Consulting Services

Structuring

Making initial structuring decisions as an unfunded or seed stage startup can be a challenge. There are many questions around the right entity type to choose, capital structure, engaging other potential co-founders, equity allocation, etc.

The overall company strategy and plan will significantly influence what the “right” answers are for many of these questions. What kind of products are you going to build? What will they cost to develop and sell? How are you going to fund the company? What is the long-term vision?

Putting forth the initial time and effort to structure an approach before these decisions need to be made significantly reduces the perceived complexity associated with all of the moving parts and drives to better outcomes.

Funding

Devising an overall funding strategy is a complex but critical process. Aligning the product development and growth milestones of the company with capital requirements and funding sources purposefully will help maximize value and keep options open for future financings and/or exits.

Once strategy is determined, putting together a comprehensive market assessment, business plan, go-to-market strategy, financial model and other supporting due diligence materials effectively has a material impact on the success and timeliness of the funding process.

Following the close of a round of funding, the key becomes managing progression towards achievement of critical milestones within the capital and resource constraints that exist. Management’s ability to dynamically shift and tweak strategy based on new information and learning that takes place among the team often determines which companies successfully survive.

Organizational & Team Development

Great companies are developed by great teams. Determining what skill sets are needed on staff, when to bring them on, how to compensate, retain and drive strong employee performance/retention are all challenges that management teams face. 

When resource constraints are real (which they typically are for early and mid-stage companies), having a staffing plan that quantitatively outlines the costs vs. expected contributions of each potential new hire is an important management decision tool. 

Consistently tracking and analyzing data around team performance helps identify areas where the organization is excelling as well as opportunities for improvement. Best of all, companies no longer need a fully deployed ERP solution to gain access to this information – affordable SMB software packages have come a long way in the past decade.