Who I help // Raising a round
Getting a business ready to raise, and ready to launch
Investors buy the story and the plan. Not the product.
This is a service I offer in partnership with Dave Mitchell, a twice-exited founder and non-executive director who has led three funding rounds. Dave fronts the raise: narrative, deck, model, investor list, running the process. I make sure the business behind it stands up: positioning, brand, go-to-market and the commercial plan the money will be spent on. One team, one engagement, and the founder keeps running the company.
Sound familiar //
- 01
Raising in the next three to nine months and the deck is still the founder’s first draft
- 02
Just closed a round and now have to deploy it, with no commercial or marketing lead in the building
- 03
Founder-led sales has hit its ceiling and nobody can say what comes next
- 04
Several revenue lines on the slide and investors keep asking which one is the business
- 05
The brand and the website say less than the product does
- 06
An investor has asked a question about growth that nobody could answer
- 07
Investment-ready on paper once before. It didn’t close, and nobody is sure why
What’s usually going on //
Most founders get to a raise with a good product and a thin story. The deck lists features, the market slide is a number from a report, and the plan for the money is “hire and grow”. Investors see a lot of these. What they back is a business that knows who it sells to, why they buy, what the next eighteen months look like and what the money changes. That is a positioning and planning problem before it is a fundraising one, which is why Dave and I do this together rather than one after the other.
The work //
Four ways in. Every one of them starts with the review.
01Readiness Review.
Fixed fee, about a week. You send everything, we both read it, one working session with you, then a written findings document: what is really going on commercially, where the gaps are, what to fix first, and what an engagement would look like if you want one. It stands on its own, and it is credited against anything that follows.
02Raise Ready.
Six to ten weeks. Narrative, deck, financial model, data room, target investor list, warm introductions and pitch coaching. Dave leads. Fixed fee with a modest success element.
03Launch Ready.
Two to six weeks. The one line that says what the company is, the proposition, brand and website that carry it, and the go-to-market plan investors will read before they read the model. I lead.
04Growth Partner.
A retainer, two to four days a month across the pair of us, six months minimum. A standing monthly session with the founder, board-level challenge from Dave, delivery from me. For the business that has raised and now has to show the numbers.
Go-to-market strategy and B2B positioning for Dragonfly AI, the predictive-attention creative testing platform, where Dave led three funding rounds as a director. Early-stage proposition and channel strategy for Adzemble, from idea to market.
Who’s in the room //
Dave Mitchell
Twice-exited founder and non-executive director. Director of Dragonfly AI from 2018 to 2026, where he led three funding rounds. Advisory board and fundraising roles at Sumara and Splitzy. Dave fronts the raise and holds the investor relationships.
Jo van Vuuren
Fractional CMO. Former Global Head of Brand and Digital at lastminute.com, Holiday Autos and Monster.com. Co-founder of an edtech company and marketing lead through a multi-million pound exit. Advisory board at Dragonfly AI. I do the diagnosis and the delivery.
Dave opens the door. I make sure what’s behind it holds up.
Who this is for //
Post-revenue, pre-Series A. You have raised angel or pre-seed money, revenue is real but the plan for growing it is not yet, and there is no commercial or marketing leader on the team. Usually SaaS, AI, adtech, martech or edtech, though the trigger matters more than the sector: a raise coming, a round just closed, a growth stall an investor has noticed, or a repositioning everyone knows is needed and nobody owns.
It is not for pre-product businesses, for founders who want someone to run the company for them, or for anyone whose honest next step is a full-time hire. We will say so on the first call.
Where I’ve done it //
Education Student recruitment is a marketing problem with a very short window.
Green Tech & Clean Energy Novel technology that the market hasn’t got language for yet.
Tech & SaaS Technically complex products, buyers who don’t speak the language.
Independent restaurants The food is rarely the problem. Being found and booked is.
Charity & Purpose-led Small budgets, real constraints, and no room for waste.
SMEs & small businesses Big-brand marketing thinking, at your size of business.
Startups Most startups have a product. Fewer have a proposition.
Straight answers //
What does “ready to raise” actually mean?
That an investor can read the deck, the model and the plan for the money and find the same business in all three. Most raises fail on the gap between them. Getting ready is closing that gap before the first meeting, which is what the review is for.
Do you run the raise or just prepare us for it?
Both are on the ladder. Raise Ready covers the narrative, deck, model, data room and investor list, and Dave runs the process with you. What we don’t do is promise a close. Two businesses Dave took to investment-ready did not complete their rounds, which is exactly why the fee is for the work and the success element is a kicker, not the whole price.
Why a marketing person on a fundraise?
Because the questions investors ask after the deck are commercial ones: who buys, why, what it costs to reach them, what happens to the money. That is positioning and go-to-market, and it is the part of the plan that has to survive after the round closes.
Do you take equity?
Not as the fee. Engagements are paid in cash, and any equity conversation is separate and later, once there is something to talk about. Founders who can only offer equity are usually not ready for this service yet.
Do you work with investors as well as founders?
Yes. Funds, angel groups and family offices without a platform team can buy Readiness Reviews for their portfolio companies and engage us company by company from there. Start with a conversation.
Worth reading //
What investors actually read: a conversation with Dave Mitchell Dave Mitchell has led three funding rounds and sat on both sides of the table. A conversation about decks, models, and why raises really fail.
Go-to-market strategy: a practical guide for founders A go-to-market strategy is an ordered set of decisions (proposition, audience, channel and timing), not a list of launch tasks.
What is product-market fit, and how do you know? What product-market fit means in practice, the honest signs you have it, and why marketing cannot fake it.
What is brand positioning, and why does it matter? Brand positioning is the clear reason a specific customer should choose you over every alternative, including doing nothing at all.
Grant funding applications that get backed What separates grant funding applications that get backed from those that do not, and how to build a case rather than fill in a form.
Next //
Raising in the next year?
Start with a conversation.
Tell Dave and me where the business is and what the round is for. A thirty-minute call, no documents needed, and an honest answer on whether the review is worth your money.
Brighton · London · UK-wide and internationally · LinkedIn