02 — Raise
Raising is not a pitch deck problem. It is a preparation problem, a structure problem and a negotiating-position problem. We work on all three — starting long before you need the money, which is exactly when the terms are best.
| Stage | Typical quantum | Capital sources | What determines the outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-seed / Seed | <$1M – $3M | Angels, HNW, early-stage funds, founder networks | Team credibility, a model that is internally consistent, clean cap table |
| Series A | $3M – $15M | Venture capital, corporate venture, family offices | Repeatable unit economics, cohort retention, defensible market size |
| Series B–C | $15M – $60M | Growth equity, offshore VC, strategic investors | Efficiency of growth, gross margin trajectory, management depth |
| Growth / pre-IPO | $60M – $200M+ | Private equity, institutional, sovereign and pension capital | Governance maturity, audited history, forecast credibility |
| Debt & hybrid | Facility-dependent | Banks, non-bank lenders, venture debt, mezzanine | Cash conversion, covenant headroom, security package |
| M&A / exit | Transaction-dependent | Trade buyers, private equity, management buyout | Quality of earnings, customer concentration, key-person risk |
Indicative ranges only. Quantum, sources and terms vary materially by sector, geography and market conditions.
Investor readiness
We run the diligence process on you first. Same document set, same questions, same scepticism — but the findings come to you privately, with time to fix them, instead of surfacing in week three of a live process when your leverage collapses.
Are the historical numbers defensible? Revenue recognition, cut-off, related party transactions, accrual quality, and the adjustments a buyer will make to your EBITDA.
Does the forecast connect to the actuals? Driver logic, assumption sourcing, cohort behaviour, and whether the hockey stick has anything underneath it.
Option pool, SAFEs and convertibles, share classes, vesting, shareholder agreement terms that will block the round, and the dilution you have not modelled.
Entity structure, IP ownership, contractor classification, tax positions, outstanding filings, and the contracts with change-of-control clauses.
Customer concentration, churn definition, contract quality, pipeline conversion, and whether the market sizing survives contact with a partner who knows the sector.
Board composition, minutes, delegated authority, risk register, key-person dependency, and whether an incoming investor can see how decisions get made.
The gap between a good business and a fundable business is almost always documentation and structure — not performance.XLCFO capital practice
The raise
What are you actually selling to an investor — a market, a machine or a moment? We set the equity story, the quantum, the use of funds and the milestone the money buys. Getting this wrong means every subsequent conversation is a negotiation you are losing slowly.
Equity story · Quantum & use of funds · Target valuation rangeFinancial model built to the standard an institutional investor expects — three statements, driver-based, scenario-capable, and tied to your actual ledger. Data room indexed and populated. Pitch narrative and deck. Diligence questions answered before they are asked.
Model · Data room · Deck · Diligence packA targeted list, not a spray. Venture capital, private equity, family offices, high net worth syndicates and strategic investors — matched to your stage, sector and geography, and approached in a sequence that builds competitive tension rather than dissipating it.
Investor networks across New Zealand, Australia and offshoreTerm sheets are not comparable on headline valuation. Liquidation preference, anti-dilution, board composition, reserved matters, drag and tag, option pool timing — we model what each term costs you in the scenarios that actually happen, then negotiate the ones that matter.
Term sheet analysis · Dilution modelling · Downside scenariosDiligence management, warranty and disclosure schedules, condition precedent tracking, and coordination of legal, tax and audit advisers. Then the part most processes skip: an investor reporting rhythm that starts in month one, not when the first awkward question arrives.
Diligence · Completion · Post-close reportingPitch ready
Most founders can deliver the story. Where processes are lost is in the twenty minutes afterwards, when a partner starts pulling at the unit economics and the answer is not immediately at hand. We prepare the materials, and we prepare the founder.
What you are actually selling — a market, a machine or a moment. The equity story built first, because the deck is only its expression and rebuilding the deck without fixing the story just produces a better-looking version of the same problem.
A deck that survives a partner meeting, and where the transaction warrants it, a full information memorandum — market, model, team, financials, use of funds and risk, written to the standard an institutional reader expects.
Three statements, driver-based, tied to your actual ledger and scenario-capable. Every number in the deck traceable to a cell in the model, and every cell in the model defensible. This is what the third question is about.
Built to the index diligence will actually request, populated with executed documents, access staged by process phase and tracked so you can see which investor read what.
We sit on the other side of the table and ask the questions an investor will — hostile, specific and repeated. Founders who have been through this twice walk into the real meeting differently.
A targeted list matched to your stage, sector and geography rather than a mass send — venture capital, private equity, family offices, high net worth syndicates and strategic investors — approached in a sequence that builds competitive tension.
Every conversation, stage, owner and next action tracked in one place, so a process running across thirty investors does not lose the four that matter.
One question log, answered once, properly, and reused. Multiple investors ask the same twenty questions; the third one should be faster than the first.
Warranty and disclosure schedules, conditions precedent tracked, and legal, tax and audit advisers coordinated to a completion date rather than towards one.
Curating the pitch, building the model, organising the room and making the introduction are one job, not four. Split across four suppliers, the seams are exactly where processes fail.
Mergers & acquisitions
The right mix of equity, debt and hybrid for your cash conversion and risk profile — and the covenant package you can actually live inside.
Structuring, funding and negotiating an MBO or MBI, including vendor finance and the incentive arrangements that make it work.
Balance sheet repair, lender negotiation, entity simplification, and turnaround planning where the capital structure has stopped serving the business.
Start the readiness work now. The preparation is the leverage.