Can I Hire Someone to Raise Capital for My Business?

By Joel Arberman, founder of Prepared to Raise · 17 companies taken public, 30+ private placements prepared · Published November 8, 2026

Why founders ask this question

Raising money looks like a sales job, and most owners of a service business would rather pay a salesperson than make the calls themselves. So the first instinct is to find a "capital raiser" who works on commission, bring in a few hundred thousand dollars, and get back to running the company. The instinct is reasonable. The market it assumes mostly does not exist for companies your size, and the version that does exist is largely illegal.

Who can legally be paid to raise your money

• A registered broker-dealer, or a person licensed through one. They can solicit investors, recommend your offering and be paid a percentage of what is raised. They are regulated by the SEC and FINRA, carry compliance obligations, and do their own diligence on you before they will touch the deal.
• A funding portal, for Regulation Crowdfunding only. The portal hosts the offering and processes investments; it does not go find investors for you.
• You and your own officers and employees, under the issuer exemption, as long as nobody is paid a commission for the sales and selling securities is not their primary job.

That is the list. A consultant, a "fundraising advisor," a retired banker, a friend with a Rolodex, or an agency that promises investor introductions for a success fee is not on it unless they are registered.

Why broker-dealers rarely take raises under $10 million

A broker-dealer's economics are simple: a placement fee of several percent on the amount raised, sometimes with a retainer. On a $1 million raise that is perhaps $50,000 to $80,000 of revenue against weeks of diligence, document work, compliance review and investor calls. Most firms cannot make that pay. The ones that will take small deals tend to specialize in real estate syndications, oil and gas or specific industries, and they still want a company with audited or reviewed financials, a complete offering package and an existing investor following. If your company has those things, you are usually already able to raise on your own.

So for a founder-led service business raising $250,000 to $5 million, the honest answer is that a licensed firm is almost never available, regardless of what you are willing to pay.

What the unlicensed version costs you

The people who are available are usually unregistered finders working for a percentage. The risks have nothing to do with whether they are nice people or whether they succeed. Paying a commission to an unregistered person can give investors a right of rescission, meaning the right to demand their money back, and it surfaces in due diligence for every future financing, listing or sale. Regulators treat transaction-based pay as the clearest marker of broker activity. The finder may face enforcement; your company faces the unwinding.

There is a quieter cost too. A finder-sourced investor has a relationship with the finder, not with you. When the business hits a hard quarter, you discover you have strangers on your cap table who were sold a return by someone who is no longer around.

What you can hire, and what it should look like

Separate the raise into two halves. The first half is preparation: deciding the amount, choosing the exemption, building the financial model, writing the deck and executive summary, preparing the subscription agreement and any disclosure document, and planning who you will approach and in what order. Every piece of that can be hired, for a fixed fee, from people who never touch an investor. The second half is the selling: the calls, the meetings, the follow-ups and the closing. That half is yours.

This division is not a workaround. It is how the law is drawn, and it also matches how early-stage money behaves. Investors under about $10 million are buying the founder as much as the business. They want to hear the plan from the person who will execute it. A founder who shows up with a complete, consistent package and runs a disciplined process closes more often than a stranger pitching on the founder's behalf, even when that stranger is licensed.

What good preparation help includes

• A written raise strategy: amount, use of funds, investor pool, exemption, instrument and timeline.
• A three-statement model with return scenarios investors can test.
• An investor deck, executive summary, FAQ and organized data room.
• Lawyer-reviewed offering documents and a filing calendar for Form D and state notices.
• An outreach plan: the target list criteria, the message sequence and the closing mechanics, with the founder sending every message.
• A rehearsal, and support while the raise runs.

This is what Prepared to Raise does, at fixed fees of $15,000 to $25,000 depending on the path, after a $1,500 Readiness Assessment that is credited to the package. We never find, solicit or introduce investors and take no percentage of the raise. How we compare to hiring a securities lawyer alone shows where the line sits.

How to vet anyone who offers to help

1. Ask how they are paid. Any fee tied to the amount raised or paid only on success means they must be registered. Look them up on FINRA BrokerCheck. If they are not there, walk away.
2. Ask whether they will contact investors on your behalf. If yes and they are unregistered, same answer.
3. Ask for the deliverables in writing, with a fixed price and a timeline.
4. Ask who reviews the legal documents. The answer should be a securities lawyer, and the scope should be clear.
5. Ask for two founders they have prepared and call them.

When you really cannot do the selling yourself

Some founders have a genuine constraint: no network, no time, or a personality that will not survive 100 investor conversations. The options are narrower than you would like, but they exist.

• Bring on a co-founder or senior executive with equity who owns the raise as part of a real operating role. Paid in salary and equity, not commission, and selling is not their primary function.
• Use Rule 506(c) and let advertising do the first contact, so your time goes to warm conversations rather than cold ones. How to raise from accredited investors you don't know walks through it.
• Run a Regulation Crowdfunding campaign, where the portal handles the mechanics and your marketing does the reach.
• Grow until a registered firm will take the deal, which usually means a few million in revenue and clean financials.

Related questions

Can I pay a friend a percentage for introducing an investor?

Not safely. A payment tied to the investment is transaction-based compensation, which is the defining mark of an unregistered broker. A flat fee for a genuine introduction, with no solicitation and no negotiation by the friend, is less risky but still worth running past your securities lawyer.

What does a capital raise consultant legally do?

Prepares the raise: strategy, model, materials, documents and process. A consultant who is not a registered broker-dealer cannot solicit investors, recommend your offering to them, negotiate terms on your behalf or be paid a percentage of what you raise.

How much does it cost to hire a broker-dealer for a private placement?

Typically a retainer plus a placement fee of several percent of the amount raised, and often warrants. Most registered firms will not engage below $10 million, and many not below $25 million, outside of specialized niches.

Is it a bad signal to investors if someone else pitches for me?

At the early stage, usually yes. Investors under $10 million are backing the founder and expect to hear the plan from the founder. A polished package plus the founder presenting beats a third party presenting a polished package.

Where to start

If you were about to hire a capital raiser, read how to prepare to raise capital in 90 days first; it shows what the hired work should actually be. The 12-point readiness checklist tells you which parts you can do yourself, and the 2-minute Raise-Ready Quiz gives a quick read on where you stand.

This article is general information for founders, not legal, tax or investment advice. Securities rules depend on your facts; confirm your plan with a securities lawyer before you accept money.