Over the last year, we've worked with amazing, passion-fuelled, cash-strapped early-stage Climate Tech founders.
It's been awesome to see the value they've gotten out of our help. In the process, gotten clarity on where to point their business model, defined what success looks like, and; tested market demand for their product.
More than plans, business models and product roadmaps; we've learned that early-stage startups need help executing!
But that's where they run into problems due to their limited resources: they don't have enough capacity to do it all themselves, or money to pay someone to do it.
We've been thinking about how to tackle this and reflected on how the traditional "consulting" model is broken and not well-suited to startups because the buyer takes all the risk.
In this traditional model, a founder has to trust that someone outside their business - with no skin in the game - is going to deliver an outcome that will be worth the hefty price tag. Often, the outcomes don't seem tangible or are not clear from the outset, so the leap of faith is big. What's more, the founder will get an invoice at the end no matter what.
It drives us crazy because we know there is value - we've heard it from our customers - but also know it is often hard to see. Even worse, the pricing structure doesn't consider an early-stage startup's cash-strapped situation nor does it align with their interests and goals.
Instead of forking out cash upfront, you only pay a deposit of $500 and then pay the balance when - and only if - we achieve a specific milestone to which we've both agreed upon upfront.
For our early-stage customers, this milestone will typically be completing their first round of funding. For others, it could be acquiring a specific customer, a new deal or completing their Series A Investor Memo deck.
Whatever it is, the hurdle needs to be a specific, concrete milestone where you really let us in to help and allow us to influence the achievement of the outcome. No more sitting on the sidelines.
Early-stage Climate Techs in:
Who are aiming to:
You will get access to the More Traction team across any of the following areas:
You can kick things off by filling in this form to tell us more about your business.
We will then reach out to book a follow-up call and get the ball rolling.