Tools for pre-seed startups getting ready for the first raise

Six weeks before you send the first email

Imagine two founders planning to raise $500,000 on a SAFE, with a working prototype and a few design partners. Each step below uses a different module. Do them in this order, because each one feeds the next.

1. Week 1: run the deck through the analyzer. Upload a PDF of up to 50 MB to the Pitch deck analyzer and set Product Stage to Idea Stage or Pre Revenue. You get a score out of 100, notes per slide, and likely investor questions.
2. Week 2: fix what it found, then re-upload. Editing happens in your slides tool, not in Nautis.
3. Week 3: build the long list. In Find investors, filter by Investment Stages, Industries, Operating Countries and Ticket Size, which starts at $5K. Filter Investment Mechanisms by SAFE if that's your instrument.
4. Week 4: practise out loud. The AI Voice Coach plays an investor who pushes back. Start with Full Pitch, about 20 minutes, then Rapid Q&A, about 10.
5. Week 5: check readiness. Investor readiness reads what's in the workspace and gives a 0 to 100 score, then a ranked action plan. It leans on team and story at pre-seed.
6. Week 6: start. Talk to investors in parallel, not one at a time. Graham's advice is to treat them as saying no until they unequivocally say yes.

Read the deck score the right way

Don't panic at your first number. The guide is direct about it: the AI grades against what late-stage investors typically expect, and pre-revenue decks usually score lower than post-revenue ones. A low score at pre-seed tells you very little. The Recommendations tab is what's useful, and so are the Investor Questions.

Keep the score off by default when you share. The tracked link hides it unless you turn on Show readiness score. For a real investor, set the link to Private with a passcode, add their name as the recipient, and read Manage to see sessions and time spent. An investor who viewed three slides for 40 seconds has told you something, though don't read too much into one session.

Match scores and the investors worth contacting

Each investor profile in the directory can show a % match based on stage, industry, geography and check size, with a breakdown. Use it to cut a long list, not to write off a name. The guide itself calls it a guide, not a guarantee. A warm introduction to a 55% match usually beats a cold email to a 90%.

Filters combine with OR inside a category and AND across categories, so "Seed" plus "Series A" plus "FinTech" gives you investors in either stage who also do FinTech. Filtered views live in the URL, which makes it easy to share one with a co-founder. Always check the firm's own site before you reach out, since directories go stale.

Nautis won't send messages from the directory. It links out, and you write to them. The Fundraising CRM has an AI Outreach Draft to start from, and what you send is still yours to fix.

The raise itself: why plan matters here

This is the page's most practical warning. The trial starts on Launch, and Launch is good for preparing. Running a live pipeline is different. The facts below come from the plan table, which is what you should read before deciding.

A sensible path for most teams is one month on Launch to prepare, then Voyage for the months of the raise. Upgrades apply immediately and downgrades take effect at the end of the billing period, so moving back down afterwards is possible if you don't need the higher limits. Pay monthly while you're unsure, since yearly billing only suits you if you know you'll stay.

Do the SAFE math before you agree to a cap

Y Combinator's SAFE documents page explains that on a post-money SAFE, the ownership you sell equals the investment divided by the valuation cap. So $250,000 on a $5,000,000 post-money cap sells 5%. Do that for every SAFE and add them up, because they stack. Two of those is 10%, before any priced round or option pool.

YC's forms are for US companies, with separate versions for Canada, the Cayman Islands and Singapore. Elsewhere, ask a local lawyer what instrument fits. A SAFE is not debt and has no interest or maturity date, which trips up first-timers used to thinking in loans.

In the Cap table, record the SAFE with its principal, discount and cap, and it appears as an instrument without a share count until it converts. The Scenarios tab shows dilution before you sign. If you'd rather not upgrade, our cap table simulator handles quick math. Our pre-seed funding guide covers the wider process.

When these tools won't help

• You already have warm intros to everyone you need. A spreadsheet tracks 15 names perfectly well. You don't need a directory, and a fundraising CRM adds nothing there.
• You're not raising in the next six months. Spend the time on customers. Come back when you're preparing.
• You want the software to say whether you'll get funded. Investor readiness is a preparedness check, not a prediction. "Ready to raise" doesn't mean anyone says yes.
• You're after a specialist investor database. A dedicated one may go deeper. Nautis launched publicly in July 2026, with few independent reviews so far, so test the directory against names you already know before relying on it.

FAQ

Sources

• Paul Graham: How to Raise Money (checked Oct 31, 2026)
• Y Combinator: the SAFE financing documents (checked Oct 31, 2026)