Based on your answers, you're earlier in your journey than the companies CFO Ventures typically supports on a full mandate. We don't think a paid engagement with us would deliver value to you right now. Here is what we think will.
Most early-stage founders are told they need an advisor to get investor-ready. In our experience, that's the wrong sequence.
What you need first is traction. Without it, no model, no deck and no advisor can substitute for the fact that you haven't yet proven anyone wants what you're building. With it, the model and the deck become easy to build and the advisor becomes worth paying for.
The most useful thing we can tell you is: don't spend money on a fundraising advisor yet. Spend it on shipping a product, finding the first ten paying customers, and proving that those customers stay. The economics of the business will tell you when you are ready to raise. They will also tell you what to raise, and from whom.
A working product or service with a clear, narrow use case. Not a deck, not a landing page — something a customer can actually use.
Ten is the number where the noise of friends-and-family demand quiets down and you start hearing actual market signal. Paying matters. Free pilots tell you nothing.
Retention is the only metric early on that an investor will trust. If customers stick and grow, the business has a future. If they churn, no fundraise fixes that.
We can be genuinely useful once you have:
When you reach those milestones, come back and complete the assessment again. You'll be routed to the right next step automatically — either a discovery call with Emilio or our Fundraise Readiness Diagnostic.
If you reach those milestones, write to us. We will remember this conversation.
The best founders we have worked with were turned down by advisors and investors in their earliest months. They built anyway. We hope you do the same.