Equity Raise Advisory$14M secured
Structure the raise before you open it.
Positioning, materials, and investor outreach — in that order. We do the preparation that makes a warm intro convert. Cheapest capital first. Equity when the story is ready.
- Team secured
- $14M
- Phases before launch
- 3
- Cheapest capital first
- 1st
- Intros over cold volume
- Warm
Trusted by companies across Canada
How a raise gets structured
Three phases. Nothing launches early.
A good product beats a good email. The story still has to travel: why you, why now, and why this round. We write it so a warm intro can explain the company without you in the room.
- Traction, team, timing, and technology — plus the lead and the competitive pressure.
- One unique insight, stated so a partner can retell it.
- Urgency from a real timeline and real social proof, not a fake close date.
- Trust that you are an executor and a domain expert, built before the first ask.
Fundraising discovery
Allocate to the cheapest source first.
Equity is the expensive dollar. The first meeting answers five questions, then we put grants, credit, angels, and funds in an order you can defend.
- 01How much are you raising?
The number sets the instrument, the room, and who is even a fit.
- 02When do you need the money?
A date changes the sequence. Grants and credit take a different clock than a seed round.
- 03What has to be true about the financing?
Flexible repayment, interest, dilution, control, and who sits on the board.
- 04Which groups belong in this round?
Angels, funds, strategics, or a lead you already know. Not all of them at once.
- 05Canada, the US, or somewhere else?
Geography changes ticket size, mandate, and how warm the intro needs to be.
- Grants & tax creditsNon-dilutive. SR&ED, IRAP, and the rest of the Canadian stack before you sell a share.Cheapest
- Revenue-based & working capitalShort duration. Repaid from revenue when the business can carry it.Low dilution
- Angels & syndicatesRelationship capital. Warm rooms, founder networks, and people who have built before.Relationship
- VentureWhen the story, the materials, and a lead are ready — not before.Last
The narrative
Four things a partner remembers.
Traction
Growth a partner can check. Momentum beats a polished forecast.
Team
Where you have done the work. Domain depth and complementary skills.
Timing
Why this window is open now, and what happens if an investor waits.
Technology
The insight competitors do not have, said in one sentence.
Outreach follows the same influences Robert Cialdini named: give something first, make the yes small, sound like a person, show you can execute, borrow trust that already exists, and keep the deadline real.
Reciprocity
A specific compliment or a useful observation before the ask.
Commitment
A process people can say yes to in steps, then stay consistent with.
Liking
A note that sounds like you noticed them, not a sequence.
Authority
Proof you execute, and that you know the domain better than the deck.
Social proof
A lead, a customer, a name that already trusts you.
Scarcity
A real close window. Invented urgency reads immediately.
What you get
A raise you can run, not a deck in a folder.
Fundraising discovery
Amount, date, terms that matter, and which capital to exhaust before equity.
Narrative workshop
The story, the hook, and the one-line insight a warm intro can carry.
Materials
Memo outline, deck structure, one-pager, and a data room that matches them.
Investor map
Who fits this round by stage, ticket, geography, and how you can actually reach them.
Raise board
Every conversation has an owner, a status, and a next move. Nothing lives in a thread.
Outreach & network
Personal network, community, and follow-up written for the person, not the list.
Library
The references we actually use.
Public guides, decks, and directories. Read them in the same order as the raise: story, then materials, then who you send them to.
Positioning & Story
- Canadian startup funding strategies
How we think about financing and fundraising from Canada.
- Sequoia — Writing a Business Plan
The presentation outline serious memos still follow.
- Holloway — Raising Venture Capital
The long guide on process, terms, and how rounds actually run.
- Y Combinator — Guide to Seed Fundraising
Tactical notes on timing, targets, and the raise itself.
Materials & Infrastructure
- Pitch Deck Hunt
200+ public decks, read for structure rather than style.
- Investor email templates
A starting point. Personalize the hook before you send.
- Holloway — Equity Compensation
How option pools, dilution, and employee equity actually work.
- Startup ecosystem maps
Canadian cities, funds, and the rooms founders already use.
Investor Targeting & Outreach
- Signal by NFX
Investor graph for finding who actually leads rounds like yours.
- CVCA
Canadian venture and private equity, in one directory.
- Financing partners
Lenders and non-dilutive options to clear before you price equity.
- Grants & tax credits
The cheapest dollar in a Canadian raise. We run this in-house.
Rooms where Canadian founders meet investors
- Founder Institute
- BC Tech
- C100
- Cascadia Venture Forum
- Keiretsu Forum
- TiE Vancouver
- Valhalla Angels
- VANTEC
- Vancouver Angel Forum
- Western Canadian Angel Network
Funds worth reading before you write: iNovia, Golden Ventures, Real Ventures, Ripple Ventures, SignalFire. Study the memos and the portfolios. Then decide who belongs on your list.
Start here
Bring the round. Leave with a sequence.
A working session on amount, timing, and which dollar to raise first. Our team has secured $14M. The preparation is the product.