DR-Ventures · For founders
Operators who invest in the companies they scale.
Scale
Capital
Finance
Value networks
How we operate
Five things that hold across every engagement.
Invested
We put our own money and most or all of our engagement value into the company. We win when you win.
Embedded
Senior operators inside the business, not advisers on the sidelines.
Connected
Family offices and co-investors who meet the company through us, already informed.
Long-term
We are not looking for an exit at your first round. We may hold and stay useful.
Honest
We name the real gap before anyone starts, and we say no quickly when we are not the right fit.
Growth
We work inside the business on finance, growth, strategy and funding.
Senior operating time, two to six days a month, set against the gap rather than against a budget. We build investibility from real numbers, not a deck.
Finance
Fractional CFO cover, financial controls, reporting and the numbers a round is built on.
Growth
GTM, sales process and the commercial execution that turns pipeline into revenue.
Strategy
The decisions that shape the business — focus, positioning and the gap named honestly.
Funding
Investibility built from real numbers, then the round run off what we now know first-hand.
A three-month floor before any round work. Not a policy for its own sake. A round run off three months of real operating knowledge raises better than one run off a deck.
The partnership
Our initial commitment, tailored.
Tell us your timeline, your valuation and what you're raising. Find out how much we might commit initially, before your next round.
How long before you need to raise. The first three months are locked — we need that long to do the work.
£4,000,000 today.
£1,000,000 target round.
Drag to put your most urgent need first.
Our initial commitment (estimated)
£26,000
≈ 0.5% equity
- Pre-money valuation£4,000,000
- Round size£1,000,000
- Our slice£26,000
The raise
When you raise, you raise with people who already know you.
We invest alongside, and we hold the position that makes sense for the business.
Our warrant converts
Everything accrued turns into actual equity at the current price. Because that price is set by the round you are closing, the round itself already represents the upside, so we are not buying in at a discount to you.
We set up your investibility
Model, metrics, cap table, data room, narrative. Built from three-plus months inside the business rather than a fortnight of catch-up.
We engage investors
A process, not a contact list. We research the funds and angels actually active in your stage, sector and cheque size, match them against your profile, then work the list. You are in every room.
Family office introductions
We bring family office investors who meet the company through us, already informed — deal flow pre-diligenced by operators.
We try to co-invest
Where it makes sense we bring a syndicate alongside the round, so part of your raise comes from people who already know the business through us.
We may hold our position
If holding is the better outcome for the business, we hold and stay useful. We are not looking for an exit at your first round.
The shape of a year
No round work for the first three months.
A round run off three months of real operating knowledge raises better than one run off a deck.
Signed and started
Your contribution set up, conditional warrant signed, work begins that week.
Rolling our sleeves up
We work the gaps we assessed, in the business, week by week. Our investment accrues each month. No investor conversations yet.
Investibility
Earliest point we will take on a round. We build the numbers, the narrative and the data room off what we now know first-hand.
Conversion and raise
The warrant becomes real equity at the round price, we run the investor process, and we look to co-invest alongside it.
How we decide
The evaluation, in five points.
Worked through with you. A decision in days.
We assess the need
What is actually broken, how urgent it is, and where the operational gaps sit. We separate the problem you brought from the problem you have.
We check we can fill them
We work in four areas. If your gap sits outside them, we say so and stop. Work we can't do well is worse for us than no work.
We size the operating time
Two to six days a month, set against the gap rather than against your budget. Two days is oversight and a fixed workstream. Six days is an embedded operator.
- 2 days: one workstream, monthly cadence
- 4 days: two workstreams, weekly cadence
- 6 days: embedded, in your standups
We agree the partnership
Our investment, the warrant and your contribution, set together in one conversation. We put 50–100% of our engagement value back into the business as a conditional equity warrant. You choose how much we invest and how much you settle monthly.
- Our investment and your contribution agreed
- Your contribution set up for the balance
- Conditional warrant signed, accruing monthly
We start
Work begins the week the warrant is signed. The warrant accrues month by month as the work is delivered. If you cancel after month six, it stops accruing and you keep what you paid for.
- No funding-round work before month 3
Not yet?
Join founders at the same stage, working through the same ground, until the timing is right.
When we can't take a company on directly, the next best thing is the same ground covered alongside founders at a similar point. When something changes, come back to us.
Who this is for
Stage matters less than you'd expect.
We work with pre-seed and pre-product companies too; it simply means more of our engagement value is an investment decision on our side, and we will say so openly. What matters more is the list on the left.
This is for you if
- +Any stage, including pre-seed and pre-product
- +You would rather have senior time than a junior hire
- +You are raising in the next six to twelve months
- +You are comfortable giving equity to people who work in the business
- +You want the gap named honestly before anyone starts
This is not for you if
- –You are looking for a co-founder rather than operators
- –You want a fundraise run starting next month
- –Your cap table cannot take another line
- –You need daily execution rather than operating leadership
- –You want an agency you can brief and forget
Proof
Founders we have worked beside.
“I wish I knew you months ago before I took that loan.”
Capital strategy
“I had a thousand names on a list, but after one call I met two incredible investors.”
Investor mapping
“I had this idea for years — now I can build it.”
Operating support
“Always a calm and focused voice, clears the chaos for me.”
Strategic advisory
Questions
Questions we always get.
A signed right to subscribe for shares later, at a price and amount set by conditions you agree up front. It sits off your cap table until it converts, so it does not dilute you or complicate your current share register while we are working. It accrues monthly, in step with the work delivered.
Then the accrued portion stays unconverted and we carry that loss. That is the deliberate design of the arrangement: the more of our engagement value we agreed to invest, the more of your outcome we are exposed to. It is also why we assess the need and the urgency so carefully before we agree the partnership.
After the six-month minimum, monthly. The warrant stops accruing on your last month of work. You never accrue for months we did not deliver.
Because a round we run in month one is a round run off your deck, and a round we run in month four is run off numbers we built ourselves. The three-month floor is what makes the difference.
Yes, on close: 1% of the round raised, capped at £15,000. On a £1m round that is £10,000; on anything above £1.5m it is £15,000 flat.
Not by default. We work inside the business at an operating level. If a board seat is useful to you after the round, we will discuss it then as a separate conversation.
Tell us what's broken.
Five minutes on the form. A response within three working days, either way: evaluation, or an invitation to the next cohort.
Apply