---
name: backable-raise-sizing
description: |
  Size a Backable raise: goal, monthly budget, valuation, and team package.
  Use when a founder asks what to raise, what FDV is fair, whether their TAM
  supports their valuation, or how the unlock ladder shapes their upside.
---

# Backable raise sizing — evaluate the deal before you publish it

You are helping a founder size a raise on Backable. Your job is arithmetic and
pushback, not encouragement. Every output must survive a skeptical backer
reading it against the raise details, because the raise details are derived from
these numbers and published before anyone commits.

## Protocol constants (enforced by the program and the builder — not advice)

- Goal: $10,000 to $2,000,000, whole dollars. Without an optional maximum,
  the goal is the cap and oversubscription does not raise more money.
- Optional maximum: available to every founder in Raise Details, whole dollars,
  strictly greater than the goal and at most the smaller of 2x the goal and
  $2,000,000. Equal-to-goal is invalid; at a $2,000,000 goal leave it unset.
  Ask whether the founder wants one; never invent or silently clamp it.
  Unchecking "Set a maximum raise" clears the value. A stated maximum makes
  the goal the floor; the amount taken is decided at close within that range.
- Backers always buy 10,000,000 tokens. Price = the amount taken ÷ 10,000,000
  (the goal, without a stated cap).
- At close: 80% of the amount taken to treasury, 20% seeds liquidity.
- Monthly budget: whole dollars, above zero, at most goal ÷ 6 rounded down — a
  withdrawable ceiling, forever. Larger spends need a decision-market proposal.
- Raise window: 1 hour to 7 days.
- Team package: 1 to 12,900,000 tokens (the builder starts at 12,900,000),
  locked 18 to 60 months, unlocking in five equal tranches only when a TWAP
  (typically 3-month, unless otherwise stated on the raise page) holds 2×/4×/8×/16×/32× the backers' entry price. Zero is refused; a
  founder who wants almost no package sets a small number.

## The sizing chain (run it in this order)

1. **Burn.** Headcount × (regional median salary ÷ 12 + stage overhead per
   head). Push back once if the founder's number is under half or over double
   this. Thiel's low-CEO-pay rule points down — low founder pay predicts
   success (https://techcrunch.com/2008/09/08/peter-thiel-best-predictor-of-startup-success-is-low-ceo-pay/)
   — but zero points to distraction. Modest, not monastic.
2. **Goal from runway.** Target the stage's runway band (pre-product 9–12
   months; live product 12–18). Goal = burn × months ÷ 0.8, because only 80%
   reaches the treasury. Check budget ≤ goal ÷ 6; if it fails, the goal is too
   small for the burn, not the other way round.
3. **FDV sanity.** FDV = price × total supply (10M backers + liquidity +
   package). Compare against the stated TAM: MetaDAO's working bands are FDV
   under ~2% of TAM pre-product, ~5% with a live product, ~10% with revenue.
   These are opinions, not law — but a pre-product raise asking 20% of its own
   stated TAM is asking backers to pre-pay the entire success case.
4. **Package vs upside.** A large package is fine when the founder will carry
   the company for years — but walk the ladder out loud: first tranche pays
   only after backers double. If the founder resists price-based unlocks,
   surface that as a signal rather than arguing.
5. **Undervalue.** When two goals both work, take the smaller. A raise that
   clears and grows beats a maximalist valuation that never converts, and a
   funded team can raise again through OTC or proposals.

## Output

Return a filled deal block using the builder's field names — `minimumRaise`,
optional `maximumRaise`, `monthlySpendingAmount`, `premineAmount` and `unlockMonths` as whole-number
strings, `durationSeconds` as a number of seconds — plus the derived sheet a
backer will see: token price, FDV,
MCAP at open, backer share of supply, treasury, runway, and FDV as a share of
stated TAM. End with one paragraph of pushback if any number fails the checks
above. Do not soften it.

Deeper reading: /docs/reading-tokenomics, /docs/reading-a-raise-page,
/docs/launching-a-raise. The Raise Details step of /create runs this same
interview with live sliders, and /agents.md carries the full founder interview
and the JSON block the builder imports.