Hugo Facchin

🚀 Fundraising tools as a Seed and Late Seed Founders - Access to Capital!🚀 It’s the season! And I’m not referring to the Pumpkin spiced warm drinks…. …but FUNDRAISING! I’m thrilled to announce my first in-person upcoming event of Q4 focused on Fundraising for Seed and Late Seed Founders! Signed La French Tech New York Whether you're gearing up for your first round or preparing for late-stage growth, this is an opportunity to learn the tools, dos and donts through a hands-on interactive workshop. 📊 August Fundraising numbers: The average early-stage round in the US for August was $3.3M The median early-stage round was $2.5M A total of $941.9M was invested across early-stage rounds in August alone! (Source AlleyWatch - Reza Chowdhury) It’s been a busy summer! 💸 Across all stages, $9.4B was invested in startups across 464 deals in August. While US VC funding dipped slightly from last month (-2.3%), it’s still up 22.7% from the same period last year. (Source AlleyWatch - Reza Chowdhury) We are excited to be hosted by Scott Smedresman Partner at Brown Rudnik who also supported our Tech Week rooftop event in June this year! A big thank you for providing the space - with a view of course - and support for our community of founders. We’re also partnering with Lyonshare, a fundraising support agency for startups and funds, with a specialty focus on getting you funded. Clients include funds like Bain Capital Ventures, Metrodora Ventures (Chelsea Clinton/USV), and Imaginary, along with hundreds of startups who’ve received funding from investors like USV, RRE Ventures, and Greycroft. If you're a founder looking to understand the current fundraising landscape and how to tackle it, this is an event you won’t want to miss. RSVP link in comments! #innovation #technology #venturecapital #startups

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A must read for every founder (and investor) in B2B marketplaces. ⤵️ All credits to Fabrice Grinda + FJ Labs 👏🏽 https://lnkd.in/eB7uGzyH #firstdegree #founders #investors #whyrelationshipsmatter
#alwaysbelearning #sharingknowledge

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Learn from OpenAI’s playbook: Prioritizing key projects and empowering a mission-oriented team are essential for startups aiming to make a significant impact 👇 ➡ 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗲: Sam Altman, CEO at OpenAI and Brad Lightcap, COO at OpenAI 🔌 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗿: Harry Stebbings, Founder at 20VC ✏ “20VC: OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Brad Lightcap on The Future of Foundation Models” ⭐ 𝗙𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗔𝗜 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝗮 𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗶𝗱 𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲: "There are two strategies to build on AI right now: [...] (1) to assume the model is not going to get better and then you kind of build all these little things on top of it; [...] (2) to build assuming that OpenAI is going to stay on the same rate of trajectory and the models are going to keep getting better at the same pace." ⭐ 𝗙𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗮 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗻𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀: "At any given point in a company's life, there's only one to three things that really matter. And that spills over into how we run the team because [...] if we can align on what those things are, [...] then it helps me to translate down to the teams that I'm building." ⭐ 𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗔𝗜 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆: "I think people criminally underrate how important it is and how much return you really get on just giving people access to the technology. [...] Someone who used to spend two days doing something now spends two minutes doing it and is freed up to do 85 other things in their daily life." ⭐ 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆'𝘀 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻: "I watched what has happened to other tech companies when they just become the place you want to work because it's a good resume item. [...] I think companies that lose their mission orientation and get taken over by mercenaries usually come to regret that." ⭐ 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘀 𝗼𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘂𝗻𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗲𝘀: "Find a way to make sure that there's this very flat and even playing field when it comes to how you look to the team for perspective, decision-making, judgment, and creativity." ───── 👉 Follow me, Alexander Small, for tactics and strategies for building startups from industry-leading Founders, Operators and Investors

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Whether you're a French startup founder or investing in the French tech ecosystem, this is a must-have resource: The Serena 2024 Edition of the Ultimate VC List is live! Fundraising can be incredibly time-consuming. That’s why, back in 2016, Serena created the Ultimate VC List to streamline the process for entrepreneurs in France. Now an interactive platform, it has supported over 100,000 entrepreneurs and VCs in the ecosystem. Some key trends Sébastien Le Roy and Maxime Furet spotted when putting this edition together: 🚀 The French VC ecosystem is thriving with new funds like Resonance, OVNI Capital, Yellow, and Varsity, signaling a vibrant and expanding market. 🌍 There’s increased interest from US and European funds for French startups, particularly in AI and climate tech, and a rise in non-traditional investors such as Business Angel Clubs and Family Offices (which are now covered by a new section). 🔧 Infrastructure investors are playing a critical role in funding innovative hybrid models amid global warming challenges. ♻️ The growing presence of impact VCs highlights the focus on socially and environmentally impactful investments.

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The most important fundraising KPI: 1st pitch → 2nd meeting conversion rate Is yours low? (< 30-50%) Something is wrong. Here's how to diagnose your issue and fix it: There are two types of potential problems... 1️⃣ Investor targeting 2️⃣ Pitching 𝐈𝐍𝐕𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆: The most common issue is targeting the wrong investors. Usually you're reaching out to investors that focus on a different stage or industry. Do some research on the investors that didn't convert to a second meeting. The most important resource: their portfolio page. Ignore the "about" section, or their blog. That's mostly about marketing to potential investors in their fund. Instead, look at what they've actually invested in and the stage at which they invested (Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A, etc.) Remember: trust the portfolio, not the thesis. __ The other main issue is unclear outbound messaging. Investors think you do one thing (industry, business model, tech, etc.) but you actually do something else. I recommend sending your outbound email template to 5+ friends that don't know anything about your startup. Ask them: • What kinds of customers do you think we serve? • What benefits do you think we provide for them? • What product features do you think we have? • What technologies do you think we use? If more 20% of your friends answer these questions incorrectly, you need to write new outreach emails. 𝐏𝐈𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆: The most common issue is just that your pitch is weak. Usually because you aren't telling a story. You're just sharing disconnected data. The best pitches are stories that foreshadow the only possible outcome: your startup's tremendous success. It feels inevitable. The easiest test to figure out if you're telling a story: try connecting the main idea of each of your slides with "but," "so" or one of their synonyms. If the natural link between slides is "and" or if you can move the order around, you don't have a story. Chronology matters in storytelling. Go back to the drawing board and try to write your inevitable success story. __ Maybe your overall pitch isn't weak. But VCs may still be spotting a red flag when you pitch. It turns them off right away. If you think this might be your issue, it's important to start asking questions. Most pitches have time for you to ask questions at the end. Here's my go-to to diagnose this issue: "What would you need to see in order to get excited about investing in <<STARTUP>>?" If they tell you a primary KPI that you need to improve, then you've probably identified the issue. The other possibility: They try to avoid giving you a specific answer. If they're evading your question, you NEED to dig in to get to the bottom of it. Your fundraising success may depend on it. —— Was this helpful? 👍 like and ♻️ repost it to help other founders!

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These rules work most time: - When building a product, you try to make it to fit into end users’ daily routine or workflow. - When raising money from VCs, you try to make it to fit into their investment thesis. - When raising money from LPs, you try to make it to fit into their portfolios strategy. But then once in a while, some genius just tears apart all the existing patterns and tells everyone else to either change their habits or get left behind. Overtime, an innovation becomes a pattern again. The cycle repeats.

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Just a few days left until I join a fantastic panel discussion at FoodNavigator's Climate Smart Food digital summit! 📅 September 25th, 2 PM CEST Here's why you should tune in: 1️⃣ We'll delve into innovative technologies from crop protection and precision farming to gene editing, all with the potential to create a more sustainable and resilient food system. 2️⃣ My fellow panelists (Lucy Wallace & Mark Tester) are incredible minds in the field, and I can't wait to share and learn alongside them (and you)! 3️⃣ This discussion will be crucial for anyone interested in the future of our food supply. Register for the FREE three-day FoodNavigator Summit and don't miss the panel discussion on "AgTech Solutions Promising to Boost Resilience of Food Production," moderated by the brilliant Oliver Morrison: https://lnkd.in/dGRfgb7k #AgTech #Innovation #FoodProduction #Sustainability #ICLPlanet #FutureOfFarming #PanelDiscussion #FoodNavigatorSummit

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According to Harvard Business School, around 65% of promising startups fail due to co-founder disagreements. And yet the general thinking - according to YC - is that it’s still more advisable to look for a co-founder than to go solo. So if the pressure of finding your ideal co-founding team wasn’t enough, it becomes even more daunting when you’re aware of the risks. And yet, I find it interesting that some of the most successful partnerships arise more or less serendipitously. Take Dropbox as an example: initially a solo venture, Drew Houston was advised by Paul Graham to find a co-founder if he was serious about YC. Through friends of friends, he met his co-founder, Arash Ferdowsi, spent a grand total of 2 hours talking in a coffee house, and in his words, “got married on the first date”. Against all odds, the two had an incredibly successful collaboration that lasted 13 years. Embracing serendipity whilst actively seeking out compatible partners seems like a contradiction - but it’s often the case that when it does work, it’s really something to see. 🍀 Check out Drew's story below! #cofounders #founderstories #ycombinator #startups #founders

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🤨 What do I look for in co-founders ? 🤨 This is the question I get asked the most often, and I (finally) have a good answer! At Hexa, I partner with entrepreneurs ~3x/year, a CEO and CTO for each project— essentially “marrying” 6x/year to build the best partnerships. I look for 4 key traits in my co-founders ⤵️ ⚡️ Energy booster Building and growing a company is about convincing people to follow you—investors, clients, team members—and the person’s natural energy is a key factor in achieving this. I call these people exothermic: they move things around them simply by the energy they exude. How do I test this? I need to feel more energized at the end of a meeting with them than I did at the start. ⏰ Sense of urgency The higher the velocity in a startup, the faster it will grow. Having a deep need to act and get things done sets the fast-paced tempo I’m looking for. 🧑‍🏫 Thirst for self-improvement Founders who are constantly looking to improve by proactively seeking feedback and showing vulnerability have an endless strength to overcome the (inevitable) challenges of entrepreneurship. 🏋️‍♀️ Commitment Being a founder means making your company part of your top priorities, it’s a journey that’s all-consuming. If you believe you embody these traits and are ready to build a transformative company, let’s connect!

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🚀 Only 10 Days Left to Join the Inaugural Cohort of the Bootstrap First Incubator ! 🌟 📅 Applications officially close on June 2nd, but for the best chance to secure your spot, submit your application by May 31! The Bootstrap First Incubator is the perfect fit for idea-stage founders and pre-revenue businesses that are looking for their first paying clients and customers. Throughout the Bootstrap First Incubator 100-day program, we: Deconstruction Your Idea: We help you break down your business idea and understand if it's financially feasible. Discover the problem & demand: Through interviews with your target customer segment, we help you discover the top pain points that your potential customers experience and if there is actually demand for your solution. MVP Design & Launch: We guide you in designing and launching your MVP to an engaged segment of early adopters. 🔗 Want to learn more? Visit www.bootstrapfirst.com 👉 Ready to apply? Submit your application now at: https://lnkd.in/en4Xe49k 🤔 Have questions? Don't hesitate to reach out to Patrick Thompson directly on LinkedIn! #Entrepreneurship #StartupIncubator #BusinessGrowth #Innovation #ApplyNow #founder #fundraising #venturecapital #incubator #accelerator

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[Product announcement] Subscriptions by PickyStory! 🎉 Happy to announce our upcoming product – Subscriptions. Since starting PickyStory, we have been focused on building the first complete growth platform for Shopify merchants. The first two years were dedicated entirely to our initial product, Bundles & Upsell. We set the foundation to effortlessly create outstanding bundle and upsell experiences in-store, backed by robust inventory and discount technology to help merchants grow their AOV. Over the past year, we have invested significantly in building a whole new platform infrastructure. This new platform allows merchants to easily create almost any experience in their store and enables us to build new products that will natively connect with each other. Today, we’re excited to announce our second product – Subscriptions. Why are we building subscriptions? - Boosting AOV doesn’t stop at the store session; subscriptions are a critical follow-up for many e-commerce verticals. - Our customers have consistently requested a subscription solution that integrates seamlessly with our bundle & upsell product. - We believe our platform and unique market position can deliver a superior subscription offering, distinct from existing solutions. How will PickyStory’s Subscriptions be different? Innovative retention strategies at the core of the product: - Subscription plans with pre-built retention strategies - Deep yet user-friendly analytics to understand and address churn - Sophisticated cancellation and reward flows Seamless integration with PickyStory’s Bundle & Upsell product: - Bundle experiences designed to grow AOV - Upsell flows that enhance subscriptions - Intelligent cart (PickyCart) that encourages shoppers to subscribe Fair pricing: - No more compromises between expensive tier 1 subscription solutions with hidden fees and low-cost apps with limited functionality. - We always charge only for the direct value added by PickyStory, and this will apply to subscriptions as well. A tier 1 subscription solution should be much more affordable than it is today. Join the waitlist and get updates. Link in the comments 👇

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📣 Major Update for French Founders and VC Firms! 🚀 Versible eu We have built a full database of all the private funds investing in #Seed, #SeriesA, and #SeriesB across nearly every sector in the #French ecosystem. As part of our mission, we are developing the next generation of venture capital management software. Our goal is to streamline the fundraising process and enhance investor relations for founders and investors throughout Europe. Each of our initiatives aims to shine a spotlight on the hardworking individuals who are shaping the future of the world. Stay tuned for Monday 27th. #Venturecapital #Seed #Lafrenchtech #LegalTech #Agriculture #Mobility #Deeptech #FoodTech #InsurTech #BioTech #HealthTech #Realestate #Web3

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I’m pleased to have contributed to Arianee’s position paper, "From A Production-Based to A Service-Based Economy: The Role of Tokenization in Decoupling Growth." This insightful paper tackles a topic close to my heart. This paper outlines numerous practical strategies for companies to progress on tackling overproduction while creating new economic opportunities. Thank you Arianee, Pierre-Nicolas Hurstel and of course my friend Francois Souchet for the opportunity to collaborate. #circulareconomy #technology #circularbusinessmodels #sustainability

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📈 Publicly traded FoodTech startups are doing well in 2024 ! Early this year, we created DigitalFoodLab’s FoodTech index: it looks at how publicly traded startups (which underwent an IPO) are doing. As you can see in this chart, these companies combined have done quite well over the first half of the year. 🟣 The main purple graph represents this index of 23 stocks: it rose by about 24% in the first half of the year. 🔵🟠 The blue and orange graphs respectively show the overall market rose "only" by 17% and the Nasdaq (+20%). 🍔 More interesting, if we compare to an index made of all the leading agrifood businesses, which decreased by 4% since the start of the year, the difference is even more noticeable. This FoodTech index has limitations, such as its concentration in delivery companies and the fact that company sizes vary widely (some with valuations in tens of billions, others in millions). However, it provides a very good tool to follow what is happening "beyond the VC stage" : 1️⃣ If we want to create "the future of food", we'll need the companies to increase in size and relevance, and that will require the help of public markets. 2️⃣ We need success stories, and that will come by showing that at the end of the day, "former startups" deliver value for their shareholders (by showing profits quarter after quarter). 👉 If you want to play with the index, follow it, and even replicate it, the link will be the first comment! Let me know if you know of a stock we can add to the list. #AgTech #FoodTech #stocks #IPO

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This is interesting! Do keep working on it Naza Metghalchi! In our experience, we often see the desire to use existing tools (e.g. CoPilot) for individual activities that are actually enterprise processes in disguise. For example, drafting a policy or job description. Sure, one person could draft a JD, but in practice it involves a hiring manager's expertise, an HR leader (for org chart), a recruiter, and often other stakeholders. An AI equipped to help the initial author often fails to automate enough of the workflow to be considered valuable. Then, teams revert back to previous workflows. I'm curious to see where users draw the line between high/low complexity and individual/enterprise processes. And if this is a gradient, where along each axises will we find the most value addition?

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$15M, to cut on fashion’s carbon. We Headline are backing the best team to do this: Marc, Martin, and Romain. Welcome Carbonfact! I met Marc about 10 years ago - he was a VC (cofounder Kerala Ventures) and they had led Doctolib’s pre-seed & seed rounds with Antoine. I’ve been keeping in touch with Marc and I knew his next thing would be a big thing… impactful and with global ambitions. With an incredible founding team, together with Martin (one of the rising stars @Airbnb) and Romain (ex-CTO @Jobteaser), their simple mission is to help the most polluting industry pollute less. Carbonfact serves large global brands: textiles account not only for an annual $1,900B spent globally but also for ~10% of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. They built the most granular platform to automate the tedious data collection and reporting processes in the backend, solving the industry's chronic challenge of collecting accurate and primary data from multiple supply chain tiers. In addition, the live platform automatically identifies emission-intensive manufacturing processes, suggests reduction plans, and exports reports for annual carbon disclosure, ensuring compliance. They already have the backing of Y Combinator, Alven (and their partner Bartosz, whom we’ve finally found the right company to work on together), and 150+ apparel and footwear brands, including Columbia, New Balance, and Carhartt. In the comments, the story of why we joined today’s Series A round:

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🤝 Hand-holding never makes for a strong team. As my startup continues to grow, I've realized that to thrive, our decision-making needs to extend beyond the confines of meetings and (more importantly) beyond my presence in every meeting. In recent weeks, a couple of key challenges have surfaced: 👀 There’s a lack of visibility on decisions made outside of the meeting room, leaving team members in the dark. 🚦Decision-making processes tend to stall or become sluggish if I'm not physically present, creating unnecessary slowdowns. To address these issues, my team and I are implementing a strategic shift in communication. To start, we're moving away from private DMs and towards public channels in Slack, ensuring transparency and visibility across the team. This way, decisions aren't confined to those present in meetings, and progress isn't contingent solely on my availability. Additionally, I'm adopting a new approach to decision-making. Rather than being the lead decision-maker in every scenario, I'm stepping back to only intervene when a tie needs to be broken. This empowers the team to operate more efficiently, fostering autonomy and enabling smoother workflows. This realization has been a huge turning point for me as a leader. Every day I'm reminded that management is a real job in its own right, not just a layer on top of other jobs. To support my team and our mission, the majority of my time needs to be spent thinking up new ways to help them get unblocked. Moving forward, we're committed to creating a culture of collaboration, transparency, and autonomy - one where decisions are made swiftly, efficiently, and with the collective input of the group. No crutches, bottlenecks, or unnecessary hand-holding. That’s how I can best empower my team.

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And this week – The Gaussian spread! I am talking with people, a lot of people. Founders, funders, entrepreneurs, VCs, NGOs, NPOs, if it has a pulse, or initials, I have talked to them. And still I am surprised to see the vast differences within this group. Some are IP-indifferent, some are IP-minded, and some, well, some share my (paranoid?) state of mind and see IP everywhere. In employee contracts, in supplier negotiations, in JD projects, in M&As, everywhere. Maybe I am young enough to still be surprised, but I am 100% old enough to notice that there is no rule-of-thumb in a-priori knowing what my next Zoom/Team/Meet meeting will look like based only on their founders’ age, R&D stage or investment round. It’s still a mystery, that keeps me on my toes. Now, while the >20-patent-families CEOs thinking IP is just a nice-to-have are a great professional challenge, I am naturally drawn more to my tribe, those who took the red pill, which enabled them to understand that IP, like the illusion created by the Matrix, is everywhere. So, this post is my shoutout to one of my clients, who wrote me a heartwarming email, with a message saying “Your services are a top priority for us (even before my first salary from this funding 😉). it’s clear to us how valuable your expertise will be in moving us forward.”. You know who you are, my friend, and let me tell you, you are near the end of the Gaussian. If you are a founder, or an investor, and want to take the red pill, which will let you understand what is actually occurring outside the illusion created by the Matrix, you are only an email away [[email protected]]! Otherwise, take the blue pill, which would allow you to return to experiencing only that illusion created by the Matrix. I wouldn’t want to be you.  

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I've raised every type of funding over 17 years of building startups. There's one thing that every investor needs to see: Your ability to tell 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆. When introducing yourself for the first time (cold or warm): ↳you have <3 mins ↳tell 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆: Product - Customers/Market - Why Us? ↳show prep: why do you expect *they in particular* will invest? When you get to pitch for the first time: ↳you have <15 mins ↳send a 10-12 slide deck ahead of time that tells 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 on its own ↳in person hit the high notes (<10 mins) then move to two-way Q&A When you start getting into the detail: ↳the financial model tells 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 in numbers ↳your team knows 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 too ↳every startup has major flaws - weave in 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 when answering hard questions Do not: 🔸 bring in irrelevant backstory 🔸 lose presentation momentum and run over 🔸 plunge into execution-level detail every time you're asked a question 🔸 have 4 growth channels and 6 revenue streams before proving even one Why does this matter? It's not because '𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝘂𝗺𝗯' - that's a terrible take. Investors want you to be the next team they're going to spend 5-10 years watching up close - and building alongside. But they: 🔹 are time poor    🔹 (usually) don't know you 🔹 are bombarded with dozens of pitches 🔹 have partners / co-investors to discuss you with Communicate the essential value of your startup. Get them thinking about you for days after. Let them discuss with their key people. This also shows you: 🔹 sell like a machine   🔹 are an effective leader 🔹 think and communicate with clarity I've raised $20MM+ from every type of investor out there: accelerator (YC) - angels - family offices - the crowd - VC (Index & Sequoia). Being able to tell 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 is the price of entry. ---- 🖖🏻 Follow me for posts on what I’ve learned building startups over 17 years of breakout success and crushing failure. ♻️ Repost if I helped something click in your mind. 📧 DMs always open to founders who want to move faster - let's talk.

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