Of course not. Nobody can make that guarantee (and if somebody ever makes that guarantee, it’s a good idea to run away quickly). A good plan is essential, but a plan alone will not get funded. Although we will do our best to help you prepare, we have no control over how well you present yourselves to investors, or how well you answer their questions. We can coach and we can mentor, but at the end of the day, it’s your business and you must close the deal.

We can sometimes make informal introductions to potential investors or other intermediaries. In general, only brokers licensed with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) can legally arrange financing (see Beware of Finders in our Blog). Please seek legal counsel and make sure that any “finder” you talk to is properly licensed with FINRA before you hire them. Failing to do so may expose you and your company to significant liability.

If you run a business, then it’s probably safe to say yes. In fact, you may require more than one business plan: one for raising capital and one for running your business. The former is a compact, easily digested strategic document that is designed to persuade potential investors to pick up the phone and invite you to their offices for an initial meeting. The latter is a more detailed document serving as a day-to-day roadmap, detailing the tactics supporting your overall strategy. The former needs to be an attractive document that sells; the latter can be a collection of spreadsheets, lists, research summaries, and other documents stuffed in a binder that you refer to and update on a regular basis. We specialize in preparing the capital-raising business plan, but many of the by-products are suitable for use in the operating business plan.

Most importantly, they work. In a world in which fewer than 1 in 250 business plans ever raise venture capital, we are happy to report that about half of our plans have raised capital, and a good portion of the rest resulted in an acquisition or currently have commitments for investment from prior round investors. Each plan is handcrafted to reflect the client’s specific circumstances, yet share attributes that investors find appealing.

For a typical engagement, consisting of a business plan, financial forecast, and investor presentation, the typical time to completion is 6-8 weeks, as illustrated below. The actual time can be influenced by the quality of your existing materials, the level of your participation, the complexity of your market and business model, and our current workload.

Yes, but we may need to charge a “rush” fee. We typically work on multiple projects at any point in time, and rush projects can strain our schedules or inconvenience other clients.

Only if you’re always right. One of our jobs is to help you avoid mistakes. We’ll challenge your ideas and assumptions so that you’ll be ready for the tough questions when you meet with investors.

Your initial payment is non-refundable. This is because by the time you have decided to hire us, we have already set aside time to work with you, and we may even have turned away other opportunities in order to provide you with the best possible experience. Subsequent payments are subject to a pro-rated refund if you choose to terminate the project before we have fully earned the subsequent payment. For example, suppose fees for your project are broken into three payments, each covering 20 hours of services. The initial payment covers the first 20 hours, and the second payment covers the next 20 hours. If you change your mind about the project after we have put a total of 30 hours into the project, you would be entitled to a refund for half of the second payment because we will only have earned 10 hours of it.

Certainly. We would be pleased to introduce you to our past clients. However, in order to respect the time and generosity of our past clients, we provide references as the final step before you sign the engagement letter.