Capital and diligence gates map to engineering and commercial outcomes — not vanity metrics (followers, deck polish alone).
Ask / allocation SSOT: Use of funds ($1.0M — outcomes-first; SAFE · ~12 mo secondary). Pitch copy SSOT: Pitch deck.
Pre-raise hygiene (status)
| Gate | Status |
|---|---|
| Gate A — sole-founder equity + IP signed | Ready 2026-07-17 — 90/10, prior-invention none, side letter signed + vaulted |
| Phase 1 multi-task + failure evidence | Landed — Lift + Stack + PickPlaceCan + Door degradation + failure cases |
| Phase 2 generative failure / scoring depth | Landed — CogVideoX early cohort (n=6, seeds 0–1); larger paid cohorts post-wire |
| Phase 3 methodology + technical distribution | Landed — methodology Ready; site CTA + /methodology + article live |
| Soft raise (Decision 2) | Open — evidence + distribution + Gate A met; pitch with $1.0M pack — Use of funds |
| Demand signal (diligence, async) | Open / accumulating — ≥10 ICP conversations or ≥3 serious eval / LOI threads — strengthens pitch; does not block soft raise — Pipeline |
| Incorporation (Atlas) + entity docs in room | After runway-sized commit + Gate A — unlocks Investor sharing |
Engineering tracking: Roadmap digest (investor-facing). Detailed issue tracking stays outside this room.
Post-close milestones (locked)
Measured from first wire into the Delaware company bank. These are the kill / success criteria for the $1.0M pre-seed — state them in pitch meetings as what the money buys, not as runway math.
| # | Milestone | Target | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| M1 | 2 live design-partner evaluation reports | ≤ 4 months | Proof someone pays for / uses the audit; feeds pricing / case study |
| M2 | World-model scoring at depth — held-out cohort n≥30, criteria documented, scoring republished | ≤ 6 months | Product depth beyond a case study; uses paid GPU (pre-wire free-tier is not this bar) |
| M3 | Continuous-scoring product design (API sketch + CI hook outline; Phase 5 architecture) | ≤ 6 months | Path from services → platform without shipping Phase 5 early |
| M4 | First ML/eval hire (or co-founder offer accepted; clears Hire scorecard) | ≤ 9 months | Team that can deliver repeatedly — not a placeholder co-founder |
Non-goals for this raise: Cosmos-class as a vanity claim; fake LOIs; five-founder optics; continuous-scoring GA before design-partner WTP.
How to talk about it
Lead with outcomes, not runway. Never open with “$1M SAFE for 12 months runway.” The public ask headline is locked in Pitch deck: Raising $1.0M to earn the right to raise a Series A. SAFE and ~12 months are a secondary line — never the title.
- Lead with evidence pack + soft-raise entry met (Gate A signed); cite demand-signal progress honestly as it accumulates
- State what $1.0M buys — the four milestones above (partner reports → world-model depth → continuous-scoring design → first hire). Use those plain-English labels in the room
- Only then mention instrument + horizon: pre-seed SAFE · ~12 months operating horizon
- Map dollars to outcomes on Use of funds (compute for n≥30, hire for delivery, GTM for partners) — not “founder runway” as the pitch frame
- Close path: commit → Atlas from check → SAFE / wire → execute M1–M4