Pentith.

Solving the science is not the same as building the company.

Most deep tech teams are outstanding at one and still learning the other.

I work with a small number of them on what stalls them between rounds. A reporting pack that will not survive diligence. Thirty people and no management layer. A board asking for a commercial plan the technical team cannot write.

Before this I spent almost a decade at Future Planet Capital, building a c. £500MM platform and sitting on the investment committees that funded companies like yours. That is how I know which of these problems investors actually price.

[email protected]Thirty minutes, no materials, no pitch. If I am not the right person I will tell you in the first ten.

How I work with companies

Three levels of involvement. Most engagements start with the first.

1
Strategic projects

Fixed scope, fixed fee

A defined problem, a clear scope and a written answer you can act on with or without me. Operating plans, organisation design, board-requested reviews or a diagnostic of how the company actually runs.

2
Capital advisory

Ahead of and during a raise

Making a company backable, then running the raise with discipline once it starts. Narrative, model, data room and diligence readiness, built by someone who read these documents from the investor's side.

3
Inside the business

Fractional COO, interim CEO or non-executive director

When the answer is someone senior inside the company. Fractional COO two to three days a week. Interim CEO through a transition, to a handover. A board seat with independent weight.

What each of these involves

On at the moment

Current and recent mandates, anonymised.

  • Investor Director on an Oxford health data and clinical AI companyAppointed by its lead institutional shareholder.
  • A merger taken from heads of terms to completion on a fixed dateGovernance, negotiation support and shareholder engagement throughout.
  • A bridge financing of up to £1MM alongside Series B positioning
  • Retained by a venture platform on a fee basisPortfolio company board and governance work.

Where this comes from

Almost a decade at Future Planet Capital, latterly as Director and Portfolio Manager.

Capital
c. £500MM
Platform built from inception, across climate, health and deep tech
Funds
6
Launched and managed through their full lifecycle
Performance
3
Funds in the top quartile by TVPI
Transactions
50+
Investments led, screened or executed
Committees
8
Investment committees sat on, deciding what got funded
Companies
25+
Portfolio companies supported after the money went in
Board seats
5
Board or observer roles held

What I have been in the room for

Experience rather than a service list. These happened at Future Planet Capital and across its portfolio.

Raising and listing

  • A pre-IPO raise, supported through to a NASDAQ listing
  • Lead investor identification and capital introduction
  • Down rounds and recapitalisations
  • Emergency bridge financing
  • Aggressive terms and cram-downs

Transactions

  • Merger negotiations, led
  • Trade sales to corporate acquirers
  • The sale of one portfolio company to another
  • The sale of intellectual property
  • Secondary sales

Funds and vehicles

  • Fund structuring across multiple jurisdictions
  • SPVs and co-investment vehicles, built with legal, tax and service providers
  • Fund valuations, audit and IPEV reporting
  • LP reporting, capital calls and advisory committees
  • The acquisition and integration of fund managers

Company structure and funding

  • Moving UK companies into US structures
  • University tech transfer negotiations
  • Founder, university and investor equity splits
  • Spinouts, structured and priced
  • Grant and other non-dilutive funding

Terms

  • Liquidation preferences, ratchets and anti-dilution
  • Convertible notes and bridge instruments
  • Option pools, EMI schemes and founder vesting
  • Syndicate assembly and co-investment allocation

When it goes wrong

  • Replacing a chief executive
  • Founder and co-founder disputes
  • Board deadlock and shareholder conflict
  • Wind-downs and insolvency

Most companies that stall between Series A and Series B do not run out of ideas. They run out of operating capacity.

Whether this is a fit

I take on a small number of engagements at a time, so the honest version is more useful to both of us.

Probably yes

  • Seed to Series B, venture backed, technical founding team
  • Deep tech, life sciences or climate, often a university spinout or IP-rich
  • A specific problem the team has not had the time or the vantage point to solve
  • An operational gap a single hire will not close quickly enough
  • A raise coming in the next nine to twelve months
  • A board that needs independent weight on it

Probably not

  • Pre-product companies looking for a technical co-founder
  • Anyone who wants a deck rather than someone accountable
  • Founders looking for validation rather than challenge
  • Open-ended retainers with no defined outcome
  • A COO title that is really a finance hire
  • Running the day to day routine rather than fixing what is stuck

[email protected] Tell me what the company does and what is currently in the way. Two paragraphs is plenty.