Embarc Advisors successfully advised a Client Company, located in the Mid-West, with their first external fund raise of $10 million.
The Challenge:
The Client Company faced numerous challenges in positioning their story and attracting attention from top investors.
- As an industrial company, the client faced difficulty in positioning its story
- As a Mid-West based company, it was difficult to access top VCs, who are primarily located in the Bar Area or New York
- The founders were strong in product development and sales but had limited experience in finance or capital raising
Embarc guided the founders through the entire process from preparation to a successful finish with immense attention to every detail
- Developed an investor presentation that looked professional and succinctly captured the exciting story of the business
- Created a financial model that professional investors could understand and accept
- Identified targeted list of investors: given the limited investor universe for this particular sector, investor identification and selection were very important
- Scripted initial outreach: as the initial list of investors was limited, maximizing the investor response rate to cold outreach was even more important than usual. How to draft an email that is short yet piques the interest of investors to give you a reply or call-back?
- Prepared a professional dataroom (not Dropbox) to track investor activity and convey the seriousness of the client
- Coached every interaction with potential investors: even large public company CEOs and executives consult their investment banking advisors before going into a discussion with the counterpart. Having a professional deal advisor levels the playing field for entrepreneurs
- Negotiated term sheet: this is where millions of dollars can be gained or lost depending on how the cards are played. Having a deal expert advise the process not only helps obtain funding, but can make a significant difference on the amount of capital raised, dilution and other terms
Conclusion:
As “Main Street” founders, they were afraid that “they would be eaten alive by Wall Street.” By hiring a former Goldman Sachs investment banker as their advisor, the founders were able to go through each step of the fundraising process with confidence. At times when they were anxious (“why haven’t we heard back from the investor yet?”), Embarc was able to reassure them. No fundraising process is the same. It can be an emotional rollercoaster with endless obstacles that require the founders to make constant course corrections. Having a trusted advisor by the founder’s side can make the difference between a failed fundraise and a homerun capital raise.
Our Qualifications:
- At Embarc, we have experience crafting compelling investor storylines for a broad range of businesses. Certainly for technology companies but also industrial, natural resources, CPG, Food & Beverages, real estate etc. Even during the COVID-19 crisis, Embarc helped a client raise +$1M in seed funding for a new venture. As former bulge-bracket investment bankers at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, we have executed +$50 billion in capital market and M&A transactions.
- A successful capital raise hinges on more than just a persuasive Investor Deck and Financial Model. We have successfully raised VC funding for our own startups and successfully advised several startups in the past two years as fractional CFOs and consultants. We have deep expertise across the entire fundraising process.
- We are uniquely positioned to negotiate against experienced deal-makers (e.g., venture capital, private equity investors). We have successfully advised negotiations on both sides of the table. We have experience preparing and advising public company CEOs, Fortune 100 executives and startup founders on their most important transactions. Keep in mind investors are expert negotiators and entrepreneurs need to fortify their bench with a deal expert to level the playing field.
