Portola Valley
Partners
BUILD > GROW > FUND > EXIT
San Francisco | Los Angeles
Our team of Silicon Valley superheroes has a disruptive approach to dramatically increase a company’s chance of success.
Founders, investors, and partners are happier and much more likely to be successful – EVERYONE WINS.
We want to do good things with like-minded individuals who want to build impactful products, across most verticals, that truly make a difference.
Everyone on our team has experienced life as: entrepreneurs, founders, large company execs, and investors. We've bootstrapped our own organizations, raised funds, succeeded, failed, and had some great exits. Portola Valley Partners has grown out of recognition that there must be a better way for early-stage companies to succeed.
Less than 10% of companies seeking funding actually receive it and out of the 10% that receive it, less than 10% of those achieve a significant exit. We know why - we've been through it and we've seen it. The odds can be better, much better.
Our holistic, team-based, hands-on approach is game-changing. We help companies BUILD and GROW so they can get FUNDING and ultimately EXIT.
We are the champions of entreprenuers!
We regularly share our thinking and interesting information
Working With US
We are flexible on how we engage, and although we are hands-on we do not operate like consultants - no hourly charges, no boilerplate. We take a clean-sheet approach to everything we do - it's what your company deserves and needs.
Comprehensive Approach
These programs are a great way for earlier stage companies to make fast progress across a wide-array of solutions including: Product Management, Fundraising Prep, Grants, Marketing, Sales, Exit Planning, IT Tools, Legal Review, HR Planning, and Board Service. These on-ramps provide essential elements extracted from our BUILD, GROW, FUND, EXIT methodology. Click here to learn more.
Designed to provide maximum acceleration for companies with more market-traction than earlier stage. With this approach our team executes on many fronts as needed in parallel, following our BUILD, GROW, FUND, EXIT methodology. We serve as a true extension of your team leveraging our years of hands-on experience.
This is where you can find our recommendations on podcasts, books, movies and other material worth watching, listening, or reading
Portfolio Companies
Check out some of the amazing, game-changing, world-changing companies that we have the privilege of collaborating with and supporting. We are generally vertical-agnostic, and whether a tech company or food and beverage company, the steps to BUILD, GROW, FUND, and EXIT are very similar.
BUILD
Our foundational phase, it all starts here. It's what matters most - it's what everything else stands on and influences how companies scale, get funded and exit. The primordial soup from which great companies are born.
Product Mangement
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Strategy & Planning
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Voice of Customer
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Establish PMF
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Well-defined MVP
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Defensible Roadmap
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Voice of Customer
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Launch Plans
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Lifecycle Managment
GTM Planning
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Marketing Plan
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Product Marketing
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Sales Strategies
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IP Protection
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Seed for Revenue
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Seed for Awareness
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Forecasting
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Demand/Lead Gen
Finance | Operations
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Early HR Considerations
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Selecting IT Tools
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Cultural Awareness
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D&I Planning
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IP Protection
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Legal Considerations
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Financial Structure
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Cap Table Modeling
GROW
This is the convergence of strategy, tactics, people, plans, process, and focused GTM execution. Progress must be made here to obtain funding.
Sales Execution
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Direct/Indirect Sales
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Channel Development
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OEM Options
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Bus-Dev Tune
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Alliances
Marketing
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Social, PR Campaigns
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Seed for Funding
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Seed for Liquidity
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Legal Planning
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HR Development
Operations
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IT Scaling
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Legal Planning
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HR Development
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Tracking Metrics
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Reporting
FUND
Most companies need funding, but statistically most don't get it. This is typically because the BUILD and GROW phases were shortcut or not executed properly.
Fundraising Prep
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Hollywood-grade Pitch Decks
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Professionally Scripted Narratives
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Comprehensive Financial modeling
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Investor Introductions
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Intros to Potential Investors
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Investor Comms
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Term Sheet Evaluation
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Use of Proceeds Statements
Funding Sources
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Venture Capital
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Seed Funding
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Angel Investors
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Traditional Financing
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Family Offices
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High Net Worth Individuals
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Alternative Financing
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Venture Debt Instruments
EXIT
Nearly all companies want to entertain a strong exit offer. With the right steps taken in BUILD and GROW and the proper FUNDing secured and exit can be fast and strong, with right steps taken in EXIT preparedness.
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Exit Preparedness
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Exit Planning
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Integration Readiness
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Maximizing an Offer
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M&A Strategies
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Founder Planning
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Employee Transitions
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Shareholder Considerations