How to prepare for investment

Investment readiness is more than a pitch deck. Investors and their lawyers will test whether the company is actually investable — and weak documentation can delay completion, reduce valuation, or hand the other side leverage to renegotiate the price.

What investors’ lawyers will look at

• Corporate structure. That the company, share capital, articles and statutory records are all in order.
• Founder and shareholder arrangements. Ownership, decision-making, leavers, transfers and dispute mechanics, properly documented.
• IP ownership. That software, branding, content and inventions created by founders, contractors or agencies actually belong to the company.
• Commercial contracts. Your key customer, supplier, SaaS, reseller and licensing agreements.
• Data, employment and tax. Data-protection basics, employment and consultancy paperwork, and — where relevant — SEIS/EIS eligibility checked early.

A short checklist

• Bring Companies House filings and statutory registers up to date.
• Reconcile the cap table and any historic share issues.
• Put founder service agreements and IP assignments in place.
• Review your top customer and supplier contracts.
• Build a focused due-diligence folder before the investor’s lawyers ask for one.

Common traps

• Promising equity informally.
• Using overseas contractor agreements with no IP assignment.
• Leaving SEIS/EIS questions until completion.
• Relying on key contracts that are unsigned or expired.

We help founders prepare a company for investment by fixing the issues that would otherwise become investor objections — before they cost time or value.