Stephanie SimsCapital strategist, entrepreneurial advisor, author, board member

    Your funders want a few numbers. Your best work gets buried in them.

    You're working for your entrepreneurs' success. I help you get the metrics that matter, so you can tell that story, and reach more of them. These questions keep coming up when I talk to program leaders. Here's how we've answered them together.

    25+
     wins founders shared with me this year
    43.5x
     an org's investment, closed by founders
    5 of 6
     partnerships lasted more than a year
    58
     members in one org's private alumni group

    How do you help the entrepreneurs who are convinced they need capital, and need it now?

    Stop chasing funding that doesn't fit

    Finding funding is the priority for most of your entrepreneurs, and chasing funding that doesn't fit costs them time, energy and money they could be putting into the business. I run a readiness assessment that matches each business to the funding that actually fits today, and it tells them the answer so you don't have to. And when a moment won't wait, a funder meeting next week, a loan they don't know if they can service, I work with them one to one. Programs run on a schedule and these moments don't.

    RAISE Explore workshopsArizona Commerce Authority, monthly since February. More than half came out pointed somewhere other than equity, and one in six left still deciding.
    Arizona Innovation ChallengeThrough 2025. 4x entrepreneur in residence, and a judge for longer. Three to nine months with each winner, advising on funding, growth and hiring.

    What about the entrepreneurs who genuinely need investor support?

    Investor readiness is more than a pitch deck

    The early-stage equity market changes constantly. Lending doesn't: the contracts are standard and it's the rates that move. So the people who get a founder lender-ready aren't necessarily the ones who can get them investor-ready, and there is no reason they would be. I'm in those markets as a founder, investor and board member, and I teach what I'm seeing, in programs built for partners like you and in open workshops your entrepreneurs can join now.

    Monsoon Venture FundEntrepreneur in residence. Working with portfolio and ecosystem founders on where they fit in the funding landscape and how to think about their capital stack.
    Venture Devils PLUSArizona State University, 2020 to 2023. An eleven-week accelerator for faculty and staff founders with a product and customers already talking to them, entry by application and interview. I ran the finance track.

    What about the entrepreneurs who will bootstrap?

    Becoming your own best investor

    That's most of them, and it's a funding strategy, not a fallback. Most don't know the difference between revenue and profit, which levers in their business actually drive it, or how those levers have to change as they grow. So we build the roadmap for their business: whether it can break even, when, and how much money it takes to get there.

    RAISE MapThe plan itself, and the credible milestone-based ask that comes out of it.
    CIC Venture BoostChandler Innovation Center, 2024 to 2025. I built out the finance section of their curriculum, then ran a cohort for their entrepreneurs.

    How do you show the program is working, when the funders only ask about capital raised?

    Choosing metrics that matter

    Attendance is the easiest thing to count and the least impactful. I help you decide what's worth measuring and capture it while the program runs, so the data is there when you need it rather than assembled by hand afterwards. Capital raised is one number. A business that reached break-even on its own revenue is another, and it's the one most of your entrepreneurs will produce. Wins get mentioned once on a call and then lost. And some founders just go quiet. If you want, I'll track down what's on the public record for those.

    Venture RAISE, quarterlyI assemble the reporting and track the wins as they happen, ready for your funders, your marketing team and your own board.
    Venture Devils and Inventors ACCELArizona State University, 2022 to 2024. Exit interviews and period-over-period tracking of which companies were still operating.

    I work with you to build a program you're proud of, and that your entrepreneurs will thank you for, regardless of how they choose to fund their business.

    And the capability stays with you. The same judgement your entrepreneurs build about their own money, your team builds about the program: I teach the first sessions and keep adjusting until it's dialed in, and from there it can stay with me or move to your team, running on the resources you already have.