Darren Murphy

Compare this to founders and startups from developing Asia. The avg pre-seed round would be around €100K and Founder's salary would be around €10K PA. Startups with lower burn will be invincible as Innovation and tech tools aren't geo-restricted anymore. #Startups #VentureCapital #Investment #Innovation #Funding

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Going from a pre-seed to a seed business has been a HUGE mindset shift for me as a founder and our team as a whole. 🤯💰 At pre-seed, preserving runway is constantly top of mind (understandably, as you’re a lot further from PMF!). Now, having raised a $7M seed round, it’s a different ball game… On Monday, we held a full-day strategy session with the whole team. The goal? To discuss how we’re moving forward. We spent a lot of time talking about our ethos on how we spend money now that we have it. And what does it mean to be a cash-rich business (that still prioritises high margins and REFUSES to spend foolishly!) So here’s the mindset shift: TIME is our most valuable asset ⏰ This means ensuring each team member’s time is spent on the most IMPACTFUL things. And building the system around them so they can perform at the highest level. Essentially, we want our people to feel like they’re high-performance athletes. 🏃🏼‍♀️💨 So if there’s a £1,000 SaaS tool that’s gonna make someone more productive - buy it. If there’s a high-ROI event that costs more than we’re comfortable with - let’s just do it and learn from the outcome. We’re NOT here to agonize over small decisions, because it’s that hesitation that will hold us back. And we’re certainly not going to throw our money into a pit and light it on fire by hiring 30 engineers. But we will invest heavily in the 3 or so we do hire, ensuring they have the: 🔨 Tools 😌 Environment 🧡 Support to perform at their highest level. Bottom line - we will not be shy about spending money on things that set our people up for success!

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Founders that are feeling lost could do this 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴. More recently I'm seeing late-seed/ Series A founders struggling with where to focus and how to get teams aligned and build with intensity. Many "hard things" come up in our discussions, and to be honest I often struggle to figure out where I can have the most impact. Being a founder (especially now) feels like standing on the edge of a cliff, staring into the abyss, and chewing on glass (per Elon). 𝗦𝗼 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁? The older I get, the more I know that the magic is in simplicity and clarity. To be and feel in control, founders need to know the details. With greater clarity founders can act with both information and intuition. And 𝘀𝗹𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝘁 𝗻𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁. It sounds obvious but I see the greatest growth when founders double-down on doing this one thing first: 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗮𝗹𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲 and 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘂𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵 about what is 𝚛̲𝚎̲𝚊̲𝚕̲𝚕̲𝚢̲ going on in the business. 1) What are 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀 and pipeline really thinking and feeling? 2) What is your 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 really seeing, thinking and feeling? Simple and obvious, but not always being done. Getting unvarnished raw data is step #1 to finding focus and getting back on track. #founders #leadership #startups #clarity #truth #simplicity

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Subscribed ✅ Chris Tottman and Rubén D. share some of the best startup related content on LinkedIn. To me, it is basically free, world class, business consulting for entrepreneurs and investors;

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1st thing I say in every 1st board meeting - you're not selling to me anymore, we're partners 🤝 This can be a hard transition for founders to make But it's crucial to have an effective, useful board You need to do a hard reset Stop telling your investors only the good stuff And start telling them the bad stuff, the difficult things, the challenges, your worries This enables the board to help, and builds a culture of transparency, trust and mutual respect #startups #venturecapital #entrepreneur #entrepreneurship #founder #technology #innovation #management #board

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I have spoken with more early-stage Founders in the first half of this year than any other full year previously. A lot of the time, a big focus for them is around fundraising and it's always high on the discussion agenda (both pre and post raising). Questions like the below are front of centre of them conversations: ▶ What advice can you give me when I'm sitting down with an investor? ▶ What do you think of my pitch deck? ▶ Is there anyone you can introduce me to who's interested in what I'm building? ▶ Once we've raised, how do we start building but keeping the runway extended as long as possible? I received a great email from Hustle Fund earlier in the month with the clear message to Founders to know your numbers and know them in detail. I hope they don't mind me sharing but below are 5 areas they shared that a Founder(s) must know and be able to talk about. There are definitely more you need to be prepared to discuss but these are ones you should absolutely know. 𝟭. 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝗡𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀 🔹 How much revenue did you earn this month? Last month? The month before? 🔹 Which acquisition channels drove revenue? 🔹 What is the cost of your product (or subscription)? 🔹 How much of your revenue is attributed to the product vs. your consulting services? 🔹 Excluding marketing, what are your margins? 𝟮. 𝗔𝗰𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗡𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀 🔹 What is your cost per acquisition? 🔹 What is your website conversion rate? 🔹 How many daily active users do you have? How many monthly? 🔹 What is your retention rate?  🔹 What is your monthly churn? 𝟯. 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗡𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀 🔹 How much have you raised to date?  🔹 How much are you raising now? 🔹 What were the terms in your last round? 🔹 What are the terms in this round?   𝟰. 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗡𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀 🔹 What milestones do you expect to hit with this raise? 🔹 What metrics do you care about when measuring the health of your business? Why?   𝟱. 𝗦𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 🔹 How have your conversion rates changed over time? Have they increased, decreased, or stayed the same? 🔹 How have different customer acquisition channels performed? For example, what is the difference in conversion rate between Facebook ads versus LinkedIn ads? I hope the above helps guide the Founders out there who are engaging in conversations with VC's / Investors. I'm happy to talk through with anyone in my network who would appreciate a sounding board going into investor meetings, would like to discuss support in getting ready to raise or you have raised and need support around next steps. #founders #startups #investors #vcs

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Some really excellent insights here for founders on what it means to be VC funded.

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🚨 Funding Alert: It's the last day of October, and 2024 is slipping away faster than you think... You know it, I know it – the funding world moves at LIGHTNING speed ⚡️ Timing is everything, and opportunities vanish in the blink of an eye. If you're aiming to land a funding deal before year's end, we've got your back! 💪 At Magdalena Reith, we're offering a special Q4 deal: Book a pitch deck package before November 15th and get a FREE one-pager 🎁 Your strategic conversation starter that turns "Maybe later" into "Let's talk!" Looking to finish Q4 strong and slingshot your startup into 2025? Here's what you get in our Q4 Power Package: 🎯 Expert guidance  🎁 FREE one-pager  💼 Professional pitch deck  ⏰ Priority completion (optional) Reach out via DM or drop a comment below to learn more and lock in your package before November 15th! #StartupFunding #PitchDecks #Startups

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🗞️ I caught up with Hayden Evans recently at Beam it Recruitment to talk about: ▶ how I started with programming and my career so far ▶ the current landscape of Elixir learning materials ▶ the pros and cons of a language like Elixir ▶ why I started PureType and how it fits into a new world of software development 🔗 Link to the article is in the post below

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In 2019, I led a £9m Seed Round. It was the largest Seed Round in the UK that year. Now... You would expect the usual reasons why we invested so much: 1. A clear story 2. Special founders 3. A large opportunity But there was also something else that was a big reason for why we invested. What was it? The founders were able to hire in some of the best people we had seen. They had already built exactly what this company needed to. They had extreme amounts of success doing it. And now were willing to risk everything to join this tiny little start-up. Funnily enough one of those exceptional hires ended up being the CEO! That’s how good their hiring was. At the end of the day, investors invest into teams. And those teams are the people who are going to be the difference between a successful company or not. So as a founder you have to show investors that you can, will and have hired the best of the best. Because second-rate hires will never cut it. -- P.S. What do you think about team-building and its importance? ♻️ Repost to help a founder in your network

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Anthony's innovations have had a massively positive impact on so many in the UK tech ecosystem. I think it would be wise for the UK Gov (and Rt Hon Rachel Reeves) to pay attention. #capitalraising #startups #fundraising #founders #venturecapital #investors #vc #vcfunding #technology #startup #tech

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My thoughts below on how EdTech businesses can best position themselves for success. BGF has invested £100m+ across Education, Training & EdTech to date, and we continue to look for more exciting businesses and teams to partner with. Do reach out if you would like to discuss any of the below or hear more on how BGF funding, and our extensive value creation offering, can help unlock your next phase of growth. #BGFGoodGrowth

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Raising capital is a stressful endeavour, and yet this most recent equity round was a strangely validating affair! Beonic attracted new investment from some heavy hitters and overall this Equity Round was oversubscribed with bids reaching 150% of the capital we were looking for with little to no marketing. I specifically want to call out participation from EnPar Capital and its US based principals Omer Granit, Vladimir Efros and Erik Levy. Between them they have over 60 years of collective experience as investors with very broad networks to help support their investments. Noteworthy board, transaction, and early stage investments by them over the years include Skype, Informatica Corporation, Socure, Brainbox AI, Kickstarter, Neuren Pharmaceuticals, Amaero, and Suddenlink, amongst many others. It's quite the track record. I can't wait to lean on Omer, Vlad and Erik as we redouble our efforts in the US; we have an existing stable of impressive clients there with JFK International Air Terminal, Ford Field, Charlotte Douglas International Airport, Spooky Nook Sports and many others, but nothing will hold us back from achieving our ambitions in the vast US market. Alpine Capital, Canaccord Genuity Australia, Charles Reed, Carl Henschke, Jack Sampson

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The best founders I've ever met love the start-up process more than the outcome🚶🏼 My friend Peter shared this interesting data yesterday on the time (in years) from the day of incorporation to various funding milestones for software start-ups and it got me thinking. 👉🏼 Growth rates and execution speed are everything for VC-backed start-ups. You'll rarely find a VC investor who says "take your time, figure things out and we'll go from there" which reinforces the need for founders to do as much validation as possible before raising external capital. 👉🏼 It's more common that I see 'exit potential' slides in pitch decks instead of slides evidencing how gritty a founder is or how the team they've assembled will go all the way over the years. These points are key to understand if you're building a VC-backed start-up as both impact the way you'll grow the company. The chart below shows the time to primary round (no funny business with bridges or extensions) and is filtered to just software companies (hardware/biotech plays at different timescales). 𝗦𝗲𝗲𝗱 (𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗱𝗲𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀 & 𝗦𝗔𝗙𝗘𝘀 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 $𝟮𝗠) • Median of 1.8 years from incorporation recently • Up 15% or so from 2019 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗔 • Median: 3.1 years from incorporation • Up 10% from 2019 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗕 • Median: 4.7 years from incorporation • 16% higher than 2019 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗖 • Median: 6 years from incorporation 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗗  • Median pushed to 8.1 years from incorporation #founders #vc #startup #growth

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Whilst working on GoPlugable we’ve often talked about our bootstrapping journey where we funded our first year of development almost exclusively through grants competitions and accelerator programs. And whilst we can’t win everything, with £150,000 of equity free funds raised in 10 months it’s fair to say we’ve had a pretty good run at it! I always recommend to startups to avail of the support out there and bootstrap for as long as you can, we’ve gotten support both locally and internationally and it definitely can be done. 💸 Part of what I love so much about being in the startup world is not only working on my own startup but also hearing what others are working on. I get quite a lot of messages from very early stage founders asking how we managed to build our platform and get it off the ground on bootstrapped funds - every founder I have the opportunity to help in some way has also taught me something. As always my inbox is open and I’m more than happy to answer any questions you have but I wanted to gauge interest for offering more in depth one hour calls to help you to be able to present your startup in the best way possible whether it be through an application programme, pitch deck, website or MVP. Things are always busy at GoPlugable so for a very small fee I can allocate more of my time to give this more in depth advice based on what you need help with most. So if interested please give me a dm 🙋🏻‍♀️ Things I can help with: 1. Writing application forms and how to speed this process up when applying for many things at a time (we have this down to a fine art at GoPlugable!). 2. Putting together pitch deck in 3 min, 5min and 10 min formats and what is needed for each. 3. Help with what is needed for an MVP/wireframe, advice around budgeting and can provide intros to developers/ web designers who can provide quality work at a startup friendly price. 4. Give you a heads up on what applications you should be applying for and update you on this via email. 5. Basics of financial projections modelling- particularly for B2C/marketplaces. 6. Go to market strategies, marketing and PR advice. Applications and programmes I have experience with: -QUB Dragons Den winner 2023 -QUest Programme participant and pitch winner -INVENT winner 2023 -Techstart 10K and 35K proof of concept grants -Invest NI from student to first sale grant -innovateUK -Catalyst Cofounders -Enterprise Ireland New Frontiers Programme -Student Entrepreneur Awards -Santander X semi finalist -FIA mobility startup winner -Impact shakers urban impact pitch winner - and a lot more!

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The biggest lesson I've learnt since starting a start-up is the importance of having a good co-founder. I've worked at a start-up that went bankrupt by founding team and another that grew, and grew, and grew by it's founders. My co-founder, Kiril Climson and I will be no different. I can't fathom how hard success would be to achieve alone. Only being able to count on energy and support sources from yourself sounds like a nightmare. The thing that keeps Order Editing going is the fact that Kiril and I know that we will not be in a funk together. When I feel as if things are going to fall apart, it's Kiril who tells me that "No, look at the numbers. You are doing fine, just keep at it, you'll get it." and vice versa. We support and rely each other in a very necessary way when you consider what we're hoping to achieve. I got very lucky with Kiril as a co-founder, and I'd like to think he got pretty lucky with me. The advice that I would give to anyone who's thinking of starting a start-up would be put yourself in as good a position as possible to get lucky with who your co-founder is. + I was lucky to know Kiril for almost a year before we took the leap to build a company together. By that stage, I had full confidence in his strength as a co-founder. + The hallmark of a good co-founder is this moment when you realise that you can't work for anyone else. You have to start your own thing. Kiril and I bonded over having this realisation. + I look up to my co-founders intelligence, determination, and integrity. The most important qualities of any person you work with. It inspires me to think deeper, to show up at 100% for him, and to make the right choices. It takes a miraculous amount of effort to build something special. You'd hate to go through the highs, lows, and turning points with the wrong people. #Founders #Startups

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Really is refreshing to see a founder talk so plainly open and honest about building a startups, low, highs, fundraising and Europe in context of innovation startups: Daniel Khachab at 20VC podcast I used to listen to podcasts on my way to and back from the office Recently not so much - here is the reason: It is mostly about a VC showcasing one of their portfolio companies. Asking half-hearted soft questions that are not only vague but only work to optimise the image and praise the startup as to "how they will change the world" We would like to learn about the real story. The dirty stuff. The nightmares. How you resolved them. Not how everyone wanted to invest and particularly not that you found product market fit with the shittiest product in the world because the problem you were solving was so important and there was no competition It never is like that What other podcasts are doing this? Hope Harry keeps doing more of this - I was just about to churn from 20VC, good thing I listened to this one

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This month marks my 10 year anniversary in Venture, and what a ten years it has been 🎉 🤩 First stop: JamJar Investments Rewind 10 years and you’ll find me sitting at my desk at JamJar, operating under the alias of “Bread”, working my way through an inbox full of 1000 cold inbound pitch decks, reviewing and replying to every single one. Highlights included a hand drawn picture of a new ketchup sachet design with “target market: Nandos” written below it, and a concept for a drink that tasted like the leftover milk at the bottom of a cereal bowl. But there were also some diamonds in the rough, and it was here that I got my first experience of that lightbulb moment when you meet an exceptional founder that you want to back, making my first investment a few months in. JamJar was the best training ground I could have hoped for, and I'm so grateful to Katie Marrache and Adam Balon, Richard Reed & Jonathan Wright for welcoming me into the team. Second stop: Venrex In 2015, I joined Mark & Tom at Venrex alongside Pooja Patel. We clicked as a team immediately, and over the ensuing years launched 7 new funds, grew the portfolio to 180+ companies, built a brilliant team, moved from a small attic in West London to panoramic views in Fitzrovia, and had a lot of fun along the way. As well as the buzz of discovering new founders to back, I also discovered my love for supporting founders post-investment. With 11 board roles and a further 16 portfolio companies to support, the ex-strategy consultant in me had just enough to get my teeth into. Venrex’s people-centric and pragmatic approach to investing chimed with my own instincts about the type of investor I wanted to be. They gave me the most incredible platform to grow as an investor and roll up my sleeves with all of the operational sides of running a venture fund. To the entire Venrex team, new and old, thank you for an amazing chapter. Third stop: Circle & Co In June, I left Venrex to launch my own Venture fund, Circle & Co, which is on track for its first close next month. It's by total chance that this milestone falls on my 10th anniversary in venture, but what an incredible way to kick off the next decade. More details on the fund to follow, but for the moment I want to thank the amazing network of friends, fellow VCs, founders, LPs and family who have got me this far. You are the original Circle, and have been the inspiration & driving force behind this next step. Let's make it a good one.

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Do this before your Series A I often see founders Once they have proved the concept Get pressured into scaling fast and expanding further so much so that they get into the trap of expanding and burning To avoid that watch this #seriesA #growthstage #pr #expantion #Vc #startups

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