Vikas Sekhri

I’m thrilled to be announcing that Notion Capital is leading the $15m Series A investment in Cogna today. In the industry, we like to think that software has been eating the world. But when you look at the data a better description would be more of a nibble. Depending on what source you look at the software industry represents between 5-8% of global GDP. Contrast that with the services industry that represents between 60-70% of GDP and worth around $25 trillion on a global basis. Most services have been out of reach for the software industry. They have either been too complex or too specialized for off the shelf software to access in any economically viable way. But that’s beginnning to change with GenAI leading to the emergence of ‘service as a software.’ Cogna is at the forefront of this opportunity - building precision software at scale and delivering huge productivity gains for traditional industries. We know Ben Peters & Lars Mennen well having backed their previous company Five AI that was acquired by Bosch in 2022. And we’re very excited to be backing them again together with Hoxton Ventures & Chalfen Ventures Read my full blog post on why we invested here. Radu Bozga Ben Peters Lars Mennen Bryan G. Mike Chalfen Hussein Kanji Kirsten Connell https://lnkd.in/eh8mhcJb

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"Platform" in VCs often feels undefined, and different at every firm. But one thing is clear: firms with dedicated platform teams are seeing higher investment returns. What is 'Platform' in VC? Think of it as a support engine for portfolio companies. Platform teams accelerate growth by providing: 1) Strategy & Growth 2) Talent Partner 3) Marketing & Brand Partner 4) Business Development & Partnerships Lead 5) Community Manager 6) Operations & Scaling Partner 7) Fundraising & Capital Advisor Platform in Venture Studios vs. VC Funds: The big difference? Timeframe. Venture Studio Platform: Involved from concept to exit, guiding startups from the very first spark of an idea. VC Platform: Steps in after the startup is funded, focusing on scaling and growth but not the initial concept phase. Both play critical roles—but understanding these distinctions helps founders and investors make the most of their platform relationships.

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The Council's first SPV of 2024 is down in the books and oversubscribed. Running SPVs where we have pro rata or extra allocation in fund deals is a muscle we are building pretty late in the game as a firm. As a solo GP with a tiny team, it's crippling to think of the extra work required and risk of not meeting platform minimums to run an SPV. But 7 of our port co's have recently raised follow on funding where we had pro rata. These are awesome deals for our LPs, angel members, and syndicate community. We simply can't afford to let them slip through the cracks. These allocations are only becoming more valuable as our firm grows, so we must start NOW! Proud to say this one went off without a hitch and our syndicate community is small but THRIVING. Wish us luck as we keep building. Note our SPVs are now on Sydecar. The best way to get access is to know someone on The Council Fund team and be on our SPV email list. **What's an SPV?** An SPV is a Special Purpose Vehicle. It allows multiple angel investors to pool together into one larger investment into a company. This helps the founder keep paperwork and investor relations to a minimum (less names on the cap table = simplicity!). When people say they're investing with a "syndicate" or they are "syndicating a deal," SPV is the entity and process by which they do that. A "syndicate" is like a community of people that invest via SPVs together.

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Plaid Layer is an incredible experience but gives me heartburn -- Not because the product is bad, but because the conversion metric shouldn't be the only one. Plaid has launched Layer, a new service that allows users of finance products to get through KYC by simply entering their phone numbers. This aims to reduce onboarding to 15 seconds and deliver 17.5% higher conversion at onboarding. 1. Users enter their mobile number, and 2. If the Plaid network has data that makes them eligible to onboard, they can "instantly sign up." 3. Plaid performs fraud checks (like looking at the user's device) and 4. Then allows users to confirm what details they want to send. 🧠 As an industry, we desperately need portable KYC. KYC and onboarding are stuck in the analog era, pulling SSNs and asking for selfies. It's an expensive, leaky bucket that can be easily beaten by deep fakes and stolen data from the dark web. Pulling data from trusted sources (like another financial institution) bound to a device or telephone number is potentially more effective and a much better experience. 🧠 This is a fraud product masquerading as an onboarding product, and that's smart. The way to get the best possible fraud vs friction tradeoff is to do as much passive data detection as possible at onboarding. Looking at the user's device, email, and mobile history, with various two-factor authentications like SMS or passkeys, can add a ton of security. Plaid having that in their network and as a part of the onboarding sell is really good packaging. 🧠 Do you know how to get 100% conversion at onboarding? Let all the bad guys in. Look, I love this innovation, I love this product, and I get that Plaid is doing very clever things with data behind the scenes to actually make this potentially better than collecting an SSN and selfie at onboarding. All of that said, there's a reason a lot of sponsor banks are under consent orders for KYC/AML failings. We treated onboarding as a conversion problem, not a good customer conversion problem. Can we, as an industry, measure and benchmark that too? Even anonymously? All of that said - you have to love the execution here. Plaid are damn good at what they do. #fintech #kyc #fraud

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At Forum we look at thousands of deals each year across our Accelerator and Pre-Seed funds but only end up investing in a little over 1% of those startups.  As an early stage VC, I am in the business of saying no to nearly every startup I meet, and while there is nuanced rationale for many of the startups I pass on, a vast majority of businesses that don’t meet the qualification to get funded typically fall into one of two buckets. ▪ First time founders have a tendency to go out to market too early to raise pre-seed capital ▪   I’m sure most founders have heard some iteration of this from VCs that ultimately pass on their business.  In some cases it's a blanket excuse covering up for other pass reasons- perhaps a VC doesn’t believe in a team or isn’t bullish on the market opportunity - but in many cases founders simply haven't proven enough to the market to warrant an investment. I meet many teams with an articulate vision for the product that they want to build, but they either haven't performed enough customer discovery to prove demand for their initial wedge product, or need to raise pre-seed capital to build out an MVP.  In those cases, pre-seed investors are unwilling to underwrite those risks.  To be default fundable, teams need to be able to keep costs low, perform extensive customer discovery, and ship some version of an early product - pilots and early paid customers are key. A huge piece of this is having founding engineering talent on the team. ▪Not every startup is a venture opportunity ▪ By definition, a venture backed business is solving a problem within a market opportunity so massive and so desperately needed, that its growth rate is off the charts.   It spreads like a weed, absorbing almost unlimited amounts of capital to fulfill demand within its customer base.   Each year there are maybe 20 companies launched that ultimately have venture scale outcomes. The bar to reach this rarified air is unfathomably high and the reality is the vast majority of founders simply aren’t building for opportunities that have the potential to be one of these generational companies. Many startup founders view VC as the only viable option for capitalizing their business, but not every great business is a venture business, and most successful founders never take VC dollars.  In order to reach an IPO/acquisition large enough to generate venture returns, a startup needs a credible path to $100s of millions in revenue. This is the standard by which early stage opportunities are evaluated. The flip side to this, and I share this feedback often with founders I meet that are building interesting business in non venture markets, if you are able to scale to $10- $20M in revenue that can be a massively successful outcome for a founder.  There are investors who focus on these type outcomes, namely lower middle market PE shops, and the typical path to those deals is a bootstrapped business or a friends/family capital raise.

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Starting v Scaling: Same Goal, Different Tactics? Only 22% of start-ups make the transition to become scale-ups (McKinsey). Working with a founder on the strategy to support the ongoing exponential growth of her business, we had an interesting debate on starting v scaling and the strategies needed at each stage. Starting a Business... Vision & Innovation: starting a business is about creating something new, solving a problem, having the passion to bring your vision to life. Building from Scratch: every decision, from branding to product development, is made with a blank slate, with a healthy does of gut instinct. Wearing Many Hats: founders are involved in every aspect of the business, from operations to marketing. And scaling? We've done the hard work - now it's just pressing repeat and doing more of the same, right? Sadly not, hence the fact 78% of start-ups don't become scale-ups. This is where it actually gets more complex... Scaling a Business... Operational Excellence: processes and systems are needed for efficiency, whilst encouraging innovation, and supporting sustained growth. Talent Development: building and leading a team capable of executing at scale becomes critical; doing this at speed adds complexity. Organisational Culture: it's going to be a bumpy ride, and it requires strong and aligned founders and leadership team capable of clearly communicating their vision, to stay on the road. Investors attribute 65% of portfolio company failures to these issues. The challenge isn’t just about securing resources anymore - it’s about evolving your organisation as fast as your product or market demands, whilst continuing to be unreasonable in your expectation. Achieving exponential growth without introducing exponential complexity requires balancing stability with dynamism. On an emotional level, starting a business demands creativity and risk tolerance, while scaling requires discipline, delegation, and the ability to let go of control. As a founder, I certainly found the last of these the most difficult - until I finally did it! What’s been your biggest challenge in either starting or scaling your business? Let’s discuss! #Entrepreneurship #BusinessGrowth #Startups #ScalingUp #FandBInnovation #Leadership 

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If you’re interested in the positive impact VC can have, CHECK THIS 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼

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Really good view on GPs and fund sizes in venture capital. Aligning the incentives is super important. Two types of ventures capitalists are at play these days, the asset managers vs the company builders. Asset managers choose to make their money from the 2% management fees while company builders aim for wealth creation through the 20% carry.

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My newest column in Quote Magazine: Dutch Dynamism 🇳🇱 💡 Inspired by Andreessen Horowitz’ “American Dynamism” and the Not Boring newsletters of Packy McCormick about why tech is going to be much bigger, I realized there is a momentum in the Netherlands to become one of the European leaders to lead this new industrial revolution - if we double down. 💻 Historically, the Netherlands was strong in trade and banking. However, the country now leads in technology with companies like ASML, Adyen, and NXP Semiconductors as the top 10 most valuable companies, replacing former giants like Shell, Unilever, ING and ABN AMRO Bank N.V 💶 Fueled by capital, according to the latest report of Techleap; 48% Venture Capital investments in 2023 the Netherlands went to deeptech companies. 🤖 While the latest AI innovations have enhanced office jobs, the fusion of software and hardware, like physical robots, is set to revolutionize all types of labor, making tasks scalable and more manageable and cheaper. Two great examples of Dutch robotics companies are Monumental and family business Lely, that are automating less attractive jobs, like bricklaying and milking cows. ⚡ The insight is that the world's largest tech companies of the next decade will likely surpass today’s giants, and for the first time in a long time, tech companies have the opportunity to rebuild the world’s industrial base and tap into huge, existing pools of revenue at higher margins than incumbents can. Assuming the same revenue but structurally higher margins will create more valuable companies than the incumbent comps. 🇳🇱 In the Netherlands, we have access to incredible research institutes, top technical universities like Delft University of Technology, Eindhoven University of Technology, Wageningen University & Research & University of Twente, (which has its own Robotics Centre University of Twente) - incredible talent and more and more hardware friendly VC funds, (incl the support of Invest-NL) and recently the NATO Innovation Fund (NIF) with an office in NL, so I don’t see why we can’t punch above our weight and become one of the leaders to reshape the industrial foundation in Europe. Curious to hear your thoughts, what's needed to make this happen? Dutch Dynamism 🇳🇱 , het bekt toch lekker (Thanks Salar :-)). Link to article (for translation) in the comments. #HardTech #AI #Robotics #Innovation #DutchDynamism #AIRevolution #DeepTech #FutureOfWork #Netherlands #Technology

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We're doubling down! Join us for the Re-Industrialize Europe Meetup 👩‍🏭 We’re bringing together leading minds in HardTech, TechBio, and DeepTech to discuss what it will take for Europe to lead the next wave of industrial innovation. Learn more about: ➡ Farmless’ fermentation platform that allows for local protein production independent from climate and agricultural land, increasing food security. 🎤 Adnan Oner ➡ Cradle’s design platform that uses generative AI to help biologists design improved proteins and accelerate research and development, making it easier, quicker and more cost effective to create bio-based products for human and planetary health. 🎤 Jelle Prins ➡ Monumental’s AI-driven electric construction robots that are capable of building walls autonomously, solving the labour, cost and sustainability challenges crippling the global construction industry. 🎤 Salar al Khafaji ➡ ASML's involvement in the European startup ecosystem and the biggest challenges we need to tackle. 🎤 Evelien de Vries Connect, collaborate, and be inspired by ambitious founders shaping the future. Sign up here: https://lu.ma/de2uprl2 NP-Hard Ventures #FoundryMeetups #HardTech #Deeptech #TechBio #Founders #Hiring #Startups #Europe

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What does the future hold? 🤔 According to top VC Vinod Khosla, it's looking optimistic! In a recent article, Vinod Khosla at Khosla Ventures shared his views on our plausible futures in 2035-2049, and it's a nice counterbalance against the too-pessimistic doom thinking out there. ⚡ Khosla believes that entrepreneurs, with passion for a vision, invent the future they want. And if we allow it to happen, abundant, awesome, technology-based, “possible tomorrows” are likely ⚡ ----------------------- Are you interested in building the future with/ for your company? Take the first step here 📆 https://lnkd.in/e6kjakzF Let's make the future happen! 🚀 #Future #Venturing #Innovation #Entrepreneurship #Technology #Possibilities

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VC funding in healthcare has been more resilient than in other industries. Here are some key takeaways from recent Carta data: 👉 At the priced seed, Series A, and Series B stages, dilution for health startups has noticeably decreased, while dilution for SaaS startups has stayed flat or increased slightly. 👉 In priced seed rounds, median dilution for healthcare companies dipped to 14.2%, compared to 20% for SaaS.  👉 The frequency of bridge rounds surged in the health sector in Q1, jumping to 44.3% from 36.9% in Q4 2023. This is the first significant increase in bridge rounds in healthcare over SaaS since early 2022. 👉 More founder-friendly terms for health startups may result from enduring VC interest since COVID. Healthcare has remained strong through economic turmoil, enabling higher valuations with smaller round sizes. What are the implications? The healthcare sector might see a rise in new ventures due to favorable investment conditions and lower dilution rates. The surge in bridge rounds suggests that certain sectors within healthcare face unique challenges that require interim financing solutions. Founders and investors in the healthcare space- what are your thoughts on this? I’d love to hear from you. If you know a founder innovating in healthcare, tag them in the comments! The Artemis Fund is especially interested in groundbreaking care tech companies. You can check out Carta’s full blog linked in the comments. If you haven’t read our latest blog on care tech, you’ll find that there too. #healthcare #caretech #fundraising

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I closely monitor the performances of 50 private fintech companies. In this article, I compare the performance of the profitable (18 companies) vs. the unprofitable companies (32 companies), and some of the findings are surprising. Below are the data and the key observations.   - Profitable companies are larger.  On median, profitable companies did £111m of revenue in 2023 versus $22mm for unprofitable companies. That’s a >400% difference which is very material. It does make sense that larger companies would be more likely to be profitable as they enjoy greater economies of scale. - The profitability is high.  The median operating margin for profitable companies in 2023 was 19%, whereas unprofitable companies had a margin of -83%. That is a huge difference and while the unprofitable companies are arguably too unprofitable, the profitable companies are not giving up growth at the expenses of margins. - The premium of profitability The profitable companies had median growth rate of 67% in 2023, which is pretty good, while the unprofitable companies grew at just 29% on median (that’s over 2x difference!). The unprofitable companies in the panel seems in trouble because the current cash losses don’t seem covered by an excellent growth rate. Corrections are required, and while cost cutting initiatives have been brutal in the last 18 months, the avenues for growth are still often unclear.

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Building great product stems from a good process. A HUGE piece of that is your product specs. Steal our early-stage startup spec format below 👇 The goals specs at Unify: 1) Build alignment among engineering/product/design 2) Give context to xfn team members on what we're building and why   5 sections we include in our specs: Section 1: Quick Context Why are we doing this? Most importantly, what's our North Star metric / goal? Short and sweet. Part 2: Tear-downs, research and user interviews How have others solved, or tried to solve the problem? We won't follow their approach, but we should understand how customers will perceive our product vs. what they already know. We include any desktop research and notes from user interviews here as well. Part 3: Functionality What will this product do? We list everything we could build so that we can make trade-offs on what we're prioritizing and what we aren't. Part 4: Rollout How will we get this out to customers? What phasing milestones should we be aware of? Part 5: Risks and Watch-outs What risks may come back to bite us? We document any risks we should consider double-clicking on before anything gets shipped. Hope this is helpful, let me know if you have any questions on how we build product!

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In recent years, the amount of capital raised in the Dutch private equity (PE) landscape has accelerated significantly. ➡️ This growth seems driven by both increased fund sizes and a rising number of funds. ➡️ Across specific asset classes (buy-out, early-stage, venture, growth, mezzanine, etc.), this pattern holds. ➡️ In fact, 2023 has been another record-breaking year despite the rough investment climate during and after the pandemic. ❓What do you think this implies for entrepreneurs, companies, LPs, and GPs? What are the crucial observations and nuances at a more granular level? 🤗 There's more behind these numbers. Let me know or reach out if you wish to discuss further!

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Founder to VC transition as a mother of two super active kids has been an incredibly amazing journey for me. Has it been demanding? Yes. But it’s been equally rewarding in terms of learnings, growth and new fun challenges. Thus, thought I would share my experiences and insights on balancing these dual roles and what I've learned along the way. .. First up, managing time effectively has been crucial. Balancing investor meetings, due diligence processes, and strategic discussions with school runs, homework help, and playtime requires meticulous planning and prioritization. I've learned to be present in the moment, whether I’m at a pitch meeting or attending my kids’ PTMs. .. Also, raising young kids, especially a teenager and a young child, teaches you patience and empathy. Especially because children are unpredictable. But, so is the startup world. The ability to adapt quickly to changing circumstances has been a valuable skill in both my personal and professional life. Flexibility and resilience are key to navigating the ups and downs of both parenting and investing. Thus, as they say, I’m exploiting synergies :) .. But, most important thing of all? Setting clear boundaries and priorities. Knowing when to step back from work to focus on family and vice versa ensures that neither role suffers. This balance is a continuous process and requires constant adjustment. And here, having a strong support system has been invaluable. My husband, family, and a network of supportive friends have played a critical role in helping me manage my responsibilities. .. However, my biggest motivation has been my kids. Being a role model for my children is important to me. Demonstrating that it’s possible to pursue a demanding career while being there for them sends a powerful message. It’s about showing them the value of hard work, dedication, and the importance of pursuing one’s passions. .. No doubt, there’s immense joy in watching my daughter navigate her teenage years and my son’s boundless energy. Similarly, there’s a unique satisfaction in helping startups grow and succeed. Embracing and finding joy in both aspects of my life has been incredibly fulfilling. And, the transition from founder to VC has been a transformative journey, enriched by my role as a mother. .. All of that said, we at Dexter Ventures ($50k-$500k early-stage investments) and Dexter Capital Advisors (advise $3MM-$100MM) are always eager to work with like-minded founders, angels and other members of the PE/VC/Family Office ecosystem. Do reach out to us at deals@dexter[dot]ventures keeping anuradha@dexter[dot]ventures in CC if there is anything we can help you with :) Best, Anuradha Tags: Devendra, Jayant

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Proud to have supported Wander in securing their recent $1M extension seed round! 🚀 This achievement underscores a crucial lesson in startup growth: success in follow-on funding rounds demands strategic thinking and unwavering dedication to hitting key milestones. Wander's team, led by the visionary AJ Brau, has exemplified this perfectly. Their journey from concept to a global, AI-enhanced interactive mapping platform is a testament to the power of customer-centric innovation and persistent execution. It's been a privilege to guide them through our Value Creation program, helping translate potential into a robust, actionable strategy. To aspiring entrepreneurs: remember, each funding round presents unique challenges. While initial rounds often focus on your idea, vision, and promises, follow-on rounds require solid achievements and compelling arguments supporting your actual execution. Key points to consider: 1. Expect your initial plan to evolve; investors understand that perfect 1:1 execution is rare. 2. Be prepared to showcase your decision-making process and how you've adapted to challenges. 3. Governance and operational mechanics will be scrutinized more closely in later rounds. 4. Focus on creating tangible value, hitting your targets, and effectively communicating your progress and learnings. Remember, each round is an opportunity to prove your ability to execute and adapt. The capital will follow well-executed strategies and demonstrated results. Congratulations to AJ and the entire Wander team! Your hard work is paying off, and I'm excited to see where this new funding takes you. Read more about Wander's journey and innovative approach here: https://lnkd.in/dE-9n8_2 #StartupSuccess #VentureCapital #TravelTech #Innovation #ValueCreation #Utah #Advisor

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I stalked my co-founder for months before we started a VC firm together. Not in a creepy way. I just knew Janneke Niessen was brilliant at building tech companies from scratch. She'd done it twice already. Most VCs look at the obvious things: market size, product-market fit, financials. But here's what 15 years of research taught me: 60% of startups die because their teams implode. Not competition. Not market conditions. Not running out of money. Teams fall apart. After studying thousands of founders at Berkeley and Amsterdam, I discovered something counterintuitive: The traits that make someone an amazing early founder often become toxic during scale-up. That raw drive? It can turn into control-freakery. That passionate vision? It might blind you to market changes. That fierce independence? It could prevent crucial delegation. This is why Janneke and I built CapitalT differently. We don't just evaluate pitch decks. We measure team dynamics using hard science. We spot scaling problems before they emerge. Because unicorns aren't born from pitch decks. They're built by teams that evolve. P.S. Know a founder who needs to hear this? Tag them below.

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There’s a concept in fundraising that I keep going back to, coined by Benchmark, which they call 'Liquidity Quality': It refers to how impressive are the early product engagement numbers, independently of our likely flawed assumptions about the initial market size and the world. What’s the main take-away? Work on proving liquidity quality > quantity. Tell a story that clearly displays the quality of your traction. Here’s Bill Gurley explaining the concept using Yelp as an example: #tech #startups #fundraising

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