The First Post in a Series I Wasn't Sure I'd Write

A year ago, I wouldn't have guessed I'd be writing publicly about raising capital. It felt like the kind of thing you do quietly, in rooms with closed doors, and talk about only after it's done.

But building Plum Solutions Group has meant living the exact problem we're trying to solve — and if there's one thing I've learned building a company around decision-making, it's that opacity is usually the enemy of good decisions. So I'm doing this one in the open. This is the first in a series of posts about what it actually looks like to raise capital for a company at our stage: the pitch, the process, the people, and — starting now — an open invitation for the right people to be part of it.

The problem we started with

Every organization we talk to is drowning in more data than ever, and somehow no more confident in the decisions they're making because of it. Dashboards multiply. Reports pile up. And the actual moment of deciding — the judgment call a leadership team has to make and stand behind — still happens the same way it did a decade ago: in a meeting, on gut feel, with the reasoning lost the moment the slide deck closes.

We call that gap Strategic Decision Intelligence, or SDI — a layer above #BI and decision intelligence tools that brings rigor, traceability, and human judgment back into how organizations actually decide. We believe it's a new category, and we believe we're first to market with a real answer to it: two products, Quarus and Platypus, built to work together — one that surfaces the patterns hiding in an organization's data, and one that turns those patterns into decisions a team can defend, revisit, and learn from.

We've since built out our prototypes, moved our IP into patent protection, and started putting the product in front of real prospects for GTM validation. It's been, in the best sense, a grind. And now we're doing what every company at this point has to do: raise the capital to take it to the next stage.

Which brings me to why I'm actually writing this.

Rather than run our raise entirely behind closed doors, we're opening it up through a series of events called Plum Forward: Beyond BI — A Decision Makers Forum.

Here's the shape of it: we'll present to investors at a series of live sessions, then follow up individually — deeper conversations, product demonstrations, and for those who want to go further, full diligence access including our data room. From there, we'll walk qualified investors through our subscription package and funding terms, with a clear path to commitment and a defined funding date.

It's not a pitch deck emailed into the void. It's a process, run in the open, with two ways in.

If you're an investor who wants in, here's the choice in front of you:

1. Meet with us directly, before the main round closes. Investors who engage now and close ahead of the round get access to our current terms — the earliest and most favorable position available in this raise.
2. Come to the first event, take your time, and join us at the next round. If you'd rather see the full picture first — meet the team, see the product, ask the hard questions in the room — the first Decision Makers Forum session is exactly that entry point. You'll be positioned to come in when the next round opens.

Neither path is the “wrong” one. They're just different paces for people who move differently — and we'd genuinely rather have the right investors on the right timeline than rush anyone into a decision that isn't ready.

Details on the first Plum Forward: Beyond BI session — date, format, and how to register — are coming very shortly, and I'll share them here first. If you don't want to wait for that, or you'd rather have a direct conversation now, reach out any time at plumsg.com/contact.

More on the product, the market, and the team in the posts to come. For now — welcome to the beginning of this.

Gary Kivenko

CEO, Plum