Hey everyone,

I'm a first-time fundraiser looking for advice from founders and investors who have experience raising or participating in pre-seed rounds.

I'm the founder of Leanova Health, a telehealth platform that is built and ready to launch. Our leadership team has extensive healthcare experience, and we have a four-person sales team covering Tampa, Florida; Lexington, Kentucky; Austin, Texas; and Toronto, Ontario.

Our business model focuses on partnering with organizations that already have established customer bases, including gyms, salons, med spas, apartment complexes, employers, residential communities, and 55-plus communities. Our goal is to make onboarding easy for business partners while generating recurring revenue through platform fees paid by client users.

Website: https://www.leanovahealth.live

I'm currently looking to raise $20,000 in pre-seed funding to help execute our launch and accelerate growth. I'm open to bringing in multiple smaller investors rather than relying on one person to fund the entire round.

Here's where I'm struggling: I haven't raised outside capital before, and finding the right investors for a relatively small round has been more difficult than I expected. Many traditional funding sources seem geared toward much larger raises, and I'm trying to understand the most practical path forward.

I'd really appreciate advice from anyone who has been through this process.

A few questions I'm hoping to get some insight on:

• Finding investors: Where would you look for individuals willing to invest $2,500–$10,000 in an early-stage business?
• Funding structure: For a $20K round, would you consider selling equity, using a SAFE, offering a convertible note, or taking another approach?
• Investor outreach: What has worked best for finding smaller angel investors? Direct outreach, introductions, online platforms, founder communities, or something else?
• Fundraising platforms: Are there legitimate platforms or angel networks that make sense for a raise this size?
• Pitch materials: What do investors realistically expect from a company at this stage? I have a pitch deck, financial models, sales materials, and supporting information about the platform and business model.
• Closing the round: If you were in my position, what would your first three steps be?

I'm not looking for shortcuts or unrealistic promises. I want to understand how to approach this professionally, find investors who are a good fit, and structure the round properly.

If you've raised a small pre-seed round yourself, invested in one, or helped a founder navigate the process, I'd genuinely appreciate hearing what worked, what didn't, and what you would do differently.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

I’m Jason "Tree" Mollander, Founder and CEO of Too Tall Trades. I’m not bringing you an idea—I’m bringing you a documented technical ecosystem that I’ve been developing around a problem AI infrastructure cannot avoid: data centers are becoming tightly coupled to energy, cooling, water, safety, construction and community impact.

Too Tall Trades is developing an integrated AI Data Center Ecosystem that connects ShadeCore’s energy and thermal architecture with resource-aware workload management, AfterFire’s human-safety and building-governance system, RAE’s decision-control layer, WITNESS’s evidence and event-record infrastructure, and community-centered campus design. The objective is not simply to build another data center; it is to create infrastructure that can operate responsibly within its resource envelope while giving surrounding communities a reason to welcome it—through safe public spaces, education and access to the technology supporting the development.

I have completed the current architectural specifications, system requirements, invention-family documentation, failure-point analysis and validation framework. The work is pre-revenue and pre-prototype, so I am not presenting simulations or design claims as proven field performance. I am raising funding in equity capital to protect and formalize the IP, build the first prototypes, establish the engineering and validation team, develop the upcoming product platform, and move the ecosystem from documented architecture into independently tested demonstrations.

I’m looking for an angel investor or lead investor who understands deep technology, AI infrastructure, energy systems, climate resilience and long-horizon physical platforms. If you are not the right investor for the full round, I would still value your assessment of the thesis and an introduction to someone who can help move the work into prototype development. I am not looking for permission to keep thinking about this—I am looking for the right capital and technical pressure-testing to build it.

If you’re looking for a small software experiment, I’m not the right founder. If you’re willing to help build a new category of AI infrastructure before the market is forced to accept weaker answers, then I’d like to show you the architecture and discuss whether there is a fit. Find the fit and we can discuss numbers afterwards. It's only proper etiquette. Its how I was raised. I look forward to hearing from anyone who is willing to teach an old dog that there is more to life than just surviving.

~Tree

I'm the CEO of an AI-native marketplace for heavy industrial assets. We recently crossed over $1B of listed assets on the platform across 30k+ listings and we are scaling into the market. We have the team built and our round is being led by a large institutional VC in the US.

I'd like to connect with angels who invest in B2B SaaS in energy and industrial verticals, DM me and I'd be happy to share more. Delaware C-Corp. Instrument is a standard 20% YC SAFE.

I’m Jason "Tree" Mollander, Founder and CEO of Too Tall Trades. I’m not bringing you an idea—I’m bringing you a documented technical ecosystem that I’ve been developing around a problem AI infrastructure cannot avoid: data centers are becoming tightly coupled to energy, cooling, water, safety, construction and community impact.

Too Tall Trades is developing an integrated AI Data Center Ecosystem that connects ShadeCore’s energy and thermal architecture with resource-aware workload management, AfterFire’s human-safety and building-governance system, RAE’s decision-control layer, WITNESS’s evidence and event-record infrastructure, and community-centered campus design. The objective is not simply to build another data center; it is to create infrastructure that can operate responsibly within its resource envelope while giving surrounding communities a reason to welcome it—through safe public spaces, education and access to the technology supporting the development.

I have completed the current architectural specifications, system requirements, invention-family documentation, failure-point analysis and validation framework. The work is pre-revenue and pre-prototype, so I am not presenting simulations or design claims as proven field performance. I am raising funding in equity capital to protect and formalize the IP, build the first prototypes, establish the engineering and validation team, develop the upcoming product platform, and move the ecosystem from documented architecture into independently tested demonstrations.

I’m looking for an angel investor or lead investor who understands deep technology, AI infrastructure, energy systems, climate resilience and long-horizon physical platforms. If you are not the right investor for the full round, I would still value your assessment of the thesis and an introduction to someone who can help move the work into prototype development. I am not looking for permission to keep thinking about this—I am looking for the right capital and technical pressure-testing to build it.

If you’re looking for a small software experiment, I’m not the right founder. If you’re willing to help build a new category of AI infrastructure before the market is forced to accept weaker answers, then I’d like to show you the architecture and discuss whether there is a fit. Find the fit and we can discuss numbers afterwards. It's only proper etiquette. Its how I was raised. I look forward to hearing from anyone who is willing to teach an old dog that there is more to life than just surviving.

~Tree

​

Hi! I’m looking for ₱150,000 to restart my Japan surplus toys business. The auctions I join are right here in the Philippines - no shipping or customs delays, so we start selling fast.

HOW WE EARN*

- Buy low: Bid on quality Japan surplus toys, plushies & collectibles at local auctions at great prices

- Sell high: Price at 50–100% markup collectors value authentic, rare Japanese items

Two ways to sell*

- Post & bid: List items, collectors compete, sell at best price.

- Live selling: Showcase items in real time and buyers purchase instantly.

- International buyers: My customers are toy collectors from China, Thailand, and Indonesia — strong demand, steady repeat business

THE DEAL

- Your full ₱150,000 + ₱45,000 profit = ₱195,000 total back within 12 months

- Start paying Month 4: ₱21,667/month

- Simple monthly reports — full transparency always

I’ve done this before, I know what sells, and my international customer base is ready.

Bit of context, I'm on the founder side and raising for the first time. I've read enough about cold outreach and the advice is all over the place. Some people say cold emails are pointless, others say a good chunk of there portfolio came from cold inbound.

For those of you who actually write cheques, when someone you don't know reaches out what makes you say yes to 20 mins? Is it the traction number in the first line, who else is already in, a mutual connection, or even just the subject line.

And the flip side, what's an instant no for you?

🚀 Hey everyone! I'm Jonathan, a software developer and startup founder.

I'm building Fantasy11, an ambitious sports-tech SaaS platform with global market potential.

The platform is already developed and deployed, and I'm now preparing for its official launch.

I'm actively seeking early-stage funding, investors, mentorship, and strategic partnerships to help scale this project.

I'd love to connect with anyone interested in supporting an early-stage tech startup. Feel free to DM me!

🌐 Explore Fantasy11: https://fantasy11-ten.vercel.app/

34 years old. I have a manufacturing setup since 2.5 years, Company is registered since 2021. Last year we crossed 5 cr turnover, this year we have 10 cr worth order till now, expecting minimum 12 cr turnover till march 2026.

Better Cash flow, timely manufacturing and expansion in other countries are our vision in next 3 years.

Need someone who can handhold us.

I'm a first-time founder based in the UAE, building a fintech startup called Maqamy.

The idea is simple: help families and trusted groups coordinate their investments, track contributions, and manage shared financial activities transparently.

We've already built a working MVP, but there's one challenge I'm struggling with: how do I get the product into users' hands without spending a huge amount on regulatory licensing and compliance before even validating product-market fit?

Here's the important part.

Our current MVP doesn't handle any actual money.

It's essentially a bookkeeping and investment-tracking platform where:

• Users create private groups with family members or trusted individuals.
• Members record their intended or completed contributions.
• The platform calculates everyone's proportional share.
• Users can record investments and track their performance.
• Everything is recorded for transparency and accountability.

There are no wallets, deposits, withdrawals, investment execution, or money transfers happening through Maqamy. Any real financial activity would happen independently, outside the platform.

At this stage, I simply want to onboard a small number of users, let them test the product, understand their behaviour, collect feedback, and figure out whether we're actually solving a problem worth building a company around.

Eventually, we want to develop a more advanced, properly regulated fintech infrastructure. I understand that licensing and compliance will be essential depending on the activities we introduce.

But right now, spending significant capital on regulatory infrastructure before knowing whether people even want the product seems like a difficult position for an early-stage founder.

So my question is:

How do fintech founders in the UAE launch and validate an MVP like this without immediately going through the full licensing process?

I'm not looking to bypass regulations. I'm trying to understand how to structure the MVP responsibly while keeping the cost of early validation realistic.

Would genuinely appreciate advice from anyone who's built a fintech product in the UAE, worked with ADGM/DFSA/CBUAE regulations, or gone through a similar journey.

How did you validate your fintech idea before committing serious capital to licensing and compliance?

I’m seeking a $25,000 angel investment for my Amazon FBA private-label brand, PJ’s Products.
I’ve been in the Amazon FBA space since February 2025, gaining hands-on experience in product research, supplier sourcing, manufacturing, logistics, and listing development. I’ve also raised $7,800 in angel investment for my business previously and have experience working with an investor.
My current product is AI translation earbuds that support 144 languages and are compatible with iOS, Android, and Mac.
Product link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DS9CDF3X
I’m looking to raise $25,000 to fund inventory, professional product photography, listing optimization, Amazon PPC advertising, and marketing to properly test demand and build a repeatable sales strategy.
Full transparency: the earbuds have generated two sales so far, and I currently have no inventory available. An issue involving my initial 259-unit test batch prevented me from conducting the product test as planned. My next step is to relaunch, measure demand, and make inventory decisions based on actual results.
I’m approaching this as a long-term e-commerce business, not a one-product gamble. I have additional private-label products researched and lined up if the earbuds don’t meet expectations.
I’m looking to connect with angel investors who understand e-commerce, Amazon FBA, consumer electronics, or private-label brands. I’m open to discussing a suitable investment structure and sharing further details with genuinely interested investors.
If you’re an investor or can introduce me to someone who invests in early-stage consumer brands, please DM me. Thank you.