How SeedRank works

Everyone starts with 10,000 Seeds. You earn a few more by checking in daily, backing startups you haven't backed before, rehyping founders, and completing your profile, up to 1,000 a week. Every season adds a top-up of 2,000.

Seeds can't be bought, sold, cashed out, or traded for prizes. They exist only to keep score.

Each startup has a Seed price. Backing buys a stake at that price, and every back nudges the price up for the next person, so the earlier you spot a startup, the less it costs. Enter how many Seeds to spend and the app shows exactly what you'll get before you confirm.

Selling returns Seeds at the current price, minus a 5% fee that's removed from the game. You can back any one startup with up to 10% of your net worth per day.

Hype is a separate, free signal for the people behind startups. You hold 5 hype slots; each hype lasts 14 days, and you'll get a reminder to rehype or let it go. Hype never moves a startup's price, and it isn't a measure of how a business is doing.

Backer rankings run in 30-day seasons, scored by the return on your Seeds. To qualify, back at least 5 times across 3 different startups. Holdings and prices carry over between seasons; only the scoreboard resets. Startups rank by market cap, weekly momentum, and number of backers. Founders rank by rising and total hype.

Startups founded in the last 3 years, with under $1M in annual revenue and a public presence: a live site, an app, a waitlist, or a demo. No crypto tokens or coin launches, gambling, adult content, or anything illegal.

Founders prove they run the company by one of five checks: an email at the company domain, a code on the website, a DNS record, a note in the App Store description, or a line in the GitHub README. Some startups are pre-listed by SeedRank from their own public pages and marked Unclaimed until a founder claims them.

Every startup carries one stage tag: Pre-launch (building, not yet public), Launched (people can use it), or Revenue (customers are paying).

One account per person, created in the iPhone app with Sign in with Apple. Team members can't back their own startup. New accounts have lower limits for their first 7 days. Every startup and profile can be reported, and text and images are checked before they go public.

Any company can remove itself at any time on the removal page, no account needed. Backers get their Seeds back.