Before you invite investors into your round, make sure your company is properly structured, your documents are in order, and you're legally and administratively ready. The following checklist covers everything you should prepare before you start fundraising - and how long each step realistically takes.
This guide covers:
Essential Actions
1. Open a Company Bank Account
✅ Investors will only transfer funds into a proper business account.
✅ Some may require bank account verification.
Allow at least: 5 working days – 3 weeks depending on the bank.
2. Clean Up Your Cap Table
Ensure your cap table is accurate and investor-ready.
✅ Reflect all shareholders, options, and convertibles.
✅ Remove any outdated or incorrect entries.
FounderCatalyst helps you manage and present your cap table within the platform. See our guide on the Cap table.
3. Update Companies House Filings
Ensure your public filings match your internal records. This includes:
✅ Filing Confirmation Statements
✅ Filing SH01s for previous share issuances
✅ Correcting any errors if needed
Estimated time to complete: 2–5 working days for Companies House processing.
Important:
If you plan to use Companies House WebFiling, you must register and activate a WebFiling account.
Activation requires a code sent by post (up to 5 working days).
Register early to avoid delays.
FounderCatalyst provides guidance on what to file, but we do not review or submit filings on your behalf.
If you do make any errors when filing, click here for information on how to correct themGuide to Correcting Filing Mistakes.
4. SEIS/EIS Advance Assurance
Apply for SEIS/EIS Advance Assurance at least 1–2 months before you approach investors. HMRC approval typically takes 15–45 working days.
Ensure that your company meets the SEIS/EIS eligibility criteria (e.g., age, assets, trading activity) before applying.
FounderCatalyst streamlines the Advance Assurance process within our platform.
5. Share Split (as needed)
If your company has a very small number of shares (e.g., 1–100), it may be difficult to issue shares to investors. A share split increases the number of shares in issue, making it easier to structure investment and future equity incentives.
✅ FounderCatalyst generates board/shareholder resolutions automatically.
✅ You will need to file an SH02 at Companies House.
Tip: For a share split, making 10,000 or 100,000 shares in total is most common for early-stage startups. However, the ideal number of shares depends entirely on your company's specific needs and long-term plans - there's no strict rule.
Tip: Remember your share price is calculated as Valuation ÷ Number of Shares.
If you only have a few shares in issue, the per-share price can become unworkably high.
For example, if your company is valued at £1 million and you and your co-founder have just 2 shares (1 per founder), each share is worth £500,000. But if you do a 1:10,000 share split, you'd have 20,000 shares - and each share would be worth £50, making it much easier to issue shares to investors.
Estimated time to complete:
Companies House processing: 5–10 working days once filed.
See our Guide to Share Splits and filing SH02s
6. Disclose Existing Convertible Notes or SAFEs
Make sure any outstanding convertibles or SAFEs are disclosed to investors early.
7. Prepare Your Data Room
FounderCatalyst's platform automatically builds a structured, intelligent Data Room as you complete your funding steps.
If preparing manually:
Allow at least: 2–5 working days to collate documents.
See our Guide to Setting Up a Data Room.
Essential Documents
1. Pitch Deck
Your pitch deck tells your story, outlines the opportunity, and explains how the funding will drive growth.
It is also required for your Advance Assurance application.
See our Guide to Creating a Compelling Pitch Deck.
2. Financial Forecast
Investors and HMRC expect to see a 3-5 year forecast with realistic revenue, costs, and runway. It's also required for Advance Assurance.
See our [Guide to what makes a good financial forecast]
3. Term Sheet
FounderCatalyst's platform automatically generates a founder-friendly Term Sheet as part of your funding process - no need to draft one manually.
See our Article on Recognising Toxic Term Sheets.
4. Valuation Justification (Optional)
Be prepared to explain your valuation - even if it's based on market norms at the pre-seed stage.
See our Guide to Pre-Seed Valuations.
