Scale

🚀 Scale Founder Interview: Passionfroot! 🚀 We're excited to share our interview with Jennifer Phan, co-founder of Passionfroot! For those who didn't already know, Passionfroot is building the operating system for creators, managing everything from brand deals to payments - with backing from leading investors like Creandum, Accel's Scout Fund, Sequoia Capital, and more. In this edition, Jen (a former VC!) shares her methodical approach to raising their $3.8Mn seed round: + Building a strategic cap table vs just raising capital + How to create the right type of FOMO + Why finding true believers beats convincing skeptics Jen has already been featured in TechCrunch, Tech Funding News and other major tech publications - but you definitely haven't heard this before! 👉 Read the full edition here: https://lnkd.in/ghQv9P26 #CreatorEconomy #Fundraising #VentureCapital #Seed #CreatorTools

I couldn't have said it better myself 😂 I had good fun chatting to Aryaman & Rahul, for their up and coming newsletter Scale, about all things #venturedebt. link to check it out and subscribe is: https://lnkd.in/g-rD22DD

"Venture debt is for growth, not survival. We're looking for companies that can raise equity but are choosing debt for strategic reasons." Dilution is one of the biggest problems that founders face as they look to optimize and manage their cap table. In this week's Scale newsletter, Claret's Brian Geraghty shares his insights on how and why to use venture debt strategically for growth. Thanks to Aryaman Banerjee and Rahul Berry for including us! Read the full piece here ⬇️ SCALE Newsletter: https://lnkd.in/g-rD22DD Claret website: https://lnkd.in/eYT4iKFB https://lnkd.in/g-rD22DD #venturedebt #venturecapital #startupfunding #scaleup #growth

📝 Scale x Claret Capital Partners! Dilution is one of the biggest problems that founders face as they look to optimize and manage their cap table. However, they often forget to answer this question: when should you structure your round with venture debt vs equity? This week, Aryaman Banerjee and I are super excited to share our first investor interview featuring Brian Geraghty (Principal at Claret Capital) who's fund has supported companies like Epic Games, SuperAwesome, Razor Group and Butternut Box | B Corp. The problem? Most founders default to equity when they don't need to: ❌ Unnecessary dilution at critical growth stages ❌ Taking longer to raise than needed Claret's solution? Consider venture debt in these specific scenarios: ✅ Extending runway by 6-12 months to hit key metrics ✅ Bridging to a better valuation in tough markets ✅ Preserving ownership while maintaining growth ✅ Funding M&A opportunities quickly One of Brian's key learnings was that: "Venture debt is for growth, not survival. We're looking for companies that can raise equity but are choosing debt for strategic reasons." Check out the full article here 👉 https://lnkd.in/gh6p8HEj #VentureDebt #StartupLessons #VentureCapital #VentureCapital #Investor

🚀 Scale Investor Interview: Claret Capital Partners! 🚀 We're excited to share our first investor interview with Brian Geraghty, Principal at Claret Capital! For those who didn't already know, Claret Capital has deployed €1Bn+ across 180+ deals, becoming one of Europe's leading venture debt providers - backing companies like Butternut Box | B Corp, SuperAwesome, Razor Group and more! In this edition, Brian shares invaluable insights on optimizing startup funding: + When venture debt beats equity fundraising + How to time venture debt perfectly + Why the best companies use debt strategically, not desperately Are you building something that Claret Capital Partners and Brian Geraghty can back? Reach out to us in our comments below or directly at [email protected] 👉 Read the full edition here: https://lnkd.in/g-rD22DD #VentureDebt #StartupFunding #VentureCapital #ScaleUp #Growth #Fundraising

🚀 Scale Investor Interview: Claret Capital Partners! 🚀 We're excited to share our first investor interview with Brian Geraghty, Principal at Claret Capital! For those who didn't already know, Claret Capital has deployed €1Bn+ across 180+ deals, becoming one of Europe's leading venture debt providers - backing companies like Butternut Box | B Corp, SuperAwesome, Razor Group and more! In this edition, Brian shares invaluable insights on optimizing startup funding: + When venture debt beats equity fundraising + How to time venture debt perfectly + Why the best companies use debt strategically, not desperately Are you building something that Claret Capital Partners and Brian Geraghty can back? Reach out to us in our comments below or directly at [email protected] 👉 Read the full edition here: https://lnkd.in/g-rD22DD #VentureDebt #StartupFunding #VentureCapital #ScaleUp #Growth #Fundraising

Earlier this week, we released our interview featuring Silicon Valley's rising star, Shensi Ding (CEO and Co-Founder of Merge) on Scale Here's a few unique insights someone backed by Accel-KKR & New Enterprise Associates (NEA), and featured in Forbes and TechCrunch had that you should know too: 💸 #Fundraising: 1. If you want to build something truly large, skip the angels and go straight to VC, they know how to build you for scale specifically 2. VCs tend not to be prepared or change their minds, find the ones who are most likely to say yes and get them involved 💼 #Hiring 1. When interviewing someone, focus on *how* they speak about their previous role. If they seem like they couldn't care less, they likely won't care about your company either 2. Merge often went out externally to recruit specific candidates, instead of waiting for the candidates to come to them. That way they can set up their ideal team and go filling in the pieces, rather than hoping for the best from a hiring process The 2nd edition featuring Shensi and Merge will be out soon, subscribe now and check out our previous edition here 👉 https://lnkd.in/dsxrm6Jm #StartupAdvice #Entrepreneurship #VentureCapital #StartupLife #FounderJourney

Wondering how Merge got off the ground? Our CEO and co-founder, Shensi Ding, shared our company's origin story with Rahul Berry and Aryaman Banerjee on their newsletter, SCALE! Give it a read: https://hubs.li/Q02Zy01T0

🗞️ Another Tuesday, Another Scale edition! Aryaman Banerjee and I have had countless conversation with friends and colleagues about taking that leap of faith to start something new. When do you know it's the right time to quit your job? This week, we feature Shensi Ding (co-founder and CEO of Merge) who faced this exact challenge. The problem? The founder's catch-22: ❌ You need validation to quit your job ❌ But you won't get enough validation until you quit Her solution? Targeted validation of their idea while they were still employed: ✅ Spent a year testing founder-market fit ✅ Had dozens of customer conversations to validate the problem ✅ Built early prototypes ✅ Iterated on solutions until they found the right one One of Shensi's key learnings was that: "It was really helpful that my co-founder didn't want to quit his job. Many people are taken in by the excitement of being a founder, but he made sure we were 150% confident in our idea before fully committing." Check out the full article here 👉 https://lnkd.in/g-qjTucV #Merge #Founder #StartupLessons #FounderJourney #Entrepreneurship

🚀 Scale Founder Interview: Merge! 🚀 We're excited to share our interview with Shensi Ding, co-founder of Merge! For those who didn't already know, Merge is tackling the $100B+ integration market with their unified API platform - with support from leading investors like Accel-KKR, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), and more. In this edition, Shensi shares invaluable insights on making the leap to full-time founder: + The founder's catch-22: needing validation to quit, but needing to quit for validation + How to validate before going full-time + Why the best founders are risk mitigators, not risk takers Shensi has already been featured in TechCrunch, This Week in Startups, or Forbes, and we're really excited to share her story below! 👉 Read the full edition here: https://lnkd.in/gzqGxUEg #Merge #B2BSaaS #UnifiedAPI #Startup #VentureCapital #SeriesB #Fundraising