Thunder

Before any transaction, Thunder builds a Capital Blueprint that maps what is actually available to the company, who is likely to provide it, and the cost of each path in dilution, control and time. It covers debt, equity, recapitalization, M&A and the option to stay independent. The point is to decide the outcome first, so you don't spend a year on the wrong process.

The firm is backed by a network of more than 6,000 post-exit founders, and it pulls in the few who have done your specific deal, sold to that acquirer, raised from that fund or survived that kind of diligence. Thunder says over 100 of them are called on directly, deal by deal, so you get advice from someone who has already solved the problem in front of you rather than a generic advisor.

Thunder uses technology to speed up the analytical work behind a deal: financial normalization, valuation and ownership analysis, capital structure design and the counter-strategy behind a process. That's where the "tech-enabled" label comes from. It doesn't replace the partner, but it means the numbers and options get mapped faster than a spreadsheet-only shop can manage.

Most firms pick a lane. Thunder runs growth equity and private credit raises, recapitalizations, sell-side M&A, acquisitions and growth buyouts through the same team. So when the honest answer is a debt structure instead of the equity round you planned, that recommendation is on the table, not filtered out by whatever product the banker sells.

A recurring theme in Thunder's work is preparation, so a round stands up to institutional diligence instead of falling apart in it. The team handles positioning, the transaction narrative, materials, data-room prep, counterparty strategy and diligence coordination, and it structures rounds so they don't get in the way of the next one.

Securities are offered through Finalis Securities LLC, a broker-dealer and member of FINRA and SIPC, which lets Thunder run institutional-grade processes rather than make introductions and hope. That gives a founder the access and paperwork of a regulated channel, and it's the piece that separates an investment bank from a well-connected advisor.

Thunder runs private dinners, demo nights and poker nights for exited founders, venture investors and the family offices and LPs who back them, across San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and London. It also produces the $100M Exits podcast, where Jason Kirby interviews founders and investors who have been through nine-figure outcomes. Deals have been funded and companies started in these rooms.