---
title: "ApplyForm for founders — Make 'can I pick your brain?' a fair transaction."
description: "Make \"can I pick your brain?\" a fair transaction: €30 to pitch you with a written verdict within a week or a refund, and paid advice calls."
url: https://applyform.app/for/founders
---

For founders, operators and angels

# Every founder gets _"can I pick your brain?"_

Cold pitches, intro requests, "would love your feedback on my deck", students asking for advice. You want to help. You also have a company to run. A paid pitch with a guaranteed written verdict is the fairest filter there is, and the good ones will still find you. Faster, in fact.

[Set up your paywall](https://applyform.app/signup?template=pitch) Read a verdict 

Free to start. You keep 80%. No verdict inside your window, they get refunded.

This week, probably

## Forty decks.  
One you'd _regret_ missing.

Most pitches in your inbox are shots in the dark. A few are from people who've done the work, and those are exactly the ones a €49 fee doesn't deter. The paywall isn't there to make money on pitches. It's there so the one worth a coffee doesn't sit between thirty-nine that aren't.

-   **Ten decks a week**, each one "would really value your thoughts".
-   **"Coffee?"** from people who want an hour of strategy for the price of a latte.
-   **Intro requests** to your investors from people you've never spoken to.
-   **Students and first-timers** you'd genuinely like to help, if there were a channel.

![A stack of pitch decks on a wooden table, one open, beside reading glasses and an espresso.](/for/for-founders-decks.webp)

Pitch me · €49 · a written verdict within 7 days, or a refund.

What they get

## Not a meeting.  
A _verdict._

One paragraph, a deck link, what they want from you. You reply with what you actually think. That's worth more than most accelerators charge for.

Pitch · €49 · paid

### B2B marketplace for surplus lab equipment

Universities and biotech labs sit on millions in idle equipment. We list it, verify it, and take 12% on each sale. €40k GMV in 3 months. Deck attached. Would you invest, and if not, why not?

Your verdict · day 4 of 7

Not yet, and here's the exact reason: your take rate assumes buyers, but all your traction is sellers listing. €40k GMV with 3 completed transactions is a classifieds site, not a marketplace. Show me 20 completed sales and a repeat buyer and the answer changes. Two things I'd do this month…

✓ Delivered · €39.20 to you

Illustrative example, not a forecast or a typical result. Your requests, prices and reply rate will differ.

Formats founders run

## Pick your brain,  
_priced._

€49 · 7 days

### Pitch me

The deck, the ask, your honest written verdict. Add a €149 priority tier for a 48-hour turnaround.

[Use this format](https://applyform.app/signup?template=pitch)

€30 · 5 days

### Ask a founder

Hiring, pricing, fundraising, co-founder trouble. One question with stage and runway attached; one answer from someone who has done it.

[Use this format](https://applyform.app/signup?template=ama)

€25 · 5 days

### Review my LinkedIn

For operators: someone's profile before their next job hunt, reviewed by a person who actually hires.

[Use this format](https://applyform.app/signup?template=cv)

Won't it put off the good ones?

## Serious founders are  
the _least_ price-sensitive.

€49 for a guaranteed, written verdict from you is cheap next to the advisors and programmes they're already paying. The paywall mostly filters out the people who were never going to build anything. And "no, because…" is often the most valuable answer a founder gets that month.

**Say no freely**

A short, honest pass is a complete answer. Don't want the money for a particular pitch? Refund it in one click.

**Give it away**

Some founders point the Stripe account at a scholarship fund or a charity and say so on the form. It changes how the paywall reads.

**Warm intros stay warm**

The link is for cold inbound. Your network still gets you the old way.

For founders

## Make "pick your brain"  
_a fair transaction._

Set up the pitch form in five minutes, put the link in your newsletter footer, and read only what's worth reading.

[Set up your paywall](https://applyform.app/signup?template=pitch) Free to start. Refunds automatic. You keep 80%.

Also for: [Creators](https://applyform.app/for/creators) [Models](https://applyform.app/for/models) [Coaches](https://applyform.app/for/coaches) [Recruiters](https://applyform.app/for/recruiters) [Experts](https://applyform.app/for/experts)