All case studies are anonymized. The situations and results are real. If one of these reads like your company — that is not a coincidence.
Situation: Founder raising Series A. Had signed a seed term sheet 18 months prior without fully understanding the liquidation preference structure. Cap table functional, but exposed.
What was done: Full cap table audit. Liquidation preference waterfall modeled at five exit scenarios. Series A term sheet reviewed clause by clause. Participating preferred negotiated out on behalf of the founder.
Founder recovered 12 percentage points of effective ownership at exit. Round closed on founder-favorable terms.
"I did not know what I had signed until Marina showed me."
Situation: $8M revenue company scaling fast. Founder doing COO, CFO, and HR simultaneously. No real operational infrastructure; financial reporting 45 days delayed.
What was done: OTQS assessment in week one identified five critical operational gaps. Reporting infrastructure rebuilt. Financial and operational dashboards designed. Controller oversight framework implemented.
Reporting from 45 days to 5. Founder extracted from three bottlenecks. Series B due-diligence ready within 90 days.
Situation: Fast-growing startup with $12M raised. Books a mess — goodwill never recorded, acquisition accounting incomplete, no GAAP-compliant revenue recognition policy.
What was done: Full financial audit and cleanup. ASC 805 acquisition accounting completed. Revenue recognition policy written and implemented. Investor-grade financial model rebuilt.
Passed investor due diligence that would previously have failed. CFO-ready books for the first time since founding. Next round closed 40% faster.
Situation: Healthcare technology founder with HIPAA exposure they were unaware of. Contracts with three enterprise clients contained liability clauses that could have been catastrophic.
What was done: Full contract, compliance, and technology risk assessment using the AFQS/OTQS framework. HIPAA compliance gaps identified and remediated. Contract language renegotiated with enterprise clients.
Three material contract and compliance risks removed before they became problems. First enterprise renewal secured on improved terms.
"I had no idea how exposed we were."
Situation: B2B SaaS company with a strong product but chronic underpricing. Gross margins at 52% in a sector where 75%+ is standard. Sales team discounting to close.
What was done: Full commercial and pricing audit. Competitive benchmarking. Three-tier pricing architecture built. Sales team retrained on value-based positioning. Contract finance restructured.
Gross margin 52% → 71% in two quarters. Revenue per customer up 34%, churn flat. $2.1M recovered to the bottom line in year one.
Situation: Founder preparing Series B. Strong business, weak investor narrative, unstructured data room. Previous raise had taken 14 months.
What was done: Financial model rebuilt. Investor narrative and deck financial section written. Data room structured and populated. Marina joined two investor calls to present the financials.
Series B closed in 4 months. Lead investor cited financial clarity as a key decision factor.
"Having Marina on the call changed the dynamic completely."