A useful readiness checklist ends with named owners and usable records. “Legal is handling it” is not enough if nobody knows who approves the offering page, verifies investor eligibility, or authorizes a closing.
The SEC’s capital-raising preparation guide highlights financials, ownership, capital needs, advisers, and management time. The checklist below turns those subjects into a working preparation plan. It describes practical preparation, not a list of documents universally required by every exemption.
What are you selling, and why?
Prepare a short offering brief for your advisers and internal team. Include the issuing entity, proposed security, target proceeds, intended investors, and use of funds. Explain the business milestone the financing is meant to support.
Model what happens at different funding levels. A plan that works only if the maximum is raised needs a clear explanation of what happens below that amount. Account for offering expenses when estimating usable proceeds.
Also distinguish the financing instrument from the exemption. Common stock, preferred stock, a note, and a SAFE can create different rights. Choosing Reg A or Reg D does not settle valuation, voting, conversion, or distribution terms.
Are the company records consistent?
Gather the records your team needs to establish what the company owns, owes, and has already promised. A practical preparation folder often includes:
- Formation documents, governing documents, and relevant approvals.
- An ownership record that accounts for issued securities and outstanding conversion rights.
- Financial statements and the support behind material financial claims.
- Material agreements, indebtedness, and related-party arrangements.
- Documentation of intellectual property ownership and material disputes.
- A record of earlier offerings and current fundraising communications.
Have counsel and the accounting team determine the required disclosures and financial statement standard. Avoid labeling an accountant’s compilation or review as an audit. The Reg A filing guide explains why the financial work can affect the entire launch schedule.
Is the investor outreach plan permitted?
List the channels you plan to use, including existing investor relationships, customer email, social media, paid ads, events, and referral arrangements. Give that list to counsel before publishing investment messages.
General solicitation rules differ by offering path. A password screen or an “accredited investors only” notice does not resolve every issue. Ask how prospects arrive at the page and what they see before and after registration.
For each material statement in the campaign, keep the supporting record and the approved wording together. An older pitch deck can create a problem when it describes different terms from the current offering documents.
Who makes each decision?
Assign responsibilities before configuring workflows. A small team may give one person several jobs, but those jobs still need to be explicit.
| Work | Responsibility to establish |
|---|---|
| Offering eligibility and documents | The issuer working with securities counsel |
| Financial statements | Company management and the relevant accounting professionals |
| Investor eligibility and screening review | The issuer or the offering’s broker-dealer, as applicable |
| Investor process and software configuration | The issuer and its team working with the technology provider |
| Acceptance, closing, and ownership records | The authorized parties under the offering’s arrangements |
| Continuing reports and investor commitments | Named company owners with appropriate professional support |
If you plan to pay someone to find or solicit investors, raise that arrangement with counsel early. The SEC’s broker-dealer guide explains why activities and compensation can matter to registration requirements. A software license does not resolve that analysis.
What should you verify before launch?
Walk through the investor experience using the actual offering materials. Check the issuer’s name, security terms, minimum investment, document versions, contact details, and permitted audience. Review what happens when information is missing or inconsistent.
Establish how the team will distinguish a signed subscription, completed screening, received payment, and an accepted investment. Confirm how those records become the closing record. Document the offering-specific treatment of failed payments, refunds, and any escrow arrangement.
Hypothetical example. A company finishes its deal page while its audit is still underway. The page’s completion is a software milestone. It is not evidence that a Reg A sale may begin. The team keeps separate readiness lists for the page, the offering statement, and the legal conditions for sales.
How Issuance fits
Issuance provides technology for the offering page, investor onboarding, signatures, payments, and administration. It gives the team a place to operate the investor process. The issuer or its broker-dealer reviews the relevant screening information and makes the applicable decisions.
Bring your draft offering brief and responsibility list to a platform demo. Discuss the intended workflow and the services you have already engaged. Then build a launch plan around the actual offering, rather than assuming every exemption uses the same process.