Capital Stack Funding Toolkit for Pre-Seed Founders

How to raise smarter, stay in control, and access capital without giving up your company too early

Raising capital as a pre-seed founder in 2025 feels like playing a game where the rules keep changing. If you’ve tried to raise from traditional VCs, you already know: warm intros, polished pitch decks, and growth-at-all-costs narratives still dominate. But what if you’re building something real — just not on someone else’s hypergrowth timeline?

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Q1 2025 Startup Funding Breakdown: What Founders Need to Know Before Raising Capital

From AI megadeals to early-stage pullbacks, how the current investment climate is reshaping the path to funding

It’s Q1 2025, and the world of startup funding is moving fast — but not always in the direction founders expect.

While global funding numbers are up, the story beneath the surface is far more nuanced. Investors are leaning into late-stage, post-traction bets. AI is soaking up a disproportionate share of capital. And early-stage founders — especially those building in frontier markets or outside the hype cycles — are finding it harder than ever to close a clean round.

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How Startups Can Access Funding in 2025 Without Giving Up Equity

How Startups Can Access Funding in 2025 Without Giving Up Equity

Startup funding has always been a puzzle — especially if you’re a founder trying to build without losing control. Between pitching VCs, applying for government grants, and navigating accelerators, the landscape feels cluttered and confusing.

But in 2025, smarter capital models are emerging — and with the right tools, you can raise funding faster, keep your equity, and scale globally.

Here’s how.

1. What Is Startup Funding, Really?

At its core, startup funding is capital raised to build, launch, or grow a business. That can include:

• Seed funding: The earliest round, often from angels or accelerators

• Series A/B/C funding: Institutional rounds from venture capital firms

• Startup grants: Non-dilutive capital from governments or private initiatives

• Convertible notes or SAFE notes: Hybrid structures that convert to equity later

In 2025, a growing number of founders are also exploring non-dilutive funding options — where you keep full ownership of your business.

2. How to Secure Non-Dilutive Startup Funding

Let’s talk non-dilutive funding — capital that doesn’t require giving away equity.

This includes:

• Government startup grants

• Philanthropic funds

• Capital stack models like the STACK Note

• Revenue-based financing

At Moonshotnx, every accepted founder receives a $50,000 non-dilutive grant, plus access to our investor syndicate via a STACK Note.

3. Know Your Startup Funding Options in 2025

Here are the top startup funding keywords every founder should understand (and use in your pitch decks):

Keyword

Why It Matters

Startup funding

The broadest, highest-volume term

Non-dilutive funding

The future of founder-first capital

Startup grants

Free money, no equity

Seed funding

Your very first external raise

Venture capital

Still powerful, but founders want more flexibility

Convertible note

A traditional instrument — but not always ideal

SAFE note

Common in accelerators like YC

Capital stack

New frameworks like STACK Notes are gaining traction

Equity-free funding

Search demand is surging

Startup accelerator

Still a major source of access, network, and capital

4. Fundraising Has Changed — So Should You

Old-school VC playbooks are fading. In their place? A modern capital stack designed for flexibility, speed, and founder retention.

MoonshotNX is proud to lead this shift with:

• $50K equity-free grants

• The STACK Note (a smarter alternative to SAFEs)

• Access to 70,000+ global investors via our Maxnx syndicate

• Revenue-based credit matching with over 497 funding partners

5. How Founders Use Our Funding to Win

Whether you’re building a B2B SaaS platform in Kenya, a marketplace in Berlin, or a climate-tech tool in India — funding shouldn’t be your biggest hurdle.

Our founders use their MoonshotNX capital to:

• Hire talent

• Launch MVPs

• Run paid experiments

• Close follow-on VC funding rounds

• Stay in control while scaling with intention

Ready to Build on Better Terms?

If you’re tired of predatory cap tables, slow yeses, and diluted control — you’re not alone.

2025 is the year of founder-first capital. And with the right stack, you don’t have to choose between funding and freedom.

Top 10 Startup Funding Keywords for 2025

1.     Startup funding

2.     Non-dilutive funding

3.     Startup grants

4.     Seed funding

5.     Venture capital

6.     Convertible note

7.     SAFE note

8.     Capital stack

9.     Equity-free funding

10.   Startup accelerator

Use them wisely — and build on your own terms.

What Investors Really Want in a Pitch Deck

If you want funding, your pitch deck must speak investor. From market sizing to traction to your capital stack strategy, here’s what turns a “maybe” into a “yes.”

Your pitch deck is your first impression—and sometimes your only shot. But most decks fall flat because they miss what investors truly care about. In this guide, we share exactly what to include, how to design it, and how to align it with the MoonshotNX capital stack.

Slide by Slide: The Perfect Pitch Deck

• Problem & Solution

• Market Opportunity

• Business Model

• Traction & Metrics

• The Ask & Capital Stack Strategy

The Stack Slide (Most Founders Miss This)

Investors want to know how their capital fits in. Show:

• How much you raised from grants

• How STACK Notes protect their downside

• What your funding timeline looks like

Design Tips That Win Meetings

• Clear fonts and visuals

• Avoid clutter

• Tell a story in 10 slides max

Internal Links:

• Access our 3 Day Free Bootcamp

• Learn about STACK Notes

• Apply to pitch

A great pitch deck tells a great story. One that leads investors not just to a yes, but to an aligned relationship. With MoonshotNX, your stack starts on slide one.

Start Ups raising funds

Michael HummelMichael Hummel • Following • FollowingFounder of Establish - Angel Investor. Learn More at Establishpr.comFounder of Establish - Angel Investor. Learn More at Establishpr.com

If you build a startup with the mentality of not "needing" to raise money, you will always have the option to raise money. Here's what I mean 👇

The current founder model:
1. Get an idea (maybe make MVP)
2. Raise money for idea/MVP
3. Use investor's money to test in the market
4. Run out of money
5. Try to raise more money and wonder why people are saying no

This may have worked in the past, but those days are far behind us.

Here's how to attract capital:
1. Get an idea & build MVP
2. Sell the product
3. Get customer feedback
4. Use money from sales to make the product better
5. Continue to sell products & aim for profit early on.

If you do this new model while scaling your company - investors will be lined up at the door to give you money.

I made a 17-page guide on exactly how to attract investors. It's the new model all startup founders need to thrive in 2024.

Start Up in 13 Sentences

Burak BuyukdemirBurak Buyukdemir • 2nd • 2ndFounder of Startup IstanbulFounder of Startup Istanbul

💡 Keep your startup on track with these simple, actionable tips. 👇

Stay focused with these key points from Paul Graham’s "Startup in 13 Sentences":

1- Choose Good Partners: Your co-founders are crucial. Pick carefully.
2- Launch Quickly: Don’t wait for perfection. Launch, learn, and improve.
3- Adapt Your Idea: Be ready to change your idea based on feedback.
4- Know Your Users: Understand and meet their needs.
5- Focus on a Few: Make a small group of users very happy.
6- Provide Great Service: Learn from your users and improve.
7- Track Progress: Keep an eye on important numbers.
8- Spend Wisely: Save money to last longer.
9- Cover Basics: Aim to pay your living expenses.
10- Stay Focused: Avoid distractions and stick to your plan.
11- Stay Positive: Keep going, even when it’s tough.
12- Don’t Quit: Keep pushing forward.
13- Stay Ready: Deals can fall through. Focus on your main tasks.

Review these tips often and see how they fit into your journey. 💡

What’s your most important lesson? Share your thoughts!

Proper Due Diligence

Saravanan RathakrishnanSaravanan Rathakrishnan • 2nd • 2ndSenior Associate at RHTLaw Asia LLP | Specializing in Funds, M&A and Venture Capital | Legal500 Rising Star (Investment Funds) | Structuring High-Impact Private Equity/Debt & Venture Capital Investment FundsSenior Associate at RHTLaw Asia LLP | Specializing in Funds, M&A and Venture Capital | Legal500 Rising Star (Investment Funds) | Structuring High-Impact Private Equity/Debt & Venture Capital Investment Funds

Due diligence is more than just a formality—it’s the key to making informed startup investments that protect your capital and future returns.


Many investors dive into exciting startup opportunities without fully evaluating the risks.


But neglecting a thorough review of key areas can expose you to unforeseen legal and business pitfalls.


What often happens is that investors overlook crucial elements in the due diligence process, focusing too much on the product and less on underlying risks.


This can lead to missteps that affect both their investment and the startup's future.


The truth is, conducting proper due diligence helps you uncover potential issues early on, providing clarity on the risks and helping you make better investment decisions.


Are you conducting thorough due diligence before making startup investments?


Here’s a checklist of key areas investors should focus on when evaluating a potential startup investment:

What do VC’s kow that the rest of us don’t?

Burak BuyukdemirBurak Buyukdemir • 2nd • 2ndFounder of Startup IstanbulFounder of Startup Istanbul

What do VCs know that the rest of us don't? VCs have a few tricks.

I'll be hosting Professor Ilya Strebulaev on my podcast to discuss his book, "The Venture Mindset"!

Ilya breaks down how top VCs think and make decisions.

He shares 9 key principles that can help anyone make smarter bets in business and life:

1. Business Model: Home Runs Matter, Strikeouts Don’t
2. Deal Sourcing: Get Outside the Four Walls
3. Initial Screening: Prepare Your Mind
4. Due Diligence: Say No 100 Times
5. Selection Criteria: Bet on the Jockey
6. Decision Making: Agree to Disagree
7. Follow-On Rounds: Double Down or Quit
8. Incentives: Make the Pie Bigger
9. Exit: Great Things Take Time

Whether you're an entrepreneur, investor, or just curious about innovation, this episode is for you!

Got questions for Ilya? Drop them in the comments below, and I'll try to ask them during our chat.

5 Leadership points

Jeremy Connell-WaiteJeremy Connell-Waite • Following • FollowingGlobal Communications Designer 👁️🐝Ⓜ️Global Communications Designer 👁️🐝Ⓜ️

A simple 3x5" record card helped Bob Iger to become CEO of Disney, Barack Obama to get elected, Steve Jobs to take on IBM, and JFK to write better speeches.

When Bob Iger was in the running to become the CEO of Disney in 2005 the board didn’t want to elect him. Some people thought he was a lightweight and represented too much of a carbon copy of former CEO Michael Eisner.

So Bob worked with Scott Miller who had previously helped Steve Jobs to mount an “insurgency campaign” to battle IBM in the 1980's.

Their strategy was to write a “stump speech” which contained all the reasons why Bob was the best candidate for the job, and then summarise it onto a 5x3" record card which Bob took everywhere with him.

The 6 statements Bob wrote on his record card became the foundation of every conversation he had during his leadership campaign:

1. Our job is to find the magic, wherever it is in the world.
2. We must restore our relationship with young families and especially young moms.
3. We must stand for family fun.
4. We must restore our relevance for and relationship with teens.
5. We must be agnostic about how our customers consumer our information / entertainment.
6. We must restore the quality of the Disney brand.

You can read about the full strategic process in Miller's “The Leadership Campaign” or read Bob’s take on the campaign in his autobiography “The Ride of a Lifetime”. Both excellent reads. 📚

Next time you are running a campaign of your own – a pitch, a presentation or a promotion – maybe start by writing down what differentiates you from everyone else, and what you want to stand for 5x3” record card? 📝

⬇️

"If you can't explain something simply, you don't know it well enough". Steve Jobs favourite Einstein quote 🖍️

⬇️

“That's what we storytellers do. We restore order with imagination. We instill hope again and again and again.” Walt Disney 🎬

26 Conditional Equity Milestones from Vested

https://www.vestd.com/hubfs/Guides/26%20Conditional%20Equity%20KPIs.pdf

How are Series A Multiple changing over time?

Michael HoMichael Ho • Following • FollowingSeries A prep for seed stage founders | former VC & exited founder | Click 'visit my website' to register for my next free Seed to Series A live training session 💪Series A prep for seed stage founders | former VC & exited founder | Click 'visit my website' to register for my next free Seed to Series A live training session 

How are Series A Multiples changing over time?
→ Let's look quarter by quarter from 2020 to 2024 👀

There are a couple of factors at play here:

1️⃣ The pre-money median valuations went from $28M in 2020 to a peak of $48M in Q1 2022 and are now sitting at $40M in Q2 2024

2️⃣ The pre-money multiples went from 10-20x in 2020 to a peak of 16-32x in Q1 2022 and are now back to the same 10-20x in Q1 2024

So why have valuations gone up, but the multiples stayed the same?

3️⃣ Because 2024 companies are generally further along than the 2020 cohort

4️⃣ It was common in 2020 for a Series A company to be doing between $1M to $2M ARR but now in 2024, it's more common to see $2M to $4M+ ARR

And we're also seeing the medium time from Seed to Series A going from 18 months in 2020 to 24 months now in 2024

So make sure you're clear on the milestones you need to unlock your Series A and make sure to stretch your seed capital to get you all the way there 💪

--
♻️ Repost to help a founder in your network

SEO has evolved

Rohan ShethRohan Sheth • 2nd • 2ndTop Growth Marketer & Business Owner | We’ve driven over $2 billion in ROI through our marketing strategies.Top Growth Marketer & Business Owner | We’ve driven over $2 billion in ROI through our marketing strategies.

SEO Has Evolved

Here's 7 ways how:

SEO isn’t what it used to be.
The tactics that worked a decade ago?
Most are ancient history now.

Here’s a sneak peek at how SEO has evolved,
and how you can keep up:

1.
Old Way: Keyword Stuffing
↳ Google no longer rewards pages crammed with keywords.

New Way: Intent-Driven Content
↳ Now, understand what users actually want when they search.

💎 Focus on creating content that answers real questions.

2.
Old Way: Backlinks = Authority
↳ Ten years ago, any link was a good link.

New Way: Quality Over Quantity in Link-Building
↳ Now, spammy backlinks can hurt your rankings.

💎 Prioritize building genuine, high-authority links.

3.
Old Way: Exact Match Keywords
↳ Search engines only picked up exact matches, so keywords had to be precise.

New Way: Natural Language and Synonyms
↳ Search engines now understand context and synonyms, not just exact phrases.

💎 Write naturally, using related terms and phrases.

4.
Old Way: Desktop Optimization
↳ Desktop was the primary focus, with mobile as an afterthought.

New Way: Mobile-First Indexing
↳ Google now indexes and ranks sites based on their mobile versions first.

💎 Ensure your site is mobile-friendly, with responsive design and fast load times on mobile.

5.
Old Way: Clickbait Titles
↳ Clickbait was enough to bring traffic, regardless of the content’s quality.

New Way: Engagement-Focused Content
↳ Google now cares about how long users stay on your page.

💎 Write catchy titles but make sure your content keeps readers engaged.

6.
Old Way: Focus on Individual Pages
↳ Each page was optimized individually, without much focus on the broader topic.

New Way: Topic Clusters and Internal Linking
↳ Google values depth on a topic; it’s now about clusters of related content rather than single-page ranking.

💎 Group your content into topic clusters, with pillar pages and supporting articles.

7.
Old Way: Local SEO Was Optional
↳ Local SEO was often ignored, especially if you weren’t a local business.

New Way: Local SEO Is Critical for Visibility
↳ “Near me” searches and mobile searches make local SEO a huge ranking factor.

💎 Optimize your Google My Business profile and get local reviews.

Check out the carousel for more in-depth insights!

Follow these changes, and you’ll stay ahead of the game.

🔘🔘🔘🔘🔘🔘

Want to invest in SEO and ads?

Here is how Limited Partners investing in Venture Capital assess a firm's Partners.

Myrto LalacosMyrto Lalacos • Following • FollowingEx-VC turned VC Builder | Principal at VC LabEx-VC turned VC Builder | Principal at VC Lab2w • 2 weeks ago

Here is how Limited Partners investing in Venture Capital assess a firm's Partners.

🟢 Green Flags

✦ Anyone who knows them speaks very highly of them.
✦ The Partners are clear in their communication and inspire a high level of trust.
✦ They have significant experience and notable achievements relevant to the fund's investment thesis.

🌕 Yellow Flags

✦ The Partners are building a generalist fund without a clear focus or differentiation in the market.
✦ Their resume shows short role tenure and frequent bumps. VC is a lifelong career, can they commit?
✦ They are not interested in raising future funds, what is the incentive to manage the present fund for the next 10 years?

🟠 Orange Flags

✦ The team dynamic is not great, and the role division is unclear.
✦ None of their investments have been growing rapidly - are they really exceptional pickers and backers?
✦ They have not proven they can lead or win competitive deals. It's easy to spot a good deal, the question is can they get in?

🔴 Red Flags

✦ The Partners lied about or misrepresented their track record or experience.
✦ They displayed unprofessional behavior or withheld important information.
✦ Signs they cannot raise the target fund size - can they set realistic targets and execute on those?

I'm trying to bring to life how LPs conduct due diligence on the Partners of VC firms.

But we're just scratching the surface...

For those wanting to go deeper on the diligence Limited Partners carry out on VC funds, I've linked additional resources below!

−

✍️ Myrto Lalacos
Follow for regular content on launching and investing in Venture Capital firms.