What is a Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA)?

A Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA) is a credentialed professional trained to help business owners plan the transition or sale of their business. CEPAs coordinate legal, financial, and tax strategies to maximize the value an owner receives from their exit. Adam Gould is one of the few financial advisors in San Francisco who holds this designation.

Do you work with startup founders and tech executives?

Yes. Dogpatch Wealth focuses specifically on founders, executives, and early employees at Bay Area tech companies who are navigating liquidity events, IPOs, or significant equity compensation. Adam Gould has deep experience with equity planning across a variety of vesting structures and exit scenarios.

What is the minimum investment or AUM to work with Dogpatch Wealth?

Dogpatch Wealth works with clients who typically have $1 million or more in investable assets or are expecting a near-term liquidity event. The firm is selective to ensure each client receives highly personalized, ongoing advisory support.

What does exit planning mean for a business owner?

Exit planning is the process of preparing a business owner for the eventual transition or sale of their company — whether to a third party, private equity, or family members. It encompasses valuation, tax minimization, estate planning, and personal financial readiness. Dogpatch Wealth helps owners build a plan years before an exit so they can maximize proceeds and avoid costly mistakes.

Is Dogpatch Wealth a fee-only financial advisor?

Yes. Dogpatch Wealth is an independent, fee-only registered investment advisor. Adam Gould does not earn commissions or referral fees from product sales. This fiduciary model aligns his incentives entirely with client outcomes.

How can I diversify a concentrated stock position without triggering a large tax bill?

There is no single answer — the right approach depends on your cost basis, time horizon, income, and goals. Common tax-aware strategies include: gradual systematic selling spread across multiple tax years to manage annual capital gains exposure; exchange funds, which allow qualified investors to contribute a concentrated position to a diversified fund without immediately realizing capital gains (subject to a minimum seven-year lock-up); charitable giving vehicles such as donor-advised funds or charitable remainder trusts, which can eliminate the capital gains tax on donated shares; and hedging overlays or structured products that provide downside protection while keeping the position intact. Dogpatch Wealth evaluates the full trade-off — tax cost, concentration risk, liquidity needs, and fee drag — to recommend the strategy that fits your situation.

What are the risks of holding a concentrated position in a single stock?

The core risk is that a single company's fate can swing your entire net worth. Historically, most individual stocks underperform a broad market index over their lifetimes — and a significant portion lose money outright. Even stocks that were once exceptional performers often give back their gains: past winners do not reliably continue to outperform. Keeping a concentrated position also tends to increase portfolio volatility, which over time compounds into slower wealth growth even in favorable scenarios. The reluctance to sell is understandable — tax bills are real and emotional attachment to a stock that built your wealth is natural. But it helps to separate the question of whether the company will do well from the question of whether your concentrated exposure to it is the right risk for your financial plan.

A DOGPATCH PRIVATE MARKET STRATEGY

Fund of Seed Stage Venture Funds

Y Combinator focused, diversified seed-stage exposure across AI, fintech, vertical SaaS, consumer, and health, packaged as a single fund for qualified clients.

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View the Fund

Exposure across the seed-stage venture

A single subscription gives limited partners diversified exposure to a curated set of seed-stage venture managers across:

AI Infra & Dev Tools
Vertical SaaS
Fintech & Data
Consumer & Edtech
Biotech / Bio Infrastructure
Health tech / Healthcare
Gaming
Defense
Robotics

Find profiles of our four underlying strategies at
dogpatchfunds.com/venture-fund.

Underlying Fund Profiles

Seed Healthtech and Biotech Strategy

Concentrated YC-Focused Seed Strategy

Diversified YC-Focused Seed Strategy

Repeat-Founder
Seed Strategy

Built for investors who want
one decision, not ten

Accredited investors building a first private-market allocation.
Family offices that want curated seed exposure without running their own venture program.
Existing Dogpatch Wealth clients integrating venture into a broader plan.
RIAs evaluating a vetted private fund to recommend to qualified clients.

How to Invest

1. Intro Call

A conversation with Dogpatch Wealth to confirm fit, answer questions, and walk through fund mechanics.

2. Subscription

Sign subscription documents and complete investor verification.

3. Onboarding

Receive your investor portal credentials at dogpatchfunds.com and your capital call notice.

Frequently Asked Questions

The fund is open to accredited investors and qualified purchasers, as defined by SEC rules. Eligibility is confirmed before any documents are issued.
Minimums are disclosed in the private placement memorandum and discussed during the intro call. They are set at a level appropriate for a long-duration private fund.
The fund is closed-end with a multi-year investment period. We have a 100% up-front capital call so you dont have to deal with quarterly wire requests as the underlying managers deploy. Specific dates are in the PPM.
We diligence managers on sourcing, ownership discipline, loss ratios, fund size relative to strategy, and complementarity with the rest of the portfolio. The four underlying strategies are described on dogpatchfunds.com.
Dogpatch Wealth runs the investor relationship, advisory work, planning integration, and reporting. Dogpatch Funds is the fund vehicle itself, where the public fund pages and the secure investor portal live.
Existing limited partners log in at dogpatchfunds.com. Credentials are issued at onboarding.

Inquire about investing in the Fund of Seed Stage Venture Funds

Tell us a little about yourself and we will be in touch.

This page is for informational purposes only and is not an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security. Any offering is made only by the fund's confidential private placement memorandum to qualified investors. Investments in private funds involve significant risk, including the risk of loss of capital, and are illiquid. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Dogpatch Wealth provides investment advisory services; the fund is operated through its own legal entity. Underlying fund profiles published at dogpatchfunds.com do not disclose individual manager or fund identities, and portfolio themes are illustrative.

Fund of Seed Stage Venture Funds

Exposure across the seed-stage venture