Financial Management
13 Min ReadPre-Seed Startup Metrics: What to Prove Before Raising (2026)
A 2026 guide to the proof investors, advisors, and founders should look for before a pre-seed round.
Martin BellCategory100 Tasks Blog
Financial Management
Founder-friendly guides to startup funding, forecasting, runway, unit economics, and financial decisions, with clear limits and source-backed context.
Martin Bell
Financial Management
10 Min Read10 Business Pitch Examples for New Founders (2026)
Ten complete, annotated pitch scripts for customers, pilots, demos, investors, partners, recruits, internal sponsors, and programs.
Martin Bell
Financial Management
7 Min ReadHow to Create a Business Pitch That Earns a Next Step
Build investor, customer, or partner pitches around a clear audience, problem, evidence, plan, and specific ask—with complete scripts and a reusable template.
Martin Bell
Financial Management
9 Min ReadStartup Financial Modeling: A Worked Example
Build a driver-based startup financial model that connects customers, revenue, costs, cash, runway, break-even, and sensitivity with one worked example.
Martin Bell
Financial Management
5 Min ReadPre-Seed Startup Valuation: 7 Mistakes to Avoid
Understand pre-money, post-money, dilution, SAFEs, and option pools—and avoid treating an early-stage valuation as a precise or guaranteed measure of company value.
Martin Bell
Financial Management
4 Min ReadPre-Seed vs Seed Funding: Stage, Evidence, and Use of Funds
Pre-seed and seed are market labels, not legal classifications. Compare typical evidence, investors, instruments, milestones, and use-of-funds logic.
Martin Bell
Financial Management
8 Min ReadPre-Seed Funding for Startups: Evidence, Instruments, and Process
Understand what pre-seed funding is, what evidence an early founder can prepare, how common instruments differ, and how to run a careful investor process.
Martin Bell
Financial Management
6 Min ReadBootstrapping a Startup: Runway, Cash, and Growth
Build a bootstrap plan around customer-funded learning, cash runway, staged commitments, and clear signals for staying self-funded or seeking capital.
Martin Bell
Financial Management
8 Min ReadStartup Due Diligence: Data Room and Process Guide
Prepare a startup for investor due diligence with a practical data-room checklist, workstream owners, issue log, process stages, and founder reverse diligence.
Martin Bell
Financial Management
5 Min ReadWhat Is a Seed Round? Instruments, Dilution, and Process
A seed round is an early financing from investors. Learn how SAFEs, notes, and priced equity work, what investors review, and how founders prepare.
Martin Bell
Financial Management
10 Min ReadHow to Raise Seed Funding: Readiness, Process, and Deal Review
Prepare a seed round by defining the milestone, building an evidence-backed investor narrative, running a focused pipeline, organizing diligence, and reviewing deal terms with counsel.
Martin Bell
Financial Management
5 Min ReadSmall Business Seed Grants: A US Founder’s Guide
Learn what US founders mean by seed grants, how grants differ from contracts and equity, and how to screen official opportunities before applying.
Martin Bell
Financial Management
7 Min ReadAngel Investors vs. Venture Capital: Key Differences
Compare angels and venture capital funds by source of capital, stage, decision process, governance, timing, terms, and fit—without relying on misleading check-size rules.
Martin Bell
Financial Management
7 Min ReadConvertible Notes for Startups: Terms, Conversion, and Risks
Understand how a U.S. startup convertible note works, what happens at financing or maturity, how caps and discounts interact, and which terms require legal review.
Martin Bell
Financial Management
7 Min ReadDebt Financing for Startups: Types, Costs, and Risk
Evaluate U.S. startup debt by repayment source, total cost, collateral, guarantees, covenants, and downside—not by the promise of avoiding dilution.
Martin Bell
Financial Management
7 Min ReadHow to Start Saving Startup Capital: Cost and Runway Plan
Begin by estimating one-time and monthly startup costs, setting a safe funding target, separating the money, and automating a contribution you can sustain.
Martin Bell
Financial Management
5 Min ReadStartup Equity Explained: Shares, Options, and Dilution
A practical guide to startup ownership, cap tables, common and preferred stock, options, vesting, dilution, and the questions founders should review with advisers.
Martin Bell
Financial Management
7 Min ReadDo Business Grants Have to Be Paid Back? A U.S. Guide
Understand when a U.S. business grant is not repaid like a loan, when funds may be disallowed or recovered, and what to verify before accepting an award.
Martin BellProven 100-Task Roadmap
Building A Startup Is Agonizing. Use The Proven 100-Task Roadmap.
Most founders are overworked, under-resourced, and forced to build without the operating sequence. 100 Tasks AI turns Martin Bell's 120+ launch process into a 100-task checklist, AI co-founder, Powersheets, and dashboard so you can launch and scale 3-5x faster.
