Fundraising Support & Coaching

Overview

Over the past five years, Jon has helped founders raise more than $500 million in venture funding. Past and present clients are backed by notable funds such as: Menlo, Sequoia, Goodwater, Tiger Global, Softbank, a16z, Lightspeed, Accel, and Founders Fund, to name a few. He gets his hands dirty with founders to help them move the needle on fundraising using a proven process to secure more capital within the tight operating constraints of their business. In 2023 alone, he helped more than five founders secure additional capital (Series A+) with both inside and outside capital — a round that was considered to be impossible to secure.

Who This is For

  • Early/Early-growth B2B Companies (mature Seed to Series B). We have experience working with startups spanning numerous industries such as: Freight, Finance, Life Sciences, Healthcare, Creators, Real Estate, Hospitality, Aviation, Advertising & Marketing, E-Commerce, Steel, Construction, Recruiting, and Education.

Why This Service Matters

Fundraising is already a difficult undertaking— regardless of whether you believe your company is performing well. Without a reliable fundraising process you will struggle with:

  • A narrative (pitch) that simply doesn’t resonate across the investor ecosystem— creating more confusion than buy-in.  

  • Getting caught up in answering an unending amount of questions that won’t get investors closer to conviction. 

  • A process that drags on unnecessarily— whether due to a thin top-of-funnel, timing of outreach, inability to move parties down-funnel, lack of back-channel, or incorrect meeting choreography, for example. 

  • Feedback that doesn’t make sense and lacks the level of transparency needed to be helpful to your company-building efforts. 

  • False hope from positively engaging investors which can stifle any momentum you have in the process. . 

Key Activities

  • Coach founders to help them adopt the mindset/psychology required to succeed at fundraising, refine their pitch, handle difficult Q&A, and control the frame throughout the process.

  • Shape and refine the company's narrative for fundraising efforts via emails, pitch decks, and talk tracks. 

  • Develop and finalize the top-of-funnel list (add names and add other details) to identify, engage and secure the right investment partners. 

  • Assist with a coordinated investor outreach via a structured process of electronic Requests for Introductions (RFIs). These emails will likely be sent in a few batches over the course of the fundraise.  

  • Assist to move investors through the entire cycle, including; taking reference calls, back channeling with investors, decoding feedback, communicating feedback, helping with the negotiation of terms, allocation decisions and with the closing of the round.

Typical Engagement Structure

A typical engagement for fundraising support is 4-months:

  • Weekly 45-60 minute calls: (Zoom) with the Founder and/or Co-Founder. Other key personnel can be looped in as needed. 

  • Asynchronous input & support: Responsive (same hour or same day) support via email/text/Slack for example for any confirmatory Q&A, requests for feedback/input, or requests for introduction to key personnel.  

  • Monthly retainer fee: cash retainer only for initial engagement— we are not broker-dealers.

About Jon Low (Founder & Managing Partner)

Jon Low is a performance coach and tactical advisor to early-stage founders and their core teams. He helps them move the needle on the hard things such as: fundraising, board leadership, strategic comms, GTM, and operational hygiene & accountability. Over the past five years, Jon has helped founders raise more than $500 million in venture funding (Seed to Series C) from funds such as: Menlo VC, Sequoia, Goodwater, Tiger Global, Softbank, a16z, Lightspeed, Accel, and Founders Fund, to name a few.

Jon’s professional experience spans the disciplines of design & engineering, business development, training & facilitation, strategic communication, and portfolio management development (software). He holds a 3rd Degree Black Belt in Taekwondo (Kukkiwon), and a BComm/Engineering (Honors) from The University of Sydney. Alongside Arjun Dev Arora, Jon was also co-founder & partner at Format One advisory, leading efforts to support founders during clutch moments of their growth journey for five years.