The SEEDS Funding Framework 🌱
A 5-step seedstrapping guide to validate, earn revenue, and fund smart
Too many first-time founders jump straight to “how much should I raise?”
Before they’ve answered the far more important question:
Should you raise at all?
This issue walks you through the SEEDS Funding Framework.
Use it to stay in control, grow sustainably, and avoid costly mistakes. In a world full of VC pressure and startup theatre, this framework keeps you focused on commercial traction, not vanity.
Whether you’re pre-revenue or halfway through a raise, this will help you stress-test your strategy – and avoid the expensive mistakes I’ve seen over and over again.
Need a refresher on seedstrapping?
OK, let’s get into it 👇
The SEEDS Funding Framework
What is the SEEDS Funding Framework?
A 5-step guide to help early-stage founders validate, earn revenue, and decide the right funding path - without raising too early. Use it to stay in control, grow sustainably, and avoid costly mistakes. In a world full of VC pressure and startup theatre, this framework keeps you focused on commercial traction, not vanity.
S - Seedstrapping Viability Check
Test whether your idea is commercially viable and whether it's seedstrap-compatible.
Seedstrap-compatible product ideas tend to:
Solve a painful, urgent customer problem
Can be delivered manually or with simple tools at first
Attract paying customers early without massive tech or team spend
Key activities:
Assess seedstrap compatibility across your business model, customer, market and product: Can you generate early revenue? Will customers pay now?
Run Lean Startup-style experiments to test real demand (customer interviews, landing pages, traction tests)
Find one sales or marketing channel you can make work
Deliver value through manual or concierge MVPs - before writing any code
Success criteria: Strong customer pull + clear path to early monetisation
Decision gate: "Is this idea seedstrappable or does it require heavy upfront investment?"
Common pitfalls:
Over-building your Minimum Viable Product before validating your customer will pay.
Deep dive article ➡️
E - Earn ‘Revenue Now’
Revenue that teaches you what your product must become - and pays you while you learn
Revenue strategies:
Consulting/Services: Solve the problem manually for customers
Info Products: Package your expertise (courses, guides, templates)
Concierge/Done-for-You: Deliver the outcome without the full product
Early Product Sales: Pre-sales, beta access, or simplified versions
Success criteria: Consistent monthly revenue covering basic costs
Decision gate: "Is my early revenue sustainable and growing?"
Common pitfalls:
Choosing revenue streams that don't end up helping you build towards a product.
Failing to convert ‘Revenue Now’ insights into later product revenue.
Deep dive article ➡️
E - Estimate Your Runway
Model your financial future to make an informed funding decision.
Scenarios include:
Scenario A: Pure bootstrapping (own revenue only)
Scenario B: Strategic seedstrap funding (initial £20-£100k equity funding)
Scenario C: Traditional angel funding round (£250k+ equity funding)
Scenario D: Leave the seedstrapping path and raise from an early stage VC fund (£250k++)
Key metrics: Runway, growth rate, break-even timeline, ownership dilution
Success criteria: Clear understanding of whether external capital accelerates, distracts or creates unnecessary risk
Decision gate: "Will funding genuinely accelerate my goals?"
Common pitfalls:
Using overly optimistic revenue growth assumptions
Forgetting that fundraising can be incredibly time consuming
Further help ➡️
This is both a strategy exercise and a financial modelling task. It’s worth slowing down here - some of the choices you make here can be irreversible. Need help? There’s a step by step guide and financial modelling scenario templates coming later in the series.
D - Decide Your Funding Path
Choose the right capital for you and your business.
Funding Options Include:
Own Revenue: Best for lean starts, but may be slow
Grants: Great for R&D, but slow and unpredictable
Angel Investors (SEIS/EIS): £20k–£200k, but can be time consuming
Revenue-Based Financing: Requires sustained revenue; impacts cash flow
Patient Debt: Loans or credit facilities with repayment
Rolling Investment: Raise later, more efficiently and on better terms
Venture Capital: Only if your strategy requires market dominance
Success Criteria: Funding that aligns with your growth goals and exit strategy
Common Pitfalls:
Raising money because you can (or to prove you can) - not because you really need it
S - Scale Sustainably
Keep building and maintain optionality on whether you want to raise, grow or exit
Exit options might include:
Strategic acquisition (by a partner, competitor, or Private Equity firm)
You retain long-term ownership and take profit dividends
Partial exit: selling shares to aligned angels or other investors
Growth levers:
Product Development: Automate what you've been doing manually
Marketing Channel Optimisation: Double down on what's working
Team Building: Hire slowly and flexibly, focusing on revenue-impacting roles
Market Expansion: Adjacent customer segments or use cases
Success criteria: Profitable growth with multiple exit options
Common pitfalls:
Premature scaling of investment in marketing and product - especially before Customer-Problem-Solution is truly proven
What next?
The SEEDS Funding Framework isn’t just a theory – it’s a practical lens I’ve developed working with hundreds of founders to avoid wasted time, over-raising, or building the wrong thing.
If you want to go deeper:
👉 I’m working on a step-by-step guide and runway modelling template to go with this framework – comment if you’d use it.
What's working for you in early validation or revenue generation? I'm collecting founder stories for upcoming case studies – the real, messy, honest ones that actually help other founders navigate similar challenges.
Take care
Tim