Case Study 1 · SemperVirens Venture Capital

Portfolio GTM
Activation Plan

Case Study 1: SemperVirens Venture Capital Q1 2026 · Presented by Akshay Chandran

00/ THE ASSIGNMENT

Select two portfolio companies and build a 3-month GTM activation plan using the SemperVirens Ecosystem

This plan identifies two companies at different stages, a seed-stage work tech platform and a Series C behavioral health company, and maps specific SV ecosystem resources to specific GTM actions across a 90-day window.

01 / Why These Two Companies

Two teams at different stages with different needs.

Liftoff and Rula were selected deliberately to demonstrate the variety of resources SV can offer to different stage companies. One is a seed-stage work tech platform with no enterprise sales motion yet, and the other a Series C behavioral health company with a proven product that needs distribution at scale.

02 / Company One

Liftoff↗

Seed Stage · Work Tech · Social Hiring Platform

Liftoff is a seed-stage hiring and networking platform that connects job seekers to opportunities through trusted referrals rather than job boards. Their differentiation is the social layer: candidates come through people, not algorithms. At seed stage, their biggest GTM challenge is customer acquisition: building the flywheel of hiring companies and trusted connectors.

03 / Liftoff · 90-Day Plan

Kick Start a Customer Base for LiftOff

Month 1
Portfolio Pilot Launch
  • What We'll Do: We will personally introduce you to the 5 most actively hiring teams across the SV portfolio and position Liftoff as their preferred hiring tool for Q1. Before these introductions, we'll work with you to prepare a one-page brief that explains the product, the referral model, and what a pilot looks like, so every intro lands with context.
  • What You'll Need To Bring: Your team should be ready to run a 30-minute onboarding call within 48 hours of each intro.
  • Success Looks Like: At least 3 of the 5 portcos posting their first role on Liftoff within 30 days.
SV Portfolio Network
Accelerator Enrollment
  • What We'll Do: We want to enroll you in the SV Accelerator this quarter, a structured program designed specifically to help early-stage founders like you sharpen your GTM strategy and get in front of the right buyers faster. You'll get 1:1 advisory sessions with SV team members and hand-selected advisors who have built and scaled hiring platforms before.
  • What You'll Need To Bring: Come prepared with your current ICP definition, your biggest sales objections, and your top 3 target customer profiles.
  • Success Looks Like: Leaving the program with a refined pitch, a clearer ICP, and at least 2 advisor relationships you'll continue past the program.
SV Accelerator
Month 2
Top Connector Recruitment
  • What We'll Do: We will tap our network of 200+ senior executives and personally recruit 10–15 of them as Top Connectors on Liftoff. We'll identify executives who are actively involved in hiring at their organizations and make warm introductions on your behalf.
  • What You'll Need To Bring: Your team should be ready with a short, compelling connector onboarding flow and a clear explanation of what being a Top Connector means.
  • Success Looks Like: 10+ activated connectors who have shared at least one role or candidate within their first 30 days on the platform.
SV Advisor Groups
Strategic LP Introductions
  • What We'll Do: Two of SV's most active LPs, ADP and Paychex, run HCM platforms that touch thousands of SMB employers. We will set up direct conversations between your founder and the right people at each organization to explore whether Liftoff can be embedded in or recommended through their platforms.
  • What You'll Need To Bring: You should come to these meetings with a clear B2B2C partnership deck, a proposed pilot structure, and your data on candidate quality and time-to-hire.
  • Success Looks Like: 1+ of these conversations advancing to a follow-up meeting with a product or partnerships team.
Strategic LPs
Month 3
Transform Conference
  • What We'll Do: We are going to get you on stage at Transform, SV's affiliated conference that brings together the HR, talent, and benefits leaders you need to be in front of. We'll work with you in advance to develop a talk or roundtable topic around the future of diverse hiring and trusted referral networks, and we'll help you prep your narrative and key data points.
  • What You'll Need To Bring: You should plan to bring case study data from your Q1 portco pilots to make the session concrete and credible.
  • Success Looks Like: 5+ qualified follow-up conversations with HR or talent leaders who attended your session.
Transform Conference
PR and Media Push
  • What We'll Do: By Month 3, you'll have 90 days of real pilot data from SV portfolio companies hiring on Liftoff, and we're going to help you turn that into a media moment. We'll package your results into a compelling case study, make warm introductions to journalists covering the future of work, and pitch a byline for your founder in a publication like Fast Company or HR Brew.
  • What You'll Need To Bring: Track key pilot metrics from day one: time to first hire, diversity percentages, and cost per hire compared to traditional recruiting. Come to this session with your top 3 data points and a one-paragraph narrative about what the pilot proved.
  • Success Looks Like: At least one placed media story, a reusable one-page case study your sales team can use in every enterprise conversation, and 3 to 5 inbound leads from companies who read the coverage.
SV Network + Media
Expected Outcomes
3+ portcos posting roles within 30 days Refined pitch and 2+ lasting advisor relationships 10+ activated connectors on the platform 1+ LP conversation advancing to follow-up 5+ qualified leads from Transform 1 placed media story and 3–5 inbound leads

04 / Company Two

Rula Health↗

Series C · Health Tech · Virtual Behavioral Health

Rula is a national behavioral healthcare platform with $263M raised, $471M annualized revenue, and 15,000+ licensed providers across all 50 states. They accept most major insurers covering 120M+ lives and expanded into EAP networks in 2025. Their GTM challenge is no longer product-market fit: it's enterprise distribution. They need warm paths to benefits decision-makers at large employers, health plans, and brokers, not cold outreach.

05 / Rula Health · 90-Day Plan

Elevate Rula's Buyer Base

Month 1
Competitive Positioning Workshop
  • What We'll Do: Using Sequoia Consulting Group, pull benchmarks on how comparable virtual behavioral health platforms are positioning against legacy EAP providers in enterprise deals, on price, outcomes data, implementation speed, and network size. Translate those benchmarks into a sharpened competitive narrative for Rula that directly addresses the objections most likely to come up when incumbents are also in the conversation.
  • What You'll Need To Bring: The 2 to 3 most common competitive objections you are hearing in enterprise deals right now and any win/loss data you have from the past 6 months.
  • Success Looks Like: A refined competitive one-pager and updated objection handling guide ready to use in Q3 enterprise conversations.
Peer Founder Network
Employer Reference Program
  • What We'll Do: Work with Rula to identify 2 to 3 existing employer clients willing to serve as reference customers for inbound enterprise prospects. We will help structure a lightweight reference program, defining what a reference call looks like, what questions prospects typically ask, and how to prepare reference contacts so they tell a consistent and compelling story. Sequoia Consulting Group can provide benchmarks on how leading behavioral health platforms have used customer references to accelerate late-stage enterprise deals.
  • What You'll Need To Bring: A shortlist of existing employer clients who have seen strong utilization outcomes and have a relationship strong enough to take a reference call.
  • Success Looks Like: A reference program with at least 2 active reference customers ready to speak to prospects by end of month, reducing friction in late-stage enterprise deals.
SV Advisor Groups
Month 2
Account Mapping
  • What We'll Do: We are going to sit down with your sales team and map your top 20 target enterprise accounts directly against SV's LP and advisor network, identifying every warm path we have into the benefits, HR, and clinical decision-makers at each account.
  • What You'll Need To Bring: Your team should come to this session with your current target account list, your ICP definition, and your top 3 objections you're hearing in the sales process.
  • Success Looks Like: A prioritized list of 10 accounts where SV has a direct warm path and a clear ask defined for each.
Sequoia Consulting Group
Advisor Pitch Camp
  • What We'll Do: We will convene a focused advisory session for your GTM team with 1 to 2 SV advisors who currently hold or recently held senior roles at health plans and large self-insured employers, the exact people who would sign a contract with Rula. The goal is to pressure-test your enterprise pitch, your pricing structure, and your implementation story from the buyer's perspective before you're in a real sales cycle.
  • What You'll Need To Bring: Your team should bring your current enterprise deck, your pricing model, and any deals that have stalled so advisors can give real, targeted feedback.
  • Success Looks Like: Walking away with 3–5 specific changes to your pitch or process that your advisors believe would meaningfully improve your close rate.
SV Advisor Groups
Month 3
Transform Conference
  • What We'll Do: We want Rula on stage at Transform this quarter making the case for why employer-sponsored mental health benefits are no longer optional, and backing it up with your outcomes data. We'll work with your team to develop the session topic, shape the narrative, and make sure the right HR and benefits leaders are in the room.
  • What You'll Need To Bring: Plan to present real patient outcomes data, utilization rates, and at least one employer case study that shows the ROI of Rula as a benefit.
  • Success Looks Like: Leaving Transform with 5+ qualified enterprise leads and at least one media mention from the session.
Transform Conference
Strategic LP Introductions
  • What We'll Do: This is where the SV Ecosystem does what no cold outreach ever could. We will personally facilitate 4–6 warm introductions to benefits decision-makers at Guardian, MetLife, and Unum, all active SV LPs who have an existing relationship with our team and are actively looking for innovative behavioral health solutions to offer their members and customers. We will brief each LP contact in advance on Rula's traction, outcomes data, and why we believe this is the right fit for their population.
  • What You'll Need To Bring: You should prepare a tailored one-pager for each LP that speaks to their specific member base and distribution goals.
  • Success Looks Like: 2+ intros converting to a first meeting within 30 days.
Strategic LPs
Expected Outcomes
Competitive one-pager and objection handling guide ready for Q3 2 active reference customers ready to speak to prospects 10 accounts mapped with warm SV paths and clear ask defined 3–5 specific pitch changes to improve close rate 5+ qualified enterprise leads and 1 media mention from Transform 2+ intros converting to a first meeting within 30 days

06 / One Net-New Idea

The Revenue Clinic

Most platform programs give founders access to a network. The Revenue Clinic turns that access into a structured session designed to move real deals forward. Every participant, founder, advisor, and LP, commits to no more than one hour of their time. The platform team does the heavy lifting before, during, and after to ensure its impact.

STEP 1 / COHORT DESIGN
Curating the Right Room
  • What We'll Do: The platform team works with each founder individually to understand their sector, buyer persona, and current stage before any session is scheduled. Based on that input, we identify the single most relevant advisor and the single most relevant LP for that founder's specific situation. This is not a group selection process. Every pairing is made on the basis of direct relevance to one company and one founder.
  • What Founders Should Prepare: Nothing at this stage. Matching happens before founders are invited to confirm a session date. Once matched, each founder receives a brief overview of who they will be meeting with and why they were selected.
  • Success Looks Like: Every founder is matched with one advisor and one LP whose background maps directly to their buyer type and sector, so that every minute of the session is relevant to their specific business.
Platform Team
Matching Advisors and LPs to the Cohort
  • What We'll Do: Once the platform team has a clear picture of each founder's sector and buyer persona, we identify one advisor and one LP whose background maps directly to that founder's situation. The advisor is selected for their domain expertise with the specific buyer type the founder is selling to. The LP is selected because they represent that same buyer category. We reach out to both to confirm their availability before the session is scheduled.
  • What Founders Should Prepare: Nothing at this stage. Founders will be briefed on who is joining and in what capacity before the session begins.
  • Success Looks Like: Every advisor and LP is directly and specifically matched to the founder they are meeting with, so no time is spent in a conversation that does not apply to that founder's business.
Platform Team
STEP 2 / PRE-SESSION PREP
Individual Founder Prep
  • What We'll Do: Each founder meets privately with the SV platform team for 30 minutes. We surface their most pressing live deal, their stuck pipeline, and their top questions for the advisor and LP sessions. We synthesize themes across all founders and use them to brief incoming advisors in advance so no time is spent on context-setting during the session itself.
  • What Founders Should Prepare: One live deal or stuck pipeline situation including the buyer persona, the stage of the deal, the key objection being faced, and what has already been tried. Come with a clear ask for both the advisor and LP sessions.
  • Success Looks Like: The platform team has a clear brief for each advisor entering the session and every founder arrives knowing exactly what they want to get out of the clinic.
Platform Team
Advisor Briefing
  • What We'll Do: Before entering the session, each advisor receives a one-page brief from the platform team summarizing the common deal patterns and objections surfaced across the cohort. Advisors do not need to know deal specifics, only the themes. This ensure their 45 minutes are spent giving targeted, useful feedback rather than asking foundational questions.
  • What Founders Should Prepare: Nothing additional. The platform team handles the briefing using notes from the individual prep sessions.
  • Success Looks Like: Every advisor walks into the room already oriented and ready to go deep from minute one.
Platform Team
STEP 3 / THE SESSION
Advisor Hot Seats
  • What We'll Do: Each founder is paired one-on-one with a single advisor matched specifically to their company's domain and buyer profile. The advisor is pre-briefed on the founder's business, their top sales objections, and their current stage before the session begins. The conversation runs for 45 minutes and is focused entirely on one company, giving the advisor the context to go deep rather than offering general guidance.
  • What Founders Should Prepare: Two to three specific questions based on their pre-session prep. The more concrete the question, the more useful the answer.
  • Success Looks Like: Each founder leaves with at least one specific and actionable change to their pitch, pricing, or objection handling, surfaced through a conversation focused specifically on their business, to test in their next sales conversation.
SV Advisor Groups
LP Buyer Session
  • What We'll Do: Each founder is individually matched with one LP selected based on their specific buyer persona: employer, health plan, broker, or carrier. The LP is pre-briefed on the company before the session. The format is a 45-minute one-on-one structured conversation covering how their organization actually buys, what makes a vendor stand out, what kills a deal internally, and what the approval process looks like. This is the most differentiated thing SV can offer that other platforms can't replicate.
  • What Founders Should Prepare: Three questions they have never had the chance to ask a direct buyer. Questions should focus on the buying process, internal decision-making, and what separates vendors that win from those that lose.
  • Success Looks Like: Each founder leaves with a clearer picture of how their specific target buyer makes purchasing decisions and at least one concrete change to how they will approach their next enterprise conversation, informed by a direct conversation with the type of buyer they are actively selling to.
Strategic LPs
STEP 4 / FOLLOW THROUGH
Wrap and Committed Action Items
  • What We'll Do: The final 15 minutes of the session belongs to the platform team. We document every follow-up intro, connection, and action item committed to during the session and assign an owner and a deadline to each one before anyone leaves the room. We follow up at 30 and 60 days to track pipeline movement and measure whether deals advanced as a result of the clinic.
  • What Founders Should Prepare: Be ready to state the one thing they are committing to changing in their next sales conversation as a result of the session.
  • Success Looks Like: Every action item has an owner and a deadline before the session closes. At least two of the four to six founders report a deal advancing within 30 days.
Platform Team
Pipeline Measurement
  • What We'll Do: At 30 and 60 days post-session, the platform team checks in with each founder to track pipeline movement. We record which deals advanced, which intros converted to meetings, and what the aggregate revenue impact looks like across the cohort. This data feeds directly into refining future cohort design, advisor selection, and LP matching for subsequent clinics.
  • What Founders Should Prepare: Be prepared to share a brief pipeline update at both the 30 and 60 day marks. This does not need to be formal, just a quick status on the deals discussed in the session.
  • Success Looks Like: A documented pipeline impact report after each clinic that demonstrates the direct connection between SV platform activity and portco revenue outcomes.
Platform Team

HIGH-LEVEL ACTIVATION PLAN

  • Pilot the first clinic in Q2 with 4 portcos from the current priority list.
  • Survey all participants immediately after the session and measure pipeline movement at 30 and 60 days.
  • If at least two of the four portcos report a deal advancing as a result, productize the clinic as a quarterly recurring program and open it to the full portfolio.

07 / The SV Ecosystem Assets Used

SV Accelerator
Structured GTM program for early-stage portcos with 1:1 advisory and cohort support
GTM Introductions
Warm, direct introductions to buyers and channel partners in the SV network
Strategic LPs
Active corporate investors including Cigna, MetLife, Guardian, ADP, Paychex, and Unum
SV Advisor Groups
200+ senior executives across health, wealth, and work verticals
Peer Founder Network
Cross-portfolio connections for shared learnings and referenceability
Transform Conference
Annual flagship event connecting HR, health, and benefits decision-makers
Sequoia Consulting Group
Operational benchmarks, GTM frameworks, and strategic advisory for portfolio companies