One PE firm signed as your design partner. Ten hours, one month.

One PE pilot, then the raise

Prepared ForSamay Chawla
YODA AI

Prepared ByAamir Bajwa

Date15 September 2026

Samay,

The 31 August document was the full engine. You said it is the right thing at the wrong time, and I agree. This is the smaller version, built around what you actually need this month: one PE firm signed as a design partner, so the $1.15M can move. Written so you can mark it up.

Where you are.

Five things from our two calls and the thread since.

Problem 01

Reach stops at your own network

You said it on our first call: you are only tapping into existing connections, "so it's far limited." The four or five PE firms you have met so far all came from your own network, and when those run out the next ones have to be earned the same way.

Problem 02

$1.15M sits behind one free signature

The investor has told you that if you land a design partner pilot, they go ahead. The pilot costs the PE firm nothing. So the raise is waiting on a free yes from one Director at one firm, and the people chasing it are two technical founders between builds.

Problem 03

The full engine costs money the engine would bring in

Pre seed, bootstrapping, limited funds. The $4,000 to $10,000 a month version waits on the grant, the grant waits on the pilot, the pilot waits on outreach. That loop needs a small push from outside to break.

Problem 04

The pilot is the easiest yes in private equity, and it is not pitched that way yet

You said the analyst saving in the pitch is not tied to their deals or how they work, so "there can be a gap in translation." A free design partner slot framed as a software trial gets treated like one. Framed as a Director getting a tool built around their own deal flow at no cost, it is a different conversation.

Problem 05

Two weeks on which option, zero on which firm

Since 1 September the thread has been about the shape of the engagement, not about PE firms. Here is a shape small enough to say yes to today, so next week is about firms.

The fix.

Five fixes, same order as the five problems.

Solution 01

I can help you reach PE firms you do not know yet

I am talking to PE firms every week for my own clients, and I get a lot of replies. This month I will bring the design partner pilot into those conversations, send it in writing to the firms that have replied to me, and introduce you where there is a fit. I will also look at reaching out from your email, or copying you in, whichever works best.

Solution 02

Something to send them before the call

PE firms want to see something before they book. So we put together a few resources for them: a one page pilot offer written for a Director, and a short deck or video they can open in two minutes. I use these on my side, you use them on yours.

Solution 03

Ten hours, one price, one month

No infrastructure, no domains, no tools bought unless you choose a sending tool. Half now, half at day 30.

Solution 04

Messaging and a list you send from your own domain

So we can move quickly, everything runs under your name: three email steps, a LinkedIn note and a call opener written in the buyer's words, and a list of PE firms with named Directors and MDs from my own PE data. Fifteen (15) to twenty (20) a day, pasted by you or through a tool you own. One pass over your landing page with notes.

Solution 05

A month with a shape

One working session to start, two calls in the month, Slack in between, a short written update every week, and a review at day 30.

Your questions, answered.

The four you asked on the call and in the thread.

Q 01

You, or the agency?

Me. You asked for that on the call and it is the right call for now. Ten hours, one person, a small contract we can run through Upwork.

Q 02

Pre funding or post funding?

This is the pre funding version, sized to get the pilot signed. We start with me in a fractional kind of role for the month. Once the pilot is signed and the $1.15M is in, we go back to the 31 August document and pick the option that fits.

Q 03

Fractional GTM, CRO, or a third co founder?

Not something to decide this month. I will be honest about where I stand: my goal is not $150 an hour. My goal is that you succeed, that I am closely involved once the funding lands, and that this turns into a proper retainer with me at that point. This month is how we both find out if that is right.

Q 04

Hourly or flat?

Flat, with the hours on the page so you can see what you are buying. Ten (10) hours at $150 an hour. $1,500.

Results.

I have recently moved into private equity, and PE firms respond. Fifty six (56) plus PE firms have replied to my own outreach asking for off market targets, and I get replies like that every week. If I dropped my price from $7,000 to $2,000 or $3,000, most of them would have said yes. The price is the only thing in the way, not the interest. Your pilot costs them nothing, so it goes to that list first.

Some of the teams I have built outbound for

Cold email · Nice Shoes

About 40 meetings in one quarter, from cold email.

NYC post production studio. 200+ conversations and about 40 meetings in a quarter, all from cold email.

“

You delivered on the meetings.

Mike Palmer, CRO, Nice Shoes

The other numbers I can put my name to.

meetings for Tearsheet from one campaign aimed at Money20/20 attendees

SDR appointments and $3M+ pipeline credited to my outbound in Brink's own Salesforce. NYSE listed, about $5B revenue

meetings in the first quarter for Origin, with a 21.6% LinkedIn reply rate across 1,473 touches

12+

months at Oyster HR, a $1.2B global employment platform. A four month engagement renewed twice

Also worked with Arist, Settle, Finimize, Hiline, Montara and OpenCX.

What you get.

The month

Ten (10) hours across four weeks. Everything below is inside them.

0 of 9 Delivered

The timeline.

Four weeks from the first session. Two things can slow it down. The NDA and demo, which the pilot page and deck wait on but the list does not. And the pilot terms: if we cannot say in one paragraph what the design partner gets, nothing sends, so we write it in the first session.

Session, NDA, demoWeek 1

Pilot page, deck or video script, messaging and list in your hands by the end of the week.

Outreach startsWeek 2

From your domain. Replies start coming in, you take the calls and try to close. Pilot raised on my PE calls and sent to the firms that replied to me.

Outreach continuesWeeks 3 to 4

Introductions where there is a fit. Weekly written update.

ReviewDay 30

Together. Continue, expand, or stop.

Total: 30 days

Your investment.

Ten (10) hours at $150 an hour. $1,500 flat, in two payments. Half to start, half at day 30.

1Session, pilot page, deck or video script, messaging, list, landing page notesTo start$750

2The month of outreach, my PE calls carrying the pilot, introductions, two calls, weekly updates, the reviewDay 30$750

TotalTen (10) hours, one month$1,500

HoursTen (10) at $150 an hour

Flat price$1,500, on Upwork

Payments$750 to start, $750 at day 30

Why flat

Flat, with the hours on the page

So you can see exactly what you are buying. Ten hours is the honest size for one month of this, and the price does not move if a week runs long.

Payment is handled on Upwork. Nothing is bought in my name.

In writing

What I promise you.

Out of scope, on purpose: domains, mailboxes and warm up. Working replies at scale. Running the discovery calls. Owning the pipeline. Equity, CRO, co founder. That is all the 31 August document, parked until the money is in.

The terms.

Clause 01

Scope of work

I will deliver the nine items listed under What you get, for YODA AI, across the four weeks in the timeline, inside ten (10) hours.

Anything outside that is quoted before any work starts, never assumed into the price. Outside it: domains, mailboxes and warm up, working replies at scale, running the discovery calls, owning the pipeline, and anything from the 31 August document.

Clause 02

Payment

$1,500 flat, as two payments on Upwork. $750 to start. $750 at day 30, after the review.

Payment is handled on Upwork throughout.

Clause 03

What you provide

So the month stays honest, you provide the following.

NDA and demo access in week one
The pilot terms in one paragraph: what the design partner gets, what you ask of them
A short video, VSL or deck of the product, so I can build the PE resources from it
The four or five firms you have already met, by name
What the investor needs to see, in writing, so the pilot page matches it
Your answer on sending: paste fifteen a day yourself, or a sending tool in your name

Clause 04

Ownership and confidentiality

Everything I write is yours from the day it is written. The list, the messaging, the pilot page, the deck. Nothing is held on my side.

What I learn about YODA AI under NDA stays between us. I do not name you as a client without your written yes.

Accepting the Upwork contract constitutes acceptance of this proposal.

Saying yes.

Everything here runs through Upwork, so there is nothing to sign on this page and nothing to pay here.

Step 01

Tell me what to change

Reply with anything you want to change and I update this page.

Step 02

I send the contract on Upwork

$1,500 flat, $750 to start, $750 at day 30. Same scope as this page.

Step 03

We book the first session the same week

Accepting the Upwork contract constitutes acceptance of this proposal. The month starts the day of the session.

Aamir Bajwa · Confidential · YODA AI