Our Approach
Step 1
We start with really understanding your company, market and vision.
Step 2
We evaluate your investor readiness, investor proposal and will challenge you where we think is necessary.
Step 3
We identify which type of investors are the most appropriate and will build an approach list.
Step 4
We contact selected leads with a view of bringing them to an introduction meeting with the startup CEO.
Step 5
We coordinate investor questions/feedback and building momentum to get you to negotiations.
Step 6
We support you in your negotiations (together with your legal counsel) and due diligence in order to obtain best results and a successful closing.
FAQ
What are the benefits of working with an advisor like you?
The benefits of using one is the higher efficiency, reduction in time, connections to the right people and the valuable know how we can bring you.
Startup entrepreneurs almost universally agree that raising money for their startup is one of the biggest challenges and problems they face. It is indeed often stressful, frustrating, time-consuming and it distracts founders from keeping the focus on product development or sales. And don’t forget investors usually have a lot more experience in this than you in this.
We can provide structure to an otherwise opaque process, create time pressure when appropriate and take the heat off negotiations providing more space for founders to negotiate better terms.
We act as your best ambassadors selling you the right way to the right investor. Different investors have different criteria and you need to push the right button for the right investor.
We can’t promise you the process is ever going to be quick and easy, but our expertise and connections will put you in a far stronger position to optimize and maximize the whole process towards a good closing.
I have my own contacts. Do you need exclusivity?
In contrast to traditional M&A, we believe that exclusive agreements are not necessary and not to the benefit to a startup.
We are confident that our network is complimentary to yours.
Do I remain in control of the funding round?
As CEO you will still be leading the round. After initial introductions have been made, we don’t need to be present at each meeting unless you want us to. We don’t put our logo on each of your documents.
We are however available to support you during the entire process, can highlight what are sensitive topics for investors, can suggest possible solutions to get to fair deal terms etc.
How much time does a fundraising take?
It generally varies between 3 and 9 months with an average of 6 months from start to finish. You should always have a sufficient runway (12 months) before starting a fundraising, investors do not like to be used to bridge a runway gap and it can put you in a difficult negotiation position.
How much do I raise?
You should always raise with a specific exact amount which can defend as necessary to reach a specific milestone in the road map and for which the use of funds can be clearly demonstrated. You can always oversubscribe and raise more funds in case of strong interest.
How do you work?
We do warm introductions/referrals to people you have no easy access to based on existing relationships & trust painstakingly built over a long period. We don’t do mass-emailing.
Fundraising for startups/scaleups is an extremely relationship-driven process based on trust. It is a fact that 80% of investment deals happen through referrals.
Founders often try a spray and pray approach but not only is this ineffective, but it also reduces any potential goodwill. And it’s unlikely to the big names in the newspaper that will fund your business.
What does it cost?
Other than a symbolic administration fee for onboarding and analysis, we believe that paying a set fee or monthly fee as is customary in M&A is not appropriate for early stage fundraising.
If we accept to work with you, we are convinced you are “investable” and our success is aligned with yours.
The success fee % depends on the amount, stage of your startup and our assessment of the difficulty level of successfully funding you. Contact us for more detail.
What is your onboarding process?
While you rightly are selective in who you work with, we also carefully chose our clients.
Due to our business model based on result, we need to be very selective and carefully choose the companies we work with. We need to ask you the questions an investor is likely to ask you and analyse your investment opportunity through the investor’s eyes.
We constantly source the best startups so that our deal flow is of very high level in order to maintain the high trust level we enjoy by investors.
Do you advise on valuation?
We can give you our personal opinion based on our market knowledge but valuation for early-stage companies is rather art than science and you cannot use the parameters used for valuation of mature companies.
There are certain tools and methods for early stage valuation, but recent comparable transactions are in general the best guideline. Keep in mind that valuations differ between US, UK and Continental Europe due to the difference in depth of the ecosystem.
A good guideline is to keep dilution to 20-30% per round.
Did you know?
… that less than 1% of deals result in investment.
… that the average Angel Investor sees around 10 pitch decks a week, but makes only two investments per year? This means if you’re currently pitching for funding, yours could be just one of 520 pitches, and only two would seal the deal!