Investor Readiness
It takes more than a good idea and a compelling story to raise money.
Our Investor Readiness Program is an exclusive, 8-week program offering for high potential technology startups looking to raise a seed round. We are unique in our hands-on approach and investor matching processes.
Our next cohort will start in September 2022. Applications are now open!
What This Means
Investor Readiness is an exclusive, 8-week program offering:
- Experts to help deconstruct your pitch and build it from the foundation up so you are ready to answer even the toughest investor questions
- Advisors to give tailored coaching to address any gaps or specific challenges your startup is facing
- Student teams to help explore & execute your decided strategies
- Matching and introductions to appropriate funds for your startup from our curated list of 500+ investors
- A guaranteed meeting with Preference Capital
Meet Your Lead Advisor
Danielle Graham
Danielle founded Fierce Founders, the first women-focused tech accelerator in Canada. She was Manager of Ontario Centres of Innovation’s Market Readiness fund, Principal at Dream Maker and Sandpiper and currently Venture Partner with Archangel and Advisor with ventureLAB, unlocking capital for the earliest stage startups in the tech ecosystem.
Startup Eligibility Criteria
Does this sound like you & your team?
- You have an innovative technological solution to a compelling problem
- There is a large market potential
- You have demonstrable third-party validation, preferably sales
- Your team is working full-time on the business
- Your leadership team is collaborative, coachable, and committed
- Have a pitch deck, one pager & live website ready to go
Our Expert Partners
Meet the partners who will help you get investor ready
Preference Capital
Venture Capital Firm
We are the home Incubator for Preference Capital! Their fund aims to fill the gap in funding between Toronto and Kitchener-Waterloo corridor.
Bereskin & Parr
IP Boutique
Bereskin & Parr is a leading Canadian full service intellectual property law firm serving clients in every aspect of patent, trademark and copyright law and IP litigation.
Pallet Valo LLP
Law Firm
Pallett Valo LLP is the largest law firm in Peel Region, and was selected by the readers of Canadian Lawyer magazine as one of the top ten Ontario regional law firms.
Scan Consulting Group
Financial Services
Scan Consulting Group offers a spectrum of business services to cover your needs, whether you are a startup, a small business or an established business aiming to expand or increase your resource pool.
What Our Clients Say
Our Program Partners
Meet the program partners invested in your team's success
How to Apply
- Complete the application below
- A review committee will score your application based on 6 key components (see Q&A below for details).
- Our next cohort starts in September 2022. Subscribe to be notified when registrations open.
Frequently Asked Questions
Raising your first round is the most difficult. Founders often struggle with telling their story, preparing a data room, and bringing together the right pieces to raise external capital. We’ve partnered with experts in investment and funding to help you through this process. Scaling tech startups to new heights is our area of expertise, and our focus on sales and marketing, financial modelling, IP strategy, and pitch practice will get you ready to present in front of any investor. Successful graduates get 1:1 support in investor introductions.
Marketing & Sales: Create a sales & marketing model customized to your clients and industry
Financial Model: Create a customized financial model adjustable to various inputs
Intellectual Property: Identify how to protect your IP competitive advantage
HR Planning: Build and adaptable strategy plan that grows with you
Pitch Perfect: Weekly feedback to adjust your pitch
Due Diligence: Create a sharable data room on our private blockchain
Investor Matching: Our team will match investment opportunities for you from our 500+ list and provide a direct introduction upon the completion of the program & deliverables
Sessions will all be run virtually but have been designed to maximize engagement between our companies and our subject experts. We encourage peer to peer discussions and questions so that you can get feedback not only from the expert but your peers. We’ve run three other cohort programs since we transitioned to virtual in March 2020.
You will be assessed based on the following 6 components:
- 1. Strength of Entrepreneur/Team
- 2. Size of Opportunity/Competitive Environment
- 3. Product/Technology
- 4. Business Stage
- 5. Marketing/Sales/Partnerships
- 6. Revenue Model and Financial Plan
This will help us assess if the Investor Readiness program is the right fit to help you grow.
You can apply before you register with us as a client; however, to take part of the program, this will be a requirement. Register here.
Registration is free and will bring you into our network opening up partner offers/discounts, access to MaRs resources, open workshops and events, and etc. We have over 600 clients in various industries that we support.
At the end of the program you will be invited to present to the Investment Review Panel for feedback and recommendations to matching funds.
If its the right fit, we match opportunities with client needs from our curated VC list and provide a direct introduction to appropriate investors/funds.
Not ready for our program?
Read more about funding on our blog!
Top 5 Things Investors Look For in Startups
What information do investors want to know about your company before investing in it? Here are the top five things investors look for in startups.
How to Prepare for Your First VC Fundraising
Properly preparing for your first VC meeting will greatly affect your chances of success. There’s more to it than just expressing your vision for the company.
Breaking Down Your Pitch to Investors
In this blog, we are going to break down a pitch into all of the various elements you need to include in order to get investors on your side including dos and don’ts and 15 essential slides.
