Just google it. There are many methods to do valuation of startups. And again, you can not issue stock options without IRS-supervised valuation. Most startups on the website are post-seed with more than 3 people on the team already BTW. So it's pointless to discuss pre-seed valuation at all.
Whatever numbers you have in your valuation I need to know how you got them to decide if it makes sense.
(Edit: You may be from the UK, so it's a little different than US. I was speaking for the US case here.)
You're mistaken, almost all of them are seed-stage, minus one. You can issue stock whenever you want.
But I realize that your point is that you'd prefer due diligence and transparency on terms before using a site like WeFunder. The thing is, most investments at that stage don't have that much due diligence beyond market size, team, and traction. I think this is where you're misunderstanding.
You're mistaken. Most of these companies are raising >500K, this is not seed money. Seed is typically less than 100K. There are at least 10 companies that come from YC, which means they already got their seed round. You can't do seed twice by definition.
That would be highly unusual. But it doesn't matter that much to me if it's true. We were simply talking about different thing when saying "seed". No harm done.
That's why companies use convertible notes. While the cap is a proxy for valuation, there is no issued stock options until the note converts to equity in a priced round.
Whatever numbers you have in your valuation I need to know how you got them to decide if it makes sense.
(Edit: You may be from the UK, so it's a little different than US. I was speaking for the US case here.)