01
Prototype
- Evidence
- Technical proof
- Capital
- Founder / grant
Investment readiness for founder-led technology companies
Turning technical promise into an investable business.
Financial models, funding strategies and investment cases for seed-stage and Series A companies commercialising complex technology.
Deep techClean techCircular economyAdvanced manufacturing
SCA / COMMERCIALISATION MAP / 01
TRL 06–07Demonstration evidence
CAPITAL GATESeries A readiness
MODEL STATUSINTEGRATED
RUNWAY / BASE18 MTH
MILESTONES05
01 / THE COMMERCIALISATION PATH
Capital should follow evidence.
Evidence should change the investment case.
Sentinel connects the operating plan, technical milestones and funding requirement so investors can see what the business becomes capable of achieving.
02
Demonstration
- Evidence
- Operating evidence
- Capital
- Seed capital
03
Commercial proof
- Evidence
- Customer economics
- Capital
- Series A
04
Investable business
- Evidence
- Repeatable growth
- Capital
- Scale capital
02 / THE CAPITAL CASE
Know how much to raise, why you need it and what it will achieve.
Investment readiness is the ability to connect capital to a credible operating plan—not a polished pitch deck or an optimistic spreadsheet.
- 01Build funding from operating reality
- 02Quantify the effect of delay and downside
- 03Link every dollar to measurable progress
SCENARIO / CASH RUNWAYLIVE MODEL
Base caseDelayed commercialisation
TARGET RAISE$2.8mBase requirement
MINIMUM VIABLE$2.1mReduced programme
NEXT GATEQ4Commercial proof
Illustrative exhibit—engagement outputs are built from each company’s operating assumptions.
03 / CORE ENGAGEMENT
The Investment Readiness Programme.
A structured engagement that turns the model, funding requirement, valuation and operating plan into one investor-defensible capital case.
Build the case from operating reality.
An integrated, driver-based three-way forecast tied to the commercial and operating assumptions that determine cash flow.
Know what changes the funding requirement.
Test how hiring, revenue timing, CapEx, margins and delays affect runway and the timing of the next round.
Connect capital to measurable progress.
Determine the target and minimum viable raise, then link capital to activities, milestones and measurable outcomes.
Make the economics defensible.
Develop an explainable valuation and assess the appropriate mix of equity, debt and other funding.
Show whether the plan is working.
Define the financial and operating measures that demonstrate progress against the plan and use of investor capital.
Find the weak assumptions first.
Identify the assumptions most likely to fail under scrutiny and quantify the consequences when the preferred case does not occur.
04 / ILLUSTRATIVE ENGAGEMENT
From ambitious forecast to a capital plan management could defend.
A representative view of how Sentinel brings technical, commercial and financial evidence into one line of reasoning. Client details and figures are illustrative.
013-way
Integrated financial model
023 cases
Base, downside and delay
035 gates
Funded commercial milestones
0418 mth
Target operating runway
Management could explain:
- the minimum and target raise;
- what changed under delayed revenue;
- which milestones justified the next valuation step-up;
- how investor capital would be monitored.
05 / BUILT FOR COMPLEXITY
Finance that can keep pace with R&D and commercialisation.
Best suited to founder-led, seed-stage and growth-stage companies preparing to raise external capital and not yet ready for a full-time CFO.
NEXT STEP / INVESTMENT READINESS
Before investors test the numbers, test them yourself.
If you plan to raise capital in the next three to twelve months, identify where the case is strong—and where investors are most likely to challenge it.
Take the Investment Readiness Diagnostic admin@sentinelcapital.io