Case studies

Worked examples, honestly labeled

We're a new firm. We don't have client testimonials yet, and we won't invent them — fake reviews are illegal and exactly what our Academy teaches people to spot. What we can show you: fully worked scenarios with real numbers, and the ten public slots where real client case studies will be published as the Founding Ten complete.

Everything below is a modeled, illustrative scenario — realistic composites built from published market data and our operating playbook, not past client results. Real, named, numbers-public case studies will replace the pipeline slots as founding engagements complete.

Illustrative scenario 01modeled, not a client result

🇳🇬 E-commerce operator in Lagos scaling on U.S. rails

An operator running ~$400K/year in Shopify revenue from Nigeria, paying 4–6% in payment-processing penalties and losing U.S. ad-account stability for lack of a U.S. entity.

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Goal

A U.S. entity with real banking and credit so payments, ads, and suppliers treat the business as American — then scale inventory on U.S. business credit.

Total Keystone fees

$8,500 in Keystone fees over ~14 months (Launchpad $3,000 + Business Credit Accelerator $4,000 + first Scale months)

Timeline

~14 months from first call to scaled operations

The sequence

Phase	Timeframe	What happens	Cost
Foundation	Weeks 1–6	Wyoming LLC, EIN, registered agent, operating agreement, Mercury account opened remotely with a documented source-of-funds pack (the gating item for Nigerian KYC).	$3,000 (Global Entrepreneur Launchpad)
ITIN	Weeks 4–16	W-7 filed via Certifying Acceptance Agent — no passport mailing. IRS processing runs 7–11+ weeks; nothing anyone sells changes that.	Included in Launchpad
Credit build	Months 3–12	Amex Global Transfer application using the existing Nigerian Amex relationship; business credit file, net-30 vendor tradelines, EIN-only fintech cards; card applications timed to utilization milestones.	$4,000 (Business Credit Accelerator)
Scale	Months 12–14+	Inventory financing on the now-established business credit; U.S. 3PL relationships; ad accounts anchored to the U.S. entity.	$3,500/month (Scale retainer, 6-month minimum)

Key decisions in this scenario

Wyoming over Delaware: no state income tax filing complexity for a non-resident pass-through, lower annual costs.
Mercury before a traditional bank: remote opening beats waiting for a U.S. trip.
Amex transfer before any fintech card: the personal file anchors everything else.

What could go wrong here

Enhanced KYC on Nigerian source-of-funds can add 2–6 weeks or end in a platform decline, forcing a second-choice bank. The Amex transfer is Amex's decision — if declined, the secured path adds ~6 months to personal credit.

Illustrative scenario 02modeled, not a client result

🇮🇳 SaaS founder in Bangalore preparing a U.S. flip

A bootstrapped B2B SaaS founder at ~$25K MRR who keeps losing enterprise deals to 'we only contract with U.S. entities' procurement rules.

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Goal

A clean Delaware C-Corp with U.S. banking and a personal U.S. credit file — structured so future venture investment doesn't require a restructure.

Total Keystone fees

$5,000 in Keystone fees over ~9 months (Launchpad $3,000 + US Credit Foundation $2,000)

Timeline

~9 months from first call to enterprise-contract-ready

The sequence

Phase	Timeframe	What happens	Cost
Foundation	Weeks 1–5	Delaware C-Corp (the structure U.S. enterprise procurement and future investors expect), EIN, bylaws, 83(b)-aware founder stock setup with his own tax advisor, Mercury account.	$3,000 (Global Entrepreneur Launchpad)
ITIN	Weeks 3–14	W-7 via Certifying Acceptance Agent alongside the corporate setup; LRS limits planned with his Indian CA for funding flows.	Included in Launchpad
Credit build	Months 3–9	Amex Global Transfer from his Indian Platinum; two business tradelines; deliberately conservative — enterprise contracts, not credit capacity, are the goal here.	$2,000 (US Credit Foundation)

Key decisions in this scenario

C-Corp over LLC: enterprise procurement and future SAFE/priced rounds both expect it, despite double-taxation tradeoffs he reviewed with his own advisor.
Minimal credit tier: his bottleneck was contracts, not capital — buying the $7,500 tier would have been over-purchase, and we said so.

What could go wrong here

C-Corp compliance (federal + Delaware franchise tax) is real annual overhead even at zero revenue. If the SaaS pivots to raising in India instead, the U.S. flip adds cost without benefit — reversing it is expensive.

Illustrative scenario 03modeled, not a client result

🇦🇪 Dubai-based buyer acquiring a U.S. e-commerce brand

A UAE-resident operator with ~$250K of acquisition capital and a completed Keystone credit build, targeting a cash-flowing FBA brand in the $400–600K range.

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Goal

Buy a U.S. e-commerce business outright — asset purchase through the LLC, seller financing bridging the gap SBA loans can't fill for non-residents.

Total Keystone fees

$15,000 retainer + ~$28,000 success fee on a $560K close (5% band, half the retainer credited)

Timeline

~7 months from mandate to keys

The sequence

Phase	Timeframe	What happens	Cost
Sourcing & screening	Months 1–3	≈140 listings screened, 9 taken to management calls, 3 to LOI. Broker relationships matter more than marketplaces at this size.	Retainer ($15,000, half credits at close)
Diligence & structuring	Months 3–5	QoE-lite financial diligence, supplier-concentration red flag killed deal #1; deal #2 won: $560K at 3.1× SDE — $360K cash, $200K seller note over 30 months at 6%.	Third-party diligence ~$9,000 (paid direct)
Close & transition	Months 5–7	Asset purchase into his Wyoming LLC, escrow via Escrow.com, 90-day seller transition with training clauses, inventory verified at handover.	Success fee ~$28,000 less $7,500 retainer credit

Key decisions in this scenario

Seller financing over bank debt: as a non-resident he has no SBA path (it requires U.S. citizenship or permanent residency) — the seller note is the standard workaround, and it aligns the seller's incentives with a clean handover.
Asset purchase over stock purchase: cleaner liability position and a step-up in basis, reviewed with his own U.S. tax counsel.
Walking from deal #1: supplier concentration >70% with no contract was an unpriceable risk. Paying a retainer for a 'no' is the retainer working.

What could go wrong here

Deals die in diligence — the first one here did. Revenue can decline post-close (Amazon policy shifts, supplier failure); the seller note reduces but doesn't remove that risk. None of the figures here are a projection of your outcome.

The real ones

Ten slots for real, numbers-public case studies

Every Founding Ten engagement publishes here with real figures — what was spent, what happened, how long it took, including whatever didn't go to plan. As seats fill and engagements complete, the scenarios above get retired in favor of the real thing.

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🇳🇬 E-commerce operator in Lagos scaling on U.S. rails

The sequence

Key decisions in this scenario

What could go wrong here

🇮🇳 SaaS founder in Bangalore preparing a U.S. flip

The sequence

Key decisions in this scenario

What could go wrong here

🇦🇪 Dubai-based buyer acquiring a U.S. e-commerce brand

The sequence

Key decisions in this scenario

What could go wrong here

Ten slots for real, numbers-public case studies

Which scenario is closest to yours?

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