Accelerator Fuel

We partner with early-stage startups that fit our essential criteria and exchange services for equity. Read more about what makes a great fit for this program.

Companies that have raised less than $500k in outside capital. Startups that have raised more than this amount will benefit from holding onto their equity and paying cash for services.
Companies that are focused in the areas that we excel (typically SaaS, CPG, Services, and Tech) will benefit the most from our knowledge. Additionally, our network of investors have worked with us previously on similar companies and trust our expertise when we make introductions. Our expertise does not lend itself well to “terminal value companies” (i.e. companies that only make money when they are sold)
For companies that have not generated revenue to date or are just beginning to get traction fit this program best. This allows for us to come in and help with price modeling and take equity in a cash constrained environment. Once you hit $40k in monthly revenue, we graduate you from the program.
Founders that know their product, market fit, and target customer will benefit the most from our financial insight. Additionally, these founders are a great partnership as we work in parallel on the work streams that we excel at while they focus on their strengths.

What do startups get out of the program?

Financial Modeling

Working alongside founders, we will create a 24 month pro-forma financial model to help give insights into the expenses related to running the business. This will help founders understand what amount they need to raise and answer the question “what will you use this money for?”

Accounting and Bookkeeping

During the early stages, the requirements for bookkeeping and accounting are relatively small. However, you will still need to file taxes annually. To assist with this, we will maintain your chart of accounts and perform monthly close. In addition, we will provide discounted tax filing through our partner firm, GJM Advisory.

Coaching and Strategy

While you are managing the every day tasks of running a startup, we are here to provide strategic advisory, manage finance related projects, and provide another opinion on your operations. Whether it is pitch review, deck curation, or investor conversations, we will meet monthly to ensure our partner companies receive the support they need.

Free and Discounted Services

While companies remain within the qualifications outline above, there will be no cash charge for Guidepost Advisory’s services (a monthly value of over $500 plus $5,000+ for pro-forma modeling). Once your team has achieved success, our services are provided at 50% for the following 3 months.

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Guidepost Advisory Team and Exchange

In exchange for the above services, Guidepost Advisory will be awarded 3% equity in the company with a 3 year vesting period and a 1 year cliff. Terms can be discussed on an individual basis. This 3% equity grant is in exchange for services valued at $15k, or a $500k valuation.

The program is led by Guidepost’s first external hire, Marshall Budin, who will connect you with the right advisor based off of industry and expertise.

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FAQs

Rather than paying us for our services, we get an equity interest in your business. This helps you ensure that we are interested in the longterm success of your company while getting a 1-year cliff to determine if we are the right partner before handing over ownership
In this program, we only take on 1 or 2 companies at a time, typically working with them in the “Accelerator Fuel” program for 3-4 months before they transition into a standard business relationship with bi-weekly meetings and more focus on finance and scaling.
You will have direct contact with one of our experts and have a monthly meeting to discuss state of the business and fundraising efforts. Additionally, there will be more regular, ad-hoc meetings as we work to create a pro-forma projection to allow for you to raise money with a real financial model and cash need at the ready.
Yes! In the fall of 2023 we took in 4 companies to pilot this offering. One of them has gone on to win over $25k in grants and is currently competing in 2 accelerator competitions. Two of them just applied for accelerators and are currently pitching. The last decided to continue bootstrapping a bit longer until they get more traction. We’re happy to connect you to one of those companies’ founders.

Partner Startups

"Adding Marshall to our team at Motion proved invaluable -- We went from having an idea with no metrics to knowing every number for our entire market and business plan. Huge addition to our team!"

Priya Patel, COO and Co-Founder at Motion