Deep Bench matches early-stage startups with growth-driven fractional C-suite executives. Trading expertise for equity to accelerate growth and make the business investable.
Invest alongside the founders you work with, with S/EIS and equity administration built in from day one.
Subscribe for ordinary shares in the startups you work with, alongside the founders. Engagement fees are separate, and you are not paid a director's fee.
Income tax relief of up to 50% (SEIS) or up to 30% (EIS) on your own cash subscriptions, subject to eligibility.
Growth shares tied to the value you help create, in addition to your cash investment. No tax relief is claimed on growth shares.
Vote on strategy as a fractional board member, with a defined time commitment and clear conflict rules.
Your profile stays anonymised until both sides opt in. Agree cash, hybrid or equity-weighted terms for each engagement.
Clear contracts and equity documents from day one. Share issuance, cap table and vesting stay in step with Companies House through Vestd.
Contracts, EMI schemes, S/EIS and Companies House, handled under UK law from the start.
S/EIS advance assurance supports your round, helping investors claim tax relief on their cheques.
A fractional CFO or CTO on cash, hybrid or equity terms, instead of a full-time senior hire.
Protect cash flow by paying in equity-weighted packages, preserving early capital for product validation and core delivery.
Work with senior executives who invest directly alongside you, aligning their incentives entirely with your company’s long-term valuation.
Access your executive’s established network of co-investors, enterprise pilots, and vetted suppliers from your first week.
Ramp executive time up or down as milestones evolve, bypassing the lock-in and termination costs of full-time C-suite hires.
The round stays eligible, so founders attract investors and executives can claim relief when they invest.
Share issuance, cap table, vesting and option schemes, kept in step with Companies House through our integration with Vestd.
Clear contracts for both sides, with no bespoke drafting overhead for each engagement.
Both sides share the same upside and cap-table risk, replacing short-term contractor churn with committed co-ownership.
Standardised engagement terms define milestones, board seats, and dispute processes upfront, eliminating awkward contract friction.
Pre-agreed IP assignment, share documentation, and governance keep the business audit-ready for Series A investors.
Structured good-leaver and bad-leaver clauses ensure an orderly handover with zero cap-table clutter if company priorities shift.
Pre-vetted profiles and pre-negotiated equity frameworks allow leadership to start executing within days rather than months.
*Tax relief figures (SEIS/EIS) are subject to personal eligibility and HMRC rules. Advance assurance is an indicative review, not a formal guarantee.
Anonymised profiles until both sides opt in. Standard terms agreed in hours.
Select role, growth stage, and compensation structure to simulate matching.
Configure leadership requirements and click [ Run Match Engine ] to evaluate vetting criteria, compatibility score, and suggested equity structures.
The market is moving towards fractional leadership, and towards the executives who can offer it with equity alongside.
Every one of these shifts points the same direction: leadership gaps are the reason rounds stall — and the reason Deep Bench exists.
