Founder Advisory

Build it. Scale it. Exit it.

Strategic advisory for founders navigating the hardest decisions in their company's lifecycle. From go-to-market to growth to acquisition. Founder-to-founder.

Get Started M&A Advisory

Advisory

A founder in your corner.

I work with founders at every stage on the decisions that matter most. The ones where the right call changes the trajectory of the company, and the wrong one costs you years.

01

Strategy & Positioning

Where does your company sit in the market, and where is it going? I help founders clarify their positioning, map the competitive landscape, and build the strategic narrative that investors, partners, and acquirers need to see.

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02

Growth & Go-to-Market

How do you go from traction to scale? I work with founders on distribution strategy, partnership development, pricing, and the operational decisions that determine whether growth compounds or stalls. Deep expertise in payments, fintech, and crypto infrastructure.

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03

M&A & Exit Strategy

Thinking about selling, or want to be ready when the time comes? I guide founders through the entire acquisition lifecycle with a structured 9-phase framework built from real deals. This is my deepest area of expertise.

See the full M&A framework →

How I Work

Practical, not theoretical.

1
We start with where you are.
A confidential conversation about your company, your market, and what's on your mind. No pitch. I listen, ask hard questions, and give you an honest read on your situation.
2
I give you a framework, not a deck.
Depending on what you need, I'll build out the strategic analysis, the memo, the tracker, or the playbook. Real tools you can execute with, not slides that sit in a folder.
3
I stay in the room with you.
Advisory isn't a one-time deliverable. I'm available for the hard calls, the investor conversations, the negotiation decisions, and the moments where you need someone who's been through it to pressure-test your thinking.

M&A Advisory

Selling your startup is the hardest thing you'll do as a founder.

Most founders go into the process blind. No framework, no tracker, no strategy for who to talk to or what to say. They react to inbound interest instead of creating it. They name their price too early, go straight to corp dev, and run a process that optimizes for speed instead of outcome.

4-12 mo
Average time from decision to close
10-20%
Typical range between initial and final offer
70%
Of deals that fall apart do so because of poor process, not poor fit

A 9-phase system built from real deals.

This isn't theory. Every phase comes from running actual M&A processes, writing real acquirer memos, and closing real transactions.

  • 1
    The Internal Reckoning
    Honest self-assessment before you talk to anyone.
  • 2
    Strategic Options Memo
    The short memo that lays out the market and your paths forward.
  • 3
    Buyer Map & Tracker
    20-30 targets in a pipeline with progress scores and deadlines.
  • 4
    Investor & Team Communication
    Aligning co-founders, investors, and team in the right sequence.
  • 5
    Strategic Outreach
    Tailored memos that make the acquirer feel like it's their idea.
  • 6
    Valuation & Pricing
    What you unlock for the acquirer, and whether anyone else can.
  • 7
    Negotiation & Term Sheet
    Protecting your champion and avoiding the competitive process trap.
  • 8
    Due Diligence
    Clean data room before you need it. No surprises.
  • 9
    Close & Transition
    From signed LOI to announcement to your next chapter.

How I think about M&A.

01
Dig your well before you need the water
Don't wait until runway is short. Build acquirer relationships from day one.
02
M&A is a revelation, not a pitch
Create the conditions where the acquirer discovers that buying you is the obvious move.
03
Make it feel like their idea
The internal champion will only fight for this deal if they believe it's their vision.
04
Your value is what you unlock, not what you are
You want to be valued on the combined future, not your standalone metrics.
05
Attention is not urgency
FOMO gets you a meeting. Only a shared strategic vision gets you a signed deal.
06
Read the market like musical chairs
When competitors start getting acquired, the window is closing.

About

Built from experience.

Raj Parekh

Raj Parekh

Founder & Advisor

LinkedIn X

I've spent my career at the intersection of payments, fintech, and crypto infrastructure. I co-founded Portal, a stablecoin developer platform, and led it through acquisition. Before that, I held roles across PayPal, Visa Crypto, WorldRemit, Nala, and Binance. Today I lead payments at the Monad Foundation.

I've been on both sides of the M&A table. I've written the acquirer memos, built the tracker, managed the investor conversations, navigated corp dev, and closed the deal.

I also work with founders more broadly on strategy, positioning, go-to-market, and the operational decisions that compound over time. This advisory practice exists because the best advice I ever got came from founders who'd been through it, and I want to pay that forward.

Let's Talk

Ready to talk through what's next?

  • A confidential, no-pressure conversation about where you are and what makes sense.
  • An honest assessment of your strategic options and realistic outcomes.
  • A framework and tools you can use whether or not we work together.
  • Founder-to-founder. No bankers, no agencies, no commitments.

Tell me about your situation

I'll review and get back to you within 48 hours.

All conversations are confidential.

Thanks for reaching out.

I'll review and get back to you within 48 hours.