Ivan Kychatyi

Join us! The hardest part of building a startup is building the right team - not just building a team but building the right team. For us, the right team members possess three key elements: a. Passion: Genuine enthusiasm for what we are building b. Common Goals: Alignment in both financial and non-financial aspirations c. Cultural Fit: A shared vision and values For us, what does not matter: a. Your alma mater b. The language you speak or where you hail from c. Your age In addition, what matters for Ortella Global Capital - OG Capital, India's only fund that co-builds companies are: a. Lessons from failures: If you have failed at building your company and learnt lessons that stayed with you b. Resilience: If you started up over and over again c. Success stories: If you successfully exited your company Founders, what else do you look for when building your dream team? By the way, if you would like to explore joining an army of ex-founders and operators at Ortella Global Capital - OG Capital, India's only fund that co-builds companies, and co-build our investee companies, please do fill up the form in the comments.

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These Startups Are Hiring Now! 🚀 They have fewer than 50 employees and have recently raised their seed from top-tier VC firms like Sequoia Capital, Index Ventures, & Founders Fund. Join one of these up-and-coming startups: 1. Daydream - AI powered shopping (US remote) 2. Daytona - Dev environment manager (remote) 3. Ario - AI assistant for parents (remote) 4. enso - AI bots marketplace (Tel Aviv) 5. Cartwheel - Generative animation (remote) 6. Tracebit - Cloud threat detection (London) 7. Accend (YC S23) - Compliance (Bay Area) 8. Command Zero - Investigation (Remote) 9. Browserbase - Browser automation (Bay Area) 10. Granza Bio (YC W24) - Therapeutic (UK) 11. Sentient - AGI research (Remote) 12. Lekko - Config for developers (Bay Area) 13. Redactive - Virtual AI engineer (Australia) 14. Wordsmith AI - Workspace lawyers (UK) 15. Substrate - API for modular AI (New York) 16. AnchorZero - Founder Roth IRAs (New York) 17. PointFive - Cloud optimization (Tel Aviv) 18. SLAY - Social gaming (Berlin) 19. bem - AI data interface (Bay Area) 20. DeepJudge - AI legal search (Zurich) 21. CuspAI - Next generation materials (UK) 22. Greptile - AI coding tool (Bay Area) 23. ElectronX - Energy exchange (New York) 24. Day.ai - AI-native CRM (US) It's a tough job market out there right now. Ben Lang dropped this amazing list for folks looking to join an up-and-coming startup. This is a great place to start. #startups #careers #hiring _____ Enjoy this? Follow Kevin Jurovich for daily startup & VC insights and the occasional meme. ✌️

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Debundling concept or how start-ups are born Love this topic. In my humble opinion, the “debundling” concept is a core of at least third of greatest start-ups of all time.   The concept is built around assumption that instead of tackling an entire industry, startups are created through debundling services and isolating a single aspect, making it faster, more user-friendly, and more specialised than any general provider. In traditional industries, companies often offer a wide range of services under one roof, here — the idea is to identify the ones that have big enough markets on their own, find a way to improve it through tech or any other competitive advantage and work out go-to-market strategy — boom, new start-up is born.   Instead of banking services — mortgages for niche buyers. Instead of car services — insurance for young age drivers. Instead of telecom services — secure messaging apps. Instead of retail — specific product on subscription. And the list can actually go forever.    The coolest thing is that this concept is getting maximised this days. For users of every age, sex, background or even immigration status you are highly likely to find an app suitable for their custom needs. If not — maybe there is a market opportunity.   Debundling is a new “Market Gap” because traditional market gap just does not exist any more.   It is important to understand that debundling is not a universal idea — sometimes other concepts are more applicable, like marketplaces, shared economy, but debundling is truly something that you can find in almost any product or industry. The secret here is to bring it to a highly tailored experience to users.   For founders, saying “I am not sure what product to create, everything is already out there”, debundling concept is a tool to tap into a new market. Try it.   Don’t thank me.   If you got the debundling concept and it led you to building your next product — Yotewo can make that happen.   Visit yotewo.com or email me at [email protected] www.yotewo.com #TechHiring #TechTalent #Hiring #Entrepreneurship #Yotewo

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Stax - Startup Talent Experts - love partnering with the ‘Rebel Alliances’ of startups 🚀 We help to place the best tech and engineering talent into the most innovative deep tech and clean tech startups in Europe.⭐️ Check out our jobs page for open positions across Software Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. 👩‍💻👨‍🔧 May the 4th be with you! #starwarsday #deeptech #cleantech #startupjobs #techstartups

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List of Startups Receiving Funding in #Germany. Check out the list of #Germany-funded startups available for your reference at any time. View the list now https://lnkd.in/dc9emGbb #startup #startups #vc #venturecapital #investmentbanking #privateequity #managementconsulting #b2b #founders #entrepreneurs

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What a MISSED opportunity in the VC ecosystem!! From a study by StartOut of 142k founders and 95k companies, LGBT+ founders create 36% more jobs, 44% more exits and 144% more patents. All with 16% LESS funding and a disappointing 0.5% of all overall funding. Time to get these founders funded so we can see more unicorns, successful acquisitions and jobs created.

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Right as I was preparing the sweet and sour cucumber for the company's picnic, I realized: Food connects (and "I need to turn this into a LinkedIn post). In our Meet5: Meet new people app, most users participate in 'food and drinks'-activities. Only 'music and dance' activities are more popular. And the most popular events organized for Meet5-employees involve food as well. - Monthly team breakfasts - A visit to a restaurant - Lasergaming combined with pizza Beyond that, many of us decide to lunch together, whether in the office or at a restaurant. And I understand why: Not just because food is good. Eating together is also a great opportunity to connect and get to know each other. It's a moment to sit together and enjoy our food. And we have a lot to talk about - conversations never get awkward. For users, this is great for making new friends. And the Meet5-team gets to know each other better on a personal and professional level. Shout out to Joschiko for organizing all these cool events! Let's see if the cucumber salad beats the DIY-sofa on LinkedIn.

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I'm getting unemployed 😱 The number of new SaaS startups (in Germany) decreased a lot over the last 3 years. Who started a SaaS in the last 3 years 👇 Let me know in the comment below. P.S. Thanks Aleksandra Romańczyk and the whole ARRtist and Valueships team for creating such an awesome SaaS pricing report

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How did a YC founder scale from $0 to $4M+ ARR in 6 months? What I learned surprised me: Getting to $200k ARR is possible through just hacking something together. But to break past the $1M ARR mark and keep scaling? To sign enterprise contracts with name brand companies? That's a different milestone. The fact that a technical founding did this and handled it all through founder-led sales is even more astounding. Surely, there must be some kind of secret sauce, some kind of unexplained context, I wondered. How did 2 technical founders who graduated college recently build something so robust, so performant and scalable, that they had enterprise companies lining up left and right? But no -- the founder let me know they did this through great engineering and sheer force of will. No proprietary edge. No silver spoon. No past domain experience. And in that moment, that simple answer made sense. We've also been speaking with amazing product engineers, many of them former founders, for whom things are just easy. Sometimes they cite great engineering mentorship as the key to their success. But more often than not, they simply "get it." And my team and I have over time honed our ability to naturally spot what makes a certain candidate special. It's a unique combination of high horsepower, high grit, incredibly sharp slope growth, and an ability to parachute into any problem and just figure things out. What seems like a quarter-long epic to some folks is a one-week project to others. New domains are never daunting. Never learned GPU inference optimization? No problem. I'll figure it out. This is the kind of talent that all startups need -- but understandably is truly rare to secure. This is the truly great, truly unique product engineer. And startups are rapidly learning how this kind of talent changes their own growth trajectory.

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12 Years | 3 Startups | 17 VC Funds This is my track record as a founder so far. A total of 17 VC funds have invested in the 3 companies I co-founded. So I believe I know quite well what I’m talking about when I say that some funds bring more than just money, while others limit themselves to the invested capital as added value. Both are viewpoints that are absolutely valid. To be honest, I was always a bit skeptical about whether VC funds really bring added value beyond money.. Therefore, I was all the more pleased to be proven wrong by Pale blue dot, an VC fund from Sweden whose added value goes far beyond the invested capital! 👉 With their recent conference The Drop they managed to bring together a whole ecosystem of inspiring people in Malmö 👉 They put their money where their mouth is by making courageous yet pragmatic investments into great companies working on a better future 👉 Pale blue dot just summarized why they believe in Nala Earth and why they have invested in our pre-seed round in 2023. Read for yourself! https://lnkd.in/d_4-9US7 A huge thank you and props to Heidi Lindvall, the wonderful partner at Pale blue dot and Nala board member. We love working with you! Big love as well to our other investors and angels: Hampus Jakobsson Alex Stöckl Antonia Albert David Rowan Lea-Sophie Cramer Kentaro Kawamori Benedikt Franke Julian Teicke Julia Bösch Nick Zumbühl Nicolas Somogyi

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Founders who have raised VC funding I need your advice on a potentially tricky situation with an investor. I was engaging with what I thought was a VC firm based in Berlin to learn more about their thesis and investment categories. When I asked if they had their own fund or were an intermediary, They responded: "No, we do not have our own fund but we know investors that invest and as a result for the investment round of £1M we will ask for 10% ownership." This response raised some red flags for me. I'd greatly appreciate your thoughts on: 1. Is it common for intermediaries to request equity in exchange for connecting founders to investors? 2. Does a 10% ownership stake for a £1M round seem reasonable or excessive? 3. What potential risks or pitfalls should I be aware of when dealing with intermediaries rather than direct VCs? Your insights and experiences would be incredibly helpful as I navigate this situation. Thank you in advance for your guidance! #startup #venturecapital #fundraising #founderadvice

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Is the conventional wisdom about startup growth even close to the truth? Marc von Brockdorff challenges the status quo with insights drawn from his journey co-founding Hotjar, a SaaS powerhouse that reached a whopping €15M in ARR. One take that stands out: stop trying to solve problems you have no personal stake in. Too many entrepreneurs chase ideas because they look good on paper, neglecting the core of their own experiences and needs. A product must resonate with you, or it’s a tough uphill battle. Another point that deserves a spotlight is the distinction between building a product and running a business. Turns out, those two roles require entirely different skill sets. Many founders cling too tightly to their original vision while losing sight of essential business metrics. Understanding your CAC, churn, and LTV is not just a suggestion; it’s a necessity. If you think you can launch a product, sit back, and watch the profits roll in, think again. Feedback isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s the lifeline of your growth. This isn't just theory; it's backed by lived experience. For those looking to navigate the rocky landscape of entrepreneurship, heed the lessons from someone who's made the climb. What do you think? Is it time to reconsider what we accept as startup gospel? https://lnkd.in/ev9u3atp

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Should founders take advice from non-founder VCs? 🤔 As a founder, everyone (family, friends, the neighbors' dog 🐶 ) is constantly trying to give you advice - and especially your investors but, do you really have to listen to VCs who've never built a company themselves? On the one hand, VCs who were not founders often bring a wealth of industry experience. They analyzed hundreds of businesses from many sectors, and they see what works and what doesn't. For example, Benchmark's Peter Fenton is one of the world's top VCs, even though he's never founded a startup. His investments in companies like Twitter have shaped entire industries. Conversely, founders-turned-VCs are better able to understand the emotional side of running a business. At Vinthera, I speak with many GPs about this operational experience being a critical part of their USP to founders - the shared experience creates trust. So, should you take advice from someone who has never built a company before? Does their outside perspective bring value or is the founder's life experience more important? I'd love to hear your thoughts. What is your experience?👇

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The SaaS industry is still growing. But much more slowly. Last month I shared an Aleph statistic. Over the last 3 years we have invested in 17 companies. Only 1 out 17 was a classic horizontal SaaS company. SaaS was the single best business model of the last cycle (2008-2021), but the category has since entered a maturity stage (see graph below). This new report from the wonderful software team at Avenir clearly illustrates it. Growth rates for the combined SaaS industry are quickly declining as we are entering the later stages of maturity. In other words, there’s already an established software company in most sectors - and there’s very little room for entirely new software categories. At Aleph we still believe there’s an opportunity to build successful SaaS companies, but new entrants would have to carve out market share in existing industries and displace existing vendors. Vertical software is one area where lesser competition makes it more attractive, but entrepreneurs in crowded horizontal markets would have to work harder than ever before. Another key takeaway from the report - there are only 72 publicly traded companies (with market cap > $5Bn) with a combined market cap of $5.8Tr. However, 56% of this value is attributed to Microsoft alone, followed by a very long tail of lesser performing companies. Moreover, only 2 of the largest 11 companies were funded after the year 2000 (ServiceNow, CrowdStrike). If you are building or investing in SaaS, you should definitely read the full report by Jared Sleeper, Hannah Bao and David Prilutsky (link in the first comment).

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Balancing personal and professional life as a founder is no easy task. My two major targets: ⟶Growing build-yours.de .de and WordClock. ⟶Growing myself—personally and as a founder. And let me tell you, it's not easy at all. But still, today I have made good growth. Here are some learnings I’ve gained in 8 years (but you can nail it in a few minutes): 1) Set boundaries: Define work hours and stick to them—your personal time matters. 2)Delegate wisely: Trust your team, you can’t do everything yourself. 3)Learn to say no: Not every opportunity is the right one. Focus on what truly matters. 4) Create routines: Structure your day with set habits that prioritize both work and personal growth. 5) Disconnect regularly: Step away from screens and emails to recharge. Finding balance is an ongoing process, but in the end, it’s worth it. And trust me, each small improvement gets you closer to a healthier, more sustainable path. #FounderLife

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