Why CPG Brands Need Operations and Fundraising Support (Not Just One or the Other)

Priyanka Kedia
14 hours ago
11 min read

Summary: What Growing CPG Brands Need to Know

Capital without operational readiness burns money faster than it creates value — investors write checks expecting disciplined execution, healthy margins, and scalable systems. When operations are chaotic, funding accelerates problems instead of solving them, leading to missed milestones and difficult conversations six months later.
Clean operations unlock better fundraising terms and faster closes — VCs and angels evaluate operational maturity before committing capital. Brands with tight inventory management, predictable COGS, and clear unit economics command higher valuations and face less dilution than operationally messy competitors chasing the same capital.
Warm introductions beat cold outreach by 10x — 75% of CPG brands we support secure funding within 6-9 months because investor relationships matter more than perfect pitch decks. Our network of 10+ VCs and angels focused on food & beverage, beauty, and health & wellness gives founders the credibility and access that cold emails never will.
Investor-ready means more than a polished deck — fundraising preparation requires financial modeling that holds up under diligence, operational metrics investors actually care about, and answers to hard questions about margin structure and capital efficiency. Most operations consultants can't help here; most fundraising advisors don't understand ops deeply enough to prepare you properly.
Growth requires both healthy margins and growth capital — CPG brands scaling through retail and DTC simultaneously need funding to support inventory, production capacity, and marketing while maintaining unit economics that prove the business model works. One without the other creates either under-capitalized stagnation or well-funded chaos.

Most CPG brands hit the same ceiling around $5M-$15M in revenue.

Sales are growing. Retail doors are opening. DTC momentum is building. But margins are getting squeezed, cash flow is tight, and the infrastructure needed to scale feels perpetually just out of reach.

You know you need capital. A seed round or bridge to extend runway while you optimize unit economics. Growth equity to build the team and systems that turn current traction into sustainable scale.

So you start fundraising. You polish the pitch deck. You reach out to VCs. You take intro calls.

And you hear the same feedback over and over: "Love the brand. Come back when your operations are tighter." Or worse: "Your margins concern us. Let's revisit in six months."

Here's what most founders miss: investors evaluate operational maturity before they evaluate growth potential. Because capital deployed into chaotic operations doesn't create value — it accelerates problems.

At Kedia Consultants, we solve both sides of this equation. We help CPG brands build the operational foundation that makes them investor-ready, then connect them to the capital partners who fund their next stage of growth.

The Problem With Treating Operations and Fundraising as Separate Workstreams

Operations work takes time and focus. While you're grinding through SKU rationalization, demand forecasting improvements, and freight optimization, your cash runway is burning. By the time operations look investor-ready, you're fundraising from a position of desperation instead of strength.

Or, you flip the sequence. You raise capital first, planning to use the funding to fix operations later. But investors who write checks into operationally immature businesses apply pressure for growth immediately. You spend the capital on marketing and retail expansion before the infrastructure can support it. Margins compress further. Systems break under volume. The funding that was supposed to solve problems just exposed how fragile your operations really were.

Neither approach works because operations and fundraising aren't sequential — they're interdependent.

Healthy operations unlock better fundraising outcomes. Growth capital deployed into tight operations compounds value instead of masking dysfunction.

You need both, simultaneously, from partners who understand how they reinforce each other.

Ready to get investor-ready while building operations that can actually deploy capital efficiently? Let's talk about where your business stands today and what it takes to close that gap.

Reach Out To Us To Find Investors In Your Space

FAQ: Can't we just hire a CFO or fundraising consultant to handle the capital piece?

You can, but most fundraising consultants don't understand operations deeply enough to know what investors will scrutinize during diligence. They'll help you build a pitch deck, but they won't catch that your COGS variance is a red flag or that your inventory turns signal working capital risk. We prepare you for the hard questions because we've already fixed the operational issues that trigger them.

What Investor-Ready Actually Means (And Why Operations Matter More Than Your Deck)

Here's what happens in a typical VC diligence process for a CPG brand:

They love your brand story. The deck is polished. Your growth trajectory looks compelling. They're interested.

Then they dig into the numbers.

They ask:

What are your unit economics by channel? (DTC vs. retail)
How do you forecast demand, and what's your historical accuracy?
What's driving COGS variance quarter-over-quarter?
How much working capital do you need to support a 50% increase in retail doors?
What happens to margins when you scale production 2x?

If your operations aren't tight, you don't have clean answers to these questions. And vague answers kill momentum faster than any weakness in your growth story.

Investors aren't just evaluating your brand — they're evaluating your operational maturity.

They want to see:

Predictable margins with clear line of sight into what drives COGS up or down
Inventory management that doesn't tie up cash in dead stock or create stockouts that lose revenue
Demand forecasting accurate enough to inform production planning and working capital needs
Capital efficiency metrics that prove you can deploy funding into growth without burning through it on operational firefighting

Most operations consultants help you build these capabilities but have no idea how to translate them into the financial narratives and investor metrics that close rounds.

Most fundraising advisors can position your brand story beautifully but don't understand the operational details well enough to prepare you for diligence.

We do both. We fix the operations that make you fundable, then help you communicate that operational strength in the language investors actually evaluate.

FAQ: What's the difference between being "revenue-ready" and "investor-ready"?

Revenue-ready means you can fulfill orders and grow sales. Investor-ready means your operations can scale predictably without burning capital on inefficiency. Investors fund businesses that can deploy capital into growth, not businesses that need capital to fix broken operations. We help you cross that line.

How Kedia's Fundraising Support Works (And Why Our Network Matters)

Unlike traditional operations consultants, we don't stop at building systems and optimizing processes. We actively support CPG brands through their fundraising journey with three core capabilities:

1. Investor Preparation (Financial Modeling, Pitch Support, Diligence Readiness)

Before you take a single investor meeting, we help you build the financial and operational foundation that holds up under scrutiny:

Financial modeling that investors trust: We build SKU-level unit economics models, working capital projections, and scenario planning tools that show exactly how capital deploys into growth. Not generic templates- models grounded in your actual operational data.
Pitch deck refinement: We don't write brand decks from scratch (you know your story better than anyone), but we ensure the operational and financial slides communicate margin structure, capital efficiency, and scalability in the terms investors evaluate.
Diligence preparation: We anticipate the operational questions investors will ask and make sure you have data-backed answers ready. COGS breakdowns by SKU. Demand forecast accuracy metrics. Inventory turn rates. Working capital requirements by growth scenario.

2. Warm Introductions to Capital Partners (VCs and Angels Who Understand CPG)

Cold outreach to investors rarely works. Warm introductions from trusted operators change everything.

We maintain relationships with venture capital firms and angel investors specifically focused on consumer packaged goods - particularly food & beverage, beauty, and health & wellness brands at the growth stage.

Here's why this matters:

When a VC receives an intro from an operational partner they trust, your brand enters the conversation with built-in credibility. They know we've worked with you. They know we've seen your operations up close. They trust that if we're making the introduction, your business has the operational foundation to deploy capital effectively.

That context dramatically increases the likelihood of a first meeting converting into a term sheet conversation.

We don't spam our network. We make selective, high-conviction introductions when we believe there's genuine fit between a brand's growth stage, capital needs, and an investor's thesis. This protects our relationships and ensures founders get quality engagement, not form-letter rejections.

3. Ongoing Operational Support Post-Funding (So Capital Actually Compounds)

Raising capital solves the funding problem. It doesn't automatically solve the execution problem.

We've seen too many CPG brands raise strong rounds, then burn through capital faster than expected because operations couldn't scale as efficiently as the pitch deck projected.

Post-funding, we stay engaged to ensure:

Inventory scaling doesn't outpace demand forecasting accuracy
Production capacity expands in step with retail door growth
COGS stay predictable as volumes increase
Working capital deployment matches the board-approved plan

This continuity matters. Investors expect the operational discipline they saw during diligence to hold post-close. When it does, follow-on rounds and growth equity become accessible. When it doesn't, you're back to firefighting instead of scaling.

FAQ: Do you take equity or charge success fees for fundraising support?

No. We operate on a monthly retainer model for our operations and strategic advisory work. Fundraising support is included as part of our comprehensive engagement with growth-stage CPG brands — not a separate transaction with misaligned incentives.

Why Operations-First Fundraising Gets Better Terms and Faster Closes

Here's the data point most founders miss: operationally tight CPG brands raise capital faster and at better valuations than operationally messy competitors.

When investors evaluate two brands with similar revenue, growth rates, and market positioning, the one with cleaner operations commands higher valuation and faces less dilution.

Why?

Because operational maturity reduces investor risk. A brand with predictable margins, accurate demand forecasting, and efficient inventory management has less execution risk than a brand still figuring out basic supply chain management.

Less risk = better terms.

Among the CPG brands we support, 75% secure funding within 6-9 months of engaging with us. That timeline isn't luck — it's the result of entering fundraising conversations with operations that hold up under diligence and investor relationships that create warm pathways instead of cold outreach.

Compare that to the typical CPG fundraising cycle: 12-18 months of outreach, multiple diligence processes that stall on operational questions, and terms that reflect the desperation of a founder running out of runway.

Operations-first fundraising flips this dynamic.

You raise from a position of strength because your business demonstrates execution maturity. Investors see a team that can deploy capital efficiently, not a team that needs capital to fix broken systems.

And when investors trust your operational foundation, they move faster. Diligence compresses. Term sheets come sooner. You spend less time fundraising and more time building.

FAQ: What if we've already started fundraising and aren't getting traction?

That's a common situation. Often, the issue isn't your brand or growth story — it's that investors don't see the operational maturity they need to commit capital. We can help you pause, fix the operational gaps surfacing in diligence, and re-enter conversations with a stronger foundation. Many of our clients come to us after an initial fundraising attempt stalled for exactly this reason.

The Capital and Margin Equation: Why CPG Brands Can't Scale Without Both

Growth capital and healthy margins aren't alternatives -they're prerequisites that reinforce each other.

Here's the pattern we see repeatedly:

A CPG brand is growing. Retail is expanding. DTC is contributing. But margins are thin, maybe 35% gross margin when they should be closer to 50-55% for a sustainable CPG business model.

They need capital to fund inventory for retail expansion and marketing to drive DTC growth. But their margin structure makes investors nervous. Can this business scale profitably, or will growth just expose how tight the unit economics really are?

Without healthy margins, capital is hard to raise. Investors don't want to fund businesses that need to "grow into profitability" through scale when the operational levers driving margin improvement aren't clear.

Without capital, margin improvement is hard to execute. Optimizing COGS requires negotiating better supplier terms (often with volume commitments), improving production efficiency (which may require equipment investment), and carrying enough inventory to avoid costly rush orders and expedited freight.

You need both simultaneously. And you need partners who understand how to sequence the work so operational improvements unlock capital access, and capital deployment funds further operational leverage.

At Kedia, we help CPG brands navigate this interdependence:

First, we diagnose where margin pressure is coming from — COGS variance, freight inefficiency, waste in production, SKU complexity, or working capital constraints that force suboptimal purchasing decisions.
Then, we implement the operational improvements that create margin expansion — supplier negotiations, demand forecasting accuracy, inventory optimization, freight consolidation, SKU rationalization.
Simultaneously, we prepare the financial models and investor narratives that translate operational improvements into fundable growth stories.
Finally, we connect you to capital partners who understand CPG economics and can see the margin trajectory you're building.

This isn't sequential. It's integrated work that treats operations and fundraising as two sides of the same growth equation.

Ready to build the operational foundation that makes your brand fundable — and connect with investors who understand CPG growth? Let's talk about your current margin structure, capital needs, and where operations can unlock both.

FAQ: How do you decide when a brand is ready for investor introductions?

We look for three signals: (1) operational metrics that will hold up under diligence — predictable COGS, accurate demand forecasting, healthy inventory turns; (2) a clear capital deployment plan tied to specific growth milestones; (3) financial models that show how funding drives revenue and margin expansion. When those are in place, we make introductions. Before that, we focus on building the foundation that makes introductions successful.

The Bottom Line: All-Rounded Support for CPG Brands That Are Ready to Scale

If you're building a CPG brand between $5M-$25M in revenue, you don't need more advice. You need execution support that strengthens both your operations and your access to capital.

You need a partner who understands that healthy margins and growth funding aren't separate priorities — they're interdependent requirements for sustainable scale.

You need someone who can fix the operational gaps that make investors hesitate, then open doors to the capital partners who fund your next stage of growth.

That's exactly what Kedia Consultants provides.

We're not just operations consultants who stop at process improvement. We're not just fundraising advisors who craft pitch decks and walk away.

We're an all-rounded firm that stays invested in your growth — operationally, strategically, and through the capital relationships that make scale possible.

We help you build margins that prove your business model works. We prepare you for the diligence questions that trip up underprepared founders. We connect you to VCs and angels who understand CPG and move quickly when they see operational maturity.

And we stay engaged post-funding to ensure the capital you raise actually compounds into the growth you projected.

This is how CPG brands scale sustainably — not with capital alone, not with operations alone, but with integrated support that treats both as essential.

Kedia Consultants