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The Alchemy Stress Test

A rigorous fundraising diagnosis, before you burn runway on the wrong story, market, or raise.

Shu E.
By Shu E.5.0· 6 reviews5 Exits/$600M+ Raised: Investor Readiness, Growth Playbook, Pitch Decks

You're about to raise, or you've started and the meetings aren't converting. The passes are polite, and not one of them tells you why. Usually it isn't the technology. Startups die as business operators: the ladder against the wrong wall, a story that carries friction, a raise that stalls. Two Medtech companies I advised had real urgency, a genuinely unmet need, money raised and product built. Both had aimed at a buyer who was never going to move. One found a pivot late and survived. One didn't. The Stress Test is five hours on your company, with me. A 2-hour deep dive with you and your co-founders, where we take your company through the tools with your real numbers. Two hours of my own analysis, written up as a report. Then a 1-hour handover, where we go through the report together and pull it into one picture. It's how every one-on-one engagement with me begins. Five exits as operator & founder, then building and leading the Strategic Storytelling & Investor Readiness practice at Deloitte. I don't polish decks. I stress-test the business underneath them.

What's included

Coaching Time5h–6h of coaching · Live Sessions$2,500
Total$2,500

What you'll get from this package

  • The Wrong-Wall Check: Who will pay you the most money in the shortest time: bleed or greed, whose job is on the line, and whether they can decide in time.
  • Bleed or Greed, With a Number: The pain or the prize in your market, put in money from real data rather than adjectives.
  • The Three U's: Urgent, unmet, unfair, checked against the crisis that's already happening in your market.
  • Your Conditional Yes: The market story, told in under five minutes, before your product comes up.
  • A Written Report: Your evidence-based value proposition, a first draft of your Yes Funnel, and the first layout of your Alchemy Playbook.
  • The Handover: An hour going through the report together, so it lands with explanation instead of arriving as a PDF.
  • Full Credit Toward What Comes Next: The whole fee is credited if you start the 12-week Playbook & Growth Roadmap within 60 days.

Meet your expert

Shu E.

Shu E.

5 Exits/$600M+ Raised: Investor Readiness, Growth Playbook, Pitch Decks

5.06 reviews
30Min coached
1Followers

Startups don't die of bad technology. They die as business operators — the ladder on the wrong wall, a story with friction, a raise that stalls. And you don't find out until the runway is gone, when nobody funds the correction. I don't polish decks. I stress-test the business — then the deck writes itself. The science and methods of Startup Alchemy, which I developed over a 30-year career, have resulted in over $600M in successful capital raises for the companies I advise — several of them now unicorns. In my own startup journey, I have co-led five companies that reached IPOs and exits. I also proudly built and directed the Strategic Storytelling & Investor Readiness practice at Deloitte. I divide my time between New York and Tel Aviv, as I continue to work directly with founders who are ready to turn their startups into investor gold.

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