Raising Yourself vs Using a Bank/Broker

Early-stage founders today are overwhelmed with conflicting advice about how to raise capital.

Some say go solo - control your narrative, save cash.

Others swear by banks and brokers - better connections, more traction.

Both paths come with trade-offs. Here's what the data says, and how to avoid the biggest fundraising pitfalls:

Option 1: Raising Yourself

• You keep control

• No upfront fees

• Builds founder relationships with investors

But...

• Average raise takes 6+ months when solo

• Founders spend 20–50% of their time on outreach, decks, follow-ups

• Less than 5% close institutional checks without strategic support

Time is your main enemy. The longer you spend fundraising, the more distracted your team is. Every month wasted = runway burned.

Option 2: Investment Banks and Brokers

• Warm intros to top-tier funds

• Done-for-you outreach

• Credibility with institutional investors

But...

• $15K–$75K+ upfront retainers (non-refundable)

• Success fees of 5–8% - often taken regardless of effort

• Many don’t do the actual work - they just intro, then disappear

72% of founders who worked with brokers said they wouldn’t do it again, citing poor communication, minimal results, or feeling “ghosted” (AngelList, 2023 survey).

If I’m being honest, I think the options for early-stage teams (raising pre-seed to Series A) sort of suck.

This is the exact problem we’re building Breakout and Apex to fix.

From the founders we’ve spoken to, people want:

• Investment banking-like services

• Without the full IB price tag

• Handled completely done-for-you so there’s little to no effort needed

• Done in a fast manner (90 day sprint periods)

• Customized specifically to them and their company

• With a guarantee of results / intro meetings generated

Which is exactly what we’ve built.

We're not trying to reinvent fundraising.

We're just making it work better for early-stage founders who can't afford to spend 6+ months spinning their wheels - or $50K just to get a few intros.

Every insight, strategy, tip, or piece of feedback we receive from the clients we’re working with will be dropped in here for you - every single week.

Hope this helps 🙂 

Ryan
Breakout & Apex

If you’re an early-stage founder in healthcare and want help raising your round, check out Apex

If you’re an early-stage founder in tech / AI and want help raising your round, check out Breakout