The Hexa Start Deal

We designed the deal so that you keep more than 50% of the cap table after the seed round. Hexa gets diluted in the same way founders do, ensuring interests stay fully aligned.

For instance, two different scenarios:

• Scenario A: 20% dilution at Seed
  • Founders: 50%
  • Employee stock option pool: 5%
  • Hexa: 25%
  • Seed investors: 20%
• Scenario B: 15% dilution at Seed
  • Founders: 53%
  • Employee stock option pool: 5%
  • Hexa: 27%
  • Seed investors: 15%

• These scenarios are meant as reference outcomes: actual percentages may vary slightly depending on the round size, the option pool needed, and the specific fundraising structure.
• Hexa holds preferred shares that provide the same protections as those of new Seed investors (1x non-participating, liquidation preference).

If you raise on your own, you’ll likely start with friends and family money, then a pre-seed with a few angels or an early-stage fund, and only after that raise a seed. On paper, that path can look less dilutive than our deal. But in practice, what matters far more is the velocity and trajectory you can show in those first months.

A pre-seed often isn’t enough to give you 12 months of real runway, which can push you into raising your Seed earlier than you’d ideally want, usually with less traction than if you had gone through Hexa, because Hexa helps teams hit milestones and build strong metrics faster.

Raising earlier with less traction can translate into a lower valuation, simply because you have less to show. You’re also operating with less support, less hiring leverage, and fewer experienced people around you, which increases the chances of avoidable mistakes.

In the end, it’s a tradeoff between your growth trajectory (and how much you value the support that helps accelerate it) and the level of dilution you’re comfortable with. Going with Hexa can mean slightly more dilution (though not always), but the added speed, traction, and execution support more than make up for it.

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• Depending on your geography, local regulations, and legal setup, the instrument we use may vary (capital increase, BSA, SAFE, etc.). What doesn’t change are the economics: Hexa commits €700,000 for 33.33% ownership at incorporation.
• In practice, we follow a clear blueprint:
  • The company is created with co-founders owning 100% of it.
  • Hexa then injects €700,000 through a capital increase (or an equivalent pre-seed instrument) in exchange for 33.33% ownership. At that point, the cap table typically looks like:
    • Co-founders : 67.67%
    • Hexa SA : 33.33%
    • In practice, Hexa’s stake may be split across two or three vehicles/instruments for structuring reasons, but the total ownership remains the same. Hexa’s shares are preferred shares.
    • Of the €700,000 investment, €400,000 is invoiced by Hexa for all the support provided during the studio period, and €300,000 remains in your company’s bank account (see dedicated question).
  • From that point on, Hexa and the founders are diluted on a pro-rata basis in every future equity event (seed and beyond). Everyone stays aligned.

• Hexa will invest a total amount of €700,000:
  • A first part of €400,000 dedicated to pay for Hexa support during the studio period. It covers access to the full Hexa team and resources across strategy, go-to-market, product, design, legal, recruiting, and finance. The goal is to help you stay focused on what matters most, move fast, and avoid the typical early-stage mistakes.
  • A second part of €300,000, directly on your company’s bank account, is dedicated to pay for all the cash expenses during the studio period: founders’ compensation, early team salaries, tools and software, travel, and other operating costs needed to build and validate your company.
• If the project requires additional capital during the studio phase, Hexa can invest more than the initial €300,000. In that case, the extra funding is made through a separate instrument, which will convert at the next financing round on the same terms as the new investors, with an uncapped MFN (Most Favored Nation) clause ensuring Hexa receives the most favorable terms offered in that round..

As a startup studio (which is very different from an incubator or accelerator) we come in with clear ideas about the types of companies we want to build with exceptional founders, and we build them together from day one. In mindset and in day-to-day work, we operate like a co-founder while you’re in the studio: we hold ourselves to very high standards, we’re opinionated when it matters, and we consistently go the extra mile.

That said, there’s no ambiguity: you and your co-founder are the only true co-founders of the company.

We also invest in your company, so you can think of us as an investor as well. As you leave the studio and raise your Seed to become fully independent, our role naturally shifts, we’ll act more like an investor over time. And that’s exactly how you’ll present us to future investors, which is perfectly fine. Hopefully, we’ll just be your favorite one.

Board seat

• Hexa holds a board seat post-seed to stay close to strategic decisions and continue adding value at the governance level.

Information rights

• Hexa receives standard information rights (regular reporting, budgets, key metrics), so we can stay helpful and aligned - without being involved in day-to-day operations.

Same governance protections as majority investors

• Hexa benefits from the same protective provisions as the lead or majority seed investors on major company-defining decisions (e.g., changes to capital structure, standard vesting, drag/tag along, IP sale, dissolution, etc.). These protections help safeguard the company’s long-term trajectory, not control daily operations.

Pro-rata rights

• Hexa has the right to participate pro-rata in future financings, capped at 20% of the securities issued in a given round. This simply allows Hexa to keep backing the most promising companies.

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The Hexa studio journey lasts around 12 months.

• Start of the journey (pre-incorporation):
  • We find the two co-founders and start working together on the project: refine the initial idea, and validate the problem with potential customers and experts.
  • At this stage, there is often no legal entity yet
• Acceleration (build & early traction)
  • We develop the first product, run POCs with design partners and early customers, and iterate quickly.
  • During this phase, we incorporate the company, and Hexa makes its initial investment.
• Fundraising (toward seed)
  • Once there is clear traction and the project is signing contracts and showing strong usage growth, we prepare for the Seed round and begin fundraising.
• Post-seed
  • After the seed round, Hexa shifts from day-to-day involvement to a more advisory role. We also provide a short transition period (usually a couple of weeks) to ensure off-boarding from the studio is smooth and doesn’t slow execution.

While the project is in the studio, decisions are made jointly by the two co-founders and the Hexa Partner leading the venture. We operate on a consensus basis and aim to align quickly. If a major disagreement persists on a strategic or high-impact topic, the Hexa Partner has the final say to keep the company moving forward