Esia Nathaniel
Venture Capital
Engagement Package
Commercial operator and strategic partner. Twenty years building and commercialising ventures across four continents. Turning breakthrough science into market momentum.
Most funds run technical, financial and legal due diligence. Commercial due diligence is the gap.
Venture CapitalCommercial
Due Diligence
Before the cheque is written, most funds have a clear picture of the technology, the financials and the legal structure. What they rarely have is a clear picture of commercial readiness. Can the founders take this science to market? Is the entry market right? Is this a technology problem or a commercial execution problem?
Twenty years and 15+ ventures across Seed and Series A deeptech have produced a clear map of where ventures stall commercially - and what separates the ones that convert from the ones that don't. This diligence answers those questions before the investment is made. If the investment goes ahead, it becomes the commercial blueprint from day one.
Pre-Investment Commercial Due Diligence
A structured assessment across ten commercial dimensions. The diligence that de-risks the investment decision and becomes the commercial blueprint from day one.
€15,000 - €25,000 Fixed scope · 2-4 weeks
Commercial Advisor
The fund's commercial brain on call. Twenty years of operating expertise made available to portfolio founders, without me being operational.
Monthly retainer Scoped to portfolio
Commercial Operator Partner
An extra service the fund offers portfolio companies. A way to differentiate from other VCs. One deployment at a time, with rotation across portfolio.
Monthly retainer Scoped to engagement
How each
engagement works.
The diagnostic, before the cheque is written.
A structured commercial assessment across ten dimensions, built from the system used to take Reselo and Urban Oasis from lab to market.
Investment: €15,000 - €25,000. Fixed scope. 2-4 weeks. Final fee depends on stage, deal size and scope.
The fund's commercial brain on call.
Founders work directly on commercial strategy, Proposal Engineering, stakeholder mapping and dynamics, go-to-market strategy, growth tactics and deal process. Twenty years of operating expertise, available without embedding a full-time operator.
1-on-1 founder sessions. Materials review on demand (48-hour turnaround). Quarterly partner review. New investment commercial screening. Direct access between sessions.
Light
Up to 5 companies / 4 sessions per month
Standard
Up to 10 companies / 8 sessions per month
Intensive
Up to 15 companies / 12 sessions per month
Hard caps protect the quality of every founder session. The fund decides which portfolio companies get access.
Investment: Monthly retainer, scoped to portfolio size and tier. Discussed in proposal.
The operating relationship.
Operating inside one portfolio company at a time as the commercial function. Full techno-commercial translation, GTM execution, stakeholder mapping, outreach and pipeline through to signed agreements. The operator who owns the commercial journey end to end. One deployment at a time, with rotation across portfolio.
Fund pays 100% for the first 3 months. Venture extends optionally for months 4-6 (paid by venture).
Fund pays 100% throughout for white-glove portfolio support.
50/50 co-pay throughout for venture skin-in-the-game from day one.
2 days / week
Fractional
3 days / week
Fractional
4 days / week
Near full-time
Full-time
Embedded
Minimum: 3 months. Optional equity component for engagements of 6+ months, typically 0.25-0.75%, negotiated case by case.
Investment: Monthly retainer, scoped to capacity and engagement. Discussed in proposal.
Reselo · KTH spin-off · Fractional CCO, 2024.
Led commercialisation of advanced biomaterial science from the Wallenberg Wood Science Centre. Joint Development Agreements with Fortune 500 tier-1 manufacturers in automotive and footwear across Europe, APAC and North America. EIC Accelerator backed.
Fortune 500 JDA secured in 21 days from first contact.
In an industry where the standard sales cycle runs two to four years. Built on Proposal Engineering.
Urban Oasis · KTH spin-off · CCO, 2020-2022.
Directed the turnaround and commercial launch of a FOAK agri-foodtech venture. Full production supply agreements with Nordic retail and a JV with Sweden's largest industrial grower. Exited via JV with Svegro.
Twenty years. Fifteen ventures. Four continents.
Funded by EIC and Vinnova. Researched by Karolinska Institutet. The commercial translation problem is universal across deeptech - and so is the playbook.
Twenty years building and commercialising ventures across industries. The last six at the frontier of European deeptech. A decade of pattern recognition across the same commercial failure points - and the playbook to fix them.
Commercial operator and strategic partner. The person who builds the commercial infrastructure alongside you, then hands it back so you run it.
The runway is running. This is the conversation that changes the trajectory.