Aurimas Mazuras

It’s easier to get divorced than to get rid of bad investors. When we first considered raising investment for Fabric Health, we were intentional about choosing the right partners. The frenzy around raising investment as a startup is understandable. It’s scary and all-consuming. But let’s be clear: the amount you raise isn’t the measure of success. At best, you get great partners, and it’s a true partnership. But too many investors claim to be “value-add” and aren’t. At worst, they’re bullies who will run your company into the ground. You can’t survive bad investors. If the relationship goes sideways, it’s not just the founders who are affected—the entire leadership team can be replaced, leaving the company practically unrecognizable. At Fabric Health, we spend a lot of time bringing on the best people—if someone isn’t a “hell yes,” we don’t hire them. So, choose your investors wisely—they can make or break your company.

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Why Startup Founders Fail: 1. Most founders do not focus on generating revenue, you need to work more on what works and forget other channels. 2. Founders lack focus and often work on too many unrelated or unimportant tasks. 3. They build "vitamins" instead of "painkillers." People frequently harass me for my service. 4. Many believe they need funding and continue spending resources on businesses that fail to generate sales. If you are not Sam Altman, you often need to be profitable from day one. 5. Spending too much time at conferences. Most conferences are a waste of time. Your time is limited, and you should focus on activities that generate cash or provide specific, actionable knowledge (which conferences rarely do). What do you think about it ? #marketing #startups, #ideas #life #ltu #lietuva #trump #usa #founders #business #money #cash

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November 23 2024 – 5 Notable Articles To Read 𝗔𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗹𝗲: Smart ring maker ŌURA hits a $5B valuation after raising $75M 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆: In September, the Finnish healthtech company acquired the Finnish glucose monitoring startup Veri (acquired by ŌURA), followed by the U.S.-based health data company Sparta Science (acquired by ŌURA) in October. The Oura Ring tracks various health metrics, including heart rate, body temperature, blood oxygen levels, time to fall asleep, and the balance of deep, light, and REM sleep. 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲: Sifted 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸: https://lnkd.in/dJdjjedA 𝗔𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗹𝗲: Amcor to Buy Berry Global, Inc. in $8.4B Stock Deal 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆: A stock exchange deal set to form a consumer and healthcare packaging company with approximately $24B in annual revenue. 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲: The Wall Street Journal 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸: https://lnkd.in/dw-hFKkM 𝗔𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗹𝗲: Milan beats London and New York as home to most expensive shopping street 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆: The maximum rents landlords can charge luxury retailers on the street have surged by 11% over the past year to €20K a square metre annually, making it the highest headline rent for retail spaces among the 138 global destinations monitored by real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield. 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲: Financial Times 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸: https://lnkd.in/d_Z3b25s 𝗔𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗹𝗲: Family offices increase exposure to alts 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆: 82% family office professionals, including those from multi-family offices, anticipate that their organizations' appetite for investment risk will grow, with 12% predicting a significant increase. 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲: Funds Europe 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸: https://lnkd.in/d_vM49sb 𝗔𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗹𝗲: Snowflake Talks With Anthropic About AI Partnership 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆: Snowflake engaged in discussions with Anthropic regarding a potential LLM partnership. If finalized, the agreement could help CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy address investor concerns about Snowflake's competitiveness against rivals like Databricks, Microsoft, and Amazon in the generative AI market. 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲: The Information 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸: https://lnkd.in/dWdkUrza #news #ai #business #research #investment

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💡💼 Dive into the world of startups and venture capital with these curated GPTs tailored for entrepreneurs and investors! From refining business ideas to crafting pitch decks and analysing startup contracts, these tools offer valuable assistance at every stage of the startup journey. 🚀 For startups, tools like Pitch Deck Analyzer and LogoGPT provide invaluable feedback and creative support, while VC GPT and Venture GPT offer pitch training and AI copilot services for investors. Whether you're a founder seeking guidance or a VC looking for insights, these GPTs are your go-to resources for navigating the dynamic landscape of entrepreneurship and investment. Thanks, Rubén D. for sharing this list. #Startups #VentureCapital #Entrepreneurship 📈🔍

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🔥 tracking all open calls for startups 🔥 Generate hot leads on autopilot 2x a day 🤖👇 We used to pay a team of people for this - but the turnaround was never so fast! This is a trigger-based workflow monitoring all the open calls for startups from accelerators, VC funds or corporates looking to join acceleration programs or innovation challenges. There is so much opportunities for startups every day! The workflow, powered by N8N, Apify, and our proprietary APIs and outreach platform, is designed to: -> Monitor feed for any relevant keywords -> GPT-4 summarize and decide if relevant or not -> Push notification to Google Chat or Slack -> Turn relevant posts into leads -> GPT-4 rephrases the post -> Find the most relevant people to contact -> Add relevant leads to an always-on campaign -> Waterfall Email enrichment -> AI-personalized outreach -> Rotate multiple inboxes and go low volume for best deliverability Tomorrow, I'll be hosting a workshop at The Marketing Festival, where I'll be excited to teach people how to build trigger based - AI-powered workflows like this one. Do you WANT a blue-print how to build workflows like this? 👇 —> COMMENT to get a template —> Like it /repost if you want to see more content like this

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I've seen many B2C founders waiting for that perfect idea before they take action. But 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲-𝐟𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭. If you’re aiming for excellence, don’t wait for a lightning bolt of creativity to strike. Instead: 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈: Get your hands dirty, make mistakes, and embrace imperfection. This can include your ICP (Ideal customer profile), and even the offering itself. 𝑬𝒎𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔: The first few attempts might be average, and that’s okay. The trick is to keep optimizing. Learn and implement the changes. 𝑹𝒆𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆: Somewhere along the journey, brilliance will reveal itself. This is true even for our video production team. When Sonika James joined us a year ago, the initial drafts would be mediocre at best. Now she's leading a team, handling nearly 10 clients. Today, we comfortably push out 10-12 drafts before the truly great ideas start to flow.

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Securing funding as a startup entrepreneur can feel like navigating a maze in the dark. ❖ Constantly pitching to investors, only to face rejection after rejection. ❖ Struggling to find funds without losing equity in your dream company. ❖ Drowning in a sea of paperwork and strict requirements. I get it. I’ve been there, and I know how frustrating and demoralizing it can be. But what if I told you there's a better way? At Burns Funding, we've pioneered a unique funding mechanism that flips the script on traditional startup financing. Here’s how: ❖ Unsecured Funding: You don’t need to put your assets on the line. We provide unsecured loans, freeing you from the stress of collateral. ❖ No Repayment Hassle: We invest a portion of the funds to generate returns that cover your payments. Imagine focusing on growing your business instead of worrying about repayments. ❖ Pre-Approved Applicants: With a 630 FICO credit score you’re automatically pre-approved. No more grueling vetting processes. Sounds too good to be true? It’s not. This innovative approach allows entrepreneurs like you to receive $100k-$150k on average, with some even securing up to $800k. Entrepreneurs deserve a funding solution as innovative as their ideas. At Burns Funding, we’re committed to making that a reality. Don't let traditional funding challenges hold you back. Let's turn your vision into reality without sacrificing equity or peace of mind. Reach out today and discover how Burns Funding can fuel your entrepreneurial journey. 🚀 #Entrepreneurship #StartupFunding #InnovativeFinance #BurnsFunding

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💸 Flo Health Inc. has just raised $200M led by General Atlantic at a valuation of $1Billion+, making it one of just a few femtech unicorns & the first femtech unicorn in Europe 🦄 🤯 Many women in femtech are both amazed & outraged: Flo Health Inc.'s founders are men, most of the senior leadership are men, and the managing director from General Atlantic who led the investment is…shock…also a man. 🖊 As Sifted pointed out last year, even in femtech, it still pays to be a male founder. 🚀 I support many female founders in the femtech space and see firsthand how they struggle to raise money. A quote from one of Flo Health Inc.'s co-founders in TechCrunch really hits home: “I saw the challenges women face in healthcare and realised there was a critically underserved gap in the women’s health market.” 🤔 Sounds familiar? It should - I've heard the same thing from countless female founders who are told their market is ‘niche’ or ‘nice to have,’ or that they need a male co-founder to be taken seriously. 💰 It's not that we don't need men in women’s health - we absolutely do. We need all the smart and creative minds in femtech. But let’s face it: despite all the female founder office hours and support initiatives, money talks. And $200Million just went to an all-male founding team running a femtech company. 📈 The success of Flo Health Inc. demonstrates there IS a more than enough product-market fit, the market IS big enough, there IS a strong use case, there ARE enough customers. This should hopefully help female founders as evidence to provide in their pitches. It should also help other growth investors to see that the numbers DO add up in femtech. 🚺 We need more female-founded startups in women’s health & more investors who believe that women can lead this market. 🏦 Just last week, one of my private banks offered me the chance to invest $1Million in Kindbody, a U.S.-based Femtech Unicorn with a female founder. Given this news, I’m definitely giving this deal a much closer look! ♻ Re-share this post to help your network if this resonated with you. 👩🏽‍⚕️ Follow me Dr Fiona Pathiraja-Møller for more posts about investing in healthtech. Let me know your thoughts below ⬇ #femaleinvestor #femtech #femaleleadership #venturecapital

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🤔Are you a founder planning for an exit? In my journey as a founder and investor at Peak, and hosting the Big Exit Show, I've had many founders question me about the pitfalls during company exits. In most cases, I've observed 3 recurrent mistakes: 1️⃣ Planning is crucial when exiting. Without a well-structured strategy, you risk making hasty decisions that could impact your company's value and reputation. 2️⃣ Knowing your business's worth is essential. Incorrect valuations can lead to conflicts, often resulting in undervaluing or overvaluing your business. This discordance can lead to disagreements with shareholders, hindering your exit strategy. 3️⃣ Communication plays a key role during exits. Failing to articulate your vision and strategy to stakeholders and employees often results in misalignment, which can potentially stall the sale of your company. So, before you take that big step, remember that proper planning, accurate valuation, and clear communication can make the difference between a smooth exit and a rocky one. 🎧 Tune in to The Big Exit Show podcast to learn from founders who have sold their European tech company: https://buff.ly/49dkegP 🎤 Want to share your Exit Journey to inspire other founders? I’d love to hear your story on The Big Exit Show Podcast. Just connect with me. 👇Share your insights or questions about exits below, and let's start a conversation!

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Many founders are concerned about the current state of the fundraising market. A question that frequently comes up is: How likely am I to raise funds given the current stage of my company? Here is some surprising news for you: Regardless of whether you are a pre-revenue, pre-product, or a startup with traction, your chances of fundraising are the same. This is true for several reasons. 1.There are VCs and angel investors specifically positioned for any stage in the life cycle of a startup. Some prefer to invest in pre-revenue companies, while others lean towards companies with some traction. Your fundraising success rates are highly dependent on finding the right investor match. Founders often get discouraged because they pitch to everyone, irrespective of the investor fit. 2. "Good finds its way to the top" - I’ve interviewed numerous successful CEOs on my podcast, and one of my all time favorite quotes comes from Rob Ward, who stated: "Good finds its way to the top." This statement is stage agnostic. Market conditions may make investments more challenging, but not impossible. As you embark on your soon-to-be-exhausting fundraising journey, prioritize finding the right investor fit first(obviously after you got your pitch right:-)). It will significantly increase your chances of success. #fundraising #pitchdeck #vc #startups #preproduct #prerevenue #storytelling #arr

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A true pleasure to join Daniel Tannor on his podcast and share my experience bootstrapping Kontax AI. Listen to the full episode & follow Daniel for more B2B marketing insights!

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Many founders are afraid of making mistakes. They don't want their shortcomings to be seen by their audiences (customers, users, partners, etc.). This is mainly because we live perfect lives on social media. During your pre-seed stage, you should ship every week (or at least every two weeks). I recall reading somewhere that Facebook shipped every Tuesday. Even afterwards, you should ship at least once a month. Some customers will crucify you, and that's okay. Being ridiculed, laughed at, or criticised is the price you have to pay to be a successful entrepreneur. You win by iterating frequently, NOT by being first to market.

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Atomico Raises $1.24 Billion for Early- and Growth-Stage European Startups European VC firm Atomico has raised $1.24 billion across two new funds, marking its largest-ever fundraise. The funds—$485 million for Atomico Venture VI (early-stage) and $754 million for Atomico Growth VI (growth-stage)—will support European tech startups from Series A to pre-IPO. Atomico's founder, Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström, emphasized the firm’s mission: “We believe that entrepreneurs are the ultimate gamechangers for positive transformation across our society and economy.” The move comes as European technology continues to emerge as a global leader, especially in early-stage funding, now accounting for 30% of global capital. “European technology is coming of age. Meeting this opportunity requires ambition, hustle, and commitment from founders,” said Zennström, pointing to the maturing startup ecosystem in the region. Atomico has already made 21 investments from the new funds, including AI-powered translation platform DeepL, AI-driven health company Corti, and virtual clinic provider Pelago. Andreas Cleve, co-founder and CEO of Corti, highlighted the partnership, stating: “Atomico has been a partner in every sense, diving straight into the trenches to navigate the complexities of scaling responsibly and effectively.” Zennström further added, “Our new funds bring essential firepower to help ambitious founders level up and achieve global scale—from Europe.” This fundraising coincides with a volatile global venture market, but Atomico remains optimistic about the European tech landscape. “Data shows Europe is leading the world at the early stage with a wealth of new startups,” Zennström stated. The firm’s split approach, with distinct teams for early and growth stages, reflects its long-term commitment to founders throughout their entrepreneurial journeys. Despite the global downturn, Atomico’s fundraise follows a trend in European venture capital, with Accel and Balderton Capital also announcing large fundraises in recent months. While Atomico fell slightly short of its early-stage fund target, its strong growth fund performance underscores a growing investor confidence in scaling European tech companies. ✅ Looking to raise capital for your #VCfund and increase the international pool of your LPs?   🤝 Need warm #LP introductions?   📝 Selling #secondaries to increase liquidity?   🧐 Looking for co-investments (Series A/Series B)?   ▶ Please use G+QUANT's link for inquiries and fund decks, or send an inquiry to [email protected] #EuropeanTech #VentureCapital #StartupFunding #Atomico #GrowthStage #EarlyStageInvesting #TechInnovation #Entrepreneurship

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The most important question for pre-seed investors: What makes this founder truly exceptional? Nothing else matters. The GTM will change. The business model will change. The development roadmap will change. This is the reality of investing in early-stage startups and is why, for ex-operators, it's the most engaging stage to be investing in. Being exceptional is underpinned by the founder's ability to execute and at the earliest stage of startup development, this is all that matters. #founders #vc #startup #growth

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For Health Tech Startups, building a Painkiller product will increase your probability of success… BUT it may also just reinforce the problematic Status Quo👇 Here’s another way of framing it: → Starting with a visionary product in mind often leads to a Nice-to-Have Vitamin (i.e. it’s really hard to get anyone to care about a better future when they’re struggling just to deliver healthcare in the current system) → BUT solving a problem for the current Market sometimes often means you’ll just be making things incrementally better… for an existing suboptimal state of care. Let me explain with an example… When we started SeamlessMD 12 years ago to digitize patient journeys (e.g. pre/post-surgery), it was incredibly visionary because we were asking providers to join us in transforming MANY things at once: → Transitioning from static, one-size fits all paper instructions to automated, personalized digital reminders and  education on mobile/web → Empowering patients to track symptoms and health status digitally at-home (when patients weren’t even being asked to track symptoms on paper) → Providing alerts and dashboards to clinicians to monitor patients at-home and catch problems earlier (when clinicians were at-best doing one post-discharge phone call, but often nothing at all). → Caring to improve clinical outcomes such as length of stay, readmissions, etc. when often there was a lack of financial incentive to do so So unsurprisingly it was a MASSIVE struggle to get health system partners for many years. Lots of enthusiasm and lots of successful clinical studies… but mediocre health system adoption. Luckily we stuck it out and the market factors changed enough over the recent years to evolve our “Vitamin” closer to a “Painkiller”. But if I went back to 2013 with the goal of building a similar business with the highest chance of succeeding, I would start with the Market and work backwards to the Product Vision. I might think to myself: → There is an existing Market category for print education and PDFs → There is a more recent Market category for patient education videos → There is an existing sales and marketing motion for these categories, so if I make a better version of these, I can build a sustainable business And I’m sure we could’ve built a reasonable business out of that. We would probably have spent less time worrying about whether we’d be around in a year and more time actually working with health systems. BUT ultimately we also would not have had the same dramatic impact on helping health systems reduce length of stay, readmissions, mortality and costs in a truly transformative way. That’s why there’s no single right answer to whether innovators should build a Vitamin (that has a small chance of being a future Painkiller) or something that is probably a Painkiller today. Probably the right answer is whatever gives you energy and motivates you to build.

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🚀 Sales should be part of your process early on. So start selling now. ✔️ Sell your vision ✔️ Test and validate ✔️ Get feedback on your pilot Join our 12-Week Healthtech Startup 1st Million Growth Sprint to receive expert guidance, access proven growth frameworks and valuable networking opportunities to start selling and scale fast. Ready to transform your business? Book a call with me today. #GrowthSprint #HealthTech #Innovation #Startup

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Ever recall the exact moment Netflix, Instagram, or Google launched? Probably not. And there’s a good reason for that. During the MYStartup Pre-Accelerator session on validation research, I gained valuable insights into the importance of Product-Market Fit. I now have a specific case study to reference, highlighting how crucial it is to conduct thorough validation research to ensure your product aligns with market needs for long-term success. Take Airbnb as an example. They launched three times before anyone took notice. Apple's first iPhone was a far cry from what we expect today. The truth is, the most successful companies didn't perfect their launches. They perfected everything that came after. According to Startup Genome, 90% of successful startups pivot at least once after launch. Airbnb didn’t start as the hospitality giant we know today. It took multiple attempts and significant changes to get there. Instagram wasn’t always a photo-sharing platform either. It began as a location-based app called Burbn before pivoting to what we love now. This tells us that Product-Market Fit is everything. Your initial launch is just the beginning, and real progress happens when you start gathering feedback from real users. Iteration is key post-launch is when the real learning begins. Airbnb only became a household name after years of tweaking and improving the customer experience. It’s easy to get caught up in launch-day hype, but what truly matters is whether your users stay and keep coming back. So, view your launch as just the first step, not the end goal. Plan for what comes next, even before you go live, and stay adaptable. Your product will evolve, and so should your approach. Remember, a launch is just the beginning, the true work begins after the buzz dies down. #StartupWisdom #LaunchStrategy #ExecutionMatters #Netflix #Google #Airbnb #MYStartup #Sharing

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I've seen startups with an A+++ product fail! Why? They didn't "De-Risk" in the first 24 months. What's "De-Risking"? 💡 Investors don't hand the startup team sufficient funds to build the company from zero through to product launch, commercialization and ultimate success. It’s much more common to build the company’s value in step-wise fashion and "De-Risk" the investors. What to avoid & what to do instead: ❌ Funding once is enough - after that: Start selling! ✅ Build steadily... and in steps of funding (~3+ rounds)! ❌ Spend all time to make your product THE BEST! ✅ Create milestones: Tech Dev., IP Securement, 510(k)! ❌ You got it to commercialization. Let's rest! ✅ It's the time where you need even MORE funding! Product launches are EXPENSIVE! Many aren't ready for that cash requirement. But it's painful to see... → Early successes vanishing before launch! ← So,... Don't be that person! 😊 - Have foresight & plan ahead. - Build multiple streams of funding. - Understand your product's production cost. What'd you add? What did I miss? P.S. Below is Bodhi 🐕 + what De-Risking Steps you can take!

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How to Build the Perfect Team and Find the Right Investors for Your Startup YouTube https://lnkd.in/e-sMpBcv Substack https://lnkd.in/e3QC3cUW Discover the key to bootstrapping your startup and securing the right investors. Learn from the experiences of Calmwave, a B2B SaaS company funded by Bonfire Ventures and TAO Ventures. Find out why having the right investors is crucial for long-term success. #StartupTips #InvestmentStrategy #Entrepreneurship #B2BSaaS #Calmwave #InvestorPartnership #StartupFunding #EntrepreneurLife #InvestorTips #StartupCommunity

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