— General Partner at Leading Silicon Valley Venture Fund
THE DILEMMA
THE PROBLEM AND MARKET OPPORTUNITY
“Super interesting space . . . we see the upside opportunity . . . but
it’s not a good fit for us given size of the round [$7m] and size of our fund [$1b+].
I would love to stay in touch and continue to get updates
as you build out the team and company if that’s ok?
– A Founder
Have they learned the wisdom of founders? and
can they truly share it with us in the common ground?
Can they truly connect with our purpose when
their objectives are not aligned with ours?
THE OPPORTUNITY
MERLIN4VENTURES
Exceptional entrepreneurs, who have boot-strapped companies to sales,
are reluctant to take money from traditional VC funds
given the size and terms they require.
This has created a dilemma for founders and opened a space in the market
for partners who combine operating expertise with flexible financing
aligned with actual capital needs and a founder’s success to date.
We call it Merlin4Ventures:
- We support our entrepreneurs’ growth, but don’t require them to relinquish control.
- We “operationalize” their vision and strategy.
- We are driven by long-term value creation.
- We engage pre, during, and post financing.
- We are not biased by “portfolio” considerations.
- We drive your fundraising process.
- We exclusively represent several investors, all former founders, and have many other close investor relationships.
THE STRATEGY
COMMERCIAL SCALING TO SUCCESS POWERED BY EXCLUSIVE ACCESS TO FUNDING
Bring wisdom and street smarts to operationalize strategy
Design a process for managing organization and talent to scale
Perform gap analysis to enable excellence in execution
Adopt war plan to penetrate strategic accounts
Identify and prepare for strategic growth: why, what, who, when
