I have known Karen Rands from general business networking for many years before I decided to officially engage her firm, Launchfn. Years ago, in my first true entrepreneurial endeavor, all sorts of people were saying "raise $5M not just $500K...it's easier" and were telling me to have minimum investments of $100,000. I had a lot of interest, but noone writing checks. I decided to call Karen and ask her what she thought. As a courtesy because I was a business friend, and not a client yet, she asked me if any of these people I was listening to were bringing $100,000 check writers to the table. And of course they weren't. Then she went on to explain the psychology behind attracting angel investor capital and how angel investors measure risk vs reward. Following her advice from that one phone call, I closed on over $200,000 in just 3 weeks from those "interested" investors I had been courting for 6 months. When that business morphed into my current business, I knew I didn't want to waste time and wanted to do it right from the start. I engaged Karen to be my strategic advisor on capital strategy. Her advice and guidance led me to $250,000 in investment capital and a strategic business model that has grown rapidly to multiple cities as a result. I'm looking forward to her becoming a registered Broker Dealer so she can take charge and raise my next round of capital.

Karen is like an "elevator pitch whisperer". I first saw her spin her magic at the 2010 Southeast Venture Conference. We were networking during the happy hour and she asked me for my elevator pitch, asked a few questions, and after listening to me stammer and babble for 20 minutes, she played back to me what my elevator pitch should have been... "So what you are trying to say is that you are in the business of....." I thought "Wow, that sounds really good." She has an uncanny ability of quickly understanding a business model and turning it into something that investors and potential customers would understand in a few minutes rather than the half hour it usually takes me to explain my business. I saw her do this repeatedly at one of her pitch- workshops. The entrepreneurs in attending were almost like school kids "do my pitch next"! When I engaged her for a few strategic advisory sessions and to review my business plan, she gave me such invaluable insight worth 10x what she charged me. I gained actionable steps to build value in my business and make it attractive to angel investors. As a result of her advice, I was able to secure major industry players to be on my board of advisers and modify my business model to get to revenue 12 months sooner. She has allowed me to attend her investor events as an observer and it is amazing the in depth questions her investors ask in trying to determine if they want to go to the next level with a company. She is tough because she tries hard to keep a company from wasting time and money chasing investors that they aren't ready for and to avoid burning their bridges. I wish I had listened to her before I wasted $2000 to pitch to the Gathering of Angels. If I had invested that same $2000 with her instead, I'd have an investor pitch that investors understood and would be compelled to learn more about and I'd be preparing to close on investors now rather than still looking. She is the very definition of a "Compassionate Capitalist".

Karen, it is amazing how you can cut right to the heart of the matter and in a matter of minutes direct your decades of experience working with innovation and entrepreneurs and provide insight on how to get to market, get growing and get funding. Thanks so much for all the recommendations and referrals you provided. Looking forward to working with you. - Andrew Zaitlan (Sept 2011)

I just wanted to let you know how impressed I am with your events and the caliber of companies you qualify to pitch at your events. You do an excellent job of organizing and moderating them. I've met a number of very interesting people and few that we may be able to fund. I look forward to attending more of your events in the future. Best Regards~Alan (Oct 2011)

I first met Karen through the MIT Forum many years ago. I asked her to be a judge at one of my "Concept to Reality" competitions and then in our extremely important Georgia Bowl. I knew she advised companies and organized investor events, but had no idea really how deep her knowledge was until I heard her feedback to the companies in the competitions and then as I attended one her investor events as an observer. I sat through one of her workshops on raising capital and even though I have been involved in every aspect of launching businesses to investing in businesses, I learned a great deal from her in that one workshop. She sets a high bar for entrepreneurs wanting to pitch to her group of investors. I am honored whenever she agrees to allow one of the entrepreneurs I am working with to invest their time and money with her to participate in an event she is organizing. She strives to remove the obstacles for entrepreneurs to connect with investors and increase each company's chance of becoming a successful well run company. In the last 12 months, I have had 3 companies come before her investor group. One has received a commitment of funds and each of the others valued the experience immensely. Atlanta, and the entrepreneur market at large, is served well by Karen Rands through her paid engagements and her multiple volunteer commitments to mentor and advise entrepreneurs. (2012) UPDATE: I continue to seek Karen's expertise as a mentor & judge for the business plan competitions I coordinate at Georgia Tech and other Atlanta area universities. She has been active in helping me help these start up companies for over 5 years (2016)

Karen, thanks again for yesterday....very excited about the plans we developed. I now know what I need to do to leverage my team and resources to create the viral WOM needed to gain critical mass on a crowd fund campaign. Thanks also for working through the numbers so I know what targets are needed to get the minimum run on manufacturing. I like your idea of how to go to potential 'fan' retailers to give them the wholesale inventory grab. Looking forward to getting this off the ground

Hello Karen; Great insight! A few things that we are on the same page where the info you had (reviewed sync) was outdated but from what you are saying, I've done (most of it already ~sync) and realized some of the things you are saying in the assessment which makes me feel good because I'm on the right track with what you are saying. Others I need a lot of help in. Anyhow you can call me when you have time tomorrow so we can discuss going forward! Thanks,