The structure surprises them.
An entity nobody mentioned, IP held by a founder personally, a token arrangement that complicates the equity. Each one reopens terms.
PRACTICE 04 · GROWTH : CAPITAL FORMATION
Be ready before investors start looking.
Most raises don't fail in the pitch. They lose time, leverage, and valuation in diligence, when the structure, the numbers, and the story don't line up. We make sure they do before the first meeting.
WHERE RAISES LOSE VALUE
Diligence is where leverage goes to die.
Most founders assume the hard part of a raise is getting the meeting. The expensive part comes after the term sheet. Every unanswered question in diligence costs time, and every surprise costs leverage.
The numbers don't reconcile.
The model says one thing, the data room says another, and the deck says a third. Investors stop trusting all three.
The instrument doesn't fit the business.
A SAFE when you needed priced equity, or a token side letter nobody thought through. The wrong instrument creates problems that show up two rounds later.
Close the gaps before anyone else finds them.
WHEN PEOPLE CALL
Usually it's one of these.
You're raising in the next six months.
Early enough to fix the structure. Late enough that it can't wait.
You have a term sheet and questions.
The headline number looks good. You want to understand what the rest of the terms mean for the business and the next round.
Your raise involves a token.
Equity investors, token holders, and possibly a token side letter, all needing to fit together without contradicting each other.
A previous raise left a mess.
Stacked SAFEs, side letters nobody tracks, or a cap table that takes an hour to explain.
Recognize one of these? Book a call
DELIVERABLES
Three things investors check. All ready before they ask.
01 /
Capital architecture
WHAT IT IS
The right instrument for this round and the next: equity, SAFE, debt, token, or a combination, modeled against your cap table and the structure behind it.
WHAT IT PREVENTS
An instrument that solves this round and complicates the next two.
02 /
Diligence readiness
WHAT IT IS
A data room organized around the questions investors actually ask, with the model, the deck, and the documents telling the same story.
WHAT IT PREVENTS
Weeks lost to follow-up requests, and trust lost to inconsistencies.
03 /
Term analysis
WHAT IT IS
A plain-language read of every term sheet: what each provision means for control, dilution, and future rounds, coordinated with your counsel through close.
WHAT IT PREVENTS
Signing terms whose consequences show up two rounds later.
DELIVERY
Clarity at every gate.
You see every finding before an investor does, and nothing goes into the data room without your approval.
01
Assess
We review the structure, cap table, financials, and materials the way an investor's diligence team would, and rank what needs fixing.
APPROVAL GATE
You approve the readiness plan.
02
Prepare
We fix the structure, choose the instrument, and build the model, data room, and materials so they reconcile.
APPROVAL GATE
You and your counsel approve the instrument and the disclosures.
03
Support
As term sheets arrive, we analyze them, answer diligence questions, and coordinate with counsel through close.
APPROVAL GATE
Every term is your decision, made with a clear read of the consequences.
Guardrails, built in.
Offering restrictions and investor eligibility reviewed by qualified securities counsel. Financial assumptions checked against source data. Every disclosure consistent across every document, with access controlled and logged.
ONE ARCHITECTURE
Every other practice shows up in diligence.
Legal Engineering
The entity map and IP chain of title are the first things a diligence team checks. Clean structure shortens the raise.
RWA Tokenization
When a raise involves a token, equity and token rights have to be designed together, or one will undermine the other.
AI Automation
A measured, governed AI operation is a value story investors can verify. An unexplained one is a risk they'll price in.
Ready in the tools investors expect. Financial models, cap table platforms, and diligence rooms, set up so every number traces back to its source.
WORK
We structure raises we'd be willing to sit across the table from.
Institutional fundraising readiness
A readiness program aligning governance, a diligence room, and investment materials for a growth-stage company. A representative design, not a reported client outcome.
Book a call about a similar structureCommon questions
YOUR NEXT INFLECTION POINT
Walk into diligence with nothing to explain.
Thirty minutes is usually enough to find what an investor's diligence team would flag first.
Book a structuring call Founder-led · Free · No obligation