The Ask · Staged, Not Speculative

Proof before funding.
Collaborate first. Invest in evidence.

Every number in our financial model is a model, not a measurement — we said so in the honest review. So the first ask is not a cheque. It is a pilot collaboration: run the platform with real families, instrument everything, and pass two stage gates together. The funding conversation happens after the platform has proven its value — priced on data we produced side by side.

Stage 1 · Now

Pilot Collaboration

50 users · 8–12 families · ~12 weeks · ~$300/mo all-in
  • Platform is live today — full feature set: capsules, feed, Sage, communities
  • In-app surveys + NPS wired into every milestone moment
  • Weekly feedback loop: family interviews, raw survey output shared unfiltered
  • We measure complete-family activation (3+ members in week one), not signups
Gate 1
Feedback Review
Stage 2 · +12 weeks

Scale to 100 Users

Organic growth preferred · same instrumentation · ~12 weeks
  • Did pilot families invite the next families? The connector loop, observed
  • 8-week retention per family, capsules created, Sage repeat sessions
  • Willingness-to-pay and ad interest opt-in surveyed in-app
  • Every Gate 1 fix re-tested with fresh families
Gate 2
Value Proven
Stage 3 · Earned

The Funding Ask

Seed · sized to the J-curve trough + buffer
  • Raise covers users + hosting + production AWS — zero dev payroll
  • Priced on pilot evidence, not projections
  • Pilot partners get first look and the right to lead
  • Bear case converted into data, one gate at a time

Gate 1 — pass / fix / stop

≥60% weekly-active families · ≥1 capsule per family · NPS ≥40 · survey themes triaged and shipped. Miss the gate: we fix and re-run, or we stop — agreed in advance.

Gate 2 — value proven

≥30% of new families arrive by member invitation · 8-week family retention ≥70% · positive willingness-to-pay signal in survey + at least one organic paid-feature request.

How feedback is captured

In-app micro-surveys at milestone moments, quarterly NPS, exit interviews for any family that goes quiet, and a shared dashboard — partners see the raw numbers, not a curated summary.

What we are asking for today

  • Not money. A pilot partnership and a seat at both gate reviews
  • Introductions to 8–12 real families (50 users) for Stage 1
  • Candid input on the gate criteria before we start — help us set the bar
  • A decision-maker at each gate: proceed, fix, or stop

What you get in return

  • Data before dollars — diligence runs for six months before any term sheet
  • Raw survey output and metrics at every gate — unfiltered
  • The platform’s bear case retired (or confirmed) before you commit capital
  • First look and the right to lead the seed at Stage 3
Valuation by stage gate — why waiting pays
Stage Indicative valuation What it is priced on
Today — pre-pilot $2.5–5M Execution de-risked only: complete platform, self-hosted ML, zero dev payroll. No users — every number is still a model. A raise here would be a SAFE at a $3–5M cap.
After Gate 1 · 50 users $4–7M Engagement proven: weekly-active families, capsules per family, NPS. Kills the “will anyone use it” question — still too thin to price a round well.
After Gate 2 · 100 users $6–12M pre Retention ≥70% at 8 weeks, ≥30% of families arriving by invitation, willingness-to-pay signal. Raising ~$1.2–1.5M at $8–10M pre = 13–16% dilution.
18 months — model on track $15–30M Tens of thousands of users, revenue switched on, capsule lock-in compounding. Priced as a Series A growth story, not on revenue multiples.
36 months — model on track $48–79M 6–10× forward ARR on the model’s $7.94M exit run-rate — consumer subscription + consented ads at 80%+ gross margin, family-level network effects visible.

The quiet financial argument for the staged ask: the six months of pilot data is what moves the conversation from the $3M band to the $10M band — patience worth several million dollars of founder equity, and a Stage 3 price expectation that is already calibrated before anyone sits down. Bands assume the financial model’s growth curve; the gates exist so nobody has to believe that yet. Australian pre-seed pricing typically runs 20–30% below these (US-anchored) bands — anchor low, let competition move you up.

The stage gates are the deal. If the platform cannot keep 50 users’ families engaged, no funding should follow — and we would rather both of us know that for the cost of a pilot than after a raise.

Pilot infrastructure ~$300 USD/mo (Lean Pilot tier + dev tooling) · founder-operated · gate criteria locked with partners before Stage 1 begins.