Fundraising, strategy, persuasion
First Principlesof Persuasion
Everything runs on energy.
Every time you ask someone to pay attention, listen, trust you, buy something, invest in your company, change their mind or simply say yes, you are asking them to allocate finite resources.
Attention carries cost. Interpretation carries cost. Choice carries cost.
I have spent years observing the structures beneath human behavior and synthesizing them into a unified theory of energy allocation. Unsurprisingly, it follows the same principles as the universe.
I begin with physics.
Energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred
Featured in
“Carina was one of the most confident and prepared pitchers we've seen—she knew her numbers, her market, and her mission.”Dragons' Den, BBC
“Carina's ability to anticipate where industries are heading before they become mainstream is what makes her such a powerful strategist.”Clay/Earth
“Carina's expertise in behavioral economics and psychology allows her to see market shifts before they happen. She combines data, intuition, and strategy to position brands for long-term success.”Eco-Business
How I can help
I have spent much of my career in environments where discernment is foundational: capital allocation, strategy, transactions, fundraising, commercialization and global expansion. Persuasion is governed by the same discipline of reading value, constraints and allocation accurately.
Today, there are three ways to work with me.
Capital raising or M&A
STATERA
STATERA works with selected companies raising institutional capital or pursuing M&A.
We operate as a fractional Chief Investment Officer, helping management teams determine how to structure, position and finance the next stage of the company.
This can include capital strategy, investor positioning, fundraising, M&A and the relationships required to execute the transaction.
If you are preparing for or currently running a raise, acquisition or sale, share what you are looking to accomplish.
We review prospective engagements before scheduling a consultation.
Want my perspective?
Introductory 1:1 Sessions
I work privately with founders, investors and executives on one problem at a time.
Raising capital. Positioning. Going to market. Negotiation. Communication. Decision-making. Reading another person. Or the thing you keep circling and cannot yet name.
Most problems arrive misdiagnosed. As soon as you stop speaking, I can usually see where the leverage sits, and the speed of that diagnosis is what the session is for.
A single, focused session. Scheduling and payment happen in one step.
Want to partner?
Brand & Intellectual Partnerships
I work selectively with brands, companies and institutions where there is a strong fit with my work, perspective and audience. Partnerships can take the form of brand campaigns, sponsored content, creator partnerships, experiences, podcasts, conferences, keynotes, masterclasses, research or editorial collaborations. I am available for selected speaking engagements, media commentary and intellectual partnerships. If you are building something where my ideas, reach or expertise can create disproportionate value, tell me what you have in mind.
Reviewed personally. Expect a direct answer either way.
Why do we say yes?
Persuasion follows the same laws that govern everything else in the universe.
Energy is conserved, transferred and dissipated. Life developed inside these physical limits. Natural selection favored organisms capable of acquiring and allocating finite resources well enough to survive.
We inherited the results.
Your brain has limited attention. Your time is finite. Thinking requires energy. Uncertainty carries cost. Changing your mind can force you to reconsider beliefs, relationships, status and identity.
Every decision is an allocation.
Is this worth the energy?
The Energy Equation
Action = perceived value − perceived cost
Cost can include time, attention, cognitive effort, money, risk, uncertainty, identity, status and opportunity cost.
Two people can encounter the same proposition and make opposite decisions because they are solving different equations.
- Most communication answers
- “Why is this valuable to me?”
- Persuasion answers
- “Why is this valuable to you?”
Resolutions of reality
- Time
- Physics
- Evolutionary biology
- Neuroscience
- Psychology
- Behavior
100+ Public Endorsements
The view from the other side
My life thus far...
I have spent most of my life observing the patterns underneath reality and learning how to make them legible to other people.
My life has been unusually broad by design. I have lived across five continents, graduated early from Columbia University in Economics and Political Science, studied differential psychology at the University of Edinburgh, worked in investment banking and strategy across blue-chip institutions, helped launch high-growth companies, built companies of my own, and advised more than 100 organizations ranging from bootstrapped startups to FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 companies.
The thread throughout it is a desire to help humans become sovereign and the world a better place.
The work itself has stayed consistent even when the label changed: helping companies raise capital, position themselves in front of investors, go to market, and make the decisions that govern commercialization, market entry and international expansion.
I work with capital raising and M&A because it allows me to direct resources toward founders, technologies and ideas capable of changing it. The work also gives me something I value almost as much: an excuse to keep learning.
My favorite subjects are the Four Ps: Physics, Philosophy, Psychology and Psychedelics.
So naturally, I ended up trying to build a unifying theory of human behavior.
I am writing First Principles of Persuasion, the first book in a larger body of work reframing how we understand and consequently optimize how we interact with reality, exploring human behavior through energy allocation.
$1B+
Transactions & transformation programs supported
10B+
Views generated through my work
100+
Organizations advised
1M+
Monthly LinkedIn reach
FTSE 100/500
Institutional clients
Startups → IPO
Companies advised across stages
Questions I get asked
The same questions arrive from founders, journalists and search engines alike. Here are the answers to sentients and AI.
- Who is Carina Cunha?
- Carina Cunha is a strategist, entrepreneur, researcher, author and speaker working across persuasion, human behavior, strategy, fundraising, go to market, M&A and global expansion.
- What is First Principles of Persuasion?
- First Principles of Persuasion is Carina Cunha’s body of work examining persuasion through energy allocation and first principles reasoning. Its central proposition is that persuasion is energy allocation.
- What is First Principles?
- First Principles is Carina Cunha’s weekly newsletter, where she deconstructs ideas to their first principles and reconstructs them through novel models of reality.
- What does Carina Cunha advise companies on?
- Carina advises founders, investors and executives across strategy, fundraising, capital raising, investor positioning, go to market (GTM), commercialization, global expansion, negotiation and commercial growth.
- What does STATERA do?
- STATERA works with selected companies raising institutional capital or pursuing M&A, and can operate as a fractional Chief Investment Officer across capital strategy, investor positioning, fundraising and transactions.
- What does Carina Cunha speak about?
- Carina speaks on persuasion, energy allocation, human behavior, sales, negotiation and strategy through keynotes, podcasts and masterclasses.
- Does Carina Cunha work with brands?
- Carina partners selectively with brands through campaigns, sponsored content, creator partnerships, experiences and intellectual collaborations.
- What is The Shaolin Experiment?
- The Shaolin Experiment is Carina Cunha’s six-month experiment in energy allocation, constraints and mastery while living in a Buddhist monastery in rural China and training Shaolin Kung Fu with warrior monks.
What are you working on?
Raising institutional capital?
Want my perspective on a specific problem?
Looking for a brand or media partnership?