The Founding Issue
Seed round · 2026
Seed round · 2026

Know what your
equity is worth

The Founding Issue turns cap tables, term sheets and 409As into plain-English intelligence for the people who actually hold the shares.

31k
members
$2.1M
ARR
$5M
raising
01 / 20
The problem

Startup employees hold $2 trillion in paper equity — and most can’t answer “what is my strike worth?”

The information asymmetry between the boardroom and the employee handbook is the last unpriced risk in tech compensation.

02 / 20
Why now
62%

of startup employees let options expire unexercised at departure (Carta equity report, 2025) — value forfeited mostly through confusion, not choice.

03 / 20
Product

A private banker for your options

01
Grant decoder
Upload any grant; get scenarios in dollars, not preferences.
02
Exercise planner
Tax-aware timing across ISO/NSO/83(b) decisions.
03
The Issue
A weekly brief 31k members actually read — 61% open rate.
[ SCREEN — scenario view ]
04 / 20
How it works
STEP 01
Import
Grants from Carta, Shareworks or PDFs.
STEP 02
Model
Exit scenarios against real comparables.
STEP 03
Decide
Exercise plans with tax projections.
STEP 04
Act
Execute with partnered lenders and CPAs.
05 / 20
Traction
01
31k
paying members
02
$2.1M
ARR
03
61%
weekly brief open rate
04
$480M
equity value modelled

B2B pilot: 14 companies now buy memberships for every employee at grant time.

06 / 20
Growth

Members, trailing 8 quarters

Q3 ’24Q4Q1 ’25Q2Q3Q4Q1 ’26Q2
07 / 20
Unit economics

Membership economics

MetricConsumerB2B seat
Price / year$96$59
Gross margin91%94%
CAC$22$9
Annual retention78%92%
LTV / CAC9.4×18×
08 / 20
Market · Carta 2025

11M US equity-holding employees

0100%
33%
58%
SOM — late-stage startup employees 9%
SAM — all venture-backed employees 33%
TAM — equity-compensated workers 58%
09 / 20
Competition
Founding Issue
Cap-table platforms
Exercise lenders
Reddit + spreadsheets
Employee-side loyalty → ↑ Decision depth
10 / 20
Moat
01
01

Trust position

We sell to the employee, never the issuer — the only party with no conflict.

02
02

Outcome corpus

4,100 anonymized exit outcomes powering scenario realism.

03
03

Editorial voice

The brief is the moat: an audience rivals must rent.

11 / 20
B2B pilot

Companies giving every new grant a decoder

10 partners
[ logo 01 ]
[ logo 02 ]
[ logo 03 ]
[ logo 04 ]
[ logo 05 ]
[ logo 06 ]
[ logo 07 ]
[ logo 08 ]
[ logo 09 ]
[ logo 10 ]
12 / 20
Member proof

“I nearly walked away from $210k because the paperwork scared me. One scenario session and I exercised with a plan — and a payment schedule.”

Priya Raman
Staff engineer, Series D fintech — member since 2024
13 / 20
Business model

Revenue mix today → 2028 target

01
Consumer memberships72% → 45%
02
B2B benefit seats18% → 40%
03
Partner referrals (CPA/lending)10% → 15%
14 / 20
plan
The plan

The employee side of the table, at scale

Every 409A, tender and IPO window is a moment someone needs us — we intend to be the default answer.

15 / 20
Roadmap
Now
B2B benefit GA
Self-serve for people teams; 14 → 60 companies.
H1 2027
Tender concierge
Guided participation in secondary windows.
H2 2027
Exercise financing
Embedded, conflict-free lender marketplace.
2028
International grants
UK EMI and EU ESOP coverage.
16 / 20
Team
[ photo ]
Sarah Goldman
CEO — ex-Carta product
[ photo ]
Alex Iwu
CTO — ex-Wealthfront
[ photo ]
Meredith Cho
Editorial — ex-financial newsletter team
[ photo ]
Dan Feld
Tax — CPA, ex-KPMG equity comp
17 / 20
Financial plan

ARR with this round

$9.2M
ARR exiting 2028
25
50
75
100
$1.5M
$2.1M
$3.2M
$4.7M
$6.6M
$9.2M
H1 ’26H2 ’26H1 ’27H2 ’27H1 ’28H2 ’28
18 / 20
Use of funds

Where the $5M goes

Raise
Product + modelling
B2B GTM
Editorial
Compliance
Buffer
sources uses ending
19 / 20
The Founding Issue

Equity, understood.

sarah@foundingissue.com · foundingissue.com
[ QR ]
20 / 20