WE HELP BUILD AND SCALE INVESTABLE COMPANIES.

After you have raised institutional capital, it is important to start implementing a more sophisticated and strategic approach to scaling your company. Whether that means knowing and applying the right operating and financial insights to strategically drive and support growth, or institutionalizing your controls, processes, infrastructure and systems to handle rapid growth, this is an important stage for your company to get this right. We help you think and work through the formula to scale: business strategy/model + infrastructure/operations + talent/people. While it may still be too early for you to hire a full-time CFO, getting appropriate strategic financial expertise and support to help you is important. Not only could the right actions help you scale faster and smarter, but also help you save time (money and headaches) so that you can focus on business-critical functions and keep growing your startup.

Positioning your company properly and strategically is a key differentiator when you are looking to raise larger rounds of capital from large institutional investors, particularly for Series B and beyond. The ability to tease out your investment thesis, and to strategically articulate it, is an important aspect of your equity story, particularly when you are pitching to more sophisticated and later stage investors. 

As your fast growing company continues to mature, having the right strategic vision and the ability to quickly seize opportunities may be the catalyst to take your company to the next level. We help provide strategic perspectives and execution insights and support to help you solve issues such as developing the ideal capital structure for your company, when/why/how/from whom to raise capital, and uncovering and executing strategic acquisition opportunities that capture value and drive growth. 

Having a well-designed capital raising strategy separates an amateur “friends and network” fundraising process from a sophisticated, best-in-class, institutional-style process. Not only could this impact the likelihood of successfully raising capital (equity and/or debt), but may also have a material impact on dilution, ownership structure, types and number of investors, timing and costs. Raising capital is not just about getting the meeting. It is making sure you are well prepared to articulate your vision and be able to instill confidence that your company will succeed and worthy of investment.  While you may be able to do much of this yourself, you would prefer to (and should) prioritize your time on running and growing your company. This is where we can help.

As your startup grows, strategic and opportunistic acquisitions and alliances could help transform your business and help you grow stronger and faster. The right deals—if executed and integrated well—may present unparalleled opportunities to add significant value and scale to your business and help accelerate your vision and market leadership. 88ships brings significant expertise and relevant insights to help you through the deals journey to capture value and sustain growth.

Should the time come for you to consider exit alternatives and return the highest possible value for your investors and stakeholders, it is imperative to consider the best vehicle and exit timing for you, your investors, employees, other stakeholders.

Investors play a major and vital role in the success and growth of your startup. As such, it’s critical for startups to maintain strong, transparent relationships with investors. This becomes even more important as your startup grows into a later stage, pre-IPO company, as proactive and effective investor relations can have a meaningful impact on your company’s valuation and future IPO success.