1) The cost of a slow raise
A long raise takes founders away from the work investors are trying to evaluate. For a hardware company the cost is concrete: a missed test window, a lost supplier slot, a pilot that goes cold while the round drags on.
A slow no is expensive. An unclear maybe is worse. We would rather give a founder a structured answer quickly than an open-ended process that never quite decides.
2) Structure first
Every company starts in the same place: a CAMP assessment on Flash Intelligence. It organizes the evidence across Capital, Advantage, Market and People before anyone meets, and it gives every founder analysis and feedback whether or not investment follows.
A score of 75 or above makes a company eligible and enables the investment button. It does not start the clock, and it does not guarantee investment. The fourteen days begin when the founder clicks the investment button in Flash Intelligence: a deliberate choice, made when the company is ready.
3) What happens in the fourteen days
The founder provides the financials and the evidence behind the claims in the assessment. The investment team holds a working session on the company, the technology and the open questions. Diligence then covers six areas:
- Verified business information: the financial, commercial and company information behind the assessment.
- Technical evidence: performance claims, limitations, dependencies and the status of testing.
- Customer and market evidence: contracted business, distinguished from pilots, pipeline and anticipated demand.
- Ownership and governance: company records, the capital structure and ownership of material intellectual property.
- A financeable milestone: use of proceeds, cash runway and the plan if progress is slower than expected.
- Investment documentation: the terms, and the requirements needed to complete.
Where verification and diligence support the case, and approval and terms are agreed, the investment completes.
4) What does not get faster
The depth of diligence does not change. A qualifying score does not override an unresolved material issue, every claim must be supported by evidence, and an investment depends on approval and agreed terms.
Speed comes from preparation, not from a lower bar. The structure that makes fourteen days possible is the same structure that makes the decision sound.
5) How to prepare
Founders who move quickly through the process tend to have the same material ready before they begin:
- The problem, and why solving it matters.
- The intended user and the buyer.
- Evidence of technical performance, with its limits.
- Deployment requirements.
- The milestone this financing should achieve, and the plan if adoption is slower.
- Existing customers and contracts, distinguished from pilots, discussions and future opportunities.
- Company records, the capitalization table and evidence of ownership of the core intellectual property.
None of this needs polish. It needs to be true, current and easy to verify.
