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.
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
- Choosing 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
- A plan for who to ask, in what order, and how
- 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 | ✓ | — | Rarely | They choose the investors | Paid ads and email |
| Mock investor meeting | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
| Support while you raise | ✓ 90 days, direct access to Joel | 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.
01
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.
02
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.
03
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.
04
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.
05
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.
06
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 · 30+ years in capital markets · 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.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.
Find out which half of your raise is missing.
In 20 minutes we'll tell you where you stand, whether you need us, a lawyer, or both, and what to fix first.