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We operate in the intersection between funds & VC and ventures looking to raise their next investment round. We fast-track the venture to become investment-ready.
As you are interested in raising your next investment round, we will support you to become investment-ready and match you with a suitable investor from one of our investor partners.
We understand that raising investment is a full time job for one or more of your key employees. Our intention is to take some of that work off your hands and streamline the process for you to be connected to the right kind of investors. Our purpose is to fast-track you to connecting with suitable VCs.
In order for us to do that, we need to understand the DNA of your business (stakeholders, product and market) to make sure that everything is water-tight and then help you figure out what kind of investor you need.
Building your dataroom
Our core service is to build your dataroom so that all your key documents are ready for when your potential investors conduct their due diligence. The documents include; incorporation, legal agreements, contracts, IP or patents, finances, HR documents, cap table, product planning and strategic plans and an investment memo.
The services for this allow us to create all the documents and range from co-creating a long-term plan with the founders, to creating financial models and doing an evaluation, to preparing for investor meetings and term sheets.
Operations plan
We understand how overwhelming it can be for founders to put some strategic action behind their visions or goals. We work with the founders to understand what they would like to achieve by when and co-create a plan for that based on the resources they have available. The main purpose of this is to get the founding team to focus on a few core business operations that will bring in revenue. We help them to operate from the premise of ‘Do what you need to do so that you can do what you want to do.’
Financial model and Valuation
We know that finances are the lifeline of any business. Our aim is to ensure that you understand your financial models, the implications of increasing capital and tools to make the necessary financial decisions to help you understand the value of your business and defend it at the negotiating table. We offer the following financial services
- Creation of an up-to-date financial model
- In-depth valuations with industry standard base, best, worst case scenarios using several valuation methods to suit your particular business and industry
- Determining how much money you want to raise and how that will compliment your growth strategy
- Understand your cash burn rate, financial runway, unit economics and all the other financial jargon that you need to know.
Financial Planning
One of the main areas of support expressed by ventures has been finances. In most cases, the founding team has a sound understanding of their business context, operations and projections, but there is a misalignment of their finances. Specifically, understanding the financial impact when projecting their growth plans over a few years. For this, we offer Financial Planning to mitigate this issue.
Financial Planning activities will include the following:
- Work with the appropriate team members to understand the context of the business and the financial situation
- Review their existing financial documentations to assess whether this aligns with the investment needs
- Collaborate with the finance person to compile the historical financial documents and use that to build a financial model with a 3-5 year projection that is aligned with the growth plans stated on their application documents
- Build this content and understanding into the presentation so that it flows through all areas of the business that the finances affect.
By doing the additional Financial Planning activities, our aim is to ensure that you understand the financial model, the implications of receiving funding and the tools to make the necessary financial decisions to help you understand the business and defend it.
Each venture that takes on the Financial Planning activities, will be prepared for the following:
- A good understanding of an up-to-date financial model
- A deeper understanding of the cash burn rate, financial runway, unit economics and other financial jargon that they need to know in order to deal with investor’s Q&A with confidence.
Prep For Your Investor’s Due Diligence
Becoming investment ready is time consuming. Our function would be to do most of the pre-investment checks so that the team can continue with business. To prepare the data room for the due diligence process that the investors might do, we will conduct a pre-investment check. This would involve the following:
- taking a holistic look at the business by analysing the business plan/investors deck (or similar business documents) to highlight any inconsistencies and unclarities that would cause investors concern and/or confusion
- Compile an investment memo - see template example BAIBYS™ - Investment Memo
- asking invasive questions similar to what investors will ask, which will help the team think through the answers, help to tighten up the company’s investment proposal to potential investors, and allow you to prepare prior to pitch rehearsals
We will run your company “through the ringer”, to look for any red flags that would cause investors to walk away from the deal. The goal here is to “get the house in order” so that when investors come knocking you are ready to provide them with whatever they need.
Pitch Preparation
We put on our investor hats to help you develop your best pitch. As seasoned pitch coaches, we will ensure the story you are telling is the right one: ensuring a logical flow, highlighting what investors are looking for, and communicating your business as clearly and concisely as possible. We will work on your personal presentation and oral delivery – highlighting your pitching strengths while coaching out poor habits you may not see. See us as your personal (pitch) trainer.
We review your pitch deck to make sure that you’re communicating the right story and putting your best foot forward – shaping the story so that your slides aid the conversation, not confuse or distract from it. We’ll provide feedback and suggestions on how to improve it.
Term Sheets Crash Course and preparation
Business Angels, VCs, and their lawyers negotiate term sheets everyday. You don’t, but that’s okay. We will prep you on the basics of term sheet provisions and the caveats you should be aware of when coming into a negotiation to walk away with the best deal available and limit your dilution (don’t worry, we’ll teach you what dilution is). We will cover the technicalities: share options, drag along/tag along clauses, employee stock option pools (ESOPs), caps and discounts etc.
We will cover the following activities:
- Explain the technicalities: share options, drag along/tag along clauses, employee stock option pools (ESOPs), caps and discounts etc.
- Explain how their choices of each term above will affect their ownership and economics of the deal
- Help the team understand how the investment will affect their ownership stake based on changes in valuation, equity percent, and amount invested
Impact Analysis and Measurement setup
We will help analyse your business’ impact using industry standard frameworks and help the business set the right goals to measure its impact going forward. Impact focused investors may ask you for proof of impact, and our goal is to help you prepare to show that proof.
Raise with us
If you have are in the process or looking to raise investment over the next 3-9 months, we would love to know more about your investment needs.
