Build ventures worth funding & paying attention to
Before raising or selling even become a possibility, there is the work of building something that people actually want and are willing to pay for.
This is where most of my last 17 years has been spent, and where most of Lumni’s evidence sits.
Who this is for
Founders of tech ventures who are:
01. Past MVP stage, but not yet where they want the numbers to be.
02. Searching for product-market fit, or sharpening it before a raise.
03. Carrying a strong instinct about the opportunity, but lacking the structured evidence to make others see what they see.
04. Aware that the choices made in the next 12–24 months (on positioning, evidence, and metrics) will shape whether the business is fundable, sellable, or merely surviving
What I do here
I work the founder-side of the build: the product, the evidence, and the commercial story that determines valuation long before anyone puts a number on it.
1. Product & innovation strategy
Sharpening what you’re building, why it matters, and how it earns its place in the market.
Engagements here include Fractional CPO support and Product Strategy sprints: embedded enough to shape what the team builds next, structured enough to leave you with a clearer roadmap than you started with. When deeper design, UX, or technical execution is needed, I scope and guide it, and your team delivers.
This is the work for founders who need a senior product mind in the room without hiring full-time, or who need a fresh, honest read on what’s working and what isn’t.
Investors fund engines, not products. This work is about building the engine that becomes investable.
2. Evidence-building & validation
Turning conviction into proof. Replacing assumptions with the kind of evidence that holds up in a board meeting, an investor room, or a buyer’s diligence process.
I bring systematic ways to test the riskiest assumptions (pricing, willingness-to-pay, retention drivers, expansion mechanics) before they become expensive to be wrong about.
This is the work for founders who suspect they’re closer than the numbers currently suggest, and want to find out properly.
The metrics that determine your next valuation (retention, expansion, ICP fit, gross margin trajectory) are mostly determined by product and commercial decisions made here.
3. Commercial positioning & value narrative
Translating what you’ve built into a story the market understands and customers reward.
Here, we surface where the real revenue lives, who the high-ACV customers are, who the right ICP is to lead with, and how the venture should be positioned to attract them. And, in time, who the right investors and acquirers are.
Engagements here include New Revenue Opportunity Scans, ICP and positioning work, and dedicated value-narrative work, moving you from ‘what we do’ to ‘why this is worth backing at this multiple’.
This is the work for founders who know the product is strong but suspect the story isn’t keeping up.
How we work together
Engagements are scoped to the question, not the calendar.
Sometimes it’s short, focused sprints.
Others are longer, embedded relationships where I sit close to the founder over months.
Either way: direct, evidence-led, and built around the decisions you actually need to make next.