Riseup

About the offering

RISEUP AT WORK is building a structured operating system for professional growth after hiring—a career infrastructure platform that combines guided programs, coaching, community, and AI-enabled tools to help early-to-mid-career professionals navigate promotions, compensation, workplace dynamics, and long-term career strategy. The Problem Most career platforms focus on getting hired. Very few help professionals grow once they're inside a company. Early-to-mid-career professionals face unclear promotion paths, unspoken workplace rules, compensation negotiation pressure, difficult manager dynamics, and confidence erosion. Reactive job changes stall earnings and momentum, and burnout is often the downstream result of lost agency and unclear career strategy. The company argues that if a professional improves decision-making and career progression early, the impact compounds for decades—avoiding even a single reactive misstep can mean a materially higher long-term earning trajectory. The Solution RISEUP combines guided programs that translate into workplace action, coaching and accountability to keep momentum consistent, community circles for peer reinforcement, and AI-enabled tools that make progress faster and measurable. The company positions itself explicitly as "not a job board, not executive coaching, and not therapy"—but rather infrastructure for growth, confidence, and sustainable performance. The platform is being custom-built with selective licensing and integration of AI tools where they improve outcomes and accelerate delivery, keeping the company flexible while scaling. Business Model RISEUP operates a layered revenue model that grows with each user. The subscription tier serves as the foundation with guided programs, tools, and community access. Coaching is the upsell layer, offering cohorts and 1:1 sessions for professionals who want faster outcomes. Toolkits provide expansion through integrated AI tools that improve speed and results. Future optionality includes B2B and licensing pathways beginning mid-2027 as a distribution amplifier, though the company is transparent that this is not the core pitch today. This raise is focused on proving repeatable B2C growth and building the platform foundation. Traction The MVP is live and being actively tested. The company references existing community and users on-platform today, with an active subset used for structured feedback. New engagement loops are being deployed to generate platform testimonials and product insight. The founder's coaching frameworks have been used by 1,500+ professionals over 20+ years. No revenue figures, paying subscriber counts, or specific user metrics have been disclosed. Market Opportunity The company estimates career coaching as a roughly $30B umbrella category globally. RISEUP's wedge is the underserved "post-hiring" phase for early-to-mid-career professionals—a segment the company argues is largely ignored by platforms focused on recruitment, job search, and executive-level coaching. Team Founder Deepak Bhootra holds a doctorate and is both Sandler Certified (Sales Coach/Trainer) and ICF Certified Coach. He is the author of 6 books, a 3-time Amazon category bestseller, a speaker and career strategist, a NowMedia TV contributor, and the host of an upcoming TV show, RISEUP@work, with NowMedia TV. Founding Engineer Dennis Zebregs is a full-stack cloud engineer and Technical Co-Founder at OlympusIQ who has built secure multi-cloud platforms, APIs, and data pipelines, and earlier co-founded Graphix delivering web and SEO solutions across Europe. Co-founder Pranay Bhootra has marketing roots, is an MBA candidate at NYU Stern, and is focused on durable IP and long-term growth. How They Acquire Users The company's go-to-market relies on trust and repeatable distribution rather than broad paid advertising. Primary channels include content and newsletters (LinkedIn with 7K subscribers plus the NowMedia TV show), affiliate and partner relationships with coaches, creators, and communities, regional cohorts in English-speaking markets as the initial focus, and partnerships/LOIs used as credibility signals. The company is careful to present these as "in-discussion/pilots" rather than guaranteed revenue. Featured Investors Product10X, a venture studio led by Suresh Madhuvarsu that has helped multiple startups move from idea to market, described RISEUP as aligning with their thesis of building companies at the intersection of human expertise and applied AI. Grant Lee, CEO and Co-Founder of Gamma (an AI-powered presentation platform used by millions), expressed respect for the founder's story and what he's building.

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