Two halves of the same bet — switch view ↓

The Stack · Capital

The operating system
for your raise.

Name: The Founders' Stack
Price: 50 USD
Author: Ashish Kulkarni

Cap table, valuation, VC matching, term sheets, investor updates — nine tools across the full raise.

Explore the tools →

ValuLabCapLabVCLabTermLab+5 more

Built by Ashish Kulkarni · 100+ VC interviews

Cap Table · Series A

Founders

68%

Seed Investors

18.5%

ESOP

10%

Angels

3.5%

VC Matcher

92%

Meridian Ventures

B2B SaaS · Series A–C

Stage fit

Sector fit

Geo fit

SAFE Calculator

Model cap, discount & stacking

The problem

Fundraising is the one thing every founder has to figure out — usually alone, usually under pressure. And underneath the raise sits a second question nobody prepares you for: the founder VCs say they're really betting on.

Neither is a founder problem.
Both are information problems.

01 Defensible valuation

$8.4M

$5M floor$12M ceiling

ValuLabFree

Get a defensible valuation before you talk to a single investor, and see exactly how it's calculated.

See how it works →

02 Cap table · Series A

Founders 68% Seed 18% ESOP 10% Angels 4%

CapLabFree

Model dilution round by round, with ESOP pools and the Option Pool Shuffle built in.

A curated shortlist matched to your sector, stage and geography, drawn from 27,000+ VCs and 93,000+ angels.

See how it works →

04 Term sheet clauses

Liquidation pref1x non-part

Anti-dilutionBroad-based

Board seatsInvestor 3/5

TermLabFree

Understand every clause before you sign: waterfalls, anti-dilution, vesting, and a full SAFE simulator.

See how it works →

05 Time on each slide

CoverProblemMarketAsk

PitchLabFounder Pro

Send each VC a tracked link and see who opened your deck, and which slides actually held them.

See how it works →

06 Fundraise pipeline

Track every investor and interaction so a warm lead never goes cold. A CRM built for founders, not salespeople.

See how it works →

07 Investor update · June

Turn any update into a visual dashboard you can share with investors in a single link.

See how it works →

08 Vesting · 4-year schedule

CliffYr 242% vestedYr 4

ESOPLabFree

Learn and manage option pools, vesting schedules, leaver clauses and exit payouts.

See how it works →

09 Data room · 7 folders

Track data-room readiness across 7 folders and know what investors will ask before they ask.

See how it works →

01 Self · Big Five (OCEAN)

Your Big Five profile across all five traits and their facets — the backbone of how you show up in the founder seat.

Take the assessment →

02 Self · Self-efficacy

7.9/10

Resilience

EfficacyIndexLive

How strongly do you believe you can execute under pressure — the trait most tied to tracked growth. Track it as you scale.

Take the assessment →

03 Drive · Initiative

How much you act before you're forced to — the one trait research shows can actually be trained. A self-starting read.

Take the assessment →

04 Drive · Locus of control

How much do you believe you steer your own outcomes, versus luck or circumstance? A read on your sense of agency.

Take the assessment →

05 Cognition · Self-awareness

How clearly you see your own thinking — and adjust it. The metacognition that separates founders who learn fast.

Take the assessment →

06 Shadow · Dark Triad

The traits that make founders formidable — framed as an edge to understand and manage, never a diagnosis.

Take the assessment →

✦ Composite · all six tests

Your Founder Profile

SelfDriveCognitionShadow

FounderMindFounder Pro

All six assessments synthesised into one shareable founder profile — your Self, Drive, Cognition and Shadow in a single read.

See a sample →

Why measure the founder?

The thesis behind The Psyche — and the long-term study you join by taking these.

Read the argument →

Built on validated psychological constructs. A mirror and a coach — never a diagnosis, never a prediction. Take the battery and you help build the first dataset linking founder psychology to real outcomes.

Create your account

Run your numbers free

Model your cap table, valuation, term sheet and more with the free tools — see every result with your account.

Upgrade when you're raising

Founder Pro ($50/month or $500/year) unlocks saves, exports, VC matching, and a 1:1 call with Ashish to set up your raise.

Six tools are free with a free account — explore them anytime and sign up to see your results. Founder Pro unlocks saves, exports, VC matching, and the tools you use live through a raise.

Who built this

Ashish Kulkarni

Ashish Kulkarni is a startup educator, investor researcher, and host of The Founders' Stack podcast. He runs two newsletters with 18,000+ subscribers: Founders' Psyche (founder psychology) and Founders' Capital (venture finance). Over the past several years, he has conducted primary research across two major studies: interviewing 100+ C-stage VCs on what they actually look for in founders, and a research collaboration with Plug and Play Tech Center spanning five international startup hubs. The Founders' Stack is built on that research, not guesswork.

🔬 Read the research: two global studies from 100+ VC interviews across 33 countries →

Which tools are live right now?

All nine: ValuLab, CapLab, VCLab, RadarLab, TermLab, PitchLab, DDLab, ESOPLab, and FundLab. Six are free with a free account: ValuLab, CapLab, TermLab, VCLab (preview), ESOPLab (Learn mode), and DDLab (checklist). The other three (RadarLab, PitchLab, and FundLab) are Founder Pro only. Founder Pro also unlocks saves, exports, the full VCLab universe, RadarLab dashboards, deck analytics, and the data room builder.

What's the difference between free and Founder Pro?

Free gives you the calculators in learning mode with a free account. Run the math, see the result, no saves. Founder Pro is the working version: save scenarios, export, share dashboards with VCs, get matched against 27,000+ VCs and 93,000+ angels, and use every tool end-to-end through your raise.

Can I cancel anytime?

Cancel anytime from your dashboard. No lock-in, no questions asked.

What do you do with my data?

Your data is used only to improve the platform. It is never sold or shared. You can delete your account at any time.

Founder Pro

Everything you need to raise.

$500 /year

Save $100 vs monthly · Cancel anytime

✓ All 9 tools: ValuLab, CapLab, VCLab, RadarLab, TermLab, PitchLab, DDLab, ESOPLab, FundLab
✓ 15-minute onboarding call with Ashish
✓ Direct feedback line throughout your raise
✓ Cancel anytime

How it works

Create your account in 2 minutes

Pick monthly ($50) or annual ($500)

Book your 1:1 call with Ashish and start raising

Free to create an account. Payment happens on the next step.

Cancel anytime from your dashboard.

The operating system
for your raise.

Two minutes. Nine tools. One raise.

From valuation to wire transfer. One complete fundraising OS.

The operating system for the founder behind it.

How it works

Ashish Kulkarni

Everything you need
to fundraise with confidence.

A few things you're probably wondering

Everything you need to raise.

Stop spraying.
Start raising.

Two newsletters. One founder education.

The operating systemfor your raise.

Two minutes. Nine tools. One raise.

From valuation to wire transfer. One complete fundraising OS.

The operating system for the founder behind it.

How it works

Ashish Kulkarni

Everything you needto fundraise with confidence.

A few things you're probably wondering

Everything you need to raise.

Stop spraying.Start raising.

Two newsletters. One founder education.

The operating system
for your raise.

Everything you need
to fundraise with confidence.

Stop spraying.
Start raising.