How do pre-seed startups split the money they raise?
About a third on product, a third on sales, and the rest on people and running costs. CEE founders raising pre-seed who applied to BADideas in 2026 so far planned to spend 34% of the round on product and technology, 30% on sales and marketing and 17% on hiring.
The figures
| Share of the round, 2026 (to date) | CEE pre-seed | CEE seed |
|---|---|---|
| Product and technology | 34% | 29% |
| Sales and marketing | 30% | 33% |
| Hiring | 17% | 16% |
| Operations | 12% | 11% |
| Other, including regulatory | 7% | 11% |
The split follows the company's stage. Founders still building their first version put 37% into product; those with early users put 35% into sales and marketing. In BADideas application data, seed is where sales catches up with product.
What is changing
| CEE founders raising pre-seed | 2025 | 2026 (to date) |
|---|---|---|
| Product and technology | 42% | 34% |
| Sales and marketing | 20% | 30% |
| Quarter | CEE applicants: product and technology | Sales and marketing |
|---|---|---|
| Q2 2025 | 38% | 30% |
| Q3 2025 | 31% | 29% |
| Q4 2025 | 40% | 28% |
| Q1 2026 | 33% | 33% |
| Q2 2026 | 38% | 32% |
| Q3 2026 | 30% | 30% |
What it means for you
- Split by stage, not by template. Before launch, product first; once users arrive, sales and marketing take the bigger share.
- Budget for selling from day one. Close to a third of a typical pre-seed round goes there.
- Show the split as milestones. Investors read use of funds as a plan: what each block buys and by when.
Also answers
How much of a seed round goes to sales?
About a third: CEE founders raising seed planned 33% of the round for sales and marketing in 2026 so far.
Should an MVP-stage startup spend more on product?
That is what founders do: 37% on product at MVP stage.
How we measured it
- Source: applications founders sent to BADideas in 2025 and 2026 to date. CEE means the company is in a Central or Eastern European country. Shares are the average of each application's stated split, normalised to 100%.
- Limits: these are founders who applied to one CEE pre-seed fund, so the sample leans towards companies that see themselves as a fit for it. A single quarter can swing, so read the change between years first. The split is a plan, not how the money was spent.
- Read: 26 September 2026. Updated every quarter.
BADideas.fund, "How do pre-seed startups split the money they raise?", founder application data read 26 September 2026. https://badideas.fund/answers/pre-seed-use-of-funds
Who we are
We are a pre-seed and seed fund for founders in Central and Eastern Europe. We have built and sold companies ourselves, and since 2022 we have backed more than 40.
We back founders who see something about their market that others do not see yet. They want to change how a whole industry works, start with something small, and learn fast.
Good founders rarely fail on the idea or the product. They fail on selling it. So that is where we help: operators who grew Zendesk, Square and Scale AI work on your go-to-market.
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