A Practical Guide to Execution Capital

The problem: You need to raise money to hire people to build things to prove you can raise more money. It's circular, slow, and burns cash before you have real traction.

The alternative: Get £100k of execution capacity now. Hit milestones in 3-6 months with senior experts. Then raise with proof, not promises.

Here's how it works and whether it's right for you.

What Actually Happens

You get ~£100k of execution capacity (not cash in the bank) deployed through a SAFE. You use it to hire vetted senior experts who work on specific milestones. They're paid in a mix of cash + equity (EC units), so you preserve runway while getting top talent.

The difference:

• Normal raising: Pitch → raise → hire → build → hope → pitch again
• This approach: Execute → prove → raise bigger and faster

You keep fundraising in parallel. But now you're negotiating from momentum, not desperation.

What to Spend It On (£0 to £1M ARR)

Most early-stage companies waste 6-12 months building wrong things or building right things with no distribution. Focus your execution budget on these four areas:

1. Revenue Engine

• Define your actual ICP (pick one, not "everyone")
• Build outbound + inbound that runs weekly
• Fix funnel math: conversion rates, sales cycle, CAC
• Create repeatable acquisition loops

2. Credibility Assets

• Clear positioning (what you do, who for, why now)
• Case studies and proof points
• Founder story that doesn't sound generic

3. Product Proof

• Ship what creates customer pull (ruthlessly cut the rest)
• Fix activation and retention
• Set up proper instrumentation and dashboards

4. Operations That Don't Leak

• Pricing strategy that works
• Sales process that repeats
• Basic CRM hygiene
• Customer success loop

How to Run This Without Drowning in Process

Three rules only:

Rule 1: Pick 3 milestones Not 12. Not a roadmap. Three things that would make your next round obvious.

Examples:

• "10 paying customers in [specific vertical]"
• "£25k MRR with stable conversion rates"
• "Weekly qualified pipeline from repeatable outbound"

Rule 2: Define what "done" looks like For each milestone, write down: what success is + what gets delivered. If you can't define it, you can't execute it.

Rule 3: Ship weekly, prove monthly

• Weekly: execution rhythm with your team
• Monthly: share proof with investors

Most teams don't fail because they're not smart. They fail because they don't ship consistently.

What Changes in Your Fundraising

Your investor updates go from:

• "We're building X"
• "We're about to launch"
• "We're hiring for Y"

To:

• "Shipped. Here are the numbers."
• "Hit milestone #1 early. Here's #2."
• "Conversion rate up 40%. Pipeline quality improved."
• "Two senior operators joined execution team."

Then you do something most founders only pretend to do: you set a real deadline.

"Closing this round in 2 weeks. If you want in, let's talk this week."

It works because it's backed by momentum, not bluffing.

Is This For You?

This works if:

• You're raising (or about to) and milestones will unlock better terms
• Your bottleneck is senior execution, not ideas
• You can fund the cash portion without risking survival
• You'll operate with structure: clear milestones, regular reporting, shipping cadence
• You want aligned experts, not consultants billing hours

This doesn't work if:

• You want runway without accountability
• You can't define what you need
• You expect someone else to run your company
• You'd rather hide messy metrics than fix them

The Real Value

This isn't about "getting help." It's about becoming the founder who says:

"We don't wait for capital to execute. We execute to make capital cheaper."

When you operate this way, fundraising stops being stressful. You're not asking investors to believe your story. You're showing them the train is moving.

They can get on or watch it leave.