WHY PREPARED TO RAISE

Your lawyer makes your raise legal. We make it investable.

Most founders assume a capital raise starts with a PPM. It doesn't. Investors don't write checks because the documents are compliant. They write checks because the story, the numbers and the terms make sense together, and because the founder is ready for their questions. Here's where we fit alongside securities lawyers, deck designers, consultants and finders, and when you need each.

Book a Free 20-Minute Call

Fixed fees

No success fees, equity or warrants

Offering documents reviewed by securities counsel

You own every investor relationship

EVERY RAISE HAS TWO HALVES

Most founders hire for the first half and improvise the second.

Is it compliant?

The securities lawyer's job

Confirming the exemption: 506(b), 506(c) or Reg CF

Private placement memorandum and entity documents

Subscription agreement and investor questionnaire

Form D and state notice filings

Legal advice on structure and disclosure

Is it investable?

Our job

How much to raise, what to offer and how to frame the valuation

An investment story that gives people a reason to act

Investor deck, executive summary and return scenarios

A critical review of your financial model, so every number ties

An organized data room and answers to the hard questions

Your Raise Playbook: who to ask, in what order and how, written, loaded in your tools, and launched with you on the call

A mock investor meeting, then 90 days of support while you raise

A lawyer drafts what you tell them to. If the amount, the security, the valuation or the story is wrong going in, the documents will be perfectly compliant and still won't close anyone. We build the second half and make sure it matches the first, with offering documents reviewed by securities counsel.

HOW WE COMPARE

The same raise, five ways to get help.

Each of these providers does real work. The question is which job they're built to do, and what's left for you to figure out.

	Prepared to Raise	Securities / PPM law firm	Deck or business-plan shop	Finder or success-fee consultant	Reg CF marketing agency
Built to answer	"Will investors say yes?"	"Is the offering compliant?"	"Do the materials look professional?"	"Who can I get in front of?"	"How do we drive campaign traffic?"
Raise strategy: amount, security, valuation, legal path	✓ Core of every engagement	Legal structure and exemption	Sometimes	Varies	Rarely
Investment story and deck	✓	Not their role	✓	Sometimes	Campaign page and video
Numbers consistent across deck, model and documents	✓ One owner for all of it	Not their role	Deck and model only	Rarely	Rarely
Offering documents	✓ Term sheet, subscription agreement, questionnaire and risk factors, reviewed by securities counsel	✓ Drafted by attorneys	—	—	Form C usually handled with the portal
Who to ask, in what order, how to ask	✓ Running the Raise guide for every client, plus your Raise Playbook: written, loaded in your tools, launched with you	—	Rarely	They choose the investors	Paid ads and email
Mock investor meeting	✓	—	—	—	—
Support while you raise	✓ 90 days at your side: four sessions timed to the raise, the first wave sent with Joel on the call, reply drafts reviewed on Slack within 24 business hours	Legal questions, varies by package	Usually ends at delivery	Until close, if it closes	Monthly retainer
How you pay	One fixed fee, $15,000–$25,000	Flat fee or hourly; specialist firms commonly $10,000–$25,000+ for the legal package alone	Per deliverable	Monthly retainer plus a percentage of what you raise	Monthly retainer, plus the portal's percentage
Percentage of your raise or equity	Never	No	No	Usually	Portal fee on funds raised
Who owns your investor relationships	You do	You do	You do	Often the finder	Shared with the platform

Describes typical structures in each category based on publicly available information; individual firms vary. Many founders use a securities law firm alongside us, and that's often the right answer.

WHY FOUNDERS CHOOSE US

Six things you won't get from buying the pieces separately.

Judgment from the investor's side of the table

Joel spent years as an analyst at multi-billion-dollar asset managers deciding which companies deserved investment, then as a partner at a 700-person investment bank. Lawyers know what investors must be told. We know what makes them say yes.

Strategy before documents

How much, what security, what valuation, which legal path. We settle those first, so you're not paying anyone to draft documents around the wrong decisions.

One owner, one consistent story

Your deck, executive summary, model, term sheet and risk factors are built together. Investors notice when numbers don't match. With us, they won't find any.

Incentives that point one way

One fixed fee. No success fee, no equity, no warrants, no referral fees from anyone. We're paid the same whether you raise $500,000 or $5 million, so our only incentive is getting it right.

We prepare. You raise.

We never solicit or introduce investors, and we never stand between you and them. The people who know you invest in you, and those relationships stay yours from day one.

We don't disappear at delivery

Rehearse in a mock investor meeting before the real ones, then run your raise with 90 days of direct access to Joel and scheduled working sessions.

"Legal documents protect you, but they don't persuade anyone to invest. A deck can persuade, but it doesn't close anyone. Raising capital takes all of it, working together."

Joel Arberman, Founder · 17 companies taken public

THE REAL COST COMPARISON

Buying pieces is rarely cheaper. It's just harder to see the bill.

Done in pieces

A lawyer for the documents

A designer for the deck

A consultant for the model

Maybe a finder taking a percentage of your raise

You coordinating people who never talk to each other

Numbers that don't match, and a story no one owns

Done with Prepared to Raise

One plan, one story, one set of numbers

Offering documents reviewed by securities counsel

A prioritized plan for who to ask and how

Rehearsal before your first real meeting

90 days of support while you raise

One fixed fee, and nothing taken from your raise

And you rarely get a second chance. The people who know you will give you one serious hearing. If the story is unclear or the terms are confusing, "let me think about it" quietly becomes no.

STRAIGHT TALK

When you should hire a securities law firm instead of us.

We're not a law firm, and we don't give legal advice. For some raises, the legal work is the hard part. If that's you, hire a specialist securities firm, and bring us in only if you also need the strategy and materials.

If you already work with securities counsel, keep them. We work alongside your lawyer, not in place of them.

You're forming a fund, blind pool or multi-tier syndication with a complex waterfall

You're dealing with an SEC inquiry or investigation

Your story, model and investor plan are already solid, and you only need documents

You're raising well above $10 million with institutional counsel on the other side

Comparing your options

Do I still need a lawyer if I work with you?

Yes. Every securities offering should involve securities counsel. Prepared to Raise isn't a law firm and doesn't provide legal advice. Our offering documents are reviewed by securities counsel, and if you already have a lawyer, we'll coordinate with them.

PPM law firms offer strategy sessions too. What's different?

A legal strategy session answers which exemption and structure fit your deal. It doesn't build your investment case, test your valuation against comparable companies, stress-test your model, sequence your outreach or rehearse you for the questions investors will ask. That's the work we do, from the investor's point of view.

Why not hire someone who can introduce me to investors?

Some founders need that, and a registered broker-dealer can provide it. But paying a percentage of the money raised to someone who isn't a registered broker-dealer can create legal problems for your company. We don't introduce investors, by design: our job is to make you ready for the investors you already have, and the ones you'll meet next.

Can't I just hire a deck designer and a lawyer separately?

You can, and many founders do. The risk is that nobody owns the whole thing. The deck says one thing, the model another and the use of proceeds a third, and you find out when an investor points it out. We build the materials and the plan as one package so they tell the same story.

What does it cost?

Every engagement starts with a free 20-minute call. The Readiness Assessment is $1,500, credited in full toward any package if you continue within 60 days. Packages are $15,000 (Network Raise), $20,000 (Growth Capital) and $25,000 (Reg CF). All fixed fees. Never a success fee, equity, warrants or a percentage of your raise. That's often about what a securities law firm charges to draft a PPM on its own. You get the strategy, materials, diligence and 90 days of support around it, and you still keep your own counsel.

Who do you work best with?

US privately held, founder-led companies, from pre-revenue to about $20 million in revenue, raising up to $10 million, who want to run their own raise but don't want to figure out the process alone. Non-US companies raising from US investors can work with us too.

In 20 minutes we'll tell you where you stand, whether you need us, a lawyer, or both, and what to fix first.