Frequently Asked Questions

(scroll down for Technical FAQs)

How much is it? +

You can dine on Kobe beef, or sirloin steak at Sizzler. We are not sizzler.
-Unicorn House Rules

When you work with us, you'll receive high-touch service from highly skilled people. That means we consult with you to figure out exactly what you're trying to do. Then we assess your story, your numbers and the path you want to take. We might suggest you do things a bit differently, or alert you to some opportunities you may not have considered. Once we're in agreement, we get to work. To give you an idea of what it could cost, we make Wall Street grade documents. Investment banks typically charge $50K - $100K. We do it better, and we charge a fraction of that.

For pricing, please submit a request to our sales team at [email protected].

What is your process? +

Check out our Working with Unicorn Video.

Do you accept partial payment in equity/once we raise capital? +

In certain cases, yes. We have a fixed set of rules governing our ability to accept partial payment in equity. Please send us a message for further details.

Can I just do this myself using business plan tools like LivePlan? +

You certainly can. We recognize that we have many competitors in the market, offering a range of Do-It-Yourself options, so we work to keep our products as competitive as possible. Our clients are raising millions of dollars (and tens, and hundreds of millions), and they're grading us on a different scale than other services, because they want and need:

Real Life Hands-on Experience. We've actually sat in front of hundreds of investors and pitched. We have the track record of success & battle scars of failure to prove it. We bring time-tested strategies to our clients, so they know what works & what to avoid - before going in front of investors. Because when you're asking an investor to write a check this size, no one is rolling the dice - not you, not them.
Crystal-Clear Messaging. No fluff, no BS. Because even with the most beautifully-designed deck, if the message is subpar then you'll get torpedoed investors can sniff out a faker.
Investor-Specific Financial Acumen. Our financial models have been used to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for both privately-owned & publicly-listed businesses. Most "financial modelers" have never even met a true investor, and are incentivized to over-engineer their models. Making it more complex for you to explain. And if it's complicated for you to explain, it's exponentially more complicated for an investor who doesn't know anything about your business to understand & internalize. But we're investors too. We know what's needed, and where that fine line is between "enough for an investor to make a decision" versus "way-too-confusing-I'm-passing" level of detail.
Ultra-Premium Look & Feel. An amazing story gets taken to the next level with outstanding design. And it's an absolute necessity for certain industries. For example, you can't ask an investor to fund a Consumer business whose pitch deck looks like a 5-year-old drew it.
A Second Set of Eyes. If something sounds stupid - has the potential to cause an investor train wreck - we'll speak up. Automated systems don't have that capability, and most lack experience to shoot you straight.
...All Under One Roof. No need to find six different providers for seven different services. We handle it all, in-house.

I have an existing Business Plan / Pitch Deck / content on LivePlan. Can you use that?

This will be part of the shortlisted materials we request at the outset of the project.

How long will it take? +

Timeline is a two-way street; it's more dependent on our clients' proactiveness than on our side. We respect that 100% of our clients are running businesses day-to-day, and have "To-Do Lists" 101 items long, and we therefore suggest budgeting approximately 3 weeks from the date of our first Project Call to delivery of your final document.

If it takes 72 hours to turn around feedback, it may take longer. However, if you're "Johnny-on-the-Spot" with respect to turning around feedback & booking calls, then your turnaround time may be faster.

Can you do fast turnarounds? +

We have turned around investor-ready Pitch Decks & Business Plans in 5 days before, that were used to raise over $30,000,000 within 4 weeks of Project Completed. There is an additional charge - but if you need a fast turnaround for a big meeting, ask us and we'll try to accommodate.

How much of my own time will this process take? +

Typically our clients spend between 1 and 2 hours total (aside from scheduled project calls), from Project Start to Project Completed.

What if I need changes once we’re done? +

We can arrange for additional rounds of revisions as an add-on service.

Will my documents be editable? +

We deliver the final version of all our projects in fully-editable format (PPTX, XLSX, etc.)

Who does the work? +

Our tight-knit team includes former Investment Bankers, professional TV & theater screenwriters, and graphic designers with decades of experience.

Can we meet in person? +

We're a tech-forward company, so we use the latest in tech to make this process as easy and inexpensive as possible. 100% of our clients are remote.

For clients that do need to meet in person, we can provide information regarding day rates, required travel & accommodation expenses.

How do I know I’ll be happy? +

We focus on delivering excellence, and making all of our clients happy with our work. To that end, we have:

Engineered our process so that you know very early on what's working, and can provide your feedback so we get on the right track
Scoped our agreements so that if we deliver a Final Version you're not happy with, you can provide additional feedback & get a final crack at the document within scope.
Enabled you to request additional rounds of work if adjustments need to be made a few months after we complete work.

Check out our Reviews, to see what our past clients are saying.

Is my business a good fit for working together? +

We focus on working with clients who are:

Raising $1,000,000 or more
GREAT business owners, entrepreneurs or investors, who are either:
- too close to tell the story clearly, or
- too busy to tell it right & make it look awesome
Courteous & respectful

We love doing great things with great people.

Why can't I do this myself? +

Asking someone for money is hard. Some investors view dozens of proposals a week. They're looking for an easy excuse to say no. If your proposal doesn't follow the correct form, that can be all it takes for them to overlook an otherwise brilliant idea. Once you've got the form right, your next challenges are style and content.

The Unicorn team has written hundreds of business plans, pitch decks, white papers and one-pagers for an incredible variety of businesses. We've been there and done that. If you haven't, you should talk to us. You know your business better than we do, but after talking with you, and learning what you're trying to achieve, we can probably help you articulate your business to investors better than you can do on your own.

I paid someone else to do this and it didn't work. How will you be better? +

We get this question a lot. You've probably discovered there are a lot of DIY business plan sites, and lots of companies and freelancers who will make your documents on the cheap. We're guessing it went wrong because they either did exactly what you said, and you've realized there's a value proposition missing, or it ended up looking like it was spat out by a translato-bot.

In short, we're better because of who we are. We don't think making a good case for your business is intuitive, or a paint-by-numbers kind of thing. If you wouldn't engage a lawyer or auditor on DIY/cheap labor terms, then whatever logic got you to that point has clearly guided you here.

You can be a really good at your business, and not be the right person to write your own business plan. It's all about perspective.

We approach your proposal from the investor's point of view. We're people who have sat at every seat on the boardroom table. We've also stood in front of investors and asked them for money. As an investment strategist in the US and Europe, our CEO spent 10 years working on deals worth as much as $300 million. Since he's become his own boss, he's raised more than US$80 million in successful proposals for businesses that work deep underground, high in the air, live the digital cloud and everywhere in between.

We're a team that sought out the best of the best in each of the areas needed to deliver dynamite pitches & business plans.

Together, we'll help your proposal stand up and stand out. We may even discover opportunities for your business that you weren't aware of.

Are Unicorns Real? +

It depends what you mean. Several seemingly disparate cultures reference horse-like creatures with horn-like things coming out of their heads. These days the word refers to start-ups that attain billion dollar valuations. Those definitely exist. Unicorn exists to give you the chance to be the best type of business animal you can be.

Do you have any guarantees? +

We cannot guarantee you'll raise capital. In fact, no one can guarantee you'll raise capital unless they're a licensed Broker-Dealer who has agreed to underwrite your capital raise, and buy your offered securities themselves in the event that others will not.

What we can say is that more than half our clients successfully raise capital.

For further information, see our Earnings Disclaimer.

Can I ask something else? +

Yes! Click here to send a messaging using our Contact Form.

Technical FAQs

I can't access the Project Shared Folder. What do I do? +

Try logging out: Click to watch this video. Completely log out of Microsoft 365 then click your Project Shared Folder link.
Try logging in: Try logging in to Microsoft 365. Be sure to use your Microsoft 365 login (i.e. your MS Office subscription - for many it will be a Home subscription). Then once logged in, try clicking the shared folder link.
If all else fails: Send us an email at [email protected].

How do I book our next call? +

Click this link and choose "SECOND CALL OR LATER".

How do I add someone to our next meeting? +

It depends on the calendar app you use. Here are instructions for Gmail, Outlook and Apple Mail.