Investor Introduction Roadmap
Process Guideline for clients
Perihelion Ventures Ltd partners with Stone Capital Group Limited a boutique Capital specialist with access to a wide range of strategic investors. In these partnership Stone Capital Group Limited will form the main contact for clients. This document describes what the process looks like.
In capital markets, the right, warm or hot contacts are essential as is the correct plan focus for investors.
Consider that: Stewart Butterfield, pitched Slack to over 150 investors before securing funding from Accel Partners; Travis Kalanick, pitched Uber to over 75 investors before finally securing funding from Benchmark Capital; Drew Houston, pitched Dropbox to over 70 investors before securing funding from Y Combinator; Pinterest – Pinterest’s co-founder, Ben Silbermann, pitched Pinterest to over 40 investors before finally securing funding from Bessemer Venture Partners.
The right contacts, the right preparation, and the right expectations are all essential. The Stone Capital Group knows its investors and will ensure that your application is ready before they present it through their network to partners. If having read this, you feel ready to proceed, this is the Stone Capital Group process. The process can be accelerated if any particular step has already been carried out.
- Pre-introduction
Typically, 90%-95% of prospective start-ups do not meet Perihelion Ventures Ltd referral criteria for Stone Capital Group Limited and would not be shown this roadmap document. If clients feel that they are ready for the process having read this, selected prospective clients will be presented by Perihelion Ventures Ltd partners with Stone Capital Group Limited. In the process below, you are “the client”. Please do not ask to start unless you have your one-pager/executive summary prepared. The executive summary should be suitable for reading aloud and it’s suggested that you refine it by doing exactly that with a range of associates who are not directly involved in the business to refine it before proceeding.
- Pre-engagement
Week 1, Day 1: Introduction of Client to Stone Capital Group Limited. It is preferred that you fill in the orientation form at this stage [here—it should certainly be done before stage 6] - Within 1st Week. Stone Capital Group Limited (SCG hereafter) will schedule an Initial Zoom Call with the client to discuss the partnership and its services.
- Within 1 day: If both you and SCG decide to proceed at the end of the meeting, SCG will send a Non-Disclosure and Confidentiality Agreement (NDNC) to you, the client via email. At this point, the clock is ticking. If there are additional points needed to discuss prior to engagement, you should arrange a Zoom Call within the same week. SCG typically charge an engagement fee prior to starting. However, by special agreement with Perihelion Ventures Ltd referrals from Perihelion Ventures Ltd who honour the commitment to SCG’s process and timeline outlined here may generally waive this fee. The two exceptions are where hands-on work is required by SCG to prepare a submission or where the client does not stick to the schedule outlined. The exemption here is on medical or compassionate grounds.
- Week 1, Day 5: NDNC Signed – The client must sign and return the NDNC to the SCG. .
- Within 2 working days of receiving the NDNC, SCG will send the client a draft engagement agreement including 90 day exclusivity and Fee agreement – via email for signing.
Fee Agreement
(a) The engagement fee for the process is £10,000 GBP paid to SCG
(b) The standard success fee will be 4.5% of the funds raised allocated to SCG and Perihelion Ventures Ltd. This should be added to the amount of finance sought. If the timeline is not adhered to (except for health reasons by either party) this will raise to 10% allocated to SCG and Perihelion Ventures Ltd.
(c) The standard equity allocation will be 10% ownership allocated to SCG and Perihelion Ventures Ltd. - Engagement
Week 2, Day 3 (or earlier): The client sends a scan of the signed engagement letter to SCG. - Week 2, Day 5 (or earlier): One Pager – The client will provide the SCG with a one pager that summarizes the business.
- Week 2, Day 5 (or earlier): Profile Questions – The client will fill out profile questions to help the SCG understand the business better.
- Week 3, Day 1 (or earlier): Pitch Deck – The client will provide the SCG with a pitch deck. A pitch deck is a vital part of your fundraise. If you do not have a pitch deck SCG can prepare one as a cost option. You should tell them this in the initial Zoom meeting.
- Within 1 working day of SCG indicating corrections, clarifications or changes to the pitch deck the client must implement changes indicated by SCG for the deck to be distributed to the SCG network. It is strongly suggested that the CEO or co-founder schedules substantial time across the whole of week three to prepare the deck in response to funding. If you feel that you may need time to change the business model or apply for patents or other operational concerns at this time you need to either be prepared to pay fees to SCG to make the changes directly in week 3 or not enter the process until ready to commit to raising funds.
- Week 4, Day 1: Teaser Email Q’s – The SCG will use the information provided by the client to create teaser email questions to send to potential investors.
- Week 4, Day 3: Follow-up Meetings Booked – The SCG will book follow-up meetings with interested investors.
- Week 4, Day 3: Pitch Deck Improvement – The client will work with the SCG to improve the pitch deck as needed.
- Week 5, Day 1: Pro Forma Model | 5yrs? – The client will work with the SCG to create a pro forma financial model for the next five years. Advice will be given as part of the process but hand-on development of all types is chargeable by SCG at standard hourly rates.
- Week 5, Day 1: Business Plan (if over $10M raise) – If the client is raising more than $10 million, they will work with the SCG to create a business plan.
- Week 5, Day 4 & Day 5: Business Plan and Pro Forma Model walk through with client’s CEO, CFO and SCG. To raise finance it needs to be clear that the client knows their business plan and financials inside out and flawlessly.
- Week 6, Day 1: Start Introducing to Investors – The SCG will start introducing the client to investors.