Valuation and dilution
How Do I Value a Startup Before Raising?
Valuation is a negotiation anchored in evidence and alternatives.
Free tool
SAFE + Dilution Decoder
This decoder shows what happens to your cap table when a post-money SAFE converts at a priced round, and how a valuation cap and a discount each change the ownership you keep. It models one SAFE and no option pool, so it is a teaching model rather than a cap table.
What you get
- How a cap and a discount each set the conversion
- The ownership you hold after the priced round
- Where the dilution actually comes from
Before you start
Five figures, all in the same currency. This decoder does not know or assume a currency, so enter plain numbers. It models one safe with no option pool, and it is educational rather than legal advice. Your figures stay in your browser.
From the publication
Read The Raise Memo
A note for founders raising capital—what investors notice, how conviction gets built, and what to do next.
From the Memo
Related reading
Valuation and dilution
What Is a Typical Pre-Seed Valuation?
The earlier the company, the more important the assumptions.
Valuation and dilution
How Does Pre-Money and Post-Money Valuation Work?
The distinction that changes the dilution math.
Take it with you
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