\/a>, which can help to improve cash flow in your company.<\/p>\n<p>R&amp;D tax relief is an HMRC initiative that pays your company back a percentage of what you spend on qualifying activity for research and development. You get the money back in the form of Corporation Tax relief or, if you\u2019re a loss-making company, as a tax credit (that is, a cash payment).<\/p>\n<p>To find out more about the scheme, read our post:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/rd-tax-credits-the-ultimate-guide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">R&amp;D tax credits: the ultimate guide for 2023<\/a><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"expert_highlight","expert_highlight":{"":null,"image":{"ID":28885,"id":28885,"title":"Benedict Conry Seedlegals","filename":"benedict_conry_seedlegals-2.jpg","filesize":78304,"url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/benedict_conry_seedlegals-2.jpg","link":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/benedict_conry_seedlegals-2.jpg","alt":"Benedict Conry Seedlegals","author":"59","description":"Benedict Conry Seedlegals","caption":"Benedict Conry Seedlegals","name":"96e2def8db0e48108c42298f154e260c","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":34245,"date":"2022-07-21 17:47:14","modified":"2023-11-14 14:18:44","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":639,"height":763,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/benedict_conry_seedlegals-2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/benedict_conry_seedlegals-2-251x300.jpg","medium-width":251,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/benedict_conry_seedlegals-2.jpg","medium_large-width":639,"medium_large-height":763,"large":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/benedict_conry_seedlegals-2.jpg","large-width":639,"large-height":763,"_themosis_media":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/benedict_conry_seedlegals-2-100x100.jpg","_themosis_media-width":100,"_themosis_media-height":100,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/benedict_conry_seedlegals-2.jpg","1536x1536-width":639,"1536x1536-height":763,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/benedict_conry_seedlegals-2.jpg","2048x2048-width":639,"2048x2048-height":763,"themosis":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/benedict_conry_seedlegals-2-200x150.jpg","themosis-width":200,"themosis-height":150,"tog-small":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/benedict_conry_seedlegals-2-300x358.jpg","tog-small-width":300,"tog-small-height":358,"tog-medium":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/benedict_conry_seedlegals-2-600x716.jpg","tog-medium-width":600,"tog-medium-height":716,"tog-large":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/benedict_conry_seedlegals-2.jpg","tog-large-width":639,"tog-large-height":763,"tog-huge":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/benedict_conry_seedlegals-2.jpg","tog-huge-width":639,"tog-huge-height":763}},"quote":"<p>R&amp;D tax relief is often an under-used way of boosting a company\u2019s cash flow.<\/p>\n<p>For startups in particular, R&amp;D is a great way to extend your runway and bring much-needed cash into the business.<\/p>\n","name":{"title":"Ben Conry","url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/author\/ben-conry\/","target":"_blank"},"role":"Tax Specialist","company":{"title":"SeedLegals","url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com","target":"_blank"},"linkedin":{"title":"","url":"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/benedict-conry-6ab1b284\/?originalSubdomain=uk","target":"_blank"},"facebook":"","instagram":"","twitter":"","hide_image":false}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<h2>Get support from a funding strategist<\/h2>\n<p>When you use SeedLegals to raise, you get unlimited support from our funding strategists, who can guide you through your funding journey.<\/p>\n<p>With over \u00a31.3 billion in deals closed through our platform, we have the experience and data to help you:<\/p>\n<p>\u2705 Understand all your funding options<br \/>\n\u2705 Make informed decisions about your investment deals<br \/>\n\u2705 Navigate your deal to achieve the best outcome for you<br \/>\n\u2705 Save time and money on your funding admin<\/p>\n<h2>Talk to an expert<\/h2>\n<p>Not sure what&#8217;s best for your company? Want to find out more about our alternatives to a traditional funding round? Book a free chat with one of our funding strategists to get answers, fast.<\/p>\n<p><!-- Start of Meetings Embed Script --><\/p>\n<div class=\"meetings-iframe-container\" data-src=\"https:\/\/meetings.hubspot.com\/sl\/uk-account-execs?embed=true\"><\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hsappstatic.net\/MeetingsEmbed\/ex\/MeetingsEmbedCode.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- End of Meetings Embed Script 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Subscription Agreements: Money now, shares later"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Advanced Subscription Agreements allow investors to \u2018pre-pay\u2019 for shares. ASAs can be a faster, more efficient and S\/EIS-friendly way for startups to raise capital. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":77,"featured_media":401807,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"event_tags":[],"class_list":["post-402053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-funding-guides-ie"],"acf":{"revision_date":"","has_sources":false,"has_custom_post_authors":true,"custom_post_authors":{"authors":[{"author":{"ID":77,"user_firstname":"Kirsty","user_lastname":"MacSween","nickname":"Kirsty MacSween","user_nicename":"kirsty","display_name":"Kirsty MacSween","user_email":"kirsty@seedlegals.com","user_url":"","user_registered":"2022-02-15 17:07:44","user_description":"","user_avatar":"<img alt='' src='https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1916614a44124dcab268fd918605c6a506a48a45559a29792e2ed0effbc4a02?s=96&#038;d=mm&#038;r=g' srcset='https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1916614a44124dcab268fd918605c6a506a48a45559a29792e2ed0effbc4a02?s=192&#038;d=mm&#038;r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-96 photo' height='96' width='96' loading='lazy' decoding='async'\/>"},"role":"Writer"},{"author":{"ID":123,"user_firstname":"Gabriela","user_lastname":"Suarez","nickname":"Gabriela Suarez","user_nicename":"gabriela-suarez","display_name":"Gabriela Suarez","user_email":"wordpress41@seedlegals.com","user_url":"","user_registered":"2022-11-07 14:09:44","user_description":"","user_avatar":"<img alt='' src='https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2e759fb085dd7639d7c0902dc08993072a91fd2575a5df0fbef7bcb353408bb8?s=96&#038;d=mm&#038;r=g' srcset='https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2e759fb085dd7639d7c0902dc08993072a91fd2575a5df0fbef7bcb353408bb8?s=192&#038;d=mm&#038;r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-96 photo' height='96' width='96' loading='lazy' decoding='async'\/>"},"role":"Expert contributor"}]},"is_expert_reviewed":true,"expert_reviewed":{"heading":"Expert reviewed","tooltip_message":"This article has been fact-checked by a SeedLegals subject matter expert.<br><br><a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/authors-and-experts\/\" target=\"_blank\">Meet our experts<\/a> and learn more about our review process and quality assurance in our <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/editorial-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\">editorial policy<\/a>."},"related_posts":[{"post":false},{"post":false},{"post":false}],"post_content_width":"default","blog_layout":"default","show_author_card":false,"hero_image":401804,"post_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<p>An <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/raise\/raise-before-a-round\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Advance Subscription Agreement (ASA)<\/a> allows investors to \u2018pre-pay\u2019 for shares. For both founders and investors, ASAs can be a faster, more direct and more flexible way to get funds into the startup compared to a traditional \u2018priced\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/raise\/raise-a-round\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">equity round<\/a>, where the startup raises funds at a predetermined valuation.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve seen <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/seedfast-is-the-new-seed-round\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Advance Subscription Agreements skyrocket in popularity<\/a> over the past few years on SeedLegals. In this post, we explain what they are, why they\u2019re a powerful alternative to a full round and how to use them.<\/p>\n<h3>In this post<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#asa-definition\">What is an Advance Subscription Agreement?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#asa-how-does-it-work\">How does an Advance Subscription Agreement work?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#asa-pros-and-cons\">Advance Subscription Agreement: pros and cons<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#asa-vs-safe\">Difference between Advance Subscription Agreements and SAFEs<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#asa-vs-cln\">Difference between Advance Subscription Agreements and Convertible Loan Agreements<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#asa-seis-eis\">SEIS\/EIS compatibility rules for Advance Subscription Agreements<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#asa-seedlegals\">How to create an Advance Subscription Agreement on SeedLegals<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#key-takeaways\">Key takeaways<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#talk-to-experts\">Talk to the funding experts<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"cta","cta":{"type":"default","subheading":"SeedFAST","heading":"The fast and easy way to create an Advance Subscription Agreement","content":"\u2713 Create, share, sign, store online<br \/>\r\n\u2713 Expert help included<br \/>\r\n\u2713 SEIS\/EIS friendly<br \/>\r\n\u2713 Internationally accepted","bullet_points":false,"form":{"type":"none","hubspot_form":{"layout":"newsletter","hide_founderinvestor_toggle":false,"default_community":"founder","custom_form_id":"","gdpr_disclaimer":"By subscribing, you agree to receive information from SeedLegals. You can unsubscribe anytime. View our <a href=\"\/privacy-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">privacy policy<\/a>"},"custom":{"embed":""},"gtm_form_type":"default","gtm_form_location":"default"},"button":{"title":"Get started","url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/raise\/raise-before-a-round\/","target":"_blank"},"image":42761}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<h2><a id=\"asa-definition\"><\/a>What is an Advance Subscription Agreement?<\/h2>\n<p>An advance subscription agreement (ASA) is a type of funding agreement between investors and a company. Under an ASA, investors commit to providing capital to the startup immediately in exchange for the right to receive shares at a fixed point in the future.<\/p>\n<p>The terms of the agreement specify the trigger event &#8211; usually it\u2019s a new funding round. If no trigger event happens before the specified deadline &#8211; the longstop date &#8211; then the agreement converts into shares at the pre-agreed <a href=\"#longstop-valuation\">longstop valuation<\/a>.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content_highlight","highlight_type":"tip","background_colour":"blue","show_icon":true,"content":"You might already be familiar with the concept under another name: these agreements go by the name ASA, the US version is called a SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) or you might know the SeedLegals version, <br \/>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/raise\/raise-before-a-round\/\" target=\u201d_blank\u201d>SeedFAST<\/a>","link":null},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<p>For companies, the benefit of an Advance Subscription Agreement is obvious. You get access to cash much earlier than you would if you were negotiating a full funding round.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s in it for investors? By committing earlier, they can secure their right to shares at a lower valuation than they would during a round. Plus, companies can add an extra incentive to encourage investors to commit their capital early, by offering the ASA investor a <a href=\"#asa-how-does-it-work\">discount<\/a> on the shares as a reward for coming in early.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"expert_highlight","expert_highlight":{"":null,"image":{"ID":9124,"id":9124,"title":"Anthony Rose","filename":"anthony-rose-profile-photo.jpg","filesize":199649,"url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/anthony-rose-profile-photo.jpg","link":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/anthony-rose-profile-photo.jpg","alt":"Anthony Rose","author":"59","description":"Anthony Rose","caption":"Anthony Rose","name":"e0c71cbb74f24e09b7ccfa6539c51c84","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":22998,"date":"2021-07-16 10:03:39","modified":"2023-11-14 13:26:18","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":800,"height":800,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/anthony-rose-profile-photo-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/anthony-rose-profile-photo-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/anthony-rose-profile-photo.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/anthony-rose-profile-photo.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":800,"_themosis_media":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/anthony-rose-profile-photo-100x100.jpg","_themosis_media-width":100,"_themosis_media-height":100,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/anthony-rose-profile-photo.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":800,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/anthony-rose-profile-photo.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":800,"themosis":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/anthony-rose-profile-photo-200x150.jpg","themosis-width":200,"themosis-height":150,"tog-small":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/anthony-rose-profile-photo-300x300.jpg","tog-small-width":300,"tog-small-height":300,"tog-medium":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/anthony-rose-profile-photo-600x600.jpg","tog-medium-width":600,"tog-medium-height":600,"tog-large":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/anthony-rose-profile-photo.jpg","tog-large-width":800,"tog-large-height":800,"tog-huge":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/anthony-rose-profile-photo.jpg","tog-huge-width":800,"tog-huge-height":800}},"quote":"<p>Basically, a SeedFAST is an agreement that says: \u201cYou give me money now, and I\u2019ll give you shares when I do my next funding round. To incentivise you to give me the money now, I\u2019ll give you a discount, for example of 10%, compared to the valuation the investors will pay in my next round. And, if I don\u2019t do that funding round within (typically, for SEIS\/EIS compatibility) 6 months, then your investment will convert into shares at a valuation of, for example, \u00a33,000,000\u201d<\/p>\n","name":{"title":"Anthony Rose","url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/author\/anthony\/","target":"_blank"},"role":"CEO & co-founder","company":{"title":"SeedLegals","url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/","target":"_blank"},"linkedin":"","facebook":"","instagram":"","twitter":"","hide_image":false}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<p><strong>Read more of Anthony&#8217;s insights<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/how-to-pick-the-right-deal-terms-for-your-seedfast\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">How to pick the right terms for your Advance Subscription Agreement<\/a><\/p>\n<h2><a id=\"asa-how-does-it-work\"><\/a>How does an Advance Subscription Agreement work?<\/h2>\n<p>An Advance Subscription Agreement allows startups to secure funding from investors upfront even before a valuation has been set, and receive investment on a rolling basis.<\/p>\n<p>Here are the terms you\u2019ll specify in your Advance Subscription Agreement:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Discount<\/strong> &#8211; founders can make the deal more attractive for the investor by offering a discount (typically between 10% and 20%) on shares in the next round.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Valuation cap<\/strong> &#8211; you can set an upper limit on the valuation at which the Advance Subscription Agreement will convert into shares. If the next round valuation is higher than the cap, the agreement converts at the cap, giving the early investors a better deal than those who invest later.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Longstop date<\/strong> &#8211; this is the deadline by which the agreement must convert into shares. If you don\u2019t have a funding round before this date, then the ASA converts into shares automatically at the longstop valuation.<\/li>\n<li><strong><a id=\"longstop-valuation\"><\/a>Longstop valuation<\/strong> &#8211; this sets the price at which the ASA will convert if no trigger event happens.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"expert_highlight","expert_highlight":{"":null,"image":{"ID":34792,"id":34792,"title":"Gabriela Suarez SeedLegals","filename":"Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538.png","filesize":256040,"url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538.png","link":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538.png","alt":"Gabriela Suarez SeedLegals","author":"82","description":"Gabriela Suarez SeedLegals","caption":"Gabriela Suarez SeedLegals","name":"99f7296d990945ec9710a6ec12f7ec15","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":5484,"date":"2022-11-03 15:35:54","modified":"2023-11-14 14:39:29","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":370,"height":384,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538-289x300.png","medium-width":289,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538.png","medium_large-width":370,"medium_large-height":384,"large":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538.png","large-width":370,"large-height":384,"_themosis_media":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538-100x100.png","_themosis_media-width":100,"_themosis_media-height":100,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538.png","1536x1536-width":370,"1536x1536-height":384,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538.png","2048x2048-width":370,"2048x2048-height":384,"themosis":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538-200x150.png","themosis-width":200,"themosis-height":150,"tog-small":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538-300x311.png","tog-small-width":300,"tog-small-height":311,"tog-medium":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538.png","tog-medium-width":370,"tog-medium-height":384,"tog-large":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538.png","tog-large-width":370,"tog-large-height":384,"tog-huge":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538.png","tog-huge-width":370,"tog-huge-height":384}},"quote":"<p>Discounts and caps are investor-friendly provisions &#8211; a founder doesn&#8217;t have to offer them straight away, or even at all. But they can be used to sweeten the deal and get an investor across the line.<\/p>\n<p>They&#8217;re also commonly used for foreign investors who can\u2019t benefit from <a href=\"#asa-seis-eis\">SEIS\/EIS tax relief<\/a>, so they get a discount instead.<\/p>\n","name":{"title":"Gabriela Suarez","url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/author\/gabriela-suarez\/","target":"_blank"},"role":"Agile Funding Expert","company":{"title":"SeedLegals","url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com","target":"_blank"},"linkedin":{"title":"","url":"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/gmsuarez\/","target":""},"facebook":"","instagram":"","twitter":"","hide_image":false}},{"acf_fc_layout":"cta","cta":{"type":"default","subheading":"SeedLegals Termometer","heading":"What's 'normal' for early-stage deals?","content":"Dig deep into the data from 2,000+ funding rounds completed on SeedLegals and exclusive insights into the key terms that founders and investors negotiate.","bullet_points":false,"form":{"type":"none","hubspot_form":{"layout":"newsletter","hide_founderinvestor_toggle":false,"default_community":"founder","custom_form_id":"","gdpr_disclaimer":"By subscribing, you agree to receive information from SeedLegals. You can unsubscribe anytime. View our <a href=\"\/privacy-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">privacy policy<\/a>"},"custom":{"embed":""},"gtm_form_type":"default","gtm_form_location":"default"},"button":{"title":"Analyse terms","url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/termometer\/","target":"_blank"},"image":2085}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<h2><a id=\"asa-pros-and-cons\"><\/a>Advance Subscription Agreement: pros and cons<\/h2>\n<h3>Pros<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Fast to negotiate and complete<\/strong> &#8211; Instead of rounding up all the investors to fill up a funding round, agreeing a valuation with them and then doing all the legal paperwork, ASAs allow you to raise when the opportunity arises. You can defer the valuation discussion and the complex legal documents (<a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/uk-term-sheet-explained\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Term Sheet<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/help.seedlegals.com\/en\/2302038-can-seedlegals-produce-me-a-shareholders-agreement-before-my-round\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Shareholders Agreement<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/why-your-model-articles-need-amending\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Articles of Association<\/a>) until later.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Locks in capital before a round<\/strong> &#8211; With an ASA, you can secure cash upfront while you work through the rest of your funding round.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Use early cash to grow your valuation<\/strong> &#8211; you can use an ASA tactically. Take the cash you\u2019ve raised via the ASA, invest in business activities that allow you to grow your valuation, so you can raise a full round at a higher valuation.<\/li>\n<li><strong>SEIS\/EIS compatible<\/strong> &#8211; as long as the investment complies with certain <a href=\"#asa-seis-eis\">restrictions<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content_highlight","highlight_type":"tip","background_colour":"blue","show_icon":true,"content":"<b>3 fundraising strategies using ASAs<\/b> <br \/>\r\nHere\u2019s how to use Advance Subscription Agreements tactically to raise faster - and at a higher valuation:<br \/>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/startup-funding-strategies\/#startup-funding-strategies\" target=\u201d_blank\u201d>3 agile fundraising strategies<\/a>","link":null},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<h3>Cons<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Restrictions on terms and investor rights for <a href=\"#asa-seis-eis\">SEIS\/EIS compatibility<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Risk-shy investors might prefer the added protection of a <a href=\"#asa-vs-cln\">convertible loan<\/a> instead or the additional investor protection rights that are negotiated in a Shareholders Agreement in a funding round<\/li>\n<li>You need a separate agreement with each individual investor. If you\u2019re raising from multiple investors, this could drastically increase your legal costs. With <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/raise-faster-with-seedlegals-flex\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SeedLegals Flex<\/a> you can fix all your fundraising costs for the year &#8211; that means unlimited SeedFASTs (along with all the other funding options).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"expert_highlight","expert_highlight":{"":null,"image":{"ID":34792,"id":34792,"title":"Gabriela Suarez SeedLegals","filename":"Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538.png","filesize":256040,"url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538.png","link":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538.png","alt":"Gabriela Suarez SeedLegals","author":"82","description":"Gabriela Suarez SeedLegals","caption":"Gabriela Suarez SeedLegals","name":"99f7296d990945ec9710a6ec12f7ec15","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":5484,"date":"2022-11-03 15:35:54","modified":"2023-11-14 14:39:29","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":370,"height":384,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538-289x300.png","medium-width":289,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538.png","medium_large-width":370,"medium_large-height":384,"large":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538.png","large-width":370,"large-height":384,"_themosis_media":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538-100x100.png","_themosis_media-width":100,"_themosis_media-height":100,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538.png","1536x1536-width":370,"1536x1536-height":384,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538.png","2048x2048-width":370,"2048x2048-height":384,"themosis":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538-200x150.png","themosis-width":200,"themosis-height":150,"tog-small":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538-300x311.png","tog-small-width":300,"tog-small-height":311,"tog-medium":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538.png","tog-medium-width":370,"tog-medium-height":384,"tog-large":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538.png","tog-large-width":370,"tog-large-height":384,"tog-huge":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538.png","tog-huge-width":370,"tog-huge-height":384}},"quote":"<p>Keep a careful eye on the amount of equity you\u2019ll be giving away when the ASA converts. Because the idea of instant fundraising is so powerful, some founders can overlook this part of the equation, and later be surprised to find they\u2019re obligated to give more equity than they originally intended when they set up the ASA.<\/p>\n<p>We recommend having a firm idea as to what valuation you want your ASA to convert at. This will help you to calculate how much equity your proposed investments will give away, and help you set a clearly defined longstop valuation for your ASA.<\/p>\n","name":{"title":"Gabriela Suarez","url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/author\/gabriela-suarez\/","target":"_blank"},"role":"Agile Funding Expert","company":{"title":"SeedLegals","url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/","target":"_blank"},"linkedin":{"title":"","url":"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/gmsuarez\/","target":""},"facebook":"","instagram":"","twitter":"","hide_image":false}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<h2><a id=\"asa-vs-safe\"><\/a>Difference between Advance Subscription Agreements and SAFEs<\/h2>\n<p>In the US, the standard pre-funding round agreement is Y Combinator\u2019s SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity).<\/p>\n<p>The broad principles are the same. But because the YC SAFE template is written for US law and uses US terminology (fair enough), if you use a YC SAFE this could cause complications for your company further down the line because:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>it\u2019s Delaware law (not UK law)<\/li>\n<li>it contains various SEC and tax commitments that you don\u2019t want<\/li>\n<li>it talks about Common Stock, Series Seed Stock and other terminology that just doesn\u2019t apply in the UK. Your investor will be getting Ordinary or Preferred Shares, not Common Stock<\/li>\n<li>YC SAFEs don\u2019t have the concept of a longstop date, but to make the investment compatible with the <a href=\"#asa-seis-eis\">SEIS\/EIS tax relief schemes<\/a> you need to specify that the investment converts within six months. To avoid problems with some investments converting and others not, you\u2019ll most likely want all your ASA investments to have a longstop date too.<\/li>\n<li>Nevertheless, if you\u2019re raising from US investors, they might insist on using a SAFE. In that case, you can use the <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/seedlegals-english-law-version-of-yc-safe-for-raising-from-us-investors\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SeedLegals English law version of a YC SAFE<\/a> to keep both parties happy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We created this agreement to be as familiar as possible to a US investor who\u2019s used to the actual YC SAFE template. We intentionally limited the changes to only the things needed to make it work for English law and UK companies.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content_highlight","highlight_type":"tip","background_colour":"blue","show_icon":true,"content":"<b>Raising from US investors?<\/b> <br \/>\r\nSeedFAST or YC SAFE? Raise in pounds or dollars? Find the answers here \ud83d\udc47 <br \/>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/seedlegals-english-law-version-of-yc-safe-for-raising-from-us-investors\/\" target=\u201d_blank\u201d>SeedLegals English law version of YC SAFE for raising from US investors<\/a>","link":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<h2><a id=\"asa-vs-cln\"><\/a>Difference between Advance Subscription Agreements and Convertible Loan Agreements<\/h2>\n<p>Advance Subscription Agreements used to be relatively uncommon in the UK. Before SeedFASTs came along and changed the game, founders who wanted to raise before a funding round were limited to <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/what-really-is-a-convertible-loan-note-cln\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">convertible loan agreements<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>As the name suggests, the convertible loan agreement functions like a loan. The investment gives investors debt in your company, which is either converted into shares at the next funding round or at the longstop date or is paid back (often with interest).<\/p>\n<p>Convertible debt allows investors to hedge their bets and therefore might appeal to most risk-averse investors. For founders, they\u2019re often a less beneficial way to raise because:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Depending on the terms, they can come with <strong>interest payments<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>They\u2019re <strong>not SEIS\/EIS compatible<\/strong>, which might rule out UK investors for whom SEIS\/EIS tax relief is a prerequisite for investing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"cta","cta":{"type":"default","subheading":"Take multiple investments","heading":"Save with SeedLegals Flex","content":"Mix and match SeedFASTs, SeedNOTEs, Instant Investment and funding rounds for one fixed fee. Each Flex purchase is valid for 18 months!","bullet_points":false,"form":{"type":"none","hubspot_form":{"layout":"newsletter","hide_founderinvestor_toggle":false,"default_community":"founder","custom_form_id":"","gdpr_disclaimer":"By subscribing, you agree to receive information from SeedLegals. You can unsubscribe anytime. View our <a href=\"\/privacy-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">privacy policy<\/a>"},"custom":{"embed":""},"gtm_form_type":"default","gtm_form_location":"default"},"button":{"title":"Flex my fundraise","url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/raise-faster-with-seedlegals-flex\/","target":"_blank"},"image":398546}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<h2><a id=\"asa-seis-eis\"><\/a>SEIS\/EIS compatibility rules for Advance Subscription Agreements<\/h2>\n<p>UK legals around funding rounds are very similar to Ireland so <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/resources\/seis-ireland\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Irish startups can often meet the criteria for EIS and SEIS advance assurance<\/a> from HMRC.<\/p>\n<p>For the Advance Subscription Agreement investment in your company to be eligible for <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/start\/seis-eis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SEIS\/EIS tax relief<\/a>, it must:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Have a longstop date of no more than six months<\/li>\n<li>Convert into Ordinary Shares<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The investment must also follow the other <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/seis-rules-investors\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SEIS\/EIS investor rules<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/what-is-seis-eis-an-essential-read-for-uk-startups\/#company-eligibility\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">company rules<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The requirement that sometimes causes confusion is the <a href=\"https:\/\/help.seedlegals.com\/en\/2142732-how-to-check-you-meet-the-seis-eis-gross-assets-requirement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">gross assets test<\/a>. When you issue the ASA shares, your company can\u2019t have more than \u00a3350,000 (SEIS) or \u00a330 million (EIS) in gross assets. The rule applies to the date you issue the shares, not the date on which you sign the Advance Subscription Agreement.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"expert_highlight","expert_highlight":{"":null,"image":{"ID":34792,"id":34792,"title":"Gabriela Suarez SeedLegals","filename":"Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538.png","filesize":256040,"url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538.png","link":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538.png","alt":"Gabriela Suarez SeedLegals","author":"82","description":"Gabriela Suarez SeedLegals","caption":"Gabriela Suarez SeedLegals","name":"99f7296d990945ec9710a6ec12f7ec15","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":5484,"date":"2022-11-03 15:35:54","modified":"2023-11-14 14:39:29","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":370,"height":384,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538-289x300.png","medium-width":289,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538.png","medium_large-width":370,"medium_large-height":384,"large":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538.png","large-width":370,"large-height":384,"_themosis_media":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538-100x100.png","_themosis_media-width":100,"_themosis_media-height":100,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538.png","1536x1536-width":370,"1536x1536-height":384,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538.png","2048x2048-width":370,"2048x2048-height":384,"themosis":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538-200x150.png","themosis-width":200,"themosis-height":150,"tog-small":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538-300x311.png","tog-small-width":300,"tog-small-height":311,"tog-medium":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538.png","tog-medium-width":370,"tog-medium-height":384,"tog-large":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538.png","tog-large-width":370,"tog-large-height":384,"tog-huge":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-153538.png","tog-huge-width":370,"tog-huge-height":384}},"quote":"<p>SeedFASTs (the SeedLegals ASA) are fully S\/EIS compatible and we make sure your agreement stays compliant no matter what terms you set. For example, if you\u2019re raising SEIS and EIS funds simultaneously, our platform cleverly issues the shares in the necessary order so that you stay S\/EIS-compliant. Our team is on hand to explain anything you need, including the rules about the gross assets test.<\/p>\n<p>The most important rules to remember are that the shares need to be issued within six months of both the agreement being signed and the funds received, so your ASA needs to convert within that time. Remember to take this into account when you plan your fundraising.<\/p>\n","name":{"title":"Gabriela Suarez","url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/author\/gabriela-suarez\/","target":"_blank"},"role":"Agile Funding Expert","company":{"title":"SeedLegals","url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/","target":"_blank"},"linkedin":{"title":"","url":"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/gmsuarez\/","target":""},"facebook":"","instagram":"","twitter":"","hide_image":false}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<p>When the investor comes to claim their SEIS\/EIS tax relief, they\u2019ll need to know which date and tax year applies to their investment.<\/p>\n<p>The date that an investor\u2019s SEIS\/EIS investment is deemed to have been made is the <strong>day that they were issued their shares<\/strong>, not the day they signed the Advance Subscription Agreement. This means that the tax year in which the SEIS\/EIS benefit is given is the tax year when the funding round took place, not the tax year in which the SeedFAST investment was made.<\/p>\n<p>The good news is that HMRC allows investors to backdate their SEIS\/EIS claim to the previous tax year. There are full details on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/seed-enterprise-investment-scheme-income-tax-and-capital-gains-tax-reliefs-hs393-self-assessment-helpsheet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">HMRC\u2019s guide to self assessment and SEIS\/EIS<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>So if your investors make investments in your company via an Advance Subscription Agreement today, even if it only converts into shares in the next tax year, they\u2019ll be able to retrospectively claim their SEIS\/EIS tax deduction then, for this tax year.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read more<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/seis-compliance\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SEIS Compliance &#8211; how to make sure your investors get their tax relief<\/a><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<h2><a id=\"asa-seedlegals\"><\/a>How to create an Advance Subscription Agreement on SeedLegals<\/h2>\n<p>On SeedLegals we\u2019ve made it super simple and quick to create an Advance Subscription Agreement. It\u2019s called SeedFAST and with it you can:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Quickly build your agreement based on a template written by our lawyers<\/li>\n<li>Customise the agreement to suit your situation<\/li>\n<li>Follow clear step-by-step guidance<\/li>\n<li>Get expert help whenever you need it<\/li>\n<li>Sign, share and store it online<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It takes just minutes to <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/raise\/raise-before-a-round\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">create your SeedFAST Advance Subscription Agreement on SeedLegals<\/a>. And it\u2019s fully integrated with our online signing process, digital cap table, share certificates and board management tools.<\/p>\n<p>Need more than one SeedFAST? On SeedLegals you can <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/in-case-you-missed-it-december-2023\/#reuse-terms-seedfast\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">duplicate terms from previous SeedFASTs<\/a> to save time and effort when you\u2019re raising from multiple investors.<\/p>\n<h2><a id=\"key-takeaways\"><\/a>Key takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Advance Subscription Agreements (ASAs) allows startups to raise cash ahead of a funding round<\/li>\n<li>ASAs are a significantly faster way for companies to raise cash compared to a traditional equity round<\/li>\n<li>Unlike convertible loan agreements, ASAs are eligible for SEIS\/EIS tax relief<\/li>\n<li>With the SeedLegals SeedFAST, you can create, sign and share your agreement in just a few minutes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><a id=\"talk-to-experts\"><\/a>Talk to the funding experts<\/h2>\n<p>Need help figuring out your funding strategy? Or how SeedFASTs could fit into your fundraising? Use the form below to choose a time for a free call with a SeedLegals funding strategist.<\/p>\n<p><!-- Start of Meetings Embed Script --><\/p>\n<div class=\"meetings-iframe-container\" data-src=\"https:\/\/meetings.hubspot.com\/sl\/uk-account-execs?embed=true\"><\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hsappstatic.net\/MeetingsEmbed\/ex\/MeetingsEmbedCode.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- End of Meetings Embed Script --><\/p>\n"}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Advance Subscription Agreement | Faster funding | SeedLegals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Advance Subscription Agreements allow investors to \u2018pre-pay\u2019 for shares. ASAs can be a faster, more efficient and S\/EIS-friendly way for startups to raise capital.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/resources\/advanced-subscription-agreement\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Advance Subscription Agreement | Faster funding | SeedLegals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Advance Subscription Agreements allow investors to \u2018pre-pay\u2019 for shares. ASAs can be a faster, more efficient and S\/EIS-friendly way for startups to raise capital.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/resources\/advanced-subscription-agreement\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SeedLegals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/seedlegals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-01-19T17:07:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-19T18:07:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/hero_advance-subscription-agreement.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2816\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1584\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kirsty MacSween\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@seedlegals\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@seedlegals\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kirsty MacSween\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Advance Subscription Agreement | Faster funding | SeedLegals","description":"Advance Subscription Agreements allow investors to \u2018pre-pay\u2019 for shares. 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ASAs can be a faster, more efficient and S\/EIS-friendly way for startups to raise capital.","og_url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/resources\/advanced-subscription-agreement\/","og_site_name":"SeedLegals","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/seedlegals\/","article_published_time":"2024-01-19T17:07:32+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-01-19T18:07:32+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2816,"height":1584,"url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/hero_advance-subscription-agreement.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Kirsty MacSween","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@seedlegals","twitter_site":"@seedlegals","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kirsty MacSween","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/resources\/advanced-subscription-agreement\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/resources\/advanced-subscription-agreement\/"},"author":{"name":"Kirsty MacSween","@id":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/#\/schema\/person\/5535be3e21cbe4cf6d9d977feb24c531"},"headline":"Advance Subscription Agreements: Money now, shares later","datePublished":"2024-01-19T17:07:32+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-19T18:07:32+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/resources\/advanced-subscription-agreement\/"},"wordCount":7,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/resources\/advanced-subscription-agreement\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/hero_advance-subscription-agreement.png","articleSection":["Funding Guides"],"inLanguage":"en-IE"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/resources\/advanced-subscription-agreement\/","url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/resources\/advanced-subscription-agreement\/","name":"Advance Subscription Agreement | Faster funding | SeedLegals","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/resources\/advanced-subscription-agreement\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/resources\/advanced-subscription-agreement\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/hero_advance-subscription-agreement.png","datePublished":"2024-01-19T17:07:32+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-19T18:07:32+00:00","description":"Advance Subscription Agreements allow investors to \u2018pre-pay\u2019 for shares. ASAs can be a faster, more efficient and S\/EIS-friendly way for startups to raise capital.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/resources\/advanced-subscription-agreement\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-IE","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/resources\/advanced-subscription-agreement\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-IE","@id":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/resources\/advanced-subscription-agreement\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/hero_advance-subscription-agreement.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/hero_advance-subscription-agreement.png","width":2816,"height":1584,"caption":"Advance Subscription 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pitch deck: free template with investor tips"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We teamed up with\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/sparkup.co\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sparkup<\/a>, the network focused crowdfunding platform,\u00a0to analyse 100s of successfully funded companies to bring you the 11 key elements you need for a great pitch deck.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1327\" src=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8daf7e53abe600012951ef_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-2-638-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8daf7e53abe600012951ef_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-2-638-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8daf7e53abe600012951ef_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-2-638-200x150.jpg 200w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8daf7e53abe600012951ef_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-2-638-600x450.jpg 600w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8daf7e53abe600012951ef_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-2-638.jpg 638w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8daf7e53abe600012951ef_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-2-638-200x150@2x.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\">\u200dPitch Deck Do&#8217;s<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The average visitor will only spend 3m44sec reading your slides so make sure you communicate all of these in 20 slides or less to maximise your chance of success.<\/p>\n<p>Spend time on your deck. Make sure your team slide looks awesome!<br \/>\nKnow your metrics better than anyone. Traction speaks the loudest.<br \/>\nShare success stories and great testimonials<br \/>\nBe punchy, concise, clear and aim to engage<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1328\" src=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db1b8b7a50a0001e20127_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-4-638-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db1b8b7a50a0001e20127_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-4-638-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db1b8b7a50a0001e20127_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-4-638-200x150.jpg 200w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db1b8b7a50a0001e20127_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-4-638-600x450.jpg 600w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db1b8b7a50a0001e20127_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-4-638.jpg 638w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db1b8b7a50a0001e20127_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-4-638-200x150@2x.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\">\u200d1. Company Purpose<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Consider this your teaser slide that showcases your company&#8217;s mission and vision through a killer statement. This is your 15-second compelling elevator pitch.<\/p>\n<p>Make it memorable.<\/p>\n<h2>2. Problem \/ Opportunity<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>What is the problem or opportunity?<\/li>\n<li>Why is it important to solve it?<\/li>\n<li>Who are you solving the problem for?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1329\" src=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db1eb36499300015d887d_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-5-638-300x225.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db1eb36499300015d887d_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-5-638-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db1eb36499300015d887d_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-5-638-200x150.png 200w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db1eb36499300015d887d_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-5-638-600x450.png 600w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db1eb36499300015d887d_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-5-638.png 638w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db1eb36499300015d887d_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-5-638-200x150@2x.png 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>3. Solution<\/h2>\n<p>Describe how your solution solves the problem you have just outlined and why it is better than other solutions in the market.<\/p>\n<h2>4. Market Size<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Convince your viewer that the market opportunity is large and attainable.<\/li>\n<li>Provide the dollar value of your Total Available Market (TAM), Serviceable Available Market (SAM) and Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Key statistics work well here.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1330\" src=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db76053abe60001296332_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-6-638-300x225.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db76053abe60001296332_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-6-638-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db76053abe60001296332_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-6-638-200x150.png 200w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db76053abe60001296332_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-6-638-600x450.png 600w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db76053abe60001296332_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-6-638.png 638w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db76053abe60001296332_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-6-638-200x150@2x.png 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>5. Product<\/h2>\n<p>What are the key features of the product and how does it work?Why do customers care about the product? What are the major product milestones so far? Include images of your product<\/p>\n<p>If you don&#8217;t have a working product yet include visuals of what you are building.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1331\" src=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db76b36499300015d8f73_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-7-638-300x225.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db76b36499300015d8f73_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-7-638-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db76b36499300015d8f73_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-7-638-200x150.png 200w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db76b36499300015d8f73_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-7-638-600x450.png 600w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db76b36499300015d8f73_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-7-638.png 638w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db76b36499300015d8f73_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-7-638-200x150@2x.png 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>6. Team<\/h2>\n<p>This is one of the most important slides to focus on in order to build credibility. This slide should include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Pictures of key team members<\/li>\n<li>Name and title of key team members<\/li>\n<li>Significant accomplishment for each person that identifies key strengths and experience<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This slide can also include Board Members and Advisors in order to increase the credibility of your overall team.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1332\" src=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db777689c090001cb11dc_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-8-638-300x225.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db777689c090001cb11dc_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-8-638-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db777689c090001cb11dc_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-8-638-200x150.png 200w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db777689c090001cb11dc_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-8-638-600x450.png 600w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db777689c090001cb11dc_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-8-638.png 638w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db777689c090001cb11dc_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-8-638-200x150@2x.png 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>7. Competition<\/h2>\n<p>Use a matrix to showcase how you are the best at what you do or at least how you differ from other players. Having direct competitors is OK and proves there is a market for your offering.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1333\" src=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db781b7a50a0001e206c9_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-9-638-300x225.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db781b7a50a0001e206c9_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-9-638-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db781b7a50a0001e206c9_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-9-638-200x150.png 200w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db781b7a50a0001e206c9_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-9-638-600x450.png 600w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db781b7a50a0001e206c9_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-9-638.png 638w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db781b7a50a0001e206c9_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-9-638-200x150@2x.png 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>8. Business Model<\/h2>\n<p>Illustrate the ways you are going to make money by providing 1-3 different revenue sources.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How do you make money?<\/li>\n<li>What is the pricing model?<\/li>\n<li>What is the long-term value of a customer?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1334\" src=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db79e689c090001cb11f1_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-10-638-300x225.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db79e689c090001cb11f1_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-10-638-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db79e689c090001cb11f1_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-10-638-200x150.png 200w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db79e689c090001cb11f1_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-10-638-600x450.png 600w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db79e689c090001cb11f1_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-10-638.png 638w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db79e689c090001cb11f1_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-10-638-200x150@2x.png 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>9.\u00a0 Market Plan<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>What key marketing channels will you use?<\/li>\n<li>What early successes have you had and what channels have worked?<\/li>\n<li>What are your preliminary customer acquisition costs per customer?<\/li>\n<li>What PR will you be employing?<\/li>\n<li>What early press or buzz have you gotten?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1335\" src=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db7aa36499300015d8f91_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-11-638-300x225.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db7aa36499300015d8f91_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-11-638-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db7aa36499300015d8f91_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-11-638-200x150.png 200w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db7aa36499300015d8f91_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-11-638-600x450.png 600w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db7aa36499300015d8f91_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-11-638.png 638w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db7aa36499300015d8f91_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-11-638-200x150@2x.png 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>10. Financials<\/h2>\n<p>This slide is more about what you have done so far and not what you plan on doing. Showing traction is important here.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>total revenue, ARR, MRR, profits<\/li>\n<li>CAC, LTV and Margin (unit economics)<\/li>\n<li>no. customers and partners signed up<\/li>\n<li>forecasting for 1-3 years to demonstrate your ambition and growth plans. Don&#8217;t be unrealistic.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1336\" src=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db7ce53abe60001296415_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-12-638-300x225.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db7ce53abe60001296415_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-12-638-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db7ce53abe60001296415_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-12-638-200x150.png 200w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db7ce53abe60001296415_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-12-638-600x450.png 600w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db7ce53abe60001296415_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-12-638.png 638w, https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/5a8db7ce53abe60001296415_ultimate-pitch-deck-template-for-high-growth-startups-12-638-200x150@2x.png 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>11. The Ask and The Spend<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>How much are you raising?<\/li>\n<li>What is the company valuation?<\/li>\n<li>What is the % equity offered?<\/li>\n<li>Never list these three things in the same sentence: amount raising, valuation, and % equity offered unless you&#8217;ve actually built your cap table and used a tool to model your actual equity dilution.<\/li>\n<li>Always talk about pre-money valuation rather than post-money valuation.<\/li>\n<li>What are you going to be spending the money on? Group what you are going to spend the money on into categories e.g Operations, Recruitment, Marketing<\/li>\n<li>What runway will that give you? i.e. how long before you are profitable or raising your next round<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Final Words of Wisdom<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Always prepare two versions of your slide deck &#8211; one with financials and fundraising details and one without so you can send out teasers to a wide set of people, and only give out your financials to a small set.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Create the perfect pitch deck with our free template, including tips from industry experts and step-by-step guidance. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":82,"featured_media":407403,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[101,104,105,101],"tags":[],"event_tags":[],"class_list":["post-44727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-investor-directory-ie","category-funding-guides-ie","category-startup-guides-ie"],"acf":{"revision_date":"","has_custom_post_authors":true,"is_expert_reviewed":true,"post_content_width":"default","has_sources":false,"related_posts":false,"hero_image":407403,"post_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<p>You know that your company has the potential to be a huge success. But how do you convince investors?<\/p>\n<p>It starts with a winning pitch deck &#8211; your one opportunity to pique investor interest and sell them on your idea. In under three minutes, you\u2019ve got to make an impression that impacts the future of your company. No pressure.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve got you covered. We see thousands of pitch decks from founders who create and share their <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/raise\/pitch\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pitch<\/a> on SeedLegals and we speak to countless investors who tell us what they need to see in a pitch deck. We\u2019ve combined our experience with insights from industry experts to create the best pitch deck template for you to sell your idea in minutes. This free pitch deck template includes:<\/p>\n<p>\ud83c\udfa8Customisable framework for an investment-winning pitch deck<\/p>\n<p>\ud83c\udf1fDetailed guidance on what to include in each slide<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udc81\u200d\u2640\ufe0fInsightful tips from experts<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udd17Links to additional resources<\/p>\n<p>The template comes in <strong>PowerPoint<\/strong> format but you can easily convert it into <strong>Google Slides<\/strong> if that\u2019s what you prefer. Just upload it to your Google Drive and it will convert automatically.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"cta","cta":{"type":"light","subheading":"","heading":"Pitch without a hitch","content":"Build you pitch deck in minutes. Track page views and investor interest.","bullet_points":false,"form":{"type":"none","hubspot_form":{"layout":"newsletter","hide_founderinvestor_toggle":false,"default_community":"founder","custom_form_id":"","gdpr_disclaimer":"By subscribing, you agree to receive information from SeedLegals. You can unsubscribe anytime. View our <a href=\"\/privacy-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">privacy policy<\/a>"},"custom":{"embed":""},"gtm_form_type":false,"gtm_form_location":false},"button":{"title":"Learn more","url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/raise\/pitch\/","target":"_blank"},"image":399327}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<p><strong>More in this article:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#whats-inside\">Free pitch deck template: what&#8217;s inside?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#advance-assurance-pitch-deck\">Pitch deck for SEIS\/EIS Advance Assurance<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#faqs\">FAQs<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#talk-to-an-expert\">Talk to an expert<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Expert contributors<\/h3>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"form","layout":"custom","heading":"Get your free pitch deck template","content":"Create your investment-winning pitch deck with our customisable template. ","custom":{"image":43915,"button_text":"Download template ","form":{"type":"hubspot","hubspot_form":{"layout":"default","hide_founderinvestor_toggle":false,"default_community":"founder","custom_form_id":"0e4d55a1-be7f-4b92-a0d2-0883fc50b073","gdpr_disclaimer":"By subscribing, you agree to receive information from SeedLegals. You can unsubscribe anytime. View our <a href=\"\/privacy-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">privacy policy<\/a>"},"custom":{"embed":""},"gtm_form_type":false,"gtm_form_location":false}},"add_shadow":false},{"acf_fc_layout":"two_columns","vertical_alignment":"middle","columns":[{"layout":"image","text":"","image":43814},{"layout":"text","text":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/author\/anthony\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Anthony Rose<\/strong><\/a><br \/>\n<em>SeedLegals CEO and serial entrepreneur<\/em><br \/>\nAnthony is our CEO and Co-Founder. As well as leader of SeedLegals and champion of the startup ecosystem, Anthony is well known as &#8216;the man behind BBC iPlayer.&#8217;<\/p>\n","image":false}]},{"acf_fc_layout":"two_columns","vertical_alignment":"middle","columns":[{"layout":"image","text":"","image":43820},{"layout":"text","text":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/author\/oliver\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Oliver Kicks<\/strong><\/a><br \/>\n<em>Principal Investor at Concept Ventures<\/em><br \/>\nConcept Ventures is the UK\u2019s largest dedicated pre-seed fund. They\u2019ve invested in over 50 startups from their fund of over \u00a352 million. Oliver leads the marketing and branding division at Concept Ventures alongside making decisions on which startups to invest in.<\/p>\n","image":false}]},{"acf_fc_layout":"two_columns","vertical_alignment":"middle","columns":[{"layout":"image","text":"","image":43826},{"layout":"text","text":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/vasusarin\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Vasu Sarin<\/strong><\/a><br \/>\n<em>Exited founder and Head of Business Development at SeedLegals<\/em><br \/>\nEx-Founder and CEO of Tab Care, Vasu has first-hand experience in pitching to investors and successfully raising investment capital. He\u2019s now Head of Business Development and Partnerships at SeedLegals.<\/p>\n","image":false}]},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<h2><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><a id=\"whats-inside\"><\/a>Free pitch deck template: what\u2019s inside?<\/h2>\n<h2><\/h2>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":43972,"id":43972,"title":"Solution Slide Pitch Deck","filename":"solution-slide_pitch-deck.png","filesize":"170224","url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/solution-slide_pitch-deck.png","link":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/solution-slide_pitch-deck.png","alt":"Solution Slide Pitch Deck template preview","author":"82","description":"Solution Slide Pitch Deck","caption":"Solution Slide Pitch Deck","name":"a0d00390a7ec434eb96454d6f6fcb812","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":1886,"date":"2023-04-14 12:26:41","modified":"2024-05-01 14:45:07","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1387,"height":805,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/solution-slide_pitch-deck-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/solution-slide_pitch-deck-300x174.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":174,"medium_large":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/solution-slide_pitch-deck.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":446,"large":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/solution-slide_pitch-deck-1024x594.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":594,"_themosis_media":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/solution-slide_pitch-deck-100x100.png","_themosis_media-width":100,"_themosis_media-height":100,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/solution-slide_pitch-deck.png","1536x1536-width":1387,"1536x1536-height":805,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/solution-slide_pitch-deck.png","2048x2048-width":1387,"2048x2048-height":805,"themosis":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/solution-slide_pitch-deck-200x150.png","themosis-width":200,"themosis-height":150,"tog-small":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/solution-slide_pitch-deck-300x174.png","tog-small-width":300,"tog-small-height":174,"tog-medium":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/solution-slide_pitch-deck-600x348.png","tog-medium-width":600,"tog-medium-height":348,"tog-large":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/solution-slide_pitch-deck-1000x580.png","tog-large-width":1000,"tog-large-height":580,"tog-huge":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/solution-slide_pitch-deck.png","tog-huge-width":1387,"tog-huge-height":805}},"caption":"","width":"100","alignment":"left"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<p>This pitch deck template contains the essential slides you need to hook investors and tell them what they need to know:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What problem you\u2019re solving<\/li>\n<li>Why your company has potential to generate significant returns<\/li>\n<li>What you need from investors to grow your business<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We\u2019ve also included suggestions for extra slides in this article to help you build a more in-depth version of your pitch deck for your <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/start\/seis-eis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SEIS\/EIS Advance Assurance<\/a> application. Scroll down to learn about the extra slides.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content_highlight","highlight_type":"tip","background_colour":"purple","show_icon":true,"content":"Our free <b>pitch deck template<\/b> is downloadable as a <b>PowerPoint<\/b> presentation. But if you prefer to work in <b>Google Slides<\/b>, just upload the PowerPoint to your Google Drive and it will automatically convert into a Google Slides presentation. <br \/>\r\n","link":null},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<p>Our downloadable pitch deck template includes the following slides:<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Problem<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>On this slide, you\u2019ll identify the problem solved by your product or service. You\u2019ll describe the pain point your target customers are experiencing, and explain why existing solutions aren\u2019t as good as yours. This helps investors understand the market opportunity and the potential demand for your solution.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Solution<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>After you&#8217;ve identified the problem, you\u2019ll explain how your product or service solves it. Be specific about the features and benefits of your solution.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Product<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Next, you\u2019ll showcase your solution in action:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Explain how it works (concisely)<\/li>\n<li>Share images or a video of any prototypes or demos you\u2019ve developed<\/li>\n<li>List unique features of your product\/service (if you didn\u2019t do that on the previous slide)<\/li>\n<li>List key benefits of your product\/service (again, if you didn\u2019t do that on the previous slide)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Achievements\/validation<\/h3>\n<p>This is <strong>one of the most important slides<\/strong>. You\u2019ll need to validate your team and company.<br \/>\nOn this slide, you\u2019ll set out:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What you\u2019ve achieved<\/li>\n<li>Why you\u2019re the best people for the job<\/li>\n<li>You can include awards, recognition, achievements, significant traction and your team\u2019s unique expertise<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Market<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Investors need to know why investing in your company is a great opportunity for them. Use the next two slides to showcase:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Market adoption of your product\/service<\/li>\n<li>Market size<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You don\u2019t need to go into too much detail about the total serviceable market or serviceable obtainable market. Just briefly show the market potential.<\/p>\n<p>Add testimonials and short case studies to show that your product is needed and loved.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Competition<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>No product or service exists in a vacuum, so it&#8217;s important to acknowledge and address the competition. Identify your key competitors and briefly show how your solution is different and better than what they offer. Be specific about your competitive advantages, such as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pricing<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Features<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">User experience<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You can use a simple comparison table to show how the pricing, features and user experience of your product\/service stack up against your competitors.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Business model<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Investors will want to know how you plan to make money and achieve profitability. But they don\u2019t want to see too much detail in your initial pitch deck. Save the graphs and business plan for your <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/raise\/data-room\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">data room<\/a>. They\u2019ll ask for more information when they want it.<\/p>\n<p>In this slide, keep it to top-line information: outline your revenue streams, pricing strategy, and any recurring revenue opportunities.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Team<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>This is <strong>one of the most important slides<\/strong> to build credibility. You can keep it towards the end of your deck but also consider placing it after your product slide.<\/p>\n<p>Investors invest in people as much as they invest in ideas. They want to know that:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Your team will be a good fit for them<\/li>\n<li>Your team has the expertise to successfully achieve your company\u2019s goals<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Introduce your team and highlight their relevant experience and expertise. This is also a good opportunity to showcase any advisors or mentors that you have on board. Remember to include significant accomplishments for each person that show their key strengths and experience.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Deal Summary<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Finally, make sure you clarify what you are asking for from investors. This could be a specific amount of funding, a partnership opportunity, or an introduction to potential customers. Be specific and make it easy for investors to take action.<\/p>\n<p>The deal summary slide is an overview of the core investment proposal and makes it easy for investors to see at a glance how much they can invest and whether they can claim SEIS\/EIS tax benefits. It also shows that you understand the investment process.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"cta","cta":{"type":"light","subheading":"","heading":"Raising startup funding?","content":"We'll help you simplify your funding journey and close your round faster. ","bullet_points":false,"form":{"type":"none","hubspot_form":{"layout":"newsletter","hide_founderinvestor_toggle":false,"default_community":"founder","custom_form_id":"","gdpr_disclaimer":"By subscribing, you agree to receive information from SeedLegals. You can unsubscribe anytime. View our <a href=\"\/privacy-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">privacy policy<\/a>"},"custom":{"embed":""},"gtm_form_type":false,"gtm_form_location":false},"button":{"title":"Find out how","url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/raise\/raise-a-round\/","target":"_blank"},"image":42881}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<h2><a id=\"advance-assurance-pitch-deck\"><\/a>Pitch deck for SEIS\/EIS Advance Assurance<\/h2>\n<p>When you\u2019re compiling your pitch deck for HMRC as part of your<a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/start\/seis-eis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Advance Assurance<\/a> application, include the extra information covered below. Interested investors will eventually want to see this information too, so it\u2019s good to have it ready. You can store it safely in your <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/raise\/data-room\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">data room<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Elevator pitch<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>On this slide, explain in 100 words or less:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What your product or service is<\/li>\n<li>Who you\u2019re for (customer)<\/li>\n<li>The problem you\u2019re solving<\/li>\n<li>How you\u2019re solving it<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Make it engaging, tell a story and ask a copywriter to help you make it punchy and concise.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Market size<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Use data to show the market potential for your business. You can include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Number of potential customers<\/li>\n<li>Serviceable market size<\/li>\n<li>Serviceable obtainable market size<\/li>\n<li>Trends or shifts that are creating new opportunities<\/li>\n<li>Target market and the specific customer segments that you\u2019re targeting<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Marketing and sales plan<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Outline your marketing and sales strategy, including how you plan to reach your target customers, acquire and retain users. Be specific about the channels you plan to use, such as social media, content marketing, paid advertising, events, etc.<\/p>\n<p>Also consider:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What early successes have you had and what channels have worked?<\/li>\n<li>What are your preliminary acquisition costs per customer?<\/li>\n<li>What PR will you do?<\/li>\n<li>What early press interest or buzz have you created?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Financials<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This slide should show ROI potential and explain your cost structure.<\/p>\n<p>Start by showing the potential for growth with a 3 to 5-year revenue forecast. Learn more about the ideal formula in our article <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/5-year-business-plan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Five year business plan: why you need one and how to write it<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Next, show your estimated margins in three to five years. Calculate your margin by subtracting expenses from revenue. You should also include key metrics such as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Customer acquisition cost (CAC)<\/li>\n<li>Customer retention rate (CRR)<\/li>\n<li>Lifetime value of customer (LTV)<\/li>\n<li>Your LTV:CAC ratio<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<h2><a id=\"faqs\"><\/a> Startup pitch deck FAQs<\/h2>\n<p><strong>What is a startup pitch deck?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A startup pitch deck is a visual presentation about a company. The deck sets out:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What problem a company solves<\/li>\n<li>How you solve it<\/li>\n<li>Key strengths<\/li>\n<li>Unique value proposition<\/li>\n<li>Market opportunity<\/li>\n<li>Growth potential<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A pitch deck is typically presented to potential investors, partners, and customers.<\/p>\n<p>A startup pitch deck should be concise, visually appealing, and easy to understand. It should be structured to tell a compelling story about the startup and its potential for success.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>What should a startup pitch deck include?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A startup pitch deck should include high-level information about how a company solves a problem and why investing in your company is a great opportunity.<\/p>\n<p>A typical startup pitch deck will cover these key topics:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Problem &#8211; What problem or pain point does the startup aim to solve?<\/li>\n<li>Solution &#8211; What is the startup&#8217;s proposed solution to the problem?<\/li>\n<li>Market &#8211; What is the size of the target market and what is the startup&#8217;s potential market share?<\/li>\n<li>Business Model &#8211; How will the startup generate revenue and what\u2019s the pricing strategy?<\/li>\n<li>Competition &#8211; Who are the startup&#8217;s main competitors and what is its competitive advantage?<\/li>\n<li>Team &#8211; Who are the key members of the startup&#8217;s team and what relevant experience do they have?<\/li>\n<li>Deal summary- What are your funding requirements and can you offer investors SEIS\/EIS Advance Assurance?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>How do I present my pitch deck?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ll present your pitch deck either by sending it to investors to read in their own time or during live events and investor meetings.<\/p>\n<p>If you present your pitch deck in person, aim to be clear, confident, and engaging. Start with a strong opening that grabs the audience&#8217;s attention, then walk them through each section of the deck, highlighting key points and providing supporting evidence. Use visuals to enhance your presentation and avoid overwhelming the audience with too much information. Finally, be prepared to answer questions and address any concerns raised by the audience.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/raise\/pitch\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SeedLegals Pitch<\/a> makes it as easy as possible to share your pitch with investors. It allows you to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Send the link to share your pitch &#8211; no need to send huge files by email<\/li>\n<li>Update your Pitch page in real-time &#8211; no out-dated information<\/li>\n<li>Store everything in one place &#8211; clean and clutter-free<\/li>\n<li>Share confidential files in your secure Data Room<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>What should I not include in a pitch deck?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When creating your pitch deck, avoid:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Irrelevant or unnecessary information that may distract or confuse your audience<\/li>\n<li>Overloading the presentation with too much data or technical jargon, and focus only on the key points that are essential to understanding the business model and potential for success<\/li>\n<li>Unsupported claims or exaggerating your startup&#8217;s achievements or potential<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>What file format should I submit my pitch deck in?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We recommend submitting your pitch deck to investors as a PDF, PowerPoint or Google Slides presentation.<\/p>\n<p>Luckily, our free pitch deck template download can easily be converted into all three:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>When you download the template it will be in PowerPoint format to easily edit<\/li>\n<li>If you prefer working in Google Slides, you can easily convert the PowerPoint into Google Slides by uploading it to your Google Drive<\/li>\n<li>When your pitch deck is ready, you can export it as a PDF from both PowerPoint and Google Slides<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>What file format does my pitch deck need to be for SeedLegals Pitch?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>At the moment, we only support pitch decks in PDF format. If your deck is currently in a different format, you can convert it to a PDF. Make sure it\u2019s in landscape orientation.<\/p>\n<p>Our free pitch deck template is available to download and customise as a PowerPoint file on SeedLegals Pitch. When you upload it to share on Pitch, you&#8217;ll need to convert it into a PDF. You can <a href=\"https:\/\/app.seedlegals.com\/signup\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sign up to Pitch for free.<\/a><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"form","layout":"custom","heading":"Get your free pitch deck template","content":"Create your investment-winning pitch deck with our customisable template. ","custom":{"image":43915,"button_text":"Download template ","form":{"type":"hubspot","hubspot_form":{"layout":"default","hide_founderinvestor_toggle":false,"default_community":"founder","custom_form_id":"0e4d55a1-be7f-4b92-a0d2-0883fc50b073","gdpr_disclaimer":"By subscribing, you agree to receive information from SeedLegals. You can unsubscribe anytime. View our <a href=\"\/privacy-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">privacy policy<\/a>"},"custom":{"embed":""},"gtm_form_type":false,"gtm_form_location":false}},"add_shadow":false},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<h2><a id=\"talk-to-an-expert\"><\/a>Talk to an expert<\/h2>\n<p>Are you fundraising for your startup? Book a free call with one of our funding strategists to find out how we can help.<br \/>\n<!-- Start of Meetings Embed Script --><\/p>\n<div class=\"meetings-iframe-container\" data-src=\"https:\/\/meetme.seedlegals.com\/meetings\/sl-fr\/your-meeting-with-seedlegals?embed=true\"><\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hsappstatic.net\/MeetingsEmbed\/ex\/MeetingsEmbedCode.js\"><\/script><!-- End of Meetings Embed Script --><\/p>\n"}],"blog_layout":"default","show_author_card":false,"expert_reviewed":{"heading":"Expert reviewed","tooltip_message":"This article has been fact-checked by a SeedLegals subject matter expert.<br><br><a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/authors-and-experts\/\" target=\"_blank\">Meet our experts<\/a> and learn more about our review process and quality assurance in our <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/editorial-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\">editorial policy<\/a>."},"custom_post_authors":{"authors":[{"author":{"ID":82,"user_firstname":"Kaylin","user_lastname":"Sullivan","nickname":"Kaylin Sullivan","user_nicename":"kaylin","display_name":"Kaylin Sullivan","user_email":"kaylin@seedlegals.com","user_url":"","user_registered":"2022-04-11 11:06:43","user_description":"","user_avatar":"<img alt='' src='https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0652066345ed869ee09c20fad9ad22d5dadc0ee3bb4ca278683547efbb5d93d4?s=96&#038;d=mm&#038;r=g' srcset='https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0652066345ed869ee09c20fad9ad22d5dadc0ee3bb4ca278683547efbb5d93d4?s=192&#038;d=mm&#038;r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-96 photo' height='96' width='96' loading='lazy' decoding='async'\/>"},"role":"Copywriter"},{"author":{"ID":3,"user_firstname":"Anthony","user_lastname":"Rose","nickname":"Anthony","user_nicename":"anthony","display_name":"Anthony Rose","user_email":"anthony@seedlegals.com","user_url":"","user_registered":"2019-10-18 15:42:52","user_description":"","user_avatar":"<img alt='' src='https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eec24f24334b9a815c127811f69deccd9cf669083b239a62f3a4c38997362003?s=96&#038;d=mm&#038;r=g' srcset='https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eec24f24334b9a815c127811f69deccd9cf669083b239a62f3a4c38997362003?s=192&#038;d=mm&#038;r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-96 photo' height='96' width='96' loading='lazy' decoding='async'\/>"},"role":"Expert"},{"author":{"ID":36,"user_firstname":"Vasu","user_lastname":"Sarin","nickname":"Vasu Sarin","user_nicename":"vasu-sarin","display_name":"Vasu Sarin","user_email":"vasu@seedlegals.com","user_url":"","user_registered":"2020-03-13 11:33:08","user_description":"","user_avatar":"<img alt='' src='https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1f11cab0121a235f8a9d5ff19c95d0af878f7b17bec29bf1b30a5a9db598d11?s=96&#038;d=mm&#038;r=g' srcset='https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1f11cab0121a235f8a9d5ff19c95d0af878f7b17bec29bf1b30a5a9db598d11?s=192&#038;d=mm&#038;r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-96 photo' height='96' width='96' loading='lazy' decoding='async'\/>"},"role":"Expert"},{"author":{"ID":130,"user_firstname":"Oliver","user_lastname":"Kicks","nickname":"Oliver","user_nicename":"oliver","display_name":"Oliver Kicks","user_email":"bogabed191@dogemn.com","user_url":"","user_registered":"2023-04-03 12:59:09","user_description":"","user_avatar":"<img alt='' src='https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/79a6c35f12fedff9a4a3c8bf6c85a207cadba9abc4927539b6e6e92e4cd056b6?s=96&#038;d=mm&#038;r=g' srcset='https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/79a6c35f12fedff9a4a3c8bf6c85a207cadba9abc4927539b6e6e92e4cd056b6?s=192&#038;d=mm&#038;r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-96 photo' height='96' width='96' loading='lazy' decoding='async'\/>"},"role":"Expert"}]}},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Pitch deck: free template for startups | SeedLegals<\/title>\n<meta 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a SeedFAST to raise from Irish and UK Angel Investors"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You need funding, and you need it fast. Advanced Subscription Agreements are instruments commonly used by start-ups to raise funding before doing an investment round. They move much quicker than traditional priced rounds, so entrepreneurs can hit the ground running with funding.\u00a0\u00a0<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\nIt works <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":431132,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[142],"tags":[],"event_tags":[],"class_list":["post-28225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized-ie"],"acf":{"blog_layout":"default","show_author_card":false,"revision_date":"","hero_image":431132,"has_sources":true,"sources_accordion_options":{"heading":"Article Sources","description":""},"sources":[{"content":"<p>https:\/\/www.ndrc.ie\/safe<\/p>\n"},{"content":"<p>https:\/\/www.ycombinator.com\/documents\/<\/p>\n"}],"related_posts":[{"post":{"ID":18332,"post_author":"17","post_date":"2021-01-15 15:42:36","post_date_gmt":"2021-01-15 15:42:36","post_content":"A SeedFAST is an SEIS\/EIS-friendly way to raise cash ahead of a funding round. Investors give you money now, they get shares in the next round, or at the longstop date if there isn't one. How much equity will they get? Use our equity dilution calculator to find out.\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/seedlegals-calculator.vercel.app\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"0\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe>\r\n\r\n<script>window.onmessage = (e) => {\r\n\tconsole.log(e.data.frameHeight);\r\n      if (e.data.hasOwnProperty(\"frameHeight\")) {\r\n        document.querySelector(\"iframe\").style.height = `${e.data.frameHeight+90}px`;\r\n      }\r\n};<\/script>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nLike all SeedLegals products, SeedFAST comes with our expert help and legendary customer support, all included.\r\n<h4><a href=\"https:\/\/hello.seedlegals.com\/zs\/h1B3no\"><strong>Book a demo<\/strong><\/a><strong> and get started today !<\/strong><\/h4>","post_title":"SeedFAST equity dilution calculator","post_excerpt":"A SeedFAST is an SEIS\/EIS-friendly way to raise cash ahead of a funding round. Investors give you money now, they get shares in the next round, or at the longstop date if there isn&#8217;t one. How much equity will they get? Use our equity dilution calculator to find out.\r\n\r\nwindow.onmessage = (e) => ","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"equity-dilution-calculator","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2021-01-15 15:42:36","post_modified_gmt":"2021-01-15 15:42:36","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/equity-dilution-calculator\/","menu_order":195,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}}],"post_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You need funding, and you need it fast. Advance Subscription Agreements are instruments commonly used by start-ups to raise funding before doing an investment round. They move much quicker than traditional priced rounds, so entrepreneurs can hit the ground running with funding.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It works like this: investors hand over the money upfront and receive shares at a later date when the agreement converts into equity &#8211; this normally happens either at your next funding round, or at some pre-agreed date in the future, i.e. the longstop date. An example of this type of agreement is\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ycombinator.com\/documents\/\">Y Combinator&#8217;s SAFE agreement<\/a>, launched back in 2013.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This funding model has proved extremely popular internationally, so it\u2019s no surprise these agreements are increasingly common in the Irish market.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At SeedLegals, we wanted to take all the best parts of a SAFE agreement and make it work for Irish start-ups. Our enhanced version of the Advance Subscription Agreement \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/raise\/raise-before-a-round\/\">SeedFAST<\/a> \u2013 is a form of agile fundraising that allows companies to take in funds without having to spend the time and cash on a funding round immediately.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For start-ups that aren\u2019t ready to take the priced round plunge, it provides a financial stopgap to keep your operations running. It also prevents you from having to set a valuation on the company \u2013 instead, the company valuation will be determined at the time of conversion. You can create a SeedFAST in less than 10 minutes on SeedLegals, with full control over all the key terms. For your friends and family, this is a quick and easy way to take in their investment ahead of issuing them shares.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This isn\u2019t the only option for Irish start-ups wanting to do things differently. NDRC, Ireland\u2019s national tech accelerator, has released an open-source Advance Subscription Agreement (ASA) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ndrc.ie\/safe\">NDRC SAFE<\/a>. It works a little differently to Y Combinator\u2019s SAFE and SeedFAST, but has its own unique benefits too. This has been a welcomed move by NDRC as is their wider commitment to educating and supporting Ireland&#8217;s startup scene.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To help founders make a decision on how they use these instruments to raise investment, we&#8217;ve carried out a comparison of SeedFAST and NDRC\u2019s SAFE, comparing the conversion events, termination rights, discount and valuation cap, and the overall control you have of your agreement.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here\u2019s what we learned:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Conversion events<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The NDRC SAFE agreement includes three conversion events (into equity, or sometimes cash):\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Funding round\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sale\/IPO<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dissolution or winding up<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The SeedFAST includes the same conversion events, with one addition \u2013 you can set a longstop date by which the SeedFAST will convert at if you don\u2019t hit any of the above events.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This means if you don\u2019t end up doing a round, or hit any of the other conversion events, the agreement will convert at the longstop date and the shares will be issued to your investor. It gives both you and your investors more certainty as to when the agreement will convert.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It also makes the SeedFAST SEIS\/EIS eligible, should you have UK angel investors who can benefit from tax relief, as long as you set a longstop date of 6 months. SEIS\/EIS is a UK government initiative which allows UK angel investors a significant tax break when investing into early stage, high risk companies. SEIS\/EIS is a great opportunity for early stage companies, as it provides a huge incentive for your UK investors to fund your company and bring your vision to life. Under SEIS your investor may qualify for up to a 50% income tax relief offset against the amount invested, and under EIS they will benefit from a 30% offset against the amount invested. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you are interested in applying for Advance Assurance to see if your company is eligible, SeedLegals can help with your application.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Also, when it comes to converting your SeedFAST, SeedLegals can assist you with this if you end up hitting your longstop date, or through our Funding Round product if you\u2019re bringing more investors to the party.\u00a0 If you\u2019re doing multiple SeedFASTs in one go, you can synchronise the conversion dates so they all convert at the same time to save you from unnecessary administrative hassle.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Termination rights<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The NDRC SAFE has the possibility of a refund as a termination right, which provides a financial security net for your investors, who can choose to receive their refund and the company can agree to pay the full investment amount.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our SeedFAST agreement features a longstop date, as mentioned above, to ensure that it is an SEIS\/EIS eligible agreement, (NB the long stop date must be set to be no longer than 6-months).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Discount and valuation cap<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> .\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NDRC has released two versions of their SAFE; one that allows you to set a discount for investors with no valuation cap, and another that allows you to set a valuation cap but no discount. Here\u2019s what those terms mean in practice:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Setting a discount<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: you give your investors a discounted price per share at the time the agreement converts. This means they\u2019ll come in at a lower valuation than the investors in the round (this is the market standard as a form of compensating your investors for coming in early).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Setting a valuation cap<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: if your company takes off in the months or years after signing the ASA, there is a limit to the valuation which your agreement can convert at. This is a protective measure for investors, to prevent them from receiving smaller amounts of equity if the company hits a high valuation.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The NDRC SAFE agreement doesn\u2019t allow investors to get a discount and a valuation cap at the same time \u2013 they have to choose one or the other. This is where SeedFAST differs. Investors can set a discount and a valuation cap, and if you have enabled both a discount (from the valuation at your next round), and capped the valuation at which your SeedFAST will convert, your SeedFAST will convert at the lower of the valuation less the discount, and the cap.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Overall control of your Agreement <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SeedFAST provides you with options that safeguard your business and maximise investors\u2019 return. You have control over the key terms of your agreement, including whether your investor will receive the best available share class in the round, or if you would like to specify the share class in the agreement. You can also decide whether you want to give your investor a board observer seat.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The NDRC SAFE does have an investor warranty, but there\u2019s no option to include standard investor disclaimer wording, which protects High Net Worth or Sophisticated investors based in the UK under FCA rules. Again, this shouldn\u2019t be an issue if you\u2019re working with Irish investors, but SeedFAST does provide the benefit of welcoming UK investors too.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NDRC&#8217;s SAFE is incredibly founder friendly, while the SeedFAST provides customisable, flexible terms. Both options make securing funding faster, and less complex.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There\u2019s no right or wrong investment model; what works for you will depend on the needs of your start-up and your investors.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Whichever one you choose, the SeedLegals platform has a full suite of products to help you through your next round of funding.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n"}],"has_custom_post_authors":false,"is_expert_reviewed":false,"post_content_width":"default"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Use a SeedFAST to raise from Irish and UK Angel Investors | SeedLegals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Find out more about SeedFAST and the NDRC SAFE and how they can be a fast and efficient way to raise early investment for Irish founders.\" 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Irish business can use the SEIS and EIS to attract investors"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you&#8217;re looking for UK investors, make your Irish startups more attractive with SEIS and EIS Advance Assurance from HMRC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":412975,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[103],"tags":[],"event_tags":[],"class_list":["post-20682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-seis-eis-ie"],"acf":{"post_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<p>Even with the ever growing number of investment options in Ireland, you might want to look further afield for funding.<\/p>\n<p>One option is the UK, our closest neighbour. UK legals around funding rounds are very similar to Ireland so Irish startups can often meet the criteria for EIS and SEIS advance assurance from HMRC.<\/p>\n<p>SEIS and EIS are some of the most investor-friendly incentives in Europe. The Schemes have been hugely popular since their introduction, helping startups raise over \u00a325billion combined.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s our experience that many Irish startups don\u2019t realise that they can <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/start\/seis-eis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">arrange Advance Assurance<\/a> and help their UK investors claim tax relief on their investment.<\/p>\n<p>Your Irish startup could be eligible for the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme if:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>you&#8217;re raising \u00a3250,000 or less<\/li>\n<li>your business is innovative<\/li>\n<li>you have a UK branch<\/li>\n<li>you employ 25 people or fewer<\/li>\n<li>you&#8217;ve been trading for less than three years<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For larger rounds and companies trading for less than seven years, you&#8217;ll fall under the Enterprise Investment Scheme.<\/p>\n<p>These schemes make investing in startups less risky for investors. SEIS provides income tax relief up to 50%. For the EIS, it&#8217;s 30%. Both schemes are eligible for loss relief if the company fails, inheritance tax exemption and capital gain tax exemption among other benefits. Providing of course, the business and the investment meet specific criteria.<\/p>\n<p>If you were hoping to attract UK funding in 2022, it\u2019s worth noting that two thirds of UK angel investors only invest in SEIS\/EIS eligible companies. Getting your SEIS and EIS Advance Assurance won\u2019t <em>guarantee<\/em> you get funding from UK investors &#8211; but it could certainly improve your chances.<\/p>\n<h2>How Irish businesses can use SEIS\/EIS<\/h2>\n<p>Before promoting a round as SEIS\/ EIS approved, you must <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/start\/seis-eis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">apply to HMRC for Advance Assurance<\/a> &#8211; this is the confirmation investors need that an investment in your business is eligible for SEIS or EIS.<\/p>\n<p>To take advantage of the Schemes as an Irish business, you must have a physical presence in Northern Ireland or Great Britain &#8211; an office or other bricks-and-mortar trading location.<\/p>\n<p>You can also qualify for SEIS\/EIS if you have someone representing your company who&#8217;s based in NI or GB, who&#8217;s authorised to sign contracts.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s essential you&#8217;re registered at Companies House in the UK and you&#8217;ve applied for a UTR number from HMRC (this can take 6- 8 weeks to obtain).<\/p>\n<p>At SeedLegals, we can help you <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/start\/seis-eis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">apply for Advance Assurance<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/raise\/seis-eis-compliance\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">do your SEIS\/EIS compliance<\/a>. We&#8217;ll help you maximise your chances of getting the Assurance, and save you time doing the legal paperwork.<\/p>\n<p>If you think SEIS\/EIS will be right for your company, it&#8217;s smart to get your application in well ahead of the tax year end &#8211; if your investors have SEIS\/EIS allowance left over for this tax year, they&#8217;ll have the incentive to put their money into your company sooner because they can claim the relief on their tax return this year.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re eligible for SEIS, individual investors can invest a maximum of \u00a3200,000 per year into your business. EIS eligible companies can accept funding from both individual investors, SEIS and EIS funds and corporate investors up to \u00a31million per tax year. Corporate investors don&#8217;t qualify for tax relief but they have to receive shares on the same terms.<\/p>\n<h2>Next steps<\/h2>\n<p>In the 2022 <a href=\"https:\/\/2021.stateofeuropeantech.com\/chapter\/executive-summary\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">State of European Tech report<\/a>, Dublin is listed as the third most entrepreneurial location in Europe. Which makes it the perfect time for Irish startups to use your position within the ecosystem to attract more investment. The SeedLegals dedicated Irish team are standing by to help.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"padding-bottom: 15px;\">Read more: <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/start\/seis-eis\/\">SEIS\/EIS Advance Assurance for Irish companies<\/a><\/li>\n<li>To start your application with us, hit the chat button<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n"}],"blog_layout":"default","show_author_card":false,"revision_date":"2023-04-07 12:00:00","hero_image":412975,"post_content_width":"default","has_custom_post_authors":false,"is_expert_reviewed":false,"has_sources":false,"related_posts":false},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How Irish businesses can use SEIS\/EIS | SeedLegals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"SEIS and EIS are some of the most investor-friendly incentives in Europe. 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SeedLegals Calendar &#8211; never miss a deadline"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Noticed something new when you log into SeedLegals? We&#8217;ve added a Calendar to remind you about deadlines coming up for legal admin tasks. We add your tasks automatically and it&#8217;s just one click to go straight to the right place to complete a task.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":434894,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[105],"tags":[],"event_tags":[],"class_list":["post-20694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-startup-guides-ie"],"acf":{"post_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<p>Noticed something new when you log into SeedLegals? We&#8217;ve added a Calendar to remind you about deadlines coming up for legal tasks.<\/p>\n<p>Dates for these tasks are not the type of deadlines you can allow to whizz by. You\u2019ll want to keep your investors and HMRC happy so we\u2019ve launched Calendar to help you keep on top of your obligations.<\/p>\n<h2>What tasks does SeedLegals Calendar show?<\/h2>\n<h4>Investment tasks and deadlines<\/h4>\n<p>Your Calendar shows tasks you need do for these investment deadlines:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/raise\/raise-before-a-round\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SeedFAST<\/a> longstop dates<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/raise\/raise-before-a-round\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SeedNOTE<\/a> maturity dates<\/li>\n<li>other Advanced Subscription Agreement longstop dates<\/li>\n<li>other convertible loan note maturity dates<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you sign an ASA or convertible loan note outside SeedLegals and add it to your Convertibles table to track it in SeedLegals, we\u2019ll automatically add the deadlines and any tasks to your Calendar.<\/p>\n<h4>Option scheme deadlines<\/h4>\n<p>You\u2019ll also see tasks and deadlines for <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/grow\/share-options-scheme\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">EMI Option Schemes<\/a>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>EMI valuation expiry date<\/li>\n<li>EMI notifications for option grants<\/li>\n<li>EMI options annual return<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We\u2019ll be adding more reminders and dates to the Calendar soon, and introducing email notifications so you\u2019ll get a reminder direct to your inbox.<\/p>\n<h2>How SeedLegals Calendar works<\/h2>\n<p>Your pending dates and tasks are automatically added to Calendar.<br \/>\nTo see pending tasks, log in and click Calendar in the left bar:<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":false,"caption":"","width":100,"alignment":"left"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<p>For tasks with deadlines less than 30 days away, you&#8217;ll see a notification icon in the left bar:<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":false,"caption":"","width":100,"alignment":"left"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<p>Your pending tasks are displayed in cards:<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":false,"caption":"","width":100,"alignment":"left"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<p>The card for each task has a \u2018Learn more\u2019 link to a helpful article on our website which explains how to complete the task before the deadline.<\/p>\n<p>When you\u2019re ready to complete the task, click the link at the bottom of the card to go straight to the right place on SeedLegals. If you need any help, just hit the chat button and ask our friendly team.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s a list of your completed tasks below any pending tasks:<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":false,"caption":"","width":100,"alignment":"left"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<h2>Have your say<\/h2>\n<p>Calendar is FREE for SeedLegals subscribers &#8211; it\u2019s just one of many ways we automate your legals and admin so you can spend more time growing your business. Not already a member? To get started with the UK\u2019s favourite platform for funding rounds, option schemes and cap table management, <a href=\"https:\/\/app.seedlegals.com\/login\">register now<\/a> to try us free for seven days.<\/p>\n<p>If you have any feedback or suggestions for how we can improve Calendar, or any of our services, email us: <a href=\"mailto:hello@seedlegals.com?subject=&quot;Feedback - Calendar feature&quot;\">hello@seedlegals.com<\/a> \u2013 we love to hear from you.<\/p>\n"}],"blog_layout":"default","hero_image":434891},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Introducing SeedLegals Calendar | SeedLegals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We\u2019ve launched Calendar to help you keep on top of your obligations. 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Anthony explains how to prep your team, asset sale versus share sale, funding, option schemes, SEIS and EMI tax issues and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":77,"featured_media":429466,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[105],"tags":[],"event_tags":[],"class_list":["post-20697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-startup-guides-ie"],"acf":{"post_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<p>Most founders don\u2019t plan to oversee their companies\u2019 operations forever. Whether your startup is going brilliantly or you\u2019re about to run out of money, at some point every founder is probably going to <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/grow\/exit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">consider a sale<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#exit-video\">Watch the first video<\/a> to hear our CEO Anthony Rose explain how to prepare your company, investors and team for a successful sale. In the rest of the post, we summarise his insights and identify six steps to selling your company.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Update:<\/strong> We&#8217;ve also included a <a href=\"#video-secrets-to-successfully-sell-company\">second video<\/a>, a webinar recording where you can watch Anthony talking with JP Lewin of <a href=\"https:\/\/foundy.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Foundy<\/a>, the UK platform to buy or sell a business, to hear more insights about when and how to sell your company.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\ud83d\udcfa <a href=\"#exit-video\">Thinking of selling your startup? Watch this first<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#asset-or-share-sale\">Ways to sell your business<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#right-time-to-sell\">When\u2019s the right time to sell your company?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#sell-or-another-funding-round\">Should you sell or try another funding round?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#when-to-tell-team\">When to tell your team<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#how-to-sell-business\">How to sell your business<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"#ideintify-potential-buyer\">1. Identify a potential buyer<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"#prepare-for-due-diligence\">2. Get ready for deep due diligence<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"#get-valuation\">3. Get a valuation<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"#find-buyer\">4. Find a buyer<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"#agree-deal-sign-documents\">5. Agree the deal and sign the legal documents<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"#pay-tax\">6. Pay tax on profits from the sale<\/a><\/li>\n<li>\ud83d\udcfa <a href=\"#video-secrets-to-successfully-sell-company\">The secrets to successfully selling your company: watch video<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#key-takeaways\">Key takeaways<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#talk-to-experts\">Talk to the exit experts<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<h2><a id=\"exit-video\"><\/a>Thinking of selling your startup?<br \/>\nWatch this first<\/h2>\n<p>SeedLegals CEO and co-founder Anthony Rose knows startup sales, having exited two companies himself. In this video, he explains what you need to know about selling your business.<\/p>\n<p>Find out how to prep your team, the key differences between asset sales and share sales, how to navigate distressed funding, option schemes, SEIS and EMI tax issues and more.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/664058230?h=d0c940b0c2&amp;color=ffffff\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Read on for a summary of Anthony\u2019s points and more information about when, how and why to sell your business.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content_highlight","highlight_type":"link","background_colour":"blue","show_icon":true,"content":"","link":null},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<h2><a id=\"asset-or-share-sale\"><\/a>Ways to sell your business<\/h2>\n<p>A sale is either structured as a share sale or an asset sale:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>With a <strong>share sale<\/strong>, the acquirer buys all the shares and owns the business outright, including any outstanding tax issues and shareholder disputes.<\/li>\n<li>With an <strong>asset sale<\/strong>, the acquirer only takes ownership of distinct aspects of the business, for example IP like patents or the tech stack. Shareholders keep their shares, and the company can be wound up.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>An asset sale is less risky for the buyer, because they won\u2019t take on responsibility for any outstanding issues the company has. For this reason, a share sale is, in general, harder to negotiate and comes with much greater pressure on the due diligence process.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<h2><a id=\"right-time-to-sell\"><\/a>When\u2019s the right time to sell your company?<\/h2>\n<p>The ideal scenario is that while you\u2019re focused on building the best business you can, competitors and larger companies in your sector are taking note. One day you get a phone call with an attractive offer to buy you for a multiple of the valuation at your last funding round.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"expert_highlight","expert_highlight":{"":null,"image":false,"quote":"","name":null,"role":"","company":null,"linkedin":null,"facebook":null,"instagram":null,"twitter":null,"hide_image":false}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<p>But if you\u2019re not profitable and running out of funds, then selling your company could be a good exit strategy. If you can find a buyer who\u2019s willing to take over the company as a whole, warts and all, a share sale is the simplest option as you\u2019d just need to sell your shares to the buyer.<\/p>\n<p>Some buyers may prefer to cherry-pick specific assets or parts of the business and leave the rest. In that case, an asset sale may be the way to go as it allows you to sell off any parts of your business which have value and then wind up what\u2019s remaining of the company.<\/p>\n<p>Whether the sale is the crowning achievement of years of graft, or a plan B for a startup that didn\u2019t take off how you wanted, the process of <a href=\"#how-to-sell-business\">selling your company<\/a> is largely the same.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"cta","cta":{"type":"default","subheading":"SeedLegals Exit","heading":"Take control of your sale","content":"Ready to sell your startup? Our Exit service packages all the documents you need - with unlimited support from our friendly experts.","bullet_points":false,"form":{"type":"none","hubspot_form":{"layout":"newsletter","hide_founderinvestor_toggle":false,"default_community":"founder","custom_form_id":"","gdpr_disclaimer":"By subscribing, you agree to receive information from SeedLegals. You can unsubscribe anytime. View our <a href=\"\/privacy-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">privacy policy<\/a>"},"custom":{"embed":""},"gtm_form_type":false,"gtm_form_location":false},"button":{"title":"Tell me more","url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/grow\/exit\/","target":"_blank"},"image":false}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<h3><a id=\"sell-or-another-funding-round\"><\/a>Should you sell or try another funding round?<\/h3>\n<p>If you\u2019re burning through your runway and low on cash, then you have a stark choice: take in further funding or sell for what you can.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a tough position, because it\u2019s not wise to keep both options open. Contemplating a sale blocks you from launching a traditional funding round, because investors will lose their <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/seis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SEIS\/EIS perks<\/a> if they don\u2019t hold their shares for a minimum of three years. Since SEIS\/EIS is the lifeblood of the early-stage investing ecosystem, an imminent plan to sell is effectively a blocker to taking in further funding.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content_highlight","highlight_type":"link","background_colour":"blue","show_icon":true,"content":"","link":null},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<p>If you\u2019re seriously considering a sale, you need to let your shareholders and investors know. While you\u2019re unlikely to get new investors at this point, people who\u2019ve already backed your company and have more to lose might be persuaded to invest again to save the company.<\/p>\n<h4>Last-man-standing funding<\/h4>\n<p>You might also end up in a last-man-standing situation. This is when other shareholders decline to put more money in, but someone is willing to invest via a <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/what-really-is-a-convertible-loan-note-cln\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">convertible loan note<\/a> to limit their risk.<\/p>\n<p>If you manage to raise more or sell your business for a high valuation &#8211; great. The note converts at that high valuation and everyone wins.<\/p>\n<p>But if you don\u2019t, then it converts at a very low valuation and the last-man-standing investor could end up with majority control of the company for a very low price.<\/p>\n<p>This appeals to the final investor, because they\u2019re then able to gain control of the business, put more of their own money into it, repackage it and either run the business or strip it for parts.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<h2><a id=\"when-to-tell-team\"><\/a>When to tell your team<\/h2>\n<p>How do you keep your team focused when there\u2019s a possible exit on the horizon? Uncertainty about the future can be a massive distraction, and the reality is that a sale could take between 6 to 12 months.<\/p>\n<p>You don\u2019t want to pull your team\u2019s focus from growing the business. At the same time, you don\u2019t want to blindside them. In general, it\u2019s best to start prepping your team when it looks like you\u2019re about to get a firm offer on the table. That way, you\u2019ll be able to let them know whether the new owner intends to keep the team.<\/p>\n<p>What happens to your team depends on the structure of the deal. With a share sale, the company transfers as a whole &#8211; and that includes all current employees. If the buyer doesn\u2019t want or need the whole team, then they are responsible for following the usual redundancy processes.<\/p>\n<p>With an asset sale, it depends again on exactly how the deal is structured. If the buyer takes on all or enough of the company&#8217;s assets, the sale might count as a transfer of the business as a &#8216;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/guidance\/transfer-a-business-as-a-going-concern-and-vat-notice-7009#:~:text=The%20activity%20must%20have%20a,live%20or%20operating\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">going concern&#8217;<\/a>. In that case, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/transfers-takeovers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) regulations (TUPE)<\/a> will probably kick in and the employees will transfer over to the buyer. The company and the buyer will have to decide how they deal with any redundancies, for example who is responsible for the cost of the redundancies and whether it&#8217;s done before or after completion.<\/p>\n<p>But if the buyer is cherry-picking assets and isn&#8217;t buying the business as a going concern, then the employees usually stay with your company. You would have to deal with any redundancies after the sale, as part of the winding up process.<\/p>\n<p>Both redundancy and TUPE transfer come with specific legal obligations, so you should speak to an employment lawyer or HR advisor before talking to the employees about a potential sale.<\/p>\n<p>When you\u2019re ready to talk to the team, you should be honest about the reasons for the sale (good, bad, or indifferent). You can be candid about the opportunities for everyone &#8211; founders can cash out, investors get a multiple return, and if your team have <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/grow\/share-options-scheme\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">share options<\/a>, they can exercise them and cash out too.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<h2><a id=\"how-to-sell-business\"><\/a>How to sell your business<\/h2>\n<h3><a id=\"ideintify-potential-buyer\"><\/a>1. Identify a potential buyer: who might want to buy your company and why?<\/h3>\n<p>Take stock of your company and identify why a larger company might want your business. There are essentially four things a larger company might want from yours:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The team<\/li>\n<li>The tech (eg, your code)<\/li>\n<li>Traffic<\/li>\n<li>IP<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>After you\u2019ve identified which aspects of your business are going to make you most attractive, you can focus on building up those areas to be as appealing as possible. It might also be worth investing in some well-placed PR for the relevant market.<\/p>\n<h3><a id=\"prepare-for-due-diligence\"><\/a>2. Get ready for deep due diligence<\/h3>\n<p>Potential buyers are going to approach due diligence with a very fine tooth comb.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"expert_highlight","expert_highlight":{"":null,"image":false,"quote":"","name":null,"role":"","company":null,"linkedin":null,"facebook":null,"instagram":null,"twitter":null,"hide_image":false}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<p>Paying extra attention to the area that\u2019s likely to be of most interest to an acquirer, triple-check you have everything in perfect order.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re missing the proper paperwork, that could knock down the price the acquirer is willing to pay, sour the relationship and put the entire sale at risk. Here are the documents you must have in place to successfully sell your business:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Team<\/strong> &#8211; Make sure you have your <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/start\/team-agreements\/employment-agreement\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">employment contracts<\/a> in place. An acquirer is going to want to know that the team is properly retained and engaged and that there are no lingering issues that could cause an expensive tribunal claim after completion.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tech<\/strong> &#8211; Check there\u2019s nothing that might kill your potential to sell your tech. Ideally, you want an unbroken chain of ownership with cast-iron <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/start\/team-agreements\/ip-assignment\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">IP Assignment<\/a> agreements with the team. A potential buyer is going to be on the lookout for signs of costly tech debt, so do everything you can to prove you have a beautifully architectured stack.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Traffic<\/strong> &#8211; If your buyer wants to take over your URL, they\u2019ll look into the source of your traffic. Is it organic? If you have partnership agreements in place that send traffic to your site, you\u2019ll need to know whether these agreements will survive the sale or whether they&#8217;ll have to be renegotiated.<\/p>\n<p><strong>IP<\/strong> &#8211; Typically, the tech and team in a startup will be most valuable. Occasionally, an acquisition might centre around a patent. Here you might find yourself with an unwelcome surprise &#8211; what the acquirer thought was a patent was actually a patent application. Be careful not to mislead about the status of your intellectual property.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content_highlight","highlight_type":"link","background_colour":"blue","show_icon":true,"content":"","link":null},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"form","layout":"ttae","heading":"Get answers fast, for free","content":"Bring all your questions - we\u2019ve got the answers!\r\nWe\u2019ll match you with the right specialist.","custom":{"image":false,"button_text":"Get Started","form":{"type":"none","hubspot_form":{"layout":"newsletter","hide_founderinvestor_toggle":false,"default_community":"founder","custom_form_id":"","gdpr_disclaimer":"By subscribing, you agree to receive information from SeedLegals. You can unsubscribe anytime. View our <a href=\"\/privacy-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">privacy policy<\/a>"},"custom":{"embed":""},"gtm_form_type":false,"gtm_form_location":false}},"add_shadow":false},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":""}],"blog_layout":"default","hero_image":429463},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How to sell your business | SeedLegals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Whether your business is going brilliantly or you&#039;re running out of money, at some point, every founder is going to think about a sale.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/resources\/how-to-sell-your-business\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" 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MacSween"},"url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/resources\/author\/kirsty\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/77"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/429466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20697"},{"taxonomy":"event_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event_tags?post=20697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":20700,"date":"2021-11-18T08:00:36","date_gmt":"2021-11-18T08:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/pitch-to-investors-in-one-click\/"},"modified":"2021-11-18T08:00:36","modified_gmt":"2021-11-18T08:00:36","slug":"pitch-to-investors-in-one-click","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/resources\/pitch-to-investors-in-one-click\/","title":{"rendered":"Pitch &#8211; Deliver your pitch to investors in one click"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Want to make it super-easy for potential investors to see all the information about your company and upcoming funding round? Create your pitch on SeedLegals, share the link with investors, get notified when they\u2019re interested, turn that interest into investment.<br \/>\nPitch is FREE for everyone. It take<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":413208,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[101,105],"tags":[],"event_tags":[],"class_list":["post-20700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-investor-directory-ie","category-startup-guides-ie"],"acf":{"post_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<p>Want to make it super-easy for potential investors to see all the information about your company and upcoming funding round? <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/raise\/pitch\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Create your Pitch page on SeedLegals<\/a>, share the link with investors, get notified when they\u2019re interested, and turn that interest into investment.<\/p>\n<p>Pitch is FREE for everyone. It takes just a few clicks to set up your page. You can then share your link with potential investors, get notified when they register interest, and monitor your progress with the Investor Tracker.<\/p>\n<p>With Pitch, there\u2019s no need to send investors your pitch deck by email and spend hours on admin. Here\u2019s why Pitch is the best way to wow investors:<\/p>\n<h2>Pitching the old way is outdated<\/h2>\n<p>The way founders and investors interact is outdated. Often founders send lots of emails with the pitch deck as a big file attachment, clogging up the inbox of potential investors (if it even gets through to their inbox at all). Then what if you need to update the deck? You send yet another big file to your potential investors&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Sure, you could use a file share system &#8211; but forcing investors to download files might be more than they can be bothered to do. Keeping track of who\u2019s had what, which version, and whether they replied\u2026 it\u2019s an admin headache you don\u2019t need.<\/p>\n<p>On the other side, investors need the skills of a detective to hunt down all the information they need. There\u2019s your website, social media and LinkedIn profiles, then your pitch deck, your financial info, details about your round. Many investors are talking to several companies at once so they have to maintain extensive records to keep track of where they are in all their conversations.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"cta","cta":{"type":"compact","subheading":"","heading":"Wow investors with your Pitch page","content":"","bullet_points":false,"form":{"type":"none","hubspot_form":{"layout":"newsletter","hide_founderinvestor_toggle":false,"default_community":"founder","custom_form_id":"","gdpr_disclaimer":"By subscribing, you agree to receive information from SeedLegals. You can unsubscribe anytime. View our <a href=\"\/privacy-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">privacy policy<\/a>"},"custom":{"embed":""},"gtm_form_type":false,"gtm_form_location":false},"button":{"title":"Get started","url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/raise\/pitch\/","target":"_blank"},"image":false}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<h2>Present your info all in one place<\/h2>\n<p>Make it easy for yourself and your investors by presenting the information investors need <em>all in one place<\/em>. You can ping them the link to your Pitch page by email or text, and update your page anytime.<\/p>\n<p>You can add some or all of these features to your Pitch page:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Logo and branding<\/strong><br \/>\nAdd your logo and choose a colour scheme to match your Pitch page to your company brand<\/li>\n<li><strong>Company overview<\/strong><br \/>\nState your company concept, size and location<\/li>\n<li><strong>Funding round overview<\/strong><br \/>\nAdd details of your upcoming round &#8211; target amount, valuation, S\/EIS eligibility and closing date<\/li>\n<li><strong>Web and social media links<\/strong><br \/>\nAdd links to your website, LinkedIn, Insta, Twitter and more<\/li>\n<li><strong>Elevator pitch<\/strong><br \/>\nGrab investors\u2019 attention by explaining your business in 150 characters<\/li>\n<li><strong>Pitch video<\/strong><br \/>\nAdd the link to your video to bring your page to life<\/li>\n<li><strong>Pitch deck<\/strong><br \/>\nAdd your PDF slides for investors to view and download<\/li>\n<li><strong>About the founders<\/strong><br \/>\nAdd names, bios and social media handles<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you\u2019re already a SeedLegals member, we\u2019ll automatically populate your page with information we have.<\/p>\n<p>The most engaging pitches contain as many of these features as possible. If you don\u2019t have a pitch video, no problem &#8211; you can add a product explainer, an intro to your team or simply a recording of you presenting your pitch deck.<\/p>\n<h2>Keep track of potential investors<\/h2>\n<p>Pitch includes a built-in Investor Tracker. You\u2019ll get a notification every time an investor registers their interest in your company and their details automatically appear in the Tracker. You can add notes and status updates for each investor.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_18556\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-18556\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-18556 size-medium\" role=\"img\" src=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/PitchPage_03_track.svg\" alt=\"Log your progress with the Investor Tracker\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-18556\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Log your progress with the Investor Tracker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Ready to create your Pitch?<\/h2>\n<p>It\u2019s FREE &#8211; all you need is a SeedLegals login. To get started, <a href=\"https:\/\/app.seedlegals.com\/login\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">register or log into SeedLegals<\/a>\u00a0and go to\u00a0<strong>Pitch<\/strong> on the left side-bar.<\/p>\n<p>If you have any feedback or suggestions for how we can improve Pitch, or any of our services, email us: <a href=\"mailto:hello@seedlegals.com?subject=Feedback Pitch Page\">hello@seedlegals.com<\/a> &#8211; we love to hear from you.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"flex@tablet flex-justify-center\"><a class=\"c-btn c-btn--accent u-margin-right-small u-margin-bottom-none@tablet u-margin-bottom-small\" href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/raise\/pitch\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read more about Pitch<\/a><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n"}],"blog_layout":"default","hero_image":413205},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Pitch - Deliver your pitch to investors in one click | SeedLegals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We&#039;ve launched Pitch - create your Pitch page FREE. Add pitch deck, video and company info, then share the link with investors. Find out more \u00bb\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/resources\/pitch-to-investors-in-one-click\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pitch - Deliver your pitch to investors in one click | SeedLegals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We&#039;ve launched Pitch - create your Pitch page FREE. Add pitch deck, video and company info, then share the link with investors. 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Horror Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There were no tricks, only treats for founders at this special Halloween event co-hosted by Spice Startups and SeedLegals on 28 October 2021 at Arboretum in London. Here\u2019s a recap of the stories the founders shared and the Q&amp;A.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":18301,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[105],"tags":[],"event_tags":[],"class_list":["post-18374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-startup-guides-ie"],"acf":{"post_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<p>There were no tricks, only treats for founders at this special Halloween event co-hosted by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spicestartups.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Spice Startups<\/a> and SeedLegals on 28 October 2021 at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arboretumlondon.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Arboretum<\/a>, London. Here\u2019s a recap of the stories founders shared and the Q&amp;A.<\/p>\n<h2>Startup Horror Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#pitch-from-hell\">The pitch from hell<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#bad-leaver\">Beware of The Bad Leaver<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#diversification\">When your idea for \u2018revenue diversification\u2019 turns into a financial black hole<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#deal-falls-through\">When a life-changing deal falls through at the last minute<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"cta","cta":{"type":"purple","subheading":"","heading":"Spice Startups","content":"Resources to help startups grow, including SeedSprint in collaboration with SeedLegals. Coming up: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spicestartups.com\/seedsprintire\" target=\"_blank\">SeedSprint Ireland<\/a> and Spice Space co-working","bullet_points":false,"form":{"type":"none","hubspot_form":{"layout":"newsletter","hide_founderinvestor_toggle":false,"default_community":"founder","custom_form_id":"","gdpr_disclaimer":"By subscribing, you agree to receive information from SeedLegals. You can unsubscribe anytime. View our <a href=\"\/privacy-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">privacy policy<\/a>"},"custom":{"embed":""},"gtm_form_type":false,"gtm_form_location":false},"button":{"title":"Explore","url":"https:\/\/www.spicestartups.com\/","target":"_blank"},"image":18280}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<h2 id=\"pitch-from-hell\">The pitch from hell<\/h2>\n<h4 id=\"what-you-write\">Anthony Rose &#8211; Founder and CEO, <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SeedLegals<\/a><\/h4>\n<p>\u2018Whatever your personality, no matter how introverted, as a founder you\u2019re going to have to get up in front of people and talk about your company. Years ago, I was working at a company doing 3D graphics. We were doing well, about 10% of people online had our plug-in.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We were asked to present at a big conference in the USA so I prepared a demo to blow everyone away. I was determined to do the presentation myself \u2013 partly because I knew how unstable the software was. Then I found out there would be 3,000 people in the audience. And to encourage speakers to stick to the strict three-minute time limit, the possibly-slightly-boozy audience would be armed with whoopee cushions and toy guns to shoot speakers with ping pong balls.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Despite the stress, I finished just under the time limit and the engine didn\u2019t crash. Since then, whenever I get up on stage, I remind myself that it can\u2019t possibly be as bad as that time in the US. And no-one has a ping-pong gun!<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Whenever you\u2019re daunted about a presentation, remind yourself of how well you\u2019ve prepared and practised, how much worse it could be, and then you can relax. And to be extra sure, have everything triple-backed up to make sure there\u2019s zero chance of a blue-screen-of-death.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read more:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/stay-calm-smash-next-public-presentation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">TNW | How to Stay Calm and Smash Your next Public Presentation<\/a><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"bad-leaver\">Beware The Bad Leaver<\/h2>\n<h4 id=\"what-you-write\">Anthony Rose &#8211; Founder and CEO, <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SeedLegals<\/a><\/h4>\n<p>&#8216;<a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/legal-terms\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Bad Leaver<\/a>&#8216; is a nightmare situation for startups that unfortunately we\u2019re asked about too often at SeedLegals.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;If a founder wants to leave, we always ask: did you sign a Founder Agreement? If not, it\u2019s going to get messy. The worst bad leaver we\u2019ve encountered was a CTO who ended up in jail for drug offences who was to be charged with murder. Awkward. To avoid this nightmare, always <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/start\/founder-agreements\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sign a Founder Agreement<\/a>!\u2019<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"cta","cta":{"type":"purple","subheading":"Spice Startups","heading":"FREE co-working","content":"<strong>November 2021<\/strong>: SPICESPACE pop-up workspace is now open at Techspace Aldgate East. 90 desks, 7 meeting rooms and a friendly, collaborative community. It's FREE for founders, scaling teams and investors.","bullet_points":false,"form":{"type":"none","hubspot_form":{"layout":"newsletter","hide_founderinvestor_toggle":false,"default_community":"founder","custom_form_id":"","gdpr_disclaimer":"By subscribing, you agree to receive information from SeedLegals. You can unsubscribe anytime. View our <a href=\"\/privacy-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">privacy policy<\/a>"},"custom":{"embed":""},"gtm_form_type":false,"gtm_form_location":false},"button":{"title":"Sign up","url":"https:\/\/margaretanne293322.typeform.com\/to\/UuSKwAZV","target":"_blank"},"image":18280}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<h2 id=\"diversification\">When your idea for \u2018revenue diversification\u2019 turns into a financial black hole<\/h2>\n<h4><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/paulinatenner\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Paulina Sygulska Tenner<\/a> &#8211; Founder, <a href=\"https:\/\/granttree.co.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">GrantTree<\/a><\/h4>\n<p>\u2018The landlords of our first office were going to tear down the building so we had to move out. We moved nearby to a fancy office with free lunches \u2013 this raised our team\u2019s expectations and we knew the our next office had to be amazing.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We had some spare cash and were thinking about diversifying our income. One of our sales guy was keen to start a new project. He proposed we rent a building he\u2019d found and turn it into a startup hub. We could rent out desks, sublet floors, hold events and so on. We knew nothing about this market but it seemed a smart way to diversify. We held a vote: to do up the building and create a startup up, or to just rent a nice ordinary office in Aldgate. It came down to one vote: it was decided that we\u2019d go with the building to sublet.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018The building needed a lot of work but we were happy to invest. My co-founder (who was actually my partner) and I were focused on the core business and didn\u2019t monitor the project. \u00a3300,000 went before we even noticed. We put a stop on the spending when it hit half a million. But we were still confident we\u2019d be able to rent it out straight away.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Filling the building proved difficult. There were three WeWork spaces nearby and companies who were interested pulled out for all sorts of reasons: one person didn\u2019t like the location, the landlord of their old place made them an offer and so on. Eventually, we rented it out at cost to MakersAcademy.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018That\u2019s not the end of the nightmare. We\u2019re no longer in that building but we\u2019re still in discussions with the landlord for \u2018dilapidations\u2019 &#8211; changes to the building \u2013 and we\u2019re likely to lose our deposit.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Think about price before you diversify. We followed a dream, trusting one charismatic person but we didn\u2019t keep control of the spending. Diversification might be good for a bigger company but there\u2019s a reason why startups focus on being great at one thing.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Just because things are going well for you, don\u2019t live in a bubble &#8211; you could still make a very costly mistake. But if you do make a mistake, it might turn out to be your biggest lesson.<\/p>\n<p><em>Paulina&#8217;s book, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.paulinatenner.com\/laid-bare-what-the-business-leader-learnt-from-the-stripper\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">&#8216;Laid Bare: what the business leader learnt from the stripper&#8217;<\/a> is out in November.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"deal-falls-through\">When a life-changing deal falls through at the last minute<\/h2>\n<h4><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/joe-perkins-a9952a117\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Joe Perkins<\/a> &#8211; Founder, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.landscape.vc\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Landscape<\/a><\/h4>\n<p>\u2018When I\u2019d finished my Computer Science degree, I decided to find a co-founder. I went on <a href=\"https:\/\/angel.co\/about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AngelList<\/a> and met a guy at a pub. We had a pint together and decided then and there to start a business together. You already know this is going to end badly so the first lesson here is: don\u2019t start a business with someone you&#8217;ve only had one pint with.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Our product was an app that helped you decided what to study at uni. It wasn\u2019t great but with an accelerator, we managed to raise \u00a3150,000. The next year was the biggest struggle of my life. It never felt like it would be a success. We didn\u2019t have a clue what we were doing. I was arguing every day with my co-founder and in despair at what I\u2019d done with my life.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018After 18 months, we realised we had a tool, not a business. The company was going nowhere. At this point, we had \u00a380,000 in the bank. One of our contacts at big company asked to talk to us about a partnership. At the meeting, it turned out they wanted to buy our company. We were excited &#8211; this would solve everything!<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We entered the acquisition process. The price was good: investors were happy because they would make back 20%, and my co-founder and I would make a significant amount of money. I started house-hunting, dreaming about the life I&#8217;d have.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018The acquisition process was stressful but we focused on the silver lining: how much money we&#8217;d earn. Six months passed and we\u2019d mentally checked-out of the business. The final day arrived \u2013 and the acquirer pulled out. It was all over. All that money we\u2019d mentally spent would never arrive. It was gut-wrenchingly painful. We\u2019d have to fundraise, or try again for acquisition, or pivot.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018The lesson here is: a deal isn\u2019t done until you have the money &#8211; don\u2019t spend imaginary money before it\u2019s in your bank.&#8217;<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"cta","cta":{"type":"light","subheading":"SeedLegals","heading":"Be first to hear about events","content":"Missed this event? Sign up for our events newsletter for a weekly list of top events for founders, both online and in person. Arrives in your inbox every Tuesday.","bullet_points":false,"form":{"type":"none","hubspot_form":{"layout":"newsletter","hide_founderinvestor_toggle":false,"default_community":"founder","custom_form_id":"","gdpr_disclaimer":"By subscribing, you agree to receive information from SeedLegals. You can unsubscribe anytime. View our <a href=\"\/privacy-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">privacy policy<\/a>"},"custom":{"embed":""},"gtm_form_type":false,"gtm_form_location":false},"button":{"title":"Sign up today","url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/","target":"_blank"},"image":false}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<h2>Q&amp;A<\/h2>\n<p>Here&#8217;s a few of the questions asked by attendees, and our speakers&#8217; responses:<\/p>\n<h3>Q: Was there a hellish situation you were in that you later realised was a positive?<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Paulina:<\/strong> Many good things are born from frustration. For example, at my company, our financials are totally transparent. This was because I was frustrated by how this worked at a previous company so I driven to create something radically different.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Joe:<\/strong> I started Landscape after a nightmare experience. During a truly rubbish funding round, I met lots of time-wasters and people who wanted awful terms, so I started a site where you can review investors. You can take a look at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.landscape.vc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">landscape.vc<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Anthony:<\/strong> There are sliding doors moments where your life splits into parallel universes &#8211; you have to assess opportunities as they come along. For example, after I\u2019d sold a previous startup, one of my co-founders threw a party and if that hadn\u2019t happened, I\u2019d never have met Laurent my current co-founder.<\/p>\n<h3>Q: How do you what to pivot to, and when to pivot?<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Paulina:<\/strong> I like the <a href=\"http:\/\/theleanstartup.com\/principles\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lean Startup<\/a> philosophy, to be in close contact with your target market. If your idea is wanted by the market, then it\u2019s time to pivot.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Anthony:<\/strong> As your company\u2019s \u2018fearless leader\u2019, your team will expect you to know what to do and to lead them. You risk losing the trust of your team if you mess up a pivot or ask them for suggestions. If you know what to pivot to, this is an easy problem to solve. If you don\u2019t, it\u2019s going to be more difficult &#8211; there\u2019s no easy answer.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Joe:<\/strong> It can help to switch your narrative: tell the story that the pivot is something you <em>want<\/em> to do, not <em>have<\/em> to do. And get used to pivoting, it&#8217;s likely you&#8217;ll have to do it again!<\/p>\n<h3>Q: Startup schadenfreude: is there a startup mess-up you heard about that you\u2019re glad you didn\u2019t make?<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Joe:<\/strong> I know a guy who sold 50% of this company at a VC round&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Anthony:<\/strong> I\u2019m always thinking about new features, wondering whether we should or shouldn\u2019t build them. I\u2019ve found that I get my answer when I see competitors build the feature I was thinking about. If my reaction is \u2018meh\u2019, then that\u2019s how I end up glad I didn\u2019t commit time and money to build it myself.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Paulina:<\/strong> We rented one building \u2013 and you know how that turned out. But the guy who suggested we rent that building wanted to rent three or four\u2026<\/p>\n<h2>Wish you&#8217;d been there?<\/h2>\n<p>Lucky founders at this event received &#8216;treats&#8217; such as special offers on SeedLegals services, freebies from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tallymarket.co.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tally Market<\/a> and, in exchange for a one-minute pitch, two confident founders took away <a href=\"https:\/\/dreamfactory.ventures\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dream Factory<\/a> vouchers for headshots and video content creation.<\/p>\n<p>Wishing you&#8217;d been there? To make sure you\u2019re among the first to find out about our events, <a href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sign up for our events newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n"}],"blog_layout":"default","show_author_card":true,"hero_image":18298},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Startup Horror Stories | SeedLegals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/resources\/startup-horror-stories\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Startup Horror Stories | SeedLegals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There were no tricks, only treats for founders at this special Halloween event co-hosted by Spice Startups and SeedLegals on 28 October 2021 at Arboretum in London. Here\u2019s a recap of the stories the founders shared and the Q&amp;A.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/resources\/startup-horror-stories\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SeedLegals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/seedlegals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-10-31T09:00:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-11-17T12:51:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/startup-horror-stories-splash.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"897\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"654\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Suzanne Worthington\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@seedlegals\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@seedlegals\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Suzanne Worthington\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Startup Horror Stories | SeedLegals","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/resources\/startup-horror-stories\/","og_type":"article","og_title":"Startup Horror Stories | SeedLegals","og_description":"There were no tricks, only treats for founders at this special Halloween event co-hosted by Spice Startups and SeedLegals on 28 October 2021 at Arboretum in London. Here\u2019s a recap of the stories the founders shared and the Q&amp;A.","og_url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/resources\/startup-horror-stories\/","og_site_name":"SeedLegals","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/seedlegals\/","article_published_time":"2021-10-31T09:00:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-11-17T12:51:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":897,"height":654,"url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/startup-horror-stories-splash.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Suzanne Worthington","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@seedlegals","twitter_site":"@seedlegals","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Suzanne Worthington"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/resources\/startup-horror-stories\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/resources\/startup-horror-stories\/"},"author":{"name":"Suzanne 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Worthington"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/suzanneworthington\/"],"url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/resources\/author\/suzanne\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18374\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18374"},{"taxonomy":"event_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event_tags?post=18374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":18210,"date":"2021-10-27T11:12:36","date_gmt":"2021-10-27T10:12:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/resources\/shares-vs-options-whats-the-difference\/"},"modified":"2021-10-27T11:12:36","modified_gmt":"2021-10-27T11:12:36","slug":"shares-vs-options-whats-the-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/resources\/shares-vs-options-whats-the-difference\/","title":{"rendered":"Shares vs. Options: What\u2019s the difference?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Most UK startups offer equity compensation to employees in the form of options (by setting up an\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/emi-scheme\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">EMI employee option scheme<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">). Here at SeedLegals, being the number one provider of Employee Share Option schemes in the UK, we often get asked what the difference is between shares and options and when they are the right choice for your business. So here&#8217;s our comprehensive FAQ.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">What is the difference between shares and options?<\/span><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u200d<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The fundamental difference between shares and options is that if someone owns shares, they are immediately a shareholder in the company. If someone owns options, they have the right to buy shares in future.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The nuance of these differences falls into four main categories:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"#heading1\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">How do shares and options effect company ownership differently?<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#heading2\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Cash payment: how and when are shares and options purchased?<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#heading3\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">What vesting, protection, and employee retention incentives do shares or employee options offer?<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#heading4\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">What are the tax implications and tax benefits of an employee option scheme?<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><a id=\"heading1\"><\/a>How do shares and options affect company ownership differently?<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Whilst shares give the shareholder immediate ownership in the company; options are a little more complicated. They allow the individual to become a shareholder at<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0some point in the future<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0once the options have converted into shares.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Does allocating shares give immediate ownership?<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Once shares are issued and allocated, the individual immediately becomes a shareholder and is given equity ownership in the company, including all the shareholder rights attached to the shares, such as voting rights, right to dividends, right to the distribution of the company\u2019s assets in the event of winding-up or sale etc.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><em>Example<\/em>:<\/span><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0Dan gets issued and allocated 1,000 Ordinary Shares that carry one vote per share and the right to dividends. The company has a share capital of a total of 99,000 Ordinary Shares. In this case, Dan will own 1% in the company (1,000\/100,000) and will also have 1% of the voting rights in the company, and finally, they will be entitled to dividends on a pro-rata basis of 1%.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">When do options mean company ownership?<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">On the other hand, if an individual is granted options, they don\u2019t get any equity in the company nor any shareholder rights. Instead, the option holder gets the right (but not the obligation) to convert his options into shares (known as exercising) at a future date and at a pre-agreed price (known as the \u201cstrike price\u201d). The conversion of the options is subject to many conditions, which may never be fulfilled. In practice, the option holder will usually exercise their options on exit since they are liable to pay for them and would only typically do so when they know they will be sold directly after &#8211; such as at an exit.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><em>Example<\/em>:<\/span><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0Dan is granted 1,000 options, and after 3-years, they have the right to exercise his options and convert them into 1,000 Ordinary Shares that carry one vote per share and the right to dividends. After three years, once Dan decides to convert his options into shares, they will become a shareholder.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><a id=\"heading2\"><\/a>Cash payment: how and when are shares and options paid?<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Another critical difference between the two forms of equity compensation is the method of purchasing the shares. This has a vast impact on both the individual and the company, and from our experience, this is not always taken into consideration. To avoid future hiccups down the line, we recommend that you think about this carefully when choosing which form of equity compensation to use.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">When do you pay for company shares?<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Once shares are issued and allocated, the shareholder owns them. In most cases, the shares are issued and allocated at nominal value &#8211; for example, at \u00a30.01 per share (unless it\u2019s part of a funding round where a premium will be added to the nominal value and paid for by the investor). So in practice, the shareholder will spend close to zero for his shares, and they won\u2019t need to pay anything else in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><strong><em>Example<\/em><\/strong>: Dan gets issued and allocated 1,000 Ordinary Shares at a nominal value of \u00a30.01 each. Dan will pay \u00a310 (1,000*\u00a30.01) to the company for those shares, and they will own them immediately.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">When do you pay for employee options?<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">There is no payment made when options are granted (or even vested), but instead, the option holder will pay the \u201cstrike price\u201d when they choose to exercise his options and convert them into shares. The \u201cstrike price\u201d will usually be close to the fair market value at the time the options were granted, which in practice will be similar to the price per share that the investors paid in the last funding round. However, in some cases, the \u201cstrike price\u201d will be below market value &#8211; and can even be as low as the nominal value of \u00a30.01 per share. In those cases, there may be some major tax considerations (more on this below).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Essentially, the option holder will usually need\u00a0<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">to come up with cash to exercise his options<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Example: Dan is granted 1,000 options with a \u201cstrike price\u201d of \u00a320 per option. After three years, when Dan wants to exercise the options and convert them into share, they will need to pay the company a total of \u00a320,000 (1,000*\u00a320).<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><a id=\"heading3\"><\/a>What vesting, protection, and employee retention incentives do shares or employee options offer?<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/blog\/startup-founder-vesting\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Vesting<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0means that the shares or options are \u2018earnt\u2019 over a period of time, and the person will own the full amount of the equity (shares or options) only when the full period has lapsed (usually after 3 or 4 years).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Whilst a vesting period can be set for both shares and options, in the UK, there are two distinct methods in which options vest vs shares vest. Options vest by \u2018<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">forward vesting\u2019\u00a0<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">method and shares vest by way of \u2018<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">reverse vesting\u2019<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, as explained below.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Company shares: What is reverse vesting?<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Reverse vesting: shares are issued and allocated to the shareholder upfront, but the vesting mechanism works reversely. So, if the shareholder leaves the company before the end of the vesting period, they will be forced to sell the unvested shares (usually at no profit) to the company. This is a form of protection for the company and helps avoid a situation where a shareholder suddenly leaves the company and takes a large stake with them. This is why companies almost always have\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/blog\/startup-founder-vesting\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">founder vesting<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0in place. In startups, this is important. A shareholder that leaves the company with a significant portion of equity may make the company uninvestable in the future since very little equity would be left for future investors.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Example: Dan gets issued and allocated 1,000 Ordinary Shares with reverse vesting on a 4-year period. After one year, Dan leaves. Because a reverse vesting mechanism was in place, the company has the right to repurchase the 750 shares that were yet to vest.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Employee options: What is forward vesting?<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Forward vesting: the vesting mechanism for options is forward vesting, whereby the option holder is granted with options incrementally, usually over a 3-4 years period, or in line with achieving business goals with\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/?p=18249\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">milestone vesting<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">This will incentivise the option holder to stay with the company and will keep motivation high. The longer the option holder stays with the company, the more options they will get and the more options they will be able to convert into shares in the future. In early-stage companies, options are relatively cheap and easy to give and do not represent a big compromise for the company. After all, they are not shares; the option holder doesn\u2019t have voting rights or any other say in the company before they convert. They can be used as a great tool to compensate for a low salary, and they are often a carrot that keeps key employees on board.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Example: Dan is granted 1,000 options vesting over a 4-year period. After one year, Dan leaves the company, with only 250 options vested and the remaining 750 options unvested. In certain situations, Dan would be able to convert his options into shares at this stage, but companies will often add some limitations, such as a condition that options can be converted only when they have completely vested, or between 30 and 90 days after the option holder has left the company.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><a id=\"heading4\"><\/a>What are the tax implications and tax benefits of an employee option scheme?<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">One last point to note is the tax implications and benefits. Whilst this may seem very complex, the principles of the tax strategies are quite easy to understand. We have simplified it as far as possible, but tax treatment is subject to change and individual circumstances, so if in doubt, do consult a tax advisor for bespoke advice.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">When do company shares become taxable?<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Generally speaking, issuing and allocating shares to an individual at a discount will result in an\u00a0<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">immediate\u00a0<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">tax charge for the employee\u00a0<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">and<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0employer. In order to value the shares, HMRC will use the price paid per share (by investors) in the last funding round or the trading history of the company to find out the earning per share. Then the discount is taxable as employment income and PAYE, and NICs may also be due.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Example: Dan gets issued and allocated 1,000 Ordinary and is asked to pay the nominal value of just \u00a30.01 per share. However, since those shares have a market value of \u00a320 each according to HMRC (based on a recent investment round or trading history) &#8211; the \u00a319.99 difference would be taxable<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0immediately.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">I hear you ask, \u201cOk, so the taxman says they want income tax on the market value of the shares, but my startup hasn\u2019t raised funds and has no revenues (hence no market value), so can my startup just give shares to someone at a nominal value without paying tax\u2026?\u201d. Well, that\u2019s a great point, and indeed, early-stage startups\u00a0<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">that are pre-funded and pre-revenue<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0may give shares to someone at a nominal value without creating any tax implication as the shares have no value at the time of the allocation.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">When do employee options become taxable?<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">No tax is paid by either the option holder or the company when options are granted (and even vested), but when the options are exercised (usually after 3-4 years), the option holder will be subject to Income Tax and NICs on the difference in price between the \u201cstrike price\u201d and the actual market value of the shares at that time. But not only that, once the shares are sold &#8211; the employee is liable to pay Capital Gains Tax (CGT).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Example: Dan is granted 1,000 options at a \u201cstrike price\u201d of \u00a320 per option. Three years later, Dan exercises his options and pays the company \u00a320,000 (1,000*\u00a320). However, as the company has been doing very well, the actual market value of the shares in the company is now \u00a3100, so Dan now owns a value of \u00a3100,000 shares (1,000*\u00a3100). The \u00a380,000 difference in price between the amount they paid and the actual market will be liable for Income Tax and NICs. Lastly, when Dan sells his shares at \u00a3100,000, they will pay CGT of up to 20%.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">As you can imagine, the actual market value of the shares may be\u00a0<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">very\u00a0<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">high at the time of exercise after a few years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">So one of the most obvious questions here is whether there is a way to cap this increase in the market value of the shares? And the answer to that question is: Absolutely.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">This is where the\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/emi-scheme\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">EMI employee option scheme<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0comes into play. EMI schemes are tax-advantaged schemes that can be highly beneficial for both the company\u00a0<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">and<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0the individual option holder. The idea is that the company agrees on a market value with HMRC at the time the options are granted, and then when the options are exercised, the option holder won\u2019t have to pay Income Tax or NICs (providing the shares are exercised for at least the market value they had when the options were granted). The company pays no tax on the options at all. Finally, CGT will be capped to 10% (entrepreneurs\u2019 relief) if an individual sells the shares.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">How do I set up an employee option scheme?<\/span><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u200d<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">If you still have questions about options and shares or would like to know more about how SeedLegals can help you give out equity to your team, just <a id=\"start_a_chat\" href=\"mailto:hello@seedlegals.com\">start a chat<\/a>; we\u2019d love to help.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><code><!-- Start of Meetings Embed Script --><\/code><\/p>\n<div class=\"meetings-iframe-container\" data-src=\"https:\/\/meetme.seedlegals.com\/meetings\/sl-emi\/your-emi-meeting-with-seedlegals\/?embed=true\">\n<h3>Book time to talk to an options expert<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><code><br \/>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hsappstatic.net\/MeetingsEmbed\/ex\/MeetingsEmbedCode.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- End of Meetings Embed Script --><\/code><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The important difference is that if someone owns shares, they are a shareholder immediately. With options, they have own the right to buy shares in future&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":426958,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[100],"tags":[],"event_tags":[],"class_list":["post-18210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-share-option-schemes-ie"],"acf":{"show_author_card":false,"sidebar_layout":{"related_posts_heading":"You may also be interested in","related_posts":[{"post":false,"custom_heading":""},{"post":false,"custom_heading":""},{"post":false,"custom_heading":""}]},"hero_image":426958,"blog_layout":"sidebar","post_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Here at SeedLegals, being the number one provider of Employee Share Option schemes in the UK, we are keen to see Irish companies reward their staff in a similar way.\u00a0 We often get asked what the difference is between shares and options and when they are the right choice for your business. So here&#8217;s our comprehensive FAQ.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">What is the difference between shares and options?<\/span><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u200d<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The fundamental difference between shares and options is that if someone owns shares, they are immediately a shareholder in the company. If someone owns options, they have the right to buy shares in future.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The nuance of these differences falls into four main categories:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"#heading1\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">How do shares and options effect company ownership differently?<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#heading2\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Cash payment: how and when are shares and options purchased?<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#heading3\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">What vesting, protection, and employee retention incentives do shares or employee options offer?<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#heading4\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">What are the tax implications and tax benefits of an employee option scheme?<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><a id=\"heading1\"><\/a>How do shares and options affect company ownership differently?<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Whilst shares give the shareholder immediate ownership in the company; options are a little more complicated. They allow the individual to become a shareholder at<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0some point in the future<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0once the options have converted into shares.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Does allocating shares give immediate ownership?<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Once shares are issued and allocated, the individual immediately becomes a shareholder and is given equity ownership in the company, including all the shareholder rights attached to the shares, such as voting rights, right to dividends, right to the distribution of the company\u2019s assets in the event of winding-up or sale etc.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><em>Example<\/em>:<\/span><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0Dan gets issued and allocated 1,000 Ordinary Shares that carry one vote per share and the right to dividends. The company has a share capital of a total of 99,000 Ordinary Shares. In this case, Dan will own 1% in the company (1,000\/100,000) and will also have 1% of the voting rights in the company, and finally, they will be entitled to dividends on a pro-rata basis of 1%.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">When do options mean company ownership?<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">On the other hand, if an individual is granted options, they don\u2019t get any equity in the company nor any shareholder rights. Instead, the option holder gets the right (but not the obligation) to convert his options into shares (known as exercising) at a future date and at a pre-agreed price (known as the \u201cstrike price\u201d). The conversion of the options is subject to many conditions, which may never be fulfilled. In practice, the option holder will usually exercise their options on exit since they are liable to pay for them and would only typically do so when they know they will be sold directly after &#8211; such as at an exit.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><em>Example<\/em>:<\/span><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0Dan is granted 1,000 options, and after 3-years, they have the right to exercise his options and convert them into 1,000 Ordinary Shares that carry one vote per share and the right to dividends. After three years, once Dan decides to convert his options into shares, they will become a shareholder.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><a id=\"heading2\"><\/a>Cash payment: how and when are shares and options paid?<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Another critical difference between the two forms of equity compensation is the method of purchasing the shares. This has a vast impact on both the individual and the company, and from our experience, this is not always taken into consideration. To avoid future hiccups down the line, we recommend that you think about this carefully when choosing which form of equity compensation to use.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">When do you pay for company shares?<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Once shares are issued and allocated, the shareholder owns them. In most cases, the shares are issued and allocated at nominal value &#8211; for example, at \u00a30.01 per share (unless it\u2019s part of a funding round where a premium will be added to the nominal value and paid for by the investor). So in practice, the shareholder will spend close to zero for his shares, and they won\u2019t need to pay anything else in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><strong><em>Example<\/em><\/strong>: Dan gets issued and allocated 1,000 Ordinary Shares at a nominal value of \u00a30.01 each. Dan will pay \u00a310 (1,000*\u00a30.01) to the company for those shares, and they will own them immediately.<\/span><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"cta","cta":{"type":"default","subheading":"","heading":"Want to find out how we can help you set up an EMI scheme?","content":"","bullet_points":false,"form":{"type":"none","hubspot_form":{"layout":"newsletter","hide_founderinvestor_toggle":false,"default_community":"founder","custom_form_id":"","gdpr_disclaimer":"By subscribing, you agree to receive information from SeedLegals. You can unsubscribe anytime. View our <a href=\"\/privacy-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">privacy policy<\/a>"},"custom":{"embed":""},"gtm_form_type":"default","gtm_form_location":"default"},"button":{"title":"Learn more","url":"\/grow\/share-options-scheme\/","target":""},"image":false}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"<h3>When do you pay for employee options?<\/h3>\n<p>There is no payment made when options are granted (or even vested), but instead, the option holder will pay the \u201cstrike price\u201d when they choose to exercise his options and convert them into shares. The \u201cstrike price\u201d will usually be close to the fair market value at the time the options were granted, which in practice will be similar to the price per share that the investors paid in the last funding round. However, in some cases, the \u201cstrike price\u201d will be below market value &#8211; and can even be as low as the nominal value of \u00a30.01 per share. In those cases, there may be some major tax considerations (more on this below).<\/p>\n<p>Essentially, the option holder will usually need\u00a0to come up with cash to exercise his options:<\/p>\n<p>Example: Dan is granted 1,000 options with a \u201cstrike price\u201d of \u00a320 per option. After three years, when Dan wants to exercise the options and convert them into share, they will need to pay the company a total of \u00a320,000 (1,000*\u00a320).<\/p>\n<h3>What vesting, protection, and employee retention incentives do shares or employee options offer?<\/h3>\n<p>Vesting\u00a0means that the shares or options are \u2018earnt\u2019 over a period of time, and the person will own the full amount of the equity (shares or options) only when the full period has lapsed (usually after 3 or 4 years).<\/p>\n<p>Whilst a vesting period can be set for both shares and options, in the UK, there are two distinct methods in which options vest vs shares vest. Options vest by \u2018forward vesting\u2019\u00a0method and shares vest by way of \u2018reverse vesting\u2019, as explained below.<\/p>\n<h3>Company shares: What is reverse vesting?<\/h3>\n<p>Reverse vesting: shares are issued and allocated to the shareholder upfront, but the vesting mechanism works reversely. So, if the shareholder leaves the company before the end of the vesting period, they will be forced to sell the unvested shares (usually at no profit) to the company. This is a form of protection for the company and helps avoid a situation where a shareholder suddenly leaves the company and takes a large stake with them. This is why companies almost always have\u00a0founder vesting\u00a0in place. In startups, this is important. A shareholder that leaves the company with a significant portion of equity may make the company uninvestable in the future since very little equity would be left for future investors.<\/p>\n<p>Example: Dan gets issued and allocated 1,000 Ordinary Shares with reverse vesting on a 4-year period. After one year, Dan leaves. Because a reverse vesting mechanism was in place, the company has the right to repurchase the 750 shares that were yet to vest.<\/p>\n<h3>Employee options: What is forward vesting?<\/h3>\n<p>Forward vesting: the vesting mechanism for options is forward vesting, whereby the option holder is granted with options incrementally, usually over a 3-4 years period, or in line with achieving business goals with\u00a0milestone vesting.<\/p>\n<p>This will incentivise the option holder to stay with the company and will keep motivation high. The longer the option holder stays with the company, the more options they will get and the more options they will be able to convert into shares in the future. In early-stage companies, options are relatively cheap and easy to give and do not represent a big compromise for the company. After all, they are not shares; the option holder doesn\u2019t have voting rights or any other say in the company before they convert. They can be used as a great tool to compensate for a low salary, and they are often a carrot that keeps key employees on board.<\/p>\n<p>Example: Dan is granted 1,000 options vesting over a 4-year period. After one year, Dan leaves the company, with only 250 options vested and the remaining 750 options unvested. In certain situations, Dan would be able to convert his options into shares at this stage, but companies will often add some limitations, such as a condition that options can be converted only when they have completely vested, or between 30 and 90 days after the option holder has left the company.<\/p>\n<h3>What are the tax implications and tax benefits of an employee option scheme?<\/h3>\n<p>One last point to note is the tax implications and benefits. Whilst this may seem very complex, the principles of the tax strategies are quite easy to understand. We have simplified it as far as possible, but tax treatment is subject to change and individual circumstances, so if in doubt, do consult a tax advisor for bespoke advice.<\/p>\n<h3>When do company shares become taxable?<\/h3>\n<p>Generally speaking, issuing and allocating shares to an individual at a discount will result in an\u00a0immediate\u00a0tax charge for the employee\u00a0and\u00a0employer. In order to value the shares, HMRC will use the price paid per share (by investors) in the last funding round or the trading history of the company to find out the earning per share. Then the discount is taxable as employment income and PAYE, and NICs may also be due.<\/p>\n<p>Example: Dan gets issued and allocated 1,000 Ordinary and is asked to pay the nominal value of just \u00a30.01 per share. However, since those shares have a market value of \u00a320 each according to HMRC (based on a recent investment round or trading history) &#8211; the \u00a319.99 difference would be taxable\u00a0immediately.<\/p>\n<p>I hear you ask, \u201cOk, so the taxman says they want income tax on the market value of the shares, but my startup hasn\u2019t raised funds and has no revenues (hence no market value), so can my startup just give shares to someone at a nominal value without paying tax\u2026?\u201d. Well, that\u2019s a great point, and indeed, early-stage startups\u00a0that are pre-funded and pre-revenue\u00a0may give shares to someone at a nominal value without creating any tax implication as the shares have no value at the time of the allocation.<\/p>\n<h3>When do employee options become taxable?<\/h3>\n<p>No tax is paid by either the option holder or the company when options are granted (and even vested), but when the options are exercised (usually after 3-4 years), the option holder will be subject to Income Tax and NICs on the difference in price between the \u201cstrike price\u201d and the actual market value of the shares at that time. But not only that, once the shares are sold &#8211; the employee is liable to pay Capital Gains Tax (CGT).<\/p>\n<p>Example: Dan is granted 1,000 options at a \u201cstrike price\u201d of \u00a320 per option. Three years later, Dan exercises his options and pays the company \u00a320,000 (1,000*\u00a320). However, as the company has been doing very well, the actual market value of the shares in the company is now \u00a3100, so Dan now owns a value of \u00a3100,000 shares (1,000*\u00a3100). The \u00a380,000 difference in price between the amount they paid and the actual market will be liable for Income Tax and NICs. Lastly, when Dan sells his shares at \u00a3100,000, they will pay CGT of up to 20%.<\/p>\n<p>As you can imagine, the actual market value of the shares may be\u00a0very\u00a0high at the time of exercise after a few years.<\/p>\n<p>So one of the most obvious questions here is whether there is a way to cap this increase in the market value of the shares? And the answer to that question is: Absolutely.<\/p>\n<p>This is where the\u00a0EMI employee option scheme\u00a0comes into play. EMI schemes are tax-advantaged schemes that can be highly beneficial for both the company\u00a0and\u00a0the individual option holder. The idea is that the company agrees on a market value with HMRC at the time the options are granted, and then when the options are exercised, the option holder won\u2019t have to pay Income Tax or NICs (providing the shares are exercised for at least the market value they had when the options were granted). The company pays no tax on the options at all. Finally, CGT will be capped to 10% (entrepreneurs\u2019 relief) if an individual sells the shares.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"cta","cta":{"type":"default","subheading":"","heading":"Looking to set up an EMI scheme?","content":"Our team of options experts are on hand via to chat online, by phone or video call.","bullet_points":false,"form":{"type":"none","hubspot_form":{"layout":"newsletter","hide_founderinvestor_toggle":false,"default_community":"founder","custom_form_id":"","gdpr_disclaimer":"By subscribing, you agree to receive information from SeedLegals. You can unsubscribe anytime. View our <a href=\"\/privacy-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">privacy policy<\/a>"},"custom":{"embed":""},"gtm_form_type":"default","gtm_form_location":"default"},"button":{"title":"Talk to an expert","url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/talk-to-an-expert\/","target":""},"image":false}}],"revision_date":"","has_custom_post_authors":false,"is_expert_reviewed":false,"post_content_width":"default","has_sources":false,"related_posts":false},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Shares vs. Options: What&#039;s the Difference? | SeedLegals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The important difference is that if someone owns shares, they are a shareholder immediately. With options, they own the right to buy shares in future...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/resources\/shares-vs-options-whats-the-difference\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Shares vs. Options: What&#039;s the Difference? | SeedLegals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The important difference is that if someone owns shares, they are a shareholder immediately. 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