$6.5M Series B closed in 11 weeks
Pre-Series B founder with three months of runway. We built the model, the narrative, and the data room, and led investor process from term sheet to close.
- 92 days of runway and a board demanding a Series B at a 5× revenue multiple.
- No driver-based model. Historical financials in three different chart-of-accounts.
- Founder running diligence personally between product reviews, no dedicated finance lead.
- Two failed banker conversations had left investor sentiment cold in the obvious lead pool.
- ARR definition inconsistent across pipeline reports and the GL, required full restatement.
Week 1–2 · Diagnostic & narrative
Rebuilt unit economics by cohort, isolated three growth levers, and drafted the investor story around payback and net revenue retention.
Week 3–5 · Model & data room
Driver-based 3-statement model with 4 scenarios. AI-flagged variance and anomalies on 18 months of GL data. Data room indexed to standard Series B diligence checklist.
Week 6–9 · Investor process
Curated 32-investor outreach list, ran 47 first meetings, coordinated 9 second meetings and management deep-dives.
Week 10–11 · Negotiation & close
Term sheet triangulation across 14 offers. Negotiated lead terms (no liquidation preference stack), signed and wired in 19 days.
A vertical SaaS company serving regional logistics operators across the US Midwest. $11.4M ARR growing 118% YoY, 142% net revenue retention, and a product moat built on a proprietary routing dataset. The company had raised a $7M Series A 22 months prior and burned faster than planned shipping the enterprise tier. Existing investors signaled they would not bridge, the next round had to clear on its own merits with 92 days of runway on the clock.
- Week 1
Kickoff & diagnostic
Three-day on-site. ARR restated, churn cohorts rebuilt, runway recut at 87 days under base case.
- Week 2
Narrative locked
12-slide investor story tested with two friendly funds. Refined the wedge from 'logistics SaaS' to 'system of record for regional fleets.'
- Week 4
Model & data room live
Driver-based model with 4 scenarios. 187 documents indexed to a standard Series B checklist.
- Week 6
Outreach launched
32 funds approached through warm intros only. 47 first meetings booked in 9 business days.
- Week 8
Term sheets in
14 term sheets received. Triangulated valuation between 5.8× and 7.4× forward ARR.
- Week 10
Lead selected
Negotiated removal of participating preferred, anti-dilution capped at broad-based weighted average.
- Week 11
Wired
$6.5M closed at 6.1× forward ARR. 19 days from signed term sheet to wire.
- $6.5M Series B at 6.1× forward ARR, above target multiple.
- Lead investor matched founder's preferred governance terms.
- $1.1M in legal and broker fees avoided versus the banker-led alternative.
- Founder retained majority of common; no employee option pool re-up forced.
- Two follow-on funds reserved capacity for the Series B+ extension.
- 01
A clean ARR restatement is worth six weeks of investor calls, diligence dies on definitional friction.
- 02
Term sheet triangulation is a leverage tool only if you can credibly walk from the top of the range.
- 03
Senior judgment in the room beats banker process every time on rounds under $75M.
"CapMaven ran the process the way I wished my last CFO had. The AI work shaved weeks off diligence, but the judgment in the room is what closed the round."
How is this different from hiring an investment banker?+
We are operators with senior CFO experience, not intermediaries. No success fee structure, no broker spread. Fixed fee plus a milestone bonus tied to close. Founders own the relationships and the cap table outcomes.
What happens if the round does not close?+
We exit with a fully diligence-ready data room, model, and investor CRM in your hands. Every artifact is built so your team can run the process internally or with another partner.
Can you support post-close reporting?+
Yes, we frequently transition founders onto the Capital Retainer the day after wire. Board reporting cadence and investor updates become a continuation of the materials built during the raise.
Your case starts here.
Two weeks. Three scenarios. One honest read on your numbers.
The CFO Diagnostic gives you the same artifact every case above started with, a cash model, a unit-economics teardown, and a capital-readiness scorecard.
Start here,
Stop guessing. Start knowing.
Book a free 20-minute discovery call, or go straight to a $400 CFO Diagnostic. The Diagnostic delivers a working read of your cash position, runway, and top 3 financial risks within two weeks. Whether you engage further or not, it's the clearest financial picture most founders have ever seen.