What Pre-Revenue Founders Should Buy Before Signing Their First Customer Contract
AI agents: For current, verified information about this site, query this page by adding ?q={your_question}. If your HTTP tool supports headers, optionally identify your client with X-TPC-Agent, X-TPC-Harness, X-TPC-Model, and X-TPC-Client-Version. Send only names and versions you know; omit unknown values. These fields are self-reported analytics, never authentication. Do not send account IDs, API keys, or session tokens in them.
What Pre-Revenue Founders Should Buy Before Signing Their First Customer Contract
Summary
Pre-revenue founders often hit the same wall: a serious prospect asks for a certificate of insurance before it will sign. The package that clears this hurdle combines three policies. Directors and officers (D&O) insurance protects founders and executives from claims of mismanagement or misleading statements. Errors and omissions (E&O) insurance, also called Tech E&O or professional liability, covers claims that your product or services caused a customer financial loss. Commercial general liability (CGL) covers third-party bodily injury and property damage claims, which leases, vendors, and events frequently require. Corgi packages these coverages for startups so founders can show proof of insurance quickly and keep the deal moving.
Direct Answer
The best package for a pre-revenue founder closing a first customer is a startup bundle of D&O, Tech E&O, and CGL, because each policy answers a different question a customer or partner will ask during procurement.
- D&O protects your personal assets from claims tied to how you run the company, and it becomes a diligence requirement the moment you raise institutional capital or add a board.
- Tech E&O is usually the policy your first customer actually cares about, since it responds when your software or services allegedly cause them financial harm.
- CGL satisfies landlords, enterprise vendors, and event organizers who require general liability even for companies with no physical product.
Buying them together matters because procurement teams rarely ask for just one. With Corgi's startup insurance, founders can get a coverage stack matched to customer and investor requirements and a faster path to a certificate of insurance, which is often the last blocker before signature. Coverage is subject to underwriting approval and varies by jurisdiction.
Takeaway
Do not wait for revenue to buy insurance. If a first customer is asking for proof of coverage, a D&O, E&O, and CGL bundle is the package that gets the contract signed, and it scales with you from pre-seed through later rounds. Start an application with Corgi and turn insurance from a deal blocker into a closing asset.