Mari Luukkainen

There should be a checklist for founders to determine if they've achieved Product-Market Fit.

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Another good tip for first-time founders: Always set clear KPIs for your tech team. Vague goals lead to vague results. Set specific, measurable targets so everyone knows what success looks like and how to get there. Clear KPIs keep your team aligned and help you track where improvements are needed to reach your goals. Google’s OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) are a good example of how measurable targets can drive a team toward fast, focused growth. “If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.” — Zig Ziglar

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Being an early stage founder is lonely and fundraising is a hard slog. One thing that I am constant with is that as a founder you are your presentation. It is the core of the relationship between founders and potential investors. On the other side, I think the most important thing investors have for founders is feedback. Too many investors walk away from meetings with founders without giving them real feedback. I often hear investors say there is no upside to feedback. I actually believe the opposite is true. Good founders need feedback to become great. I think it should be part of the founder seed investor bargain. Give direct feedback and make sure that feedback is what you say in private. Of course, I do not hear from the folks I may have offended, But for me, I would rather live with that then not help a founder.

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📣 Free founders-only event below! I often see founders get a lot of early traction in signing customers and then hit a wall when trying to scale that repeatedly. Why?? Maybe it's because: 1️⃣ that 1st group of customers came through warm intros from your accelerator batch 2️⃣ you've already combed through industry connections from your previous career 3️⃣ you're just good at brute-force selling but you're only one person 4️⃣ you are still narrowing in on product market fit Next week I'm hosting a free, founders-only candid discussion with two people who have had to break through this wall out of necessity and now coach countless founders on this. More on our speakers: 📈 Ian Illig took his 1st job out of college at a friend's startup (employee #1). He quickly found himself trying to sell a product that was still finding its market fit. Fast forward years later and Ian had completely built out the sales team and revenue, allowing the company to get acquired. And then he turned around and did the same thing again with the same founding team. 👀 Sonia Baschez was one of the 1st employees at Atmos, a consumer & builder-facing product for homebuilding. She developed early marketing channels & helped the company grow from Pre-seed to Series A. Sonia optimized product launches to reach the right customers, a challenging feat given their core customers are actively NOT in the tech bubble (aka Techcrunch and a thread on X are not going to do the trick). Whether they know it or not, both Ian and Sonia have been secret superpowers for me as I've grown The Council Fund and supported portfolio companies. I'm excited to share their playbooks & expertise with founders for FREE next Wednesday. Join us 12-1pm Pacific! Link to RSVP in comments below ;)

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Founders should be able to sell secondary whenever they’d like to do so. If you make something - and that thing is valuable - you should be able to sell it. Actually selling that secondary can be tricky. Let's go through the actual steps (or read the whole essay https://lnkd.in/eajr238N): 1. Get the term sheet. 2. Negotiate “normal” major terms: dollars in, price, board, etc. 3. Don’t forget about re-vesting. Founders often do. 4. Sign the term sheet. Go out and start figuring out allocations for the remaining dollars. 5. If you’re lucky enough to have more demand than you do space, you have the opportunity to sell some secondary. Figure out how much excess demand you have. 6. Talk to your lawyer and your accountant about what you want to do. Ask them to explain the pros and cons of selling secondary as common shares vs. preferred shares (which is a bit out of scope for this essay). 7. Decide how much secondary you want - ideally this is “reasonable,” which is a moving target. One good way to frame “reasonable” is to give a clear reason as to why you want to sell. This is particularly important in early rounds. Good reasons include: “Need to pay off student debt” and “Just had our first kid after years at below market salary.” Less good reasons include “Need a new Porsche” and “LinkedIn ghostwriter prices went up.” 8. Go to your new lead investor and say “Hey! Great news! We have 2x demand for available shares. It would mean quite a lot to me and my cofounder if we could take (insert reasonable amount here) off the table because (insert reasonable reason) here. Obviously as our lead, you get first access. Sound good?” 9. Work with the buyer to figure out if you are selling common shares or preferred shares. (a) If you are selling common shares, and the buyer is willing to buy these at the same price as preferred, great! Just make sure that you aren’t creating any challenges around voting by giving those shares to an outside party. Also, talk to your lawyer and accountant. (b) If you are selling preferred shares, go back to your lawyer and accountant to make sure you’re not creating any issues for yourself. You’ll also need to confirm with your existing investors that they are ok with you doing this because it will change the preference stack - which impacts them. 10. Triple check your numbers. 11. Complete your transaction and close the round.

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🚀 Startup Founders: Are You Building a Company or a Category Killer? If 90% of startups fail, what separates the unicorns from the rest? It's more than having a great product or a solid business plan. The true game-changers have something more: 𝐀 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫. Think about it: • Spotify's personalized music recommendations • Amazon's logistics network • Airbnb's trust-building platform These aren't just features. They're integrated capabilities that transform industries. So, the million-dollar question is: What's YOUR startup's superpower? If you're drawing a blank, don't worry. Building a superpower isn't about luck—it's about strategy. It starts with the SUMMIT approach: S - Strengths U - Unification M - Mindset M - Mechanics I - Innovation T - Transformation Ready to turn your startup into a category-defining powerhouse? It's time to climb your SUMMIT. Drop a 💪 in the comments if you're ready to unleash your startup's true potential! #StartupStrategy #InnovationMindset #BusinessGrowth #EntrepreneurialSuccess

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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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Startups are Hard. Launching new customers as a startup is harder Launching new customers as a B2B Enterprise startup is EVEN harder. So why make things unnecessarily tough on your team? Take a look below and see if you see your company fits into any of these buckets. These are all simple/not easy fixes.

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The biggest myth impact-driven startups have: (just like nerds) 🗣️🗣️ "We don't need marketing or sales" "Our impact is so clear that people will buy themselves." "We'll grow organically." Alright. Organic growth is good. But, how far will you be able to reach? Look, I understand, you may get your first few customers without any marketing, ...just on the basis of the impact you're bringing. And, that's good. But, to take your business to the next level, And, to build a strong customer base, You NEED to do sales and marketing. 📢 And, don't get it wrong. Sales doesn't mean fooling people into buying your products. Sales is a way to reach the people whose lives your product can impact. So, if any impact-driven founder, or any sustainability startup founder is reading this, Please don't act like nerds. Try out advertising, marketing and sales. And, see the boost it can bring. 🚀 Feel free to DM and let's brainstorm ideas together. 💡💡 Day 2/7 of the weekly streak. Follow Zeeshaan for more. #Sales #Startups #PositiveImpact #Marketing #Advertising #OrganicGrowth #GrowthMindset #Nerds #Entrepreneurship #Business

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Why I Prefer Investing in Post-Revenue Companies #shorts Discover my strategy for investing in companies with existing revenue streams. Investing in post-revenue companies allows me to bring influencer strategies that can be implemented immediately, maximizing growth potential. I've funded pre-revenue companies, too, but the impact is more significant when there's already a product in the market. Being able to advise strategically is where I find the most value in my investments. Want to learn more about my investment strategies? Head to influence.vc! #investing #postrevenue #entrepreneurship #businessgrowthstrategies

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I fully endorse the viewpoint shared by Alex Koren about the need for invalidation rather than validation in the early stages of a startup. At LifeLink we are pioneering a transformative platform that intricately understands each user’s cultural background, preferences, and unique personality traits to craft a personalized network tailored just for them. As we develop our own LLM, equipped with billions of unique datasets on behavioral relationships, our goal is to redefine digital connections by 2027. The path to product-market fit is not straightforward and involves continuously challenging our assumptions and refining our model based on what doesn't work. This method of seeking invalidation first allows us to pivot and adapt efficiently, positioning us to be scalable and successful globally.

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For founders who are in a fundraising process, remember it is a business transaction. It is not a matter of faith: You may be a great entrepreneur, but your company might not be in the VC investment thesis. You should not compare yourself to other companies that have raised funds with a silly project, and ask for a fundraise based on the fact that you think you are better. Venture Capitalists make mistakes as well, they do not want you to be there next one even though it is a volume game. So it causes a lot of emotions. Don’t use it to get enraged by cherry picking small things and make it personal. A VC should be a simple to understand partner to participate in the company’s growth. That is how you should select them and how most of them want to work as well. Again, it is a volume game for them, and they count on you to focus on your business. The customer is complicated enough to deal with, founders and VCs are ideally supposed to have a very simple relationship.

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✨ Top 10 key insights about fundraising that I realized, while raising $2.5M at Fluently at Pre-Seed and Seed stages and after Y Combinator Knowing this beforehand would have helped me close the round faster and better ➤ Key thoughts: 🔸 Speed is crucial for closing the round 🔸 Fundraising is like a sales funnel 🔸 Sell yourself and your expertise ➤ What does this mean in practice? 1️⃣ Either raise funds seriously full-time or don’t do it at all 2️⃣ Gather as many potential intros from friends / investors as you can, BUT don’t ask them to act until you have a lot (50-100) 3️⃣ Schedule all these calls over a couple of weeks, ideally 1-2 per week (some will be on vacation, some might be sick) 4️⃣ Close small checks from FFF (Friends, Family, and Fools) to kickstart the round quickly 5️⃣ A semi-closed round looks better than one that’s just started – increase the round size as you close more 6️⃣ If someone offers a check, take it. Don’t over-optimize for "smart" investors, especially for the first few checks 7️⃣ If someone doesn't offer a check, send them an update with your progress (if there is any, of course) 8️⃣ Ask for intros from those who gave you a check (not from others) 9️⃣ Don’t send a deck, invite them to a call – you can sell yourself better in 30 minutes than in a 2-minute read (or it’s not your thing) 🔟 Emphasize the strength of your team, because a good pre-seed investor knows the idea will be changed a few times Note: These tips are for pre-seed and seed stages only! Different stages have different rules. 💬 Share your thoughts about these tips. Did I miss smth?

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The Spotify Founder, Daniel Ek, is building a new company. Early customers are calling it the "Apple of Healthcare." It's Neko Health. Neko offers advanced, preventive health screening. Each appointment gives you access to instant results, scans, and benchmarks against other patients your age. Neko developed non-invasive health scanners (futuristic looking airport security machines) that collect millions of datapoints externally and use AI to map critical biomarkers. When combined with a traditional blood draw, physicians are able to get a complete picture of your health in a few minutes. Neko currently has two locations, in Stockholm and London. Almost everyone I know in the US would pay a lot for a wellness membership that enabled consistent, proactive, full body checks for cancer and other deadly diseases. At roughly $300 per hour visit, Neko seems to be the ideal model. Would you pay for a Equinox/Costco style membership to something like Neko? If you liked this video, make sure to follow me at Kane K. so LinkedIn knows to send my videos to you. #tech #health #danielek #neko #healthcare #innovation

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Klarna is launching a credit card! Will it work? Credit card launches have a mixed success. Look at, for example: - Apple Card And there have been several new ones launched recently. Ex: - Robinhood Gold Card And there are others with similar approaches to Klarna's Card - Affirm has debit card that allows users to pay any purchase over time (Klarna's Card has similar functionality, but is on credit rails) - Upgrade, Inc. has the OneCard which is a credit card and BNPL all in one + a checking account and more. The 2 big advantages they have launching a card are (1) distribution (can sell to existing users) (2) product (rewards) DISTRIBUTION On distribution, Klarna Stacks has a great user base to cross-sell into: - 25 million active users in the US (150M globally) versus - 15 million for Affirm - 5 million customers for Upgrade Take these numbers w/ grain of salt, they are company reported figures and not 100% apples to apples. 25 million, however exactly they measure it, is a lot. Bank of America for example has 55 million digitally active users. PRODUCT Rewards. Because Klarna has 500,000 merchants on network, they can do something from day one that few others can...offer merchant funded rewards. Their key feature is "10% cash back at select merchants". Consumers are addicted to points and it's hard to get them to switch from their favorite cards. Touting something big like "10% cash back at select merchants" might work for some users if targeted appropriately and they don't feel like this is a bait and switch. WHY IT MATTERS In fintech more broadly, we are entering a "rebundling error". Point solutions like Robinhood, Affirm, Klarna have reached scale and are become multi-product companies with deep customer relationships. Some of these companies are going to figure it out and that is exciting. Even if a few of these product launches fail, big banks should be worried. Their product bundles haven't changed much in the last 10 years and for the first time they have real competition. Consumers are the real winners. For the first time in a while, they have new options on how to spend, save and invest. Best of luck to the Klarna team and other folks building here!

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Vital Laptenok What a powerful reminder! It’s easy to get caught up in numbers and results, but at the core of every successful business is the human element. Founders need partners who truly care, not just about their business performance, but about them as individuals. That personal connection builds trust and resilience. Kudos to the VCs who prioritize this—it’s what sets great investors apart.

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We had so many micro-influencers recording content last week we ALMOST fully overloaded our platform. We planned for maybe 1k people recording weekly by this time and are 4X that, a few months ahead of schedule. Building a micro-influencer platform (or any startup) business is daunting, scary, and thrilling af att at the same time. We're early and yet our demand is high enough that we're having to sure up so api's to hold the load!! Its an insanely awesome problem to have. We didn't miss anything in the launch. We just didn't count on having as many programs, running this early, with hundreds of micro-influencers in them and asking to create extra content. We thread that needle between organic UGC and brand led campaigns and its happening at scale. Here's what we're seeing: - Teams dont struggle to find tons of people who want to build their brand with them when the post production isnt on the leader creating the content. - 99% of these people are NON-CREATORS and are loving the experience so we're converting people over to full time knowledge sharers because their content, the way we coach it out of them, is landing nicely with audiences and driving outcomes quick. - We're generating a cultivated signal group around key scenarios people in these audiences are facing and doubling down on getting that signal to teams so they can sort out high intent and crush speed to lead. This is truly something special. I've always wanted a way to activate large portions of partner programs with messaging alignment under a reduced workload and thats exactly what we've built. This is scary, and fun, every. single. day. We have an accelerator program for growth leaders coming in the next two weeks for everyone who wants to build a program with these outcomes inside of 60 days. I'd love to chat with you if you have ideas about it, and want to see what its all about. We'll share the notion link that breaks it all down. DM me if you wanna chat.

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The days of planning for 18-24 months of runway are behind us, and extending that outlook to 2.5+ years is becoming the new norm. It’s not just about raising capital anymore—it’s about building resilience and being extremely mindful of how resources are allocated. Cutting back on team size and keeping burn rates low are now essential moves, but the real challenge will be balancing this with maintaining strong growth signals. Founders need to think creatively about stretching their runway without compromising momentum. The focus on cash flow positivity can’t overshadow the importance of showing investors you’re still in the race for scaling. Smart, lean, and purposeful planning is key to navigating these longer funding gaps. Peter Walker #growthmarketing #startups #founders #venturecapital #saas

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