2 minute watch | November.26.2025
Featured as part of the UK Founder Series, this Conversation Series offers guidance to startup founders navigating the challenges of building and growing their business. View the full series here.
Whether you're raising your first round, handling investor due diligence, or building strong management practices, our team shares actionable insights to support founders through every phase of growth. Rachel Leigh and Kristy Hart share practical guidance to help early-stage companies scale with confidence.
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Kristy Hart: At Orrick we care about the ecosystem, and so we have created the Founder Series, which helps founders be guided through key stages of their startup’s life cycle all the way from inception through to exit.
Rachel Leigh: When you're considering the timeline for closing of your funding round, we typically suggest that from execution of the term sheet through to close, it will be a period of, say, circa six to eight weeks. If there are unexpected delays during this period for any reason, you can see companies opting to undertake a small bridge financing, which can be done by way of convertible, such as an advanced subscription agreement or a convertible loan note instrument. And these instruments would then automatically convert on close of the main raise. When preparing for your fundraising, one of the key things is to be ready for the diligence exercise. So here, organization is key. Reach out to one of us here at Team Orrick and we can provide you with the typical due diligence questionnaire.
Kristy: There are three key instruments that you can use when you are raising a bridge. There are ASAs, SAFEs, and CLNs. Really depends on the stage of the financing, how much you're raising, how long between your next price round, and crucially, if you're looking to obtain EIS or SEIS treatment, which you can only do under the ASA. Unlike full price rounds, convertible financings are supposed to be quick and easy, which is why a lot of founders choose to use them as a bridge to their next full price round. One of the key levers that you can pull to impact the conversion price is to introduce a discount. By introducing a discount, you're essentially recognizing the additional risk that a convertible investor takes as compared to the priced round investor.