Track record
From 2022 to 2024 I led due diligence at TribeFirst, a UK investment agency. Each call is scored here against public outcomes.
The job
Is this founder telling a story, or is there a real business here? My job was to answer that from the financials. If I got it wrong, the firm took the loss.
Every call with a complete record is on this page, including the one I got wrong. The companies are named and the outcomes are public. Check them yourself.
The calls
Invest
It could have read as hype. The GMP license was months away and credible, and the valuation held up against real acquisitions.
What happened
Licensed by Swissmedic in December 2023, on the timeline I underwrote. The round passed £1M, and the agency's owners invested personally.
Pass
Award-winning design and a team from Tesla and McLaren. The unit economics and investor mood on micromobility did not back the story.
What happened
Within about two years, customers reported dead support lines and an app gone from the stores.
Invest
A subscription business lives on its unit economics. Blike's held up: retention, asset use and a path to scale.
What happened
Since approved for a £10M debt facility, underwritten on the same unit economics.
Pass
A loved brand with a seven-figure crowd raise. Debt service was rising and the recovery plan assumed the best case at every step.
What happened
Entered administration on 9 August 2024, five months after my review. The equity was lost.
Fund yes, equity no
Loyal customers meant the raise would fund. Weak unit economics and high CAC meant the equity was not worth backing.
What happened
Both held. The campaign hit 100% in late 2023, and the business has been flat since.
Pass
A James Dyson Award winner with pilot interest from Spotify and Siemens Energy. A niche market and an unproven product. I advised waiting.
What happened
Three years on, still pre-revenue, with launch now targeted for 2027.
Pass
My read, April 2023
A bootstrapped shower-filter brand with real DTC traction. I judged the valuation too rich for investors to meet.
What happened
It grew to £5.5M revenue, took a strategic investment from Brita and raised growth financing in 2025. A clean miss. It stays here because a scoreboard only counts if every call is on it.
The full ledger
Status checked July 2026 from public records. Three further reviews are left out because my records for them are incomplete.
Backed
14 calls · 0 failed
Passed
8 calls · 5 closed or struggling
The point
Optimism and doubt are both easy. The job is knowing which one the numbers support, and saying so plainly, even when the story is charming and the room wants a yes.
The same discipline runs through my e-commerce work. See it in the case study.
The deal he walked away from
A founder brought me in weeks before signing an expensive franchise license for a boxing gym chain he planned to take to Saudi Arabia. I built the model and showed him the CAC and retention the fees demanded. Then I sat beside him on the diligence calls and took the franchisor's projections apart, including locations that were quietly closing.
He walked away. It's some of the best money he never spent.
Bring your model, your last P&L, or the decision that's keeping you up. You'll leave knowing what I'd look at first.