Digital download. All sales are final: no refunds or returns. Each format can be downloaded 3 times, and the links stay valid for 30 days. If you need more, reply to your confirmation email and we will sort it out.
A raise is the sale of a share of the company for cash, and the cash is spent at a monthly rate, so what is actually being bought is a number of months. The room argues in percent: twenty feels like a lot and fifteen feels disciplined. That is the wrong unit, and it produces the wrong round in a predictable direction, because the deck divides the amount by today's run-rate while the plan the money funds spends at nearly twice that, and the milestone the money is for was dated against the plan. This pack turns the round into arithmetic. The amount over what a month will cost on the plan is the months the round buys; months to the milestone plus the months a close takes is the months the milestone needs; the difference is the break-even slip, how many months the milestone can land late before this round stops reaching it, read beside the company's own record of how its last three milestones landed. The plan's monthly cost over the post-money is the price of a month, and the same month from a bridge after the cash is gone costs about twice that, which is why the dilution-averse round is usually the expensive one. Nine sourced raises hold the frame: five for months and four for something else, two that failed on the money rather than the price, and two that refused to dilute and held. It stops on two halts: no one has written down what a month will cost on the plan the money funds, and no one has named the milestone the money is for with the price it earns.
What is the Raise Strategy Pack
The Raise Strategy Pack is a complete decision-support kit for one question: how much dilution buys how many months, and what do those months have to produce? It is built around one organizing claim: a round is priced in percent and spent in months, and the months are worth what they reach. Sixteen files carry it: the foundations, a concept deck, a scored decision wizard, a dilution model blank and worked, the moves at each reading, nine sourced raises, a fit worksheet, a roadmap template, a practitioner manual, a field checklist, and an orientation page.
The test that runs through every file
whether the months the round buys reach the milestone the money is for, on the plan the money funds, and how many months that milestone can slip before they do not. It is the argument in the deck, it becomes the wizard’s axes, it drives the model’s inputs, and it reappears as lines on the checklist. That is what makes 16 files a product rather than 16 documents.
The model resolves to one number you can negotiate with: The break-even slip — how many months the milestone can slip before the round stops reaching it. It ships blank and worked, and every input is a named cell rather than a figure buried inside a formula, so the number arrives with its assumptions attached rather than on its own authority.
Why how much to raise is decided by the milestone, not the market
Because the percent is the wrong unit, and the room argues in it. The deck divides the amount by today's monthly spend; the plan the money funds spends at nearly twice that, with the hires and the launch in it. So the months in the deck are about double the months in the bank, and the milestone the money is for was dated against the plan. In most companies the plan's monthly cost exists only as an annual budget by function, and the milestone exists as one of twelve objectives that no one has named as the one the next price depends on.
This pack turns that into arithmetic. The amount over what a month will cost on the plan is the months the round buys. Months to the milestone plus the months a round takes to close is the months the milestone needs. The difference is the break-even slip, which is how many months the milestone can land late before this round stops reaching it, and it is read beside the last three milestones' landings rather than against the deck. Then the plan's monthly cost over the post-money is the price of a month, and the same month from a bridge after the cash is gone costs about twice that.
The finding, in most rooms, is the opposite of the instinct: the dilution-averse round is the expensive one, because a round that does not reach the milestone forces a second raise before it, priced by whoever will still write a check. Quibi raised $1.75 billion and bought 7.8 months, because the months had nothing the market could confirm to reach. Airbnb took $2 billion on distressed terms, signed before it was announced, and listed eight months later.
What is in the Raise Strategy Pack
- Foundations. The framework: why a round is priced in months rather than percent, the arithmetic, the four endings that actually happen, and the eight halts.
- Concept deck. Twenty-four slides for a board or a founders' meeting, with nine sourced raises and what each does not establish.
- Decision wizard. Eight scored questions returning the band, the weakest answer, and either of the two halt conditions.
- Dilution model. Eleven candidate landings for the milestone across the columns, the bridge each would need, and the break-even slip that decides it.
- Strategies and tactics. The moves at each of the four readings, what to do when the model halts, and four ways to make the next round cheaper to size.
- Case studies. Nine sourced raises: five for months and four for something else, two that failed on the money rather than the price, and two that refused to dilute — with four records read beside them.
- Fit worksheet. The single page of record: the cash, the plan's monthly cost, the price and the amount, the milestone and its price, the record of slips, and the break-even slip.
- Roadmap template. Five phases with gates and owners, the assumptions register, a reporting change and a periodic review line.
- Practitioner manual. The cash, the plan's monthly cost, the milestone and its price, the term sheet and the close, the landing file, the board paper, six failure modes.
- Field checklist. The one-pager that survives outside the binder.
- About the package. What each file does and the order in which to run them.
Who the Raise Strategy Pack is for
A founder with a term sheet and a board that has been arguing about the percent for a month; a chief financial officer who knows the plan's monthly cost exists only as an annual budget; a chief executive being asked which of twelve objectives the next price depends on; a board member reading a deck that says the round buys three years; an investor sizing a round against a milestone the company has not named; a private equity operating partner deciding whether a portfolio company raises now or after; and the adviser who would otherwise start from a blank page. It is worth buying when a real round is in front of you. It is not worth buying to read.
An honest note on fit
This is a kit for running a decision, not a research report and not a forecast. Worked examples use an explicitly fictional company with numbers tuned to teach rather than to flatter. In the worked case a $14m round at a $56m pre-money is 20 percent and the room believes it buys nearly three years; on the plan the money funds it buys 13.3 months, the company has 18.1 in hand, the milestone needs 16 with the close, and the break-even slip is 2.1 months against a record of 3, 5, and 8. That is the fact the deck did not contain. It is not the whole decision: the price of a month is 1.5 percent now and 3.6 percent from a bridge, so the reading is to raise more than the room proposed, or cut what a month costs, or name a nearer milestone.
The framework-to-evidence ratio is high and stated: no sourced case supplies a startup's round-by-round cap table, so the dilution-per-month arithmetic is Stratrix framework throughout, and every page that carries it says so. Four limits are stated on the page rather than worked around. The model does not forecast the milestone's date — that figure is your own judgment, and the Model tab sweeps it precisely because no one can settle it in advance. It holds the next round's size and price fixed whatever this round does. It prices a bridge at one distressed price rather than at the range a real bridge is priced in. And it says nothing about what a lead investor brings beyond the check.
Questions about the Raise Strategy Pack
- What numbers does the dilution model produce?
- Two headlines and twelve supporting rows. The break-even slip is how many months the milestone can land late before this round stops reaching it; the price of a month is what one month of runway costs in ownership at the price on the table against what it costs from a bridge after the cash is gone. Around them: the dilution now, the months the room believed it bought against the months the round buys on the plan, the months in hand, the months the milestone needs with the close, the smallest round that reaches the milestone and the dilution it would take, the ownership spent on room beyond it, existing holders after this round and after the next on plan, and the round against revenue. The Model tab sweeps the milestone's landing from on time to ten months late, and one row turns from Yes to No where the round stops reaching it.
- Is a smaller round less dilutive?
- In percent, yes; in ownership, often not, and that is the whole point of the pack. In the worked case a fictional company's 20 percent round buys 18 months on the plan the money funds rather than the three years in its deck, the milestone needs 16 with the close, and the room is 2.1 months against a record of milestones landing 3, 5, and 8 months late. A month of room costs 1.5 percent now and 3.6 percent from a bridge at half price.
- We do not know what a month will cost on the plan.
- Most companies do not, because the plan exists as an annual budget by function. It is a week with the budget and the hiring plan, and the manual sets out the five places the figure hides. Until it exists, the months in the deck are divided by the wrong number, and the model halts rather than pretending otherwise.
- Does this only apply to venture-backed startups?
- No. It applies wherever a share of a company is sold for cash that is spent toward an event: a growth round, a rescue, a rights issue, a listing sized to a use of proceeds, or a private placement in a family company. Four of the nine cases are not startups at all, and two of them chose debt over dilution.
- Are the case studies real companies?
- Yes. Nine sourced raises: Airbnb, Silicon Valley Bank, The New York Times, Dell, NIO, Quibi, BuzzFeed, Stripe, and Saudi Aramco. Each is dated, read through what was raised and what the months produced, and each states what its evidence does not establish. Four further records are read beside them and labeled as borrowed: Rivian's milestone-gated venture with Volkswagen, Robinhood's two-day emergency raise, Marriott's sale of future loyalty points, and Microsoft's 1997 purchase of Apple preferred stock. The worked model, wizard, and worksheet use an explicitly fictional company, labeled as such on every file.
- Is this a subscription?
- No. One payment, one download, sixteen files, yours to keep and to use inside your organization under the license included in the pack.
- What is the Raise Strategy Pack?
- The Raise Strategy Pack is a decision-support kit for one question: How much dilution buys how many months, and what do those months have to produce? It contains 16 files — foundations, concept deck, decision wizard, dilution model, strategies and tactics, case studies, fit worksheet, roadmap template, practitioner manual, field checklist, about the package — built around a single organizing test: whether the months the round buys reach the milestone the money is for, on the plan the money funds, and how many months that milestone can slip before they do not. It is what a leadership team uses to run the decision and leave a record of what they assumed, rather than a report about the topic.
- Who is the Raise Strategy Pack for?
- Anyone who has to make this call and answer for it: an operator or owner facing the decision, the executive team running it, the board or investor testing the reasoning, or an adviser who would otherwise build the framework from a blank page. It is worth buying when a real decision is in front of you. It is not worth buying to read.
- What is in the Raise Strategy Pack?
- 16 files in Word, PDF, PowerPoint and Excel: Foundations (Word + PDF) — The framework: why a round is priced in months rather than percent, the arithmetic, the four endings that actually happen, and the eight halts. Concept deck (PowerPoint + PDF) — Twenty-four slides for a board or a founders' meeting, with nine sourced raises and what each does not establish. Decision wizard (Excel) — Eight scored questions returning the band, the weakest answer, and either of the two halt conditions. Dilution model (Excel, blank and worked) — Eleven candidate landings for the milestone across the columns, the bridge each would need, and the break-even slip that decides it. Strategies and tactics (Word) — The moves at each of the four readings, what to do when the model halts, and four ways to make the next round cheaper to size. Case studies (Word) — Nine sourced raises: five for months and four for something else, two that failed on the money rather than the price, and two that refused to dilute — with four records read beside them. Fit worksheet (Word, blank and worked) — The single page of record: the cash, the plan's monthly cost, the price and the amount, the milestone and its price, the record of slips, and the break-even slip. Roadmap template (Word) — Five phases with gates and owners, the assumptions register, a reporting change and a periodic review line. Practitioner manual (Word + PDF) — The cash, the plan's monthly cost, the milestone and its price, the term sheet and the close, the landing file, the board paper, six failure modes. Field checklist (PDF) — The one-pager that survives outside the binder. About the package (PDF) — What each file does and the order in which to run them.
- What number does the Raise Strategy Pack produce?
- The break-even slip — how many months the milestone can slip before the round stops reaching it. The model ships blank and worked, and every input is a named cell rather than a figure buried inside a formula, so the number you take into a room arrives with its assumptions attached and can be argued with rather than merely believed.
- How is the Raise Strategy Pack delivered?
- As a single download of all 16 files, immediately after payment, with the same link sent by email. It can be downloaded 3 times and the link is valid for 30 days. There is nothing to install and no account to keep.