Investing & advisory

Money is the least useful thing I bring

I back early-stage founders in areas where I have already made the mistakes, and the cheque is usually the smallest part of what changes.

What I look for

I am not a generalist investor and I do not pretend to be. I put money into companies where I can pick up the phone and materially change the next quarter, which narrows the field considerably.

Something already works. Not necessarily profitable, but there is real demand and someone is paying. I am not useful pre-product.
The constraint is operational, not existential. Growth is limited by systems, hiring or cost structure rather than by whether anyone wants the thing.
Sectors I know. Staffing and services, media and content production, education technology, and automation.
A founder who actually wants the help. The worst version of this relationship is an investor pushing advice at someone who wanted a wire transfer.

The work

Where I actually move the needle

The six areas founders bring me into most often, whether or not I have invested.

Revenue systems

Getting the pipeline out of the founder's head and into a CRM with stages defined by buyer behaviour, so the forecast is a number rather than a feeling.

Outbound engines

Prospecting, enrichment, sequencing and routing built as one connected system, so lead flow survives any individual leaving.

Offshore and remote teams

Building teams that cut cost without the quality drop. Sourcing, vetting, onboarding and the management structure that makes it hold.

Organic growth

Search, content and technical SEO, so acquisition compounds instead of being permanently rented from ad platforms.

Operating leverage

Finding where headcount is growing faster than revenue and fixing the structure rather than the symptom.

The founder handover

The hardest transition there is: deciding what only you can do, and systematically giving away everything else.

Engagements

Three ways this works

Investment

A cheque into an early-stage company, with operational involvement attached. I am deliberately concentrated rather than spread across a large portfolio, because the involvement is the point.

Advisory

Ongoing work with a founder or leadership team on a specific constraint, usually revenue systems, cost structure or a scaling problem, over a defined period rather than indefinitely.

Build

Occasionally I take on the build directly through my own teams, most often when a company needs a revenue engine or an offshore team stood up and does not have the internal capacity to do it while also running the business.

Before you get in touch

The most useful first message tells me three things: what the business does, what is currently limiting growth, and what you have already tried. That is usually enough for me to tell you honestly whether I am the right person, and if I am not, to point you at someone who is.

Book a 30-minute call

FAQ

Before you write

What stage do you invest at?

Early stage, but after something already works. There is real demand and someone is paying. Fayez Nicolas Chaar is not useful pre-product, and says so rather than taking the meeting.

Which sectors?

Staffing and services, media and content production, education technology, and automation. These are the areas where he has already made the mistakes and can shorten the path.

Do you only invest, or also advise without investing?

Both. Advisory engagements run over a defined period against a specific constraint, usually revenue systems, cost structure or a scaling problem, with no equity involved.

What should a first message include?

Three things: what the business does, what is currently limiting growth, and what you have already tried. That is enough to say honestly whether he is the right person.