TL;DR: Culmen Capital (Investment Banking) booked 50 candidate calls from 1,800 LinkedIn connection requests. It seated 8 vetted advisors on its board in 30 days. Reachium ran targeted advisor outreach to identify, qualify, and recruit candidates aligned to Culmen's mandate.
Culmen's problem was a seating chart, not a sales pipeline. As an emerging fund, it needed operators and domain experts on its advisory board before investors and deal sources would take it seriously. A year of warm intros had not filled a single seat.
Key Takeaways
- Culmen seated 8 vetted advisors in 30 days, after a year of trying to fill the board through warm intros.
- 740 of 1,800 connection requests were accepted (41%), and 210 of those connections replied (28%) Platform data.
- The replies led to 50 candidate calls, and more than 50 candidates were screened in total.
- Each candidate was checked for domain expertise, network value, and willingness to commit.
What was Culmen Capital up against?
Culmen was new, and new funds have to borrow credibility. Its board of advisors was empty. Without the right operators and domain experts in the room, raising capital and sourcing deals was an uphill fight. Culmen had spent a year trying to fill it through warm intros.
How did Reachium set it up?
Reachium treated the board as a recruiting brief. The outreach targeted candidates aligned to Culmen's mandate, then qualified them before anyone was offered a seat. More than 50 candidates went through screening. Each was assessed on three points: domain expertise, network value, and willingness to commit.
What happened?
Reachium sent 1,800 connection requests for Culmen, and 740 were accepted Platform data. Those connections produced 210 replies and 50 candidate calls Platform data. Eight advisors were sourced and seated within 30 days.
Graeme Scott, Culmen's founder, summed up the month: "Eight advisors. All vetted. All seated. In thirty days we had the board we'd been trying to build for a year."
How narrow was the path from 1,800 requests to 8 seats?
Very narrow, by design. 41% of requests were accepted, and 28% of accepted connections replied Platform data. About 24% of replies became a candidate call, and 8 of those 50 calls ended in a seat, or 16% Platform data. The screening removed far more people than it kept.
The 30-day timeline also left room for LinkedIn's own pace. Across the platform, Reachium's study of how long connection requests take to be accepted found a median of 25.4 hours from send to acceptance Platform data. That figure describes all Reachium users, not Culmen's campaign.
Culmen's 28% reply rate sits close to the platform figure. The 2026 LinkedIn outreach benchmark found 27.6% of accepted connections produced a reply Platform data.
Funds recruiting advisors or board members can hand the sourcing and screening to Reachium's agency team, or check the account-based plans to run outreach in-house. For more investment banking results, read the Aera Capital and Ancaster case studies.
FAQ
Why did Culmen need an advisory board so quickly?
As an emerging fund, it needed credibility. Without operators and domain experts on the board, raising capital and sourcing deals was much harder.
How long had Culmen been trying to fill the board before Reachium?
About a year, mostly through warm intros.
How were Culmen's advisor candidates vetted?
Each candidate was screened for domain expertise, network value, and willingness to commit. More than 50 went through that process.
How many candidate calls did it take to seat 8 advisors?
50 candidate calls, so about one call in six ended with a seated advisor Platform data.
Was Culmen's outreach aimed at clients or investors?
Neither. It targeted potential advisors aligned to Culmen's mandate, with the goal of filling the board.
What does advisor outreach like Culmen's cost?
It depends on how many LinkedIn accounts run the outreach, since Reachium prices per account. The candidate search and screening can be run for you by the done-for-you team.