
Founders - here's your reminder that small checks can really matter.
Startups that raised on SAFEs this year typically included quite a few small checks. In fact, about 30% of the checks into $1M SAFE rounds were under $25K.
Upfront - yes, those big checks anchor the round and matter a lot! No question.
But there are many reasons why accepting small checks into your SAFE round may be beneficial.
𝗦𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝘀
Often your very first believers, willing to commit to the vision before any institutional investors.
Can kickstart the round, providing momentum to show vital proof to the larger checks down the road.
Value of the network / effort > just cash. Angels often make introductions that snowball into future funding.
For bigger round, small checks can strategically fill investor gaps (maybe you convert a GTM advisor into a strategic angel, for instance).
Fundamentally believe that startups are better for everyone when small ticket investors have an opportunity to participate - cool to see that many founders agree based on the data.
Full breakdown of SAFEs signed so far in 2024 in our State of Pre-Seed report, give me a shout in the comments for a direct link!
#startups #angelinvestors #SAFEs #founders #preseed
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