Tactical Founder Support: Fundraising

 

What We Help Achieve

We get our hands dirty with founders to help them move the needle on fundraising. We are not broker-dealers— we help founders run a proven process to secure more capital within the tight operating constraints of their business. In the recent years, we have helped founders raise more than $500MM in VC funding (Seed to Series C) from notable funds such as: Menlo, Sequoia, Goodwater, Tiger Global, Softbank, a16z, Lightspeed, Accel, and Founders Fund, to name a few.

WHy This service matters

Fundraising is already a difficult undertaking— regardless of whether you believe your company is performing well. Without a reliable fundraising process you will struggle with:

  • A narrative that simply doesn’t resonate across the investor ecosystem— creating more confusion than buy-in.  

  • Getting caught up in answering an unending amount of questions that won’t get investors closer to conviction. 

  • A process that drags on unnecessarily— whether due to a thin top-of-funnel, timing of outreach, inability to move parties down-funnel, lack of back-channel, or incorrect meeting choreography, for example. 

  • Feedback that doesn’t make sense and lacks the level of transparency needed to be helpful to your company-building efforts. 

  • False hope from positively engaging investors which can buckle any momentum you have in the process.

Who We Work With

Early/Early-growth B2B Companies (mature Seed to Series C): we have experience working with startups spanning numerous industries such as: Freight, Finance, Life Sciences, Healthcare, Creators, Real Estate, Hospitality, Aviation, Advertising & Marketing, E-Commerce, and Education.

Deliverables

  • Shape and refine company’s narrative for fundraising efforts via emails, pitch decks, and talk tracks (note: we do not deck designing services).

  • Develop and finalize the top-of-funnel list (add names and add other details) to identify, engage and secure the right investment partners. Please find the first draft of this list here.

  • Assist with a coordinated investor outreach via a structured process of electronic Requests for Introductions (RFIs). These emails will likely be sent in a few batches over the course of the fundraise.

  • Assist to move investors through the entire cycle, including; taking reference calls, back channeling with investors, decoding feedback, communicating feedback, helping with the negotiation of terms, allocation decisions and with the closing of the round.

Engagement

A typical engagement for fundraising support is approximately 4-months:

  • Weekly Calls with the Founder and other Key Executive(s). Weekly cadence of 30-45 mins a week (Zoom and/or in person when available). The focus is on securing more capital.

  • Asynchronous Input & Support. We will be available for support and additional meetings (zoom/in-person) within reason. We are typically very responsive (same hour same day).

  • Monthly Retainer Fee. This fee is subject to the startup stage and the specific scope of services. We charge a cash retainer only for initial engagement—we are not broker-dealers.