How Olnest works for founders.

How it works

1. 01

   Sign up as a founder

   Sign in with Google, so there is no password. Each account is one side (investing, founder or agency), and a founder account holds one startup. You can invite up to 5 teammates.

2. 02

   Set up your startup

   Seven short questions: name, idea, sector, team, legal, revenue and market. About five minutes, and any of them can wait. Your first readiness score is built from your answers.

3. 03

   Add your proof

   Upload evidence of your registration, revenue, users and contracts, as a PDF, an image or a CSV of up to 4 MB. A person on the team checks each one. The files stay between you and the team.

4. 04

   Apply for review

   Describe your idea in at least 15 words, upload at least one piece of evidence and say how much you are raising, then apply. The team approves your startup or asks for changes. We do not promise a review time.

5. 05

   Be found by investors

   Once approved, your startup is listed in investors’ Discover. An investor who wants to talk asks you for an introduction, and you accept or decline each one.

Your Founder Passport

Your Passport is your startup as investors read it, drawn as a passport. It holds only what you entered and what the team checked.

• Verified or self-reportedEvery figure is labelled. A figure is verified only once the team has checked the proof behind it. Everything else says self-reported, so an investor always knows which is which.
• StampsA stamp records something the team checked or recorded: each kind of proof verified, your approval, a complete profile, a pitch practised. A stamp never appears for a claim.
• What is insideYour sector, stage, city and registration on the data page, then pages for the idea, traction, team, market, peers and your round.
• Sending itYou can send your Passport to an investor in Messages. The word Verified on its cover means the team checked your company registration, and nothing more.

Your readiness score, out of 100

Seven factors, each with a fixed share of the 100. Most come from what you tell us; the evidence factor counts only proof the team has verified. My Score shows how each factor was scored, and Scale adds how to raise each one.

• The idea15 pts

  How fully you describe the problem and your answer to it. Full marks at 40 words or more.

• Traction25 pts

  The monthly revenue you report, in bands from $0 up to $50K or more. $0 is an answer, and it scores more than none.

• Market10 pts

  Whether you have estimated the market you can realistically reach.

• Company10 pts

  Whether your company is incorporated.

• Team10 pts

  Whether you are a founding team or a solo founder.

• Pitch10 pts

  Your best pitch practice score in the last 90 days.

• Evidence20 pts

  A quarter of the factor for each kind of proof the team has verified: registration, revenue, users and contracts. Proof still waiting to be checked scores nothing.

The score reflects what you have told us, what the team has verified and how your pitch practice went. It is not a rating of your startup as an investment.

What investors see, and when

• Nothing, until you are approvedOnly approved startups appear in Discover, and in every list and alert investors get from it. Your answers, evidence and review stay private while you work on them.
• Every signed-in investorYour profile, your readiness score and the reasons behind it, and which kinds of proof the team verified.
• Accredited investors, while your round is openYour round: how much you are raising, the instrument, the minimum cheque and the dates. Only investors who have confirmed they are accredited see it.
• IntroductionsAn investor asks with a short note. You accept or decline, and accepting opens a conversation in Messages.
• Your data roomSeven documents, from your pitch deck to your financial model. An accredited investor can ask for access while your round is open and after you have accepted their introduction. You grant or decline it, and see which files they open.
• Who is watching, and who viewed youInvestors can watch your startup: you see how many, never who. On Seed you see how many investors viewed your startup, Scale describes each one without a name, and Growth shows names. An investor who browses privately is counted and never described.
• Where you appear in DiscoverFeatured startups first, marked as paid placement, then startups on Scale and Growth, then the rest by readiness score.
• What never reaches an investorYour evidence files, the team’s review notes, the pipeline of investors you keep for your raise, and your Founder DNA answers.

Running your startup

The Business Centre

Help from agencies for the work around your startup, on every plan.

• A directory of approved agenciesFirms the team has approved, by the help you need: marketing, branding, development, legal, finance, design, recruitment, insurance, accounting, fundraising. Some offer a startup discount on your first project, shown on their listing with its end date.
• Ask for a quote, or send a briefAsk one agency for a quote and it sees your name and your request. Or send a brief to the team, and tick a box to show it to approved agencies too: they see what you need, your stage and your city, not your name.
• Your price stays your priceA quote is an agreement between you and the agency. When you become its client through Olnest, the agency pays us a referral fee, and that never changes what you pay.

Plans

Prices in US dollars. Seed is free, with no card. Scale and Growth each start with a 3-day free trial, and each lists what it adds to the plan before it.

Extras, one at a time

• Featured listing · $30 a monthListed first in investors’ Discover while it’s on, marked as paid placement. Approved startups only.
• Oli Pro Services · $10–15 each · soonDeep, specific work like a full pitch deck review.
• Full startup review · $99 one-timeThe team’s full review of your evidence and profile. The mark shows only if it passes.
• Startup Handbook · $20 one-timeA what-to-do-next guide written from your answers, with one rewrite after they change.

No plan or extra buys approval, and none promises an introduction or a reply. Cohort pricing for the first founders is on the founding cohort page.

Questions founders ask

• Is it free?Seed is free, with no card, and an approved startup on Seed is listed in Discover like any other. Scale and Growth add more, and each starts with a 3-day free trial.
• How long does review take?We do not promise a time. Growth founders and a paid Full startup review are looked at first; neither changes what the review checks.
• Will investors contact me?Investors who find you in Discover can ask for an introduction. Nothing on Olnest promises that any will, on any plan.
• Does Olnest raise money for me?No. Olnest does not give investment advice or act as a broker or arranger, and no money moves through it. It helps you get ready and be found; the conversation with an investor is yours.
• Can I hide my startup?Yes. Pause hides it from Discover, the founder directory and new introductions. Your answers, score, evidence and round stay exactly as they are.
• I already invest on Olnest. Can I add a startup?Each account is one side, chosen when you first sign up. Write to us if you need it changed.

Anything else: finvestoros@gmail.com.