Fools, the friends, family and fools round.
Small checks from early believers, made legal and legible.
Fools exists so that a founder without a wealthy network can raise a first round from the people who already believe in them, and so that every one of those checks is treated seriously.
The network gap
If your first checks depend on wealthy blood relatives, most founders never start. Capital formation should not require a trust fund in the family tree.
The friends, family and fools round
The oldest name for a first raise: checks from early believers who back the founder before any institution does. Expanding that circle takes process, not pressure.
Treat every check seriously
A standardized Crowd SAFE, clear risk disclosure, and only money people can afford to lose entirely. Money movement is the core. Without a path to real capital, the idea is worthless.
What is live today
- Now
- The founder workspace, in use by a pilot founder on a licensed funding portal.
- Next
- Partner rails, so commitments made on the portal appear in the workspace.
- Later
- Backing on Fools, once the partner agreement and counsel review are complete. Fools is not currently offering securities.
The name
Fools, the friends, family and fools round. The name is the oldest phrase for a first raise, and it is the whole product: the people who back a founder before any institution does. On Fools the people who write those checks are backers, and the people who raise are founders. Nobody is called anything else.
Fools is a funding platform, not an advisor. We don't recommend, rank, or endorse companies; federal crowdfunding rules prohibit it, and our neutrality is the point. Fools is not affiliated with The Motley Fool® or fool.com.
Fees, provisionally
For the pilot round Fools is not compensated. The fee shape for later rounds is not set and will be confirmed with counsel. Any figure you see in our simulated math (an illustrative 5% success fee) is a provisional placeholder for modelling, not a price. It will never be a fee for advice or for picking companies.
The team
Fools is built by a small team in the United States. Names, backgrounds and how to reach us will appear here before the first public round.