The underperformers venture was never built to carry.
An operator-led alternative to a write-off for the investors holding these companies, or a lost relationship for the partners serving them.
Every fund has companies it can’t carry.
The venture model is built for fund returners, which means the startups in the middle get less of the fund’s attention as it optimizes for the outliers.
So the position gets marked down and written off, often before the value in it was ever pulled out. Not because the company failed, but because no one had the time or the control to fix it.
We work the positions you’ve already written down.
We don’t chase your winners or compete for your allocations. We take the companies that need an operator and a reset more than another round, and we work alongside you, not around you. Some investors will prefer to write a position off and move on, and that is a fair call.
Where there is a fit, Laplace can work with you.
Confidential throughout. The process is built to protect your relationship with the founder.
You see the trouble first.
Fractional CFOs and outsourced finance
You are first to see it. Reserves under a few months, burn past revenue, the founder asking what their options are. If the company folds, the account goes with it.
The founder gets a real option, the company survives as your client, and the finance scope tends to grow as it stabilizes. You stay the point of contact.
Accounting and bookkeeping firms
A client sliding toward insolvency is a book of work about to disappear, and a relationship you spent years building.
The company stays alive and stays your client. A stabilized, growing business usually needs more of what you do, not less.
Venture debt and lenders
A borrower drifting toward default is a workout headed for a thin recovery. Liquidation returns little.
We can assume or restructure the facility and stabilize the company, a cleaner path to recovery than a default or a fire sale.
M&A advisors
Sub-scale, distressed, or services-heavy clients are hard to place. PE wants profitability, strategics want a bargain, and the mandate stalls.
We are a buyer for the companies the market passes on, and a source of introductions for the deals we are not the right home for.
One introduction, and we take it from there.
Founder-consented at every step. Your relationship stays yours.
Upside, or the relationship you keep.
More than one way in.
Not every position needs a full acquisition. Where there is a fit, you can engage at the level the situation calls for, from a single read to operators in the business.
Default Alive consultation
A working session on a startup position. We run the startup through Laplace's initial process, and map the real options on the table. Laplace will help determine the best path.
Portfolio health advisory
A data-driven read across your portfolio using Laplace's tooling. We identify and benchmark startup performance to generate a report on your total portfolio's health. Laplace will help decipher the best way to approach strategically and tactically.
Operator support
Seasoned operators placed into a portfolio company to do the work in any key areas or special projects, without a full acquisition, where a position needs execution more than another conversation.
Let’s help your startup.
Send us one, and we’ll work with you on potential paths. Confidential, and no commitment.