Advisory
Advisory for venture investors and fund managers.
For investors, we help build allocation programs and assess managers. For fund managers, we help develop the fund, prepare for diligence and explain the investment plan. Each engagement begins with a diagnostic. We then select the work and sequence it around your decision and deadline, with every deliverable in writing.
Three to five modules
Eight to twelve working sessions
One deliverable per module The diagnostic comes first, and it is free
How it works
How we work through a question with you.
Diagnose
We examine the firm, fund or allocation program using our research framework. The diagnostic ends with a written account of the main constraint: the issue most affecting the decision you need to make.
Select
We propose the modules that address the question and explain why each belongs in the engagement. The proposal also makes clear what sits outside the scope.
Sequence
We plan the work around the date that matters to you, whether it is a first close, a committee meeting, an annual review or a statutory deadline. Where one piece of work depends on another, the schedule makes that clear.
Deliver
Each module produces something your team owns and can use: a memorandum, a framework, a model or a set of materials. Working sessions help you examine the findings and work through the decisions alongside the written deliverable.
The module library
Choose the work your decision needs.
The library contains twenty-six modules: nine for investors and seventeen for fund managers. Most engagements use three to five. Each module has a defined output and a typical duration based on previous engagements. Platform labels show where the work draws on Blueprint or Architecture.
For allocators (LPs)
For institutions, funds of funds, family offices and mandated programs deciding how to allocate to venture and which managers to consider. We help examine what the selection process favors, which risks the portfolio carries and how the choices fit the mandate.
Portfolio and allocation architecture
How the allocation is constructed, paced, and stress-tested.
| Module | What it resolves | Typical duration |
|---|---|---|
| Configuration diagnostic and portfolio audit | Compare the portfolio’s exposures with the mandate and identify where they differ. | 2 to 3 weeks |
| Portfolio construction architecture | Develop commitment sizes, manager count, investment pacing and a policy for repeat commitments that fit the mandate’s constraints. | 3 weeks |
| Risk framework and manager mix architecture | Examine shared exposures across managers and how the mix could behave under a stressed vintage. | 3 weeks |
| Portfolio-wide manager configuration scan Architecture | Apply the configuration and concentration engines across the manager portfolio to identify design questions and overlapping exposures for further review. | 3 weeks |
Manager selection and process
How managers enter the portfolio, and whether that decision holds up in front of a committee.
| Module | What it resolves | Typical duration |
|---|---|---|
| Manager pre-qualification framework | Create written screening criteria that help the team assess managers consistently and examine where candidates leave the process. | 3 weeks |
| Manager configuration diligence Architecture | Review one manager’s capital plan, ownership targets, team capacity, governance and concentration across funds. The investment committee receives a memorandum explaining the findings and questions to examine. | 2 to 3 weeks |
| Access and outcomes audit | Examine who progresses through the selection process, where managers leave it and how changing the criteria could affect consideration. | 2 weeks |
| Mandated program translation Blueprint | Translate State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI), development finance institution (DFI) and other statutory or concessionary mandates into screening criteria, portfolio constraints and reporting requirements. | 2 to 3 weeks |
| Committee and board defensibility | Document the evidence and reasoning behind decisions for a committee, board or program administrator. | 2 weeks |
For managers (GPs)
For general partners raising institutional capital or developing a firm between funds. We help align the investment plan, the way the firm operates and the materials investors will review. We are not a placement agent and we do not introduce for a fee.
Positioning and narrative
Help investors understand the strategy, the evidence behind it and how the fund fits their mandate.
| Module | What it resolves | Typical duration |
|---|---|---|
| LP narrative architecture | Develop a clear explanation of the fund’s strategy using the firm’s evidence and the questions its target investors need answered. | 2 weeks |
| Pre-fund track record restatement Blueprint | Present special-purpose vehicle (SPV), angel and operating deals as fund-equivalent gross and net performance, with attribution and the basis of the restatement made explicit. | 2 weeks |
| Cross-border track record translation | Explain a track record earned in one market in terms that investors in the target market can assess. | 2 weeks |
| LP segmentation and target map | Build a segmented, prioritized list of investors whose mandates could accommodate the fund, with a rationale for each segment. | 1 to 2 weeks |
| Investor-facing materials suite | Bring the deck, one-pager and data room introduction into alignment so each explains the same investment plan. | 3 to 4 weeks |
Readiness and diligence
Prepare the documents, policies and explanations an institutional investor will examine.
| Module | What it resolves | Typical duration |
|---|---|---|
| Institutional readiness package | Identify and address gaps in operations, governance, reporting and policies before an institutional review. | 2 to 3 weeks |
| Readiness assessment and diligence simulation | Run a mock diligence review informed by experience evaluating managers, and provide written findings for the team to work through. Not placement, not an endorsement, not a certification. | 3 to 4 weeks |
| Document consistency audit Blueprint | Read the deck, limited partnership agreement (LPA), term sheet and portfolio construction model together. Check that fund size, investment size, ownership targets and reserves are consistent across the documents. | 1 to 2 weeks |
| Data room and DDQ architecture Blueprint | Build the fourteen-folder data room and develop responses to the due diligence questionnaire (DDQ), organized for an investor’s review. | 2 to 3 weeks |
| Specialized capital pathways Blueprint | Map the compliance and reporting requirements of SSBCI, DFI, impact or foundation capital. Address the gaps and explain how the fund meets the source’s mandate, including any requirement to show what its capital makes possible. | 2 to 3 weeks |
| Reporting and LP communication design | Design clear quarterly reporting and a regular communication cadence, including how the team will explain difficult results. | 2 weeks |
Fund and firm architecture
Examine whether the investment plan, resources and governance support the strategy you intend to pursue.
| Module | What it resolves | Typical duration |
|---|---|---|
| Portfolio construction diagnostic | Review fund size, ownership targets, investment pacing and company count against the proposed investment strategy. | 2 to 3 weeks |
| Firm design congruence review Architecture | Review eleven relationships in the firm’s design, including how voting, ownership rights, board obligations and geographic scope fit its investment plans and team capacity. A governance memorandum explains each tension and the proposed response. | 2 to 3 weeks |
| Reserve and follow-on policy design Architecture | Develop a written policy for reserves and follow-on investments, including the criteria the team will use when decisions become difficult. | 2 weeks |
| Deployment pacing and vintage design | Plan investment pacing across the fund’s investment period and examine concentration by vintage, including an eighteen-month market closure scenario. | 2 to 3 weeks |
| Concentration and tail dependence modeling | Model how much the fund depends on its strongest investment outcome and examine the assumptions behind that dependence. | 2 to 3 weeks |
| Cross-fund concentration review Architecture | For firms on Fund II and later, review how sector, stage, geography and individual company exposures accumulate across all vehicles. | 2 weeks |
Where this sits
Choose the support that fits the question.
Blueprint and Architecture provide a structured way to examine recurring questions about fund readiness and firm design. Advisory gives you direct support with a specific decision, such as changing an allocation screen, reviewing a manager or working through a fund’s reserve policy.
You can use either platform on its own, or discuss an advisory engagement when your question needs more support.
Colibrí Blueprint
Prepare for diligence through the evaluator lens, document consistency audit, firm narrative, fourteen-folder data room, due diligence questionnaire (DDQ) and allocator research. Specialized pathways cover SSBCI, development finance institutions (DFIs) and impact capital. A free readiness diagnostic is available.
Colibrí Architecture
Examine portfolio efficiency, eleven checks of how the firm’s choices fit together, and concentration across funds. A scenario engine supports follow-on decisions. Scores use comparison groups at the same lifecycle stage; they are diagnostic measures, not forecasts of investment performance.
Colibrí Institute
The Institute publishes the research that informs both platforms. The research is public and independent, and the Institute is never a party to a Strategies engagement.
Depth
How much support does the question need?
The modules define what we will work on. The engagement type defines how far the work goes, from answering one question to supporting a longer program. We agree on that scope with you and explain when a broader engagement may be useful.
Diagnostic
We investigate one question and deliver a written decision brief by day thirty. It sets out the constraint, the options and the conditions that would favor each option. The diagnostic can be a complete engagement on its own.
A focused engagement may help when the findings call for changes to the fund or firm itself.
Focused engagement
Three to four modules address one objective, such as preparing for a first close, redesigning a selection process or revising a portfolio plan. The deliverables include governance documents and the conditions for making key decisions.
A program may help when the objective involves several parts of the firm.
Program
A coordinated program covers positioning, portfolio construction and process. It includes manager-level or position-level scoring, a multi-year roadmap and monitoring as part of the deliverable.
Retained support may help when the work continues across several decision cycles.
Retained
After an engagement, retained support provides an agreed meeting cadence, ongoing monitoring against the framework already developed and committee support within a defined scope. We begin with an engagement before offering a retainer.
We cap concurrent heavy engagements, so retained capacity is limited and stated before signing.
What we need from you
What we will need from your team.
Before we begin, we agree on the data, people and time the work requires. That helps your team plan and gives us the context needed for a useful result.
Data
Fund or program data at the level the selected modules require, including any gaps or unresolved questions. Under NDA in every case.
Working sessions
Plan for eight to twelve working sessions of thirty to sixty minutes, involving the people responsible for the decisions.
Senior time
A focused engagement typically asks for twenty-five to thirty hours of senior team time on your side.
Decision authority
Include someone who can make or authorize the relevant decisions. Their involvement helps the work move from analysis to action.
Scope and limits
Where the work stops.
These boundaries appear in every engagement letter. We share them here so you can understand our role before the first conversation.
Non-discretionary
We do not hold, control, or direct capital, and we take no custody. Every decision remains with the client.
No placement, no success fees
We are not a placement agent and are not compensated on a raise, a commitment, or a transaction. Fees are fixed and stated in the proposal.
Not an OCIO, and not counsel
We do not manage assets, execute transactions, or provide legal, tax, or accounting advice.
Findings carry their limits
Quantitative work is delivered with its methods, assumptions, and limits attached. We do not publish return or performance claims as marketing.
Institute firewall
Colibrí Institute is never a party to a Strategies engagement. The research is public and independent, and client data never enters it.
Standing behind the work
Operating figures only. Engagement outcomes and quantitative findings are shared under NDA, with methods and limits attached.
Start here
Tell us what you are working on.
A short note about your fund, allocation program or next decision is enough to begin. The first diagnostic conversation is free.