Growth Assessment for NbS Developers
Investor-readiness clarity before the critical conversations
You’re preparing for investor conversations – and you can’t afford to get the first meeting wrong
You’ve done a lot of work on your new NbS project. You have a track record – you’ve done this before, a pitch deck (or at least the beginnings of one), a business model, and a clear vision for the impact you want to create.
But as you move into investor conversations, or deeper into an active raise, doubts start to creep in.
- Are we telling this story with the language investors understand?
- Will our assumptions hold up once investor due diligence starts?
- Are we targeting the right investors — or just the ones we know of?
- What are the red flags we’re too close to see ourselves?
You know investors will only give you a few minutes to decide whether your opportunity is worth further attention. And discovering problems in a live diligence process is costly, slow, and often irreversible.
Imagine going into investor conversations confident, prepared, and in control
Imagine joining an investor call – whether it’s your first or your tenth – knowing:
- Your pitch is clear, credible, and investor-ready,
- You understand where investors are likely to push — and you’re prepared,
- Your assumptions have been pressure-tested, not just internally agreed,
- You know which investors to focus on — and which ones are not the right fit.
Instead of stalled conversations, vague feedback, or silence, you’re having focused discussions that move toward site visits, term sheets, and real momentum.
You’re no longer guessing how your project will land — you already know.
The NbS Growth Assessment
A focused investor-readiness review – before investors do it for you
The NbS Growth Assessment is an investor-grade sanity check of your investment opportunity, designed to give you clarity on how it will be perceived by investors and how to enhance your likelihood of a successful close.
Through a confidential review of your pitch deck or project summary and a 90-minute working session, we will:
- Assess your team’s capacity and alignment to attract investors and implement your project,
- Pressure-test your positioning, assumptions and investment structure,
- Identify key red flags and due diligence questions investors are likely to raise,
- Answer your questions
Following the session, you’ll receive written feedback and a clear action plan outlining:
- Fundraising baseline – where you are now, what are your strengths and weaknesses with regards to investor-readiness,
- Competitive advantage – the unique attributes of your project – that only your firm can deliver,
- Red flags and gaps that need to be addressed to make your investment thesis watertight,
- Fundraising roadmap – specific actions, structured in a stepwise plan to help you move from concept or pilot to scaled action on the ground.
In summary, it’s a focused evaluation and action plan aimed at moving you from excel spreadsheets and power point presentations to investor conversations that close.
Who this is for?
The Assessment is well-suited for NbS project developers who:
- Are preparing for their first serious investor meetings, or
- Have already started fundraising and are encountering stalled conversations, unclear feedback, or repeated and unsatisfied diligence questions,
- Have a pitch deck or project summary and want investor-grade feedback,
- Want to reduce risk before committing to deeper advisory or fundraising support.
This is NOT FOR YOU if you’re looking for:
- Investor introductions or placement services. I only carry out investor introductions with NbS developers whom I know well and have worked with before.
- Development of investor documentation – such as financial models and pitch deck re-writes.
- Ongoing fundraising or advisory support (that comes later).
Ready to reduce the risk of your deal not landing?
If you’re preparing for fundraising – or already in it – the NbS Growth Assessment is the fastest way to stop unproductive pitch-deck re-writes and prevent dead-end conversations.
(Schedule your session – invoicing provided after booking)
Investment: €2,000
Why The ForestLink?
Shauna Matkovich, Founding Director of The ForestLink, brings 20+ years of experience spanning operational sustainable forest management, international forest investment, sustainability management and NbS business development.
Her work sits at the intersection of how managers execute sustainable forestry on the ground and how investors make decisions – helping NbS developers translate good projects into investable opportunities.
If you care about impact and raising the capital to create it, this is the perspective you need before going to market.
Limited Availability
I take on a limited number of NbS Growth Assessments each month to ensure depth and quality.
If you have upcoming investor conversations, the sooner you book, the sooner you’ll have clarity on your next steps – so that your first conversations have the best chance of becoming long-term partnerships.
Not sure if this is the right fit for your needs?
If you’re unsure whether the NbS Growth Assessment is appropriate for you, you can book a 15-minute fit call.
This is not a sales call – it’s a chance to clarify:
- Your current stage,
- Whether this assessment is sufficient, or
- Whether a different type of support would be more appropriate.