Space Funding

Hey crew,

Jose here with another Space Funding Newsletter.

Before you pick your platform, before you film your video, before you write one word of your offering page, there is one number you need to get right. Most founders treat it as an afterthought.

The ones who get it wrong spend twice as much on ads, build cap tables they regret, and make their next round harder to close.

That number is your minimum investment ticket.

What is the right minimum investment for a Reg CF raise?

For most Reg CF campaigns in 2026, the strategic sweet spot is $500 to $1,000. The average Reg CF check size reached $1,500 in 2024 and $2,000 in early 2026, meaning most investors are already comfortable at this level. A $1,000 minimum cuts your required investor count in half compared to a $500 floor and reduces your total traffic requirement proportionally, which directly lowers your Meta ad spend to raise the same amount.

THE DISCUSSION
How does minimum investment affect your ad spend?

Your minimum ticket controls how many investors you need. Investor count drives your traffic requirement. And traffic is what you're paying for with every dollar you spend on Meta advertising.

At roughly $1-2 per offering page visit, the industry benchmark from campaigns across Reg CF, Reg A+, and Reg D, a lower minimum creates a dramatically more expensive funnel for the same raise target.

Here is what that looks like as a table, using a $500,000 raise target with a 2.5% offering page conversion rate:

The math is direct: a $100 minimum on a $500,000 raise could cost more in ads than the raise itself.

That's not a strategy, that's a trap. And it's exactly the trap a lot of first-time founders walk into because they set the minimum low to "be accessible."

THE BREAKDOWN
Does a higher minimum investment hurt Reg CF accessibility?

Not meaningfully for most campaigns. The SEC sets no required minimum; platforms set their own floors, typically $100-$500. But since the average check is already $2,000, a $1,000 minimum does not exclude most of your potential investors. It does exclude the smallest checks, which adds complexity to your cap table without meaningfully contributing to your raise.

There is a legitimate exception: if your raise is genuinely community-driven and you have a large existing audience of small-dollar backers — think consumer brands with passionate fans — a lower minimum can be the right strategic choice. But even then, $250 is usually the floor that makes mathematical sense. Below that, the ad economics rarely work.

MIN TICKET
How does the minimum ticket size affect your cap table and future rounds?

A Reg CF round with 5,000 investors at $100 each creates a cap table that institutional investors in later Reg D or Reg A+ rounds must navigate. Investors with smaller checks are harder to communicate with, less engaged in subsequent rounds, and add administrative overhead. A smaller number of higher-check investors, typically $500 or above, is easier to manage, more likely to remain advocates long-term, and signals to future institutional investors that your earlier backers had real conviction, not impulse purchases.

THE NEWS
What is the actual decision framework for setting your minimum?

Start with your audience, not your goal. If you have a consumer base that regularly spends $50-$100 on your product, start at $250 minimum — the lowest floor where the ad economics still work. If your investors are business professionals, early adopters, or people who follow your sector, start at $1,000. If your raise is above $2M and you want a tight, institutional-quality cap table, $2,500 is defensible. The only wrong answer is setting it by feel instead of by math.

One more thing: your minimum ticket is not a ceiling. The average check in 2026 is $2,000. If you set your minimum at $1,000, many of your investors will write checks for $1,500, $2,000, $5,000, or more. Your minimum is a floor that controls your funnel math — not a signal of what your investors can afford.