24 and Up

Founder Eric Boduch recently sat down with GrepBeat to reflect on some of the lessons learned in the first two years of the studio and share the early wins of our portfolio companies Revcast, Wayfound, and Troupe. Check out what's next for us in 2025.

⏳ Don’t Rush Your Beta—Use It to Refine, Not Just Validate ⏳ In the excitement of bringing your product to market, it’s tempting to rush through the beta phase. But moving too quickly can lead to missed opportunities for improvement and potential pitfalls when your product hits general availability. Make the most of your beta. - Prioritize Critical Feedback: Not all beta feedback is created equal. Focus on recurring issues that impact user experience or core functionality. - Iterate During the Beta: Use this phase to test solutions and release improvements, not just gather information. A dynamic beta allows you to validate changes in real-time. - Prepare for Scale: Address performance or scalability issues now. Waiting until post-launch to handle scaling problems can lead to costly fixes. We coach our startups to use beta testing as a period of learning and refining—not just validation. The more robust and user-friendly your product is at launch, the better chance it has to gain traction. #BetaTesting #ProductLaunch #StartupStrategy #UserExperience #24andUp #EarlyStageDevelopment

🎯 Maximizing the Value of Your Beta: It’s All About User Feedback 🎯 A successful beta launch is a critical step in your product journey—it’s your chance to test your assumptions, validate your product, and iron out any issues before going live. But too many startups treat beta testing as a soft launch rather than an opportunity to gather meaningful insights. Here’s how to run a beta that sets your product up for success: - Engage Early Adopters: Select beta users who represent your ideal customer. Their feedback will be more relevant and actionable. - Set Clear Goals: Are you testing functionality, usability, or performance? Define what success looks like for your beta. - Collect Qualitative and Quantitative Data: Surveys and interviews will give you qualitative insights, while usage metrics can reveal how users interact with your product in real-time. Remember that the purpose of a beta is to learn. Listen to your users, iterate, and improve. Your beta is not just a pre-launch test—it’s the foundation for a successful product launch. #ProductBeta #UserFeedback #StartupAdvice #ProductLaunch #24andUp #BetaTesting

🎯 Make Your Product Beta Count: Focus on Feedback! 🎯 A successful beta phase is all about actionable feedback. Engage early adopters, set clear goals, and use their insights to refine your product. The better your beta, the smoother your full launch will be. #BetaTesting #ProductLaunch #UserFeedback #24andUp

🔧 Engineers: Don’t Fall into the Trap of Over-Engineering Your Product 🔧 In the early stages of building a startup, it's easy for engineers to fall into the trap of over-engineering. It’s tempting to design for a flawless, scalable product right out of the gate, but that mindset can actually slow down progress and eat up valuable time. At the pre-seed stage, the focus should be on speed and iteration. Here’s why over-engineering can hurt: - Delayed Launch (this is HUGE): Focusing on perfecting your product often delays getting it into the hands of users who can provide feedback. - Wasted Resources: Building unnecessary features that users may not want or need leads to wasted time and effort. - Complexity Over Clarity: The more complex your initial product, the harder it becomes to pivot or adapt to customer feedback. Remember, your goal at this stage is to validate assumptions and solve user problems fast. Build an MVP that is simple, functional, and flexible—then iterate from there. #EngineeringAdvice #StartupMistakes #PreSeedStage #MVPDevelopment #24andUp #ProductStrategy

🚀 Engineers: Don’t Optimize for Scale Before You’re Ready 🚀 One of the biggest mistakes early-stage engineers make is optimizing for scale before it's necessary. While it's important to think long-term, at the pre-seed stage, your priority should be building a product that solves a real problem—not one that can handle millions of users right away. How premature scaling can hurt: - Slows Development: Focusing on scaling can overcomplicate your architecture, slowing down development cycles. - Wastes Resources: You might spend time building out infrastructure for growth that never happens or ends up needing to change once you understand your users better. - Misses Core Needs: In the rush to optimize, you can overlook critical early-stage feedback and miss building the features that really matter to your users. Instead, focus on building for today, solving real user problems, and creating a product that works well for your current audience. You can always scale later once you've validated your market and have the traction to support it. Build lean and efficient and focus on agility over premature optimization. Solve the problems in front of you—scaling can come later (and will, if you’re deliberate in the early days). #PrematureScaling #EngineeringPitfalls #StartupTech #MVPFocus #AgileDevelopment

🔍 Investor Due Diligence: Be Prepared Investor due diligence can make or break your funding round. Have your financials in order, verify all claims, and prepare your team for the necessary deep dives. It's an opportunity to highlight the kind of partner you'll be. Transparency and preparedness will set you apart and build investor confidence. #DueDiligence #StartupFunding #EarlyStage

🎯 Early Customer Acquisition: Why Focusing on the Right Users is Key 🎯 In the early stages of your startup, customer acquisition is crucial—but more isn’t always better. The first wave of customers can make or break your product’s future, so it’s essential to focus on acquiring the right customers as you aim to build traction. Approach early customer acquisition strategically: - Target Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP): Focus on customers who feel the pain point you’re solving the most. These users will be more engaged, provide better feedback, and be more likely to stick around. - Leverage Niche Markets: You can't capture the whole market at once. Start with a niche, build credibility, and use that as a launching point to expand. - Engage Early Adopters: Early adopters are more tolerant of rough edges and willing to help you refine your product. Treat them like partners—collect their feedback and iterate fast. Avoid the trap of chasing vanity metrics like huge user numbers early on. Instead, aim for customer quality—engaged, high-LTV users who are excited about your product and will help you fine-tune it before scaling. Remember, the foundation you lay with early customers sets the stage for long-term growth. Build strong relationships, learn from their feedback, and create advocates who will help drive your product forward. #CustomerAcquisition #StartupGrowth #EarlyStageStrategy #ProductLaunch #CustomerEngagement

💡 Founder-Led Sales are The Secret Weapon for Early-Stage Fundraising 💡 At the pre-seed and seed stages, investors are not just betting on your product— they’re betting on you. That’s why founder-led sales are so important when raising early capital. No one understands your vision, market, or product as well as you do, and no one can sell it with the same passion. Here’s why founders need to take the lead in sales during the early days: 1. Build Credibility and Trust: Investors want to see that you, as a founder, can directly connect with customers and close deals. It shows you deeply understand the problem and solution. 2. Receive Unfiltered Feedback: Selling your own product allows you to hear firsthand what resonates with customers and what doesn’t. This direct feedback loop is invaluable as you iterate on your product. 3. Signal Commitment to Investors: Founder-led sales demonstrate hustle and a hands-on approach, giving investors confidence that you’re fully invested in the company’s success. Founders are encouraged to get out of their comfort zones and lead sales in the early stages. Investors are not just looking for great products—they want to see that the founder has the drive and ability to bring their vision into reality. Remember: your ability to sell the future and get early customers on board is often a direct reflection of your ability to raise capital. #FounderLedSales #StartupFundraising #EarlyStageStartups #Entrepreneurship #InvestorRelations

🎯 Crafting a Pitch Deck? Nail These Essentials! 🎯 For early-stage startups, a standout pitch deck is key. Highlight your problem-solution fit, showcase your team, and provide actionable metrics that demonstrate demand and operational control of your business. Make every slide count — investors need to see your vision and traction clearly. #PitchDeck #StartupSuccess #InvestorRelations #VentureCapital #Fundraising