You have a company that's working. You don't have a round closed. In 12 weeks, you'll build the narrative, the deck, the data room, the investor CRM and the process to run a real fundraise — not a hopeful one.
The Reality Check
You're a founder going out for your first priced round — pre-seed, seed, or Series A. You have traction, a narrative that mostly works, and 50 investors on a list someone gave you.
You've read every Sequoia memo. You've watched every YC fundraising talk. You've drafted four versions of the deck.
But you don't have a process. You don't have an investor CRM. You don't have a data room your CFO would sign off on. And the term sheet conversations you've had so far have left you wondering if you're getting played.
You need to run a process. Not run a hope.
The Opportunity
Founders who run a real process — full investor list, parallel meetings, structured Q&A, tight follow-up — close 2–3× faster and at materially better terms than founders who run sequential conversations.
The difference isn't pitch quality. It's process. The artifacts that separate a 6-week raise from a 6-month raise — narrative memo, deck, data room, investor CRM, weekly cadence — are learnable. They're just rarely taught outside of accelerator alumni networks.
This program teaches them. You'll leave with the assets, the process and the peer room — and a fundraise that's running, not stalled.
The Solution
A 12-week peer advisory program for first-time founders raising pre-seed, seed or Series A. One goal per week, five tasks per goal, 12 live sessions, and 5 anchor outputs — plus one live fundraise process running by Week 11.
Most decks fail in the first three slides. You'll workshop the founder narrative, the problem framing and the why-now, until any investor in the room can repeat it back in one sentence.
Five anchor outputs every funded company has: narrative memo, deck, data room, investor CRM, process plan. Demoable, defensible, durable.
Pressure-test your raise in a curated, NDA-protected room of fellow first-time founders. Peer pairs, weekly check-ins, no investors in the room.
By Week 11, you'll have a process running — outreach sent, first calls booked, follow-ups tracked. Demo Day shows it live, not in theory.
The Five Anchor Outputs
Who This Is For
Pre-seed, seed and Series A founders raising their first priced round. Traction in market, narrative roughly working, raise not yet running.
Tired of running fundraising in your inbox. Ready to run a real process — and stop relying on whichever investor returned your text last.
You can take a deck critique without flinching. You want a curated, NDA-protected room of peers — not a Twitter thread.
Not for: Pre-product founders, serial founders running their third raise, or anyone shopping for a friends-and-family round. This is for first-time founders running a priced round.
Your Guide
Veteran Founder · Investor · Forward Achieve Partner
Your guide has raised more than $100M across multiple companies, invested in 40+ startups as an angel and operator-LP, and coached 50+ first-time founders through their first priced round. The curriculum draws on the Forward Achieve fundraising library, the Beast Score diagnostic and a library of unlisted investor interviews.
What to Expect
Frequently Asked
Some, situationally. But the program isn't an intro network — it's a process-and-asset program. Founders who close use the artifacts. Intros without artifacts don't close.
We optimize for $1M–$10M raises (pre-seed through small Series A). If you're raising a bridge or a $25M+ Series B, we'll tell you on the call.
3–4 hours most weeks, ~6 in build weeks. A raise is a full-time job — this program just makes it 3 months instead of 9.
No. YC is an accelerator with a check. This is a fundraise process program with peers. The two are complementary, not substitutes.
Real product, real customers or strong design partners. We're not for pre-product founders.
Ship Anchor 1 by Week 3 and decide it's not delivering — tell us and we'll refund. [CONFIRM refund terms.]
The Full Syllabus
Three stages. Twelve weeks. Click any stage to expand.
Run the Founder Fundraise Score. Diagnose your raise readiness. Draft your 12-week raise target.
Session 1 · 90 min · Cohort orientation.
Map investor archetypes against your stage. Top 3 fit profiles you'll actually pursue.
Session 2 · 60 min · Buyer clinic.
Run the Clarity Prompt against your story. Ship a one-page narrative memo. Peer-tested live.
Session 3 · 90 min · Narrative clinic.
Install Claude Code + Notion. Load past decks, customer interviews, benchmark data. Query your own KB.
Session 4 · 60 min · Build session.
Walkthrough of decks that closed at your stage. Outline your 12–15 slides in room.
Session 5 · 90 min · Deck lab.
Slide-by-slide pressure test in peer pairs. Ship v1. Send to three trusted readers.
Session 6 · 60 min · Deck clinic.
Financials, cohort data, customer references, cap table, contracts. Data room live by end of session.
Session 7 · 90 min · Data room shipped.
Pre-score 30 candidate investors. Run the Filter Test. Lock your top 15.
Session 8 · 60 min · Investor selection clinic.
Named investors, tiers, intros, cadence. Send 10 outreach messages in week. Book first calls.
Session 9 · 90 min · Outreach role-play.
Term sheet walkthrough + diligence prep + IP and option pool sanity check.
Session 10 · 60 min · Term sheet audit.
Outreach sent, first calls booked, follow-ups tracked. Process running on real investors.
Session 11 · 90 min · Process run live.
Present 5 anchors + live process. Sign your 90-day raise plan.
Session 12 · 90 min · Demo Day.
Apply
This is the inaugural run of the program. Pricing, access, and the seat at the table all reflect that — and won't repeat in future cohorts.
Seven seats deserve a conversation, not a form — and a fundraise deserves a real process. So there's one step:
Internal: Sales playbook — ICPs, Apollo search & 5-touch sequences ↗
If you're a first-time founder running a real company and ready to run a real raise — let's talk.