The trail
From founding to exit: what each stage asks you to prove.
A seed investor checks the cap table and the IP assignments. A Series A lead adds monthly financials that tie. A lender wants its reporting on time, and a buyer wants all of it, years deep. Here is what each stage asks for and which product covers it.
Five stages
Stage by stage
Stage 1 of 5
Founding
Two founders, a formation certificate, an idea.
- CapReadi
What you are asked to prove
Formation documents, the EIN letter, founder agreements, an IP assignment, a first cap table.
What Vanward does
CapReadi Founder, free to start. Upload the founding documents, mark what does not exist yet as not applicable, and see your first readiness score.
Stage 2 of 5
Seed
First outside money. Angels, a seed fund, a SAFE or priced round.
- CapReadi
- BoardReadi
What you are asked to prove
The 22 standard diligence documents: corporate, equity, financials or a plain statement that there are none yet, forecast, team, customers, IP, and compliance.
What Vanward does
CapReadi Founder. Each investor gets a ReadiLink scoped to them, watermarked and revocable, with a package download for their file. The readiness score tells you what to fix before they ask.
Stage 3 of 5
Series A
An institutional lead, a board, a controller or fractional CFO, monthly reporting.
- CapReadi
- BoardReadi
- FinReadi
What you are asked to prove
Everything from seed, now current, plus historical financials that tie, management accounts, a board package every month, and evidence that the numbers are reviewed.
What Vanward does
FinReadi Close runs the month-end close with a preparer and a reviewer on every step; every reconciliation lands on the same trail CapReadi scores. BoardReadi turns the close into the board package on one link.
Stage 4 of 5
Growth
Series B and beyond, or sponsor-owned: a fund owns the company and the founder has moved on. A finance team, an audit, a lender that wants its reporting on time, customers who run their own diligence on you.
- CapReadi
- BoardReadi
- FinReadi
What you are asked to prove
Audited statements, controls, a close that finishes on business day five, a clean equity ledger, customer and vendor contracts organized and current.
What Vanward does
FinReadi keeps the close, the audit preparation, and the equity records continuous. Twelve closed months in Vanward is the history a buyer or an underwriter wants to see, already verified.
Stage 5 of 5
Exit
An acquirer, a strategic, a public listing. Advisors, lawyers, a quality of earnings review.
- DealReadi
- FinReadi
What you are asked to prove
The full diligence package: financial, legal, commercial, and operational, with working capital, customer concentration, and key-person risk addressed before the buyer raises them.
What Vanward does
DealReadi turns the history already in Vanward into the diligence package and the data room, as an engagement with our team. The work starts from documents that are already on file and already checked.
Where to begin
Start at any stage
Most companies do not start at founding. A sponsor-owned company with a controller usually starts with FinReadi Close; a seed company starts with CapReadi. Either way, what you check in for one product is there for the others, and nothing has to be uploaded twice.
Start where you are.
Try CapReadi Founder free for 30 days, no card needed: upload, score and share live ReadiLinks with investors. After the trial it is $300 a month, or $3,000 a year paid up front.