First-Time Founders - Are You Raising? Set a Valuation Cap You Can Actually Defend.
Workshop #X in the TwoSetAI Workshop series. Most first-time founders pick a valuation cap by pattern-matching whatever another founder in their network raised at. That's not underwriting. That's guessing with more steps.
In this 60-minute workshop, Sadaf Ayub walks through The Underwriting Framework, the 8-step diagnostic she uses on founder clients to decide whether they're ready to raise and what cap they can actually defend. We'll build a live spreadsheet model using the same inputs she pulls when evaluating a real founder, and watch the model push a cap up or down as founders' capital, milestones, investor signal, and risk-vs-gaps profile shift.
What you'll walk away with:
The Underwriting Framework: the 8-step diagnostic Sadaf uses on real founder clients
A working spreadsheet template you can adapt for your own raise
A concrete method for defending your valuation cap in front of institutional investors
Dilution scenarios at Series A conversion under different SAFE cap choices
Who this is for:
First-time founders raising pre-seed or seed on SAFEs
Founders who've been offered a SAFE and want to know if the cap is fair
Anyone approaching a raise in Q4 2026 or Q1 2027
Founders confused about post-money vs pre-money SAFE dilution
Format: 60 minutes, live on YouTube. ~40 min technical walkthrough with live build, ~15 min live Q&A.
About the series
Workshop #3 in the TwoSetAI Workshop series.
Session #1 (July 17) introduced why multi-agent systems fail. Session #2 (July 31) introduced to AgensFlow.
Session #3 (August 14) Token Budgets for Coding Agents
Session #4 (August 28) Self-Improving Agent Loops
See all upcoming sessions: https://twosetai.com/lab/workshops/
About the instructor
Sadaf Ayub is a fractional operations, strategy, and finance partner. She spent 13 years inside Google and Meta on projects including Fuchsia OS, Waymo, Google Cloud, and an AI learning chatbot for kids. Now she's the operational adult technical founders bring in when they want big-tech rigor without big-tech headcount. Her clients call her when they're deciding what to build or whether to raise.
About the host
Angelina Yang runs TwoSetAI and hosts TwoSetAI and Decoding AI Builders — long-form interview platforms where she's interviewed 100+ AI founders shaping this era. fast.ai fellow. 2024 Anthropic Build Tournament winner. Curates the workshop series and connects the speakers with builders who care.
Hosted by TwoSetAI.
Past events replay
Workshop #1 with Nicole Königstein — Stop Your Agents From Spinning — walked through why multi-agent systems fail in production. Replay:
Workshop #3 (Aug 14): Token Budgets for Coding Agents
Workshop #4 (Aug 28): Self-Improving Agent Loops