Eurie Kim

🚀 Exciting update from my recent sessions on Intro: I've had the privilege of mentoring some incredible minds, including a diverse group of founders and executives in the intersection of tech and talent-led brands. From fine-tuning fundraising approaches to navigating industry nuances, our conversations have been nothing short of inspiring. Here are my key takeaways from these enriching sessions: 1. Visionary Leadership: The clarity and vision showcased by these leaders have been truly impressive, setting a high bar for industry innovation. 2. Authentic Dialogue: What sets these sessions apart is the transparent and authentic conversations we've had. I believe in sharing hard truths and industry nuances, and it's heartening to see that resonate with those I mentor. 3. Value-Driven Collaboration: Every interaction has been a two-way street of learning and growth. I've been able to offer tailored strategies and insights, and the feedback has been immensely positive. Looking ahead, I've opened up my schedule for next week. Let's connect and explore how I can support your journey: intro.co/baminuzzi Drop a comment below with "interested," and I'll pick one person for a complimentary 15-minute call. Let's unlock new possibilities together! 💡

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💼📈🤔Boom in Execs Seeking Board Seats – Good news or bad news for startups? According to a recent FT report, 55% of departing C-suite execs are now eyeing board roles, marking a 15% year-on-year rise. But is this influx of experience really a win for startups? On one hand, their financial expertise and strategic insight can be invaluable. On the other, is operational experience really what’s needed in fast-paced, high-growth environments? You could argue either way. The real challenge for startups is ensuring these seasoned leaders bring more than just their titles to the table. What’s your take – opportunity or risk? (link to FT article but behind a paywall) https://lnkd.in/e6kxb276

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Insightful look into bioplatform strategy, and what it takes to raise a Series A from my partner, Omri Amirav-Drory: https://lnkd.in/dFv7GbF6

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This article really resonated with me, especially the section below about founders knowing their numbers. What skill set should a founder starting a brand today have?  Drew F.: "Now, more than ever, you have to know your numbers. You have to be able to describe your unit economics, not only certainly to any prospective investor, but also to yourself because the odds that you’re going to get any capital are near zero. If you don’t know your unit economics and cash flow, you won’t have a business. The founder that knows their numbers and how to scale the business in a healthy and efficient way is the founder that will prevail." Scaling a beauty brand has never been easy, but it has gotten increasingly more difficult over the past few years. Capital efficiency and a focus on margins and profitability have also become more important for investors seeking to deploy in the category. True Beauty Ventures Cristina Nuñez Rachel Brown Beauty Independent #beautyinvesting https://lnkd.in/egBiFhPC

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Reminder that the Unusual Ventures Fall 2024 Academy application is OPEN! Deadline for submissions is 9/9. Are you a Founder who wants to: 1. Learn from world class leaders the best practices of building from insight to product-market fit? 2. Receive up to $2M in a SAFE to accelerate company building? 3. Join an unmatched community of founders who are eager to support and learn with you? 4. Dive deeply into the latest pricing, go to market, and infrastructure choices founders are making for their AI-native startups? Unusual Academy is for you and your team. Each cohort consists of a small group of hand-picked Founders who are in the early stages of building Enterprise Software businesses. Over eight weeks Founders will participate in a highly personalized set of workshops that drive the building of the foundation of a successful startup. Founders will work very closely with our team on how best to execute Customer Discovery and validate the insight for your startup. We then explore the nitty gritty details of doing customer outreach and working through the Design Partner phase. We take you through proven tactics on how to navigate early customer engagements through to contract conversations. Throughout Unusual Academy we work closely with each team to align product strategy with the optimal go to market approach for their market segment and product. With the advent of AI, Founders are faced with new challenges with regard to pricing, ROI, data security, and managing infrastructure costs; we share best practices and the latest adaptations from the leading startups. Unusual Academy is a program for Founders who want to learn from exceptional teachers and get hands-on with specialized examples and tools. For those who want to maximize their probability of building a successful startup, this program is for you. https://academy.unusual.vc

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After nearly 5 life-changing years, as Walnut enters its next growth phase, I sought my investors’ blessing to find a U.S.-based leader for the company and to continue supporting the company in a supportive board role. Today, we’re very humbled to welcome San Francisco-based Eric Anderson, former President and executive of top GTM companies, as the company’s new CEO. Being the Founder/CEO of a startup that took off within a couple of months with a waitlist of 700 companies, and evolved into a whole new tech category, where dozens of companies have raised hundreds of millions in venture capital and was rapidly adopted by hundreds of enterprise customers, has been the wildest ride of my life. We also saw an online movement explode, and built a brand inspiring people to make a change —all amidst COVID lockdowns, bank crashes, global wars, and a heartbreaking situation in Israel which has just entered its second year with no resolution. I couldn’t have navigated the business without the best team a founder could possibly ask for 🩷 , and I’ll be very lucky to get to work with any of them in my future endeavors. I’ll continue supporting Eric in leading Walnut for the foreseeable future, and I’m incredibly grateful to our board for supporting the company through this transition. (NFX, Eight Roads, Felicis, Gigi Levy-Weiss, Eyal R., Jake Storm, Viviana Faga, Yair Amit). P.S. - I will, of course, forever be a prospect. First, off to get a new shirt. #WeAreProspects

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Since COVID, we've seen an acceleration of "health as wealth" - where 82% of the US population consider wellness a top priority - and, while we did see some slower growth in the subsequent years in terms of volume and M&A post 2022, we have conviction that spend on health and wellness as a whole is again on an upward swing. In our latest benchmark report, covered by Beauty Independent, we focus on VMS and the trends that are driving volume back to the category: the growth of GLP1 and its impact, nootropics as ADHD alternatives to prescription drugs, among others. We also include some representative companies in these categories such as SoWell Health and Thesis, respectively. Thanks to the participating funds in this one: Madeline Kaplan Selva Ventures Emily Bullman JamJar Investments Odile Roujol Fab Co-Creation Studio Ventures Lerer Hippeau, and Brian Buchert of Church & Dwight Co., Inc. for a strategic perspective. More on the article linked... https://lnkd.in/ge-u7Pq5

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Amongst the most successful VCs in consumer in the past decade has been Kirsten Green at Forerunner So I asked her all about how startups can navigate the 70% reduction in consumer investing & why now might be the best time for VCs to look harder at the category. I loved this discussion. I always learn something from Kirsten. Click below to watch / listen https://lnkd.in/g3kiMPD5

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Today, Two Chairs announces $72M of new funding to continue building a world where everyone has access to exceptional mental health care. Since late 2017, when Maveron led the Two Chairs Series A, the need for mental health services has grown considerably as our society has become lonelier and more isolated than ever. At the same time, our culture’s willingness to openly acknowledge these challenges is greater than ever. Sadly, the rapid growth of Two Chairs affirms the fact that our society is in desperate need of better mental health support. Two Chairs has built a business that believes clinical quality is the defining characteristic of success. Alex Katz has always emphasized the paramountcy of measurement-based clinical outcomes, which the team works tirelessly to achieve. In the process, Two Chairs has illustrated that embracing the ‘move fast and break things’ mentality doesn’t always work. Instead, Two Chairs opted for a different approach: they went slow to go fast. They built a proprietary algorithm that matches patients with the perfect therapist at the onset and hired a team of W2 clinicians oriented toward providing the highest quality care available. Even as the Two Chairs team has grown, their culture has remained small. This has enabled more intimate relationships within the team and between clients and clinicians. Reflecting on this milestone brings me back to the founding of Maveron and the values we hold dear. In 1998, my friend Howard Schultz and I founded Maveron to help entrepreneurs build companies that improve the lives of everyday people—their employees and their customers. There is perhaps no better example of this than Two Chairs. *** Thank you to TechCrunch's Marina Temkin, CFA for the great write-up. https://tcrn.ch/4aMt7yG

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Congratulations to Roland Reynolds and the team at Industry Ventures on the raise of its latest $900M hybrid fund (split three ways, 40% backing VC funds, 40% directly investing in promising Series B startups from their existing partnerships, and 20% acquiring stakes in emerging investment firms from other LPs looking to exit). Read more from Marina Temkin, CFA at TechCrunch below. #VC #venturecapital #fundraising #startups #investing #news #technews #startupnews

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In a startup's early days, founders often skip detailed compensation planning, instead choosing round numbers and moving on. This is an admirable sentiment. But over the long term, founder compensation design can matter a lot to the company, so it's worth taking some time to think this through. Here are some benchmarks and suggestions for founder compensation across: 1. Salary 2. Equity Split 3. Vesting https://lnkd.in/gcDXehXx

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At SignalFire, it's long been our thesis that the next decade of healthcare will follow the trends of how the ecommerce industry evolved in the past decade - increasingly using big data to hyper personalize and target its audience. Isn't it crazy that our healthcare industry is reactive? If you are reading this post, then you are likely one of us - privileged and educated to be proactive about our health. Most Americans aren't. They show up at a doctor's office only when they need help. And that's where things start breaking down - months of wait times, big out of pocket costs, and a frustrating experience all around. Companies like One Medical and Praia Health are fundamentally redefining what proactive healthcare means - engaging patients exactly the way each person wants for the best outcomes. Excited to have been featured on Healthcare Rap Podcast with Jared Johnson to jam about the future of consumer healthcare at length! #healthcare #healthcaretech #innovation https://lnkd.in/gFpmmu6y

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After the first deep dive discussion w/ founders I often hear a comment "I wish I had heard about this alternative [to all-in must-become-a-unicorn] way to build a startup earlier as I have wasted years in pursuing the wrong thing". Our mission is that no founder would ever need to say that again as it is such a waste. Us preaching the gospel 1:1 just doesn't scale, hence we use mass media to multiply our efforts - that's how Gorillacast came to be. The 1st episode is out, featuring yours truly. "How can you know what food you like unless you taste everything" said a chef. How can founders make informed choices about the best strategy for them to follow unless they know of all alternatives? This might not be of interest to you but pls spread the word so that the founders who should hear it can find it. I have a dream!

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💰 Women-Led VC Funds: Navigating 2024 Fundraising Landscape 💰 According to Venture Capital Journal, despite a strong start, women-led VC funds are feeling the impact of the industry-wide fundraising slowdown. As of November 30, 2024, women-led VC funds have raised $2.54 billion, which represents a 25% decrease from 2023's total of $3.43 billion. In comparison, global venture fundraising is down 13% YoY. While the numbers reflect challenges, there's still potential for growth: • Several funds typically file updates in December • These late submissions could help narrow the gap Let's continue supporting diversity in VC and monitor these trends as we approach year-end. #VentureCapital #WomenInVC #FundingTrends2024 La Creme de la STEM ™ - female founders support system Noshin Ahmed Lori Rodriguez Emilie Vallauri Craig Zapatka

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"But I think consumer is actually a great place to be building and investing. Whenever something is out of favor, that’s a sign it’s probably a good place to spend time: this is an industry built on being contrarian, not built on following the herd. We’re entering a compelling few years for consumer entrepreneurship. Big consumer wins compare favorably to big enterprise wins—relative to Snowflake’s market cap, Uber is ~3x in size, Airbnb is ~2x in size, and DoorDash is roughly equal. (Snowflake is the biggest enterprise IPO of the last decade.) The last few years produced a windfall of consumer outcomes, yet investors today almost write off the category." https://lnkd.in/gNR-Wwcn

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When we asked CPG founders who they wanted at Founderland... Their answer was clear: People who can help them grow their business & achieve their goals. Specifically: - The top retailers - The most founder-friendly investors, and - Other founders they can learn from and share with This conversation that I'm hosting at Founderland is a perfect representation of this group, plus one BIG bonus. We're also including Joel Toledano and ChargeUp.ai which is one of my favorite tech companies that is supporting consumer brands today. They automate the retail deduction and chargeback process for brands, saving them an insane amount of time and money. Such a cool co. Excited to teach, share and connect...and get some deals done, while of course having lots of fun. Joel Toledano Jen Zeszut Kim Coffin Deb Conklin

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Have you heard of #CapVC? It’s an application platform designed specifically for the use of #VC firms. Essentially, it’s a robust #AI-powered tool made to simplify the daily operations of managing a #fund. Isn’t that something, a VC funded start-up designed to help improve the productivity of VC funding! According to this article from TechCrunch, Cap VC is looking to become much more than just an ‘operating system’ — the company aims to be a simplified and extremely efficient way to run a VC firm: reducing digital clutter by turning PDF files, income statements and balance sheets into readable data, automating company suggestions based on the context of a VC’s portfolio, and more. Cap VC is currently developing native apps on Mac and Windows, alongside releasing an API so that developers can build on top of their foundations. So, are any of my fellow VCs interested in using this software? If not Cap VC, is there any interest for similar software to be created down the line? Are there downsides to using a third-party application like this? I want to know what you all think.

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The Care Summit was an incredible conference, made up of world class speakers, mission driven founders and top tier VC’s. To top it off- it was hosted in San Francisco (don’t bet against SF!). I feel really fortunate I was invited to attend. Most people don’t realize the care economy is now a 6 trillion dollar industry, and only growing. Every opportunistic industry gets a lot of attention when capitalist are at work, but oddly Care- something that will impact every human- gets a fraction of the attention it deserves. Why is this? Why at a conference that’s focused on caregiving, longevity, child care and human health was there only a handful of men? On one discussion, one of the moderators asked the panelist in 5 words what they want to see happen between now and next year. If I was given the opportunity to answer, I would have said, “more male participation”. I think it’s critical more women lead, enter venture, build companies and hold executive roles- we need more voices not few- but I am baffled by the absence of men, and the lack of effort on the huge problems at home, at work and in our policies. We must participate and create positive impact, and not sit silent because you feel you are not impacted (news flash: you are). I am leaving San Francisco inspired by conversations I had. I am eager to dig in deeper at Maple as a founder in this space, and at home as a husband, brother, son and father. A big thank you to FamTech.org , Magnify Ventures , Pivotal Ventures , The Holding Co. And every person involved. I look forward to attending next year, and hope more men join in.

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In 2003, Mike Kirban was skating around NYC selling coconut water. 20 years later, that same product is set to hit $500 million in sales. 🥥 This is the Vita Coco story. The product is simple - some may even call it a commodity. But, branding, story telling and the right marketing allowed this Verlinvest portfolio company to win. This story will show that brands are built with patience, hustle and heart. In 2003, co-founders Michael Kirban and Ira Liran met 2 Brazilian women at a bar. Ira ended up falling in love with one of them and moved to Brazil🇧🇷 Later, during one of Mike’s visits, Ira convinced him to partner up to start selling coconut water in the US. Vita Coco was born! They scraped together $75,000 and bought two containers of coconut water; only to realize that they didn’t have FDA clearance to import them. But that didn’t stop them – They re-exported them to the Bahamas and flew there to sell through the product door-to-door. Mike was everywhere—skating through NYC in the morning, doing store demos in the afternoon and then bookkeeping at night. That’s the real founder hustle :) Meanwhile, Zico, a better-funded competitor, was emerging, setting the stage for the "coconut water wars." It’s around this time that Verlinvest realized we wanted to have a share of the coco-war, and ended up investing $2M. At the time, Vita Coco had not even hit $1M in sales yet. The momentum continued. In 2010, the brand raised a $5M celebrity from celebs like Madonna and Matthew McConaughey. Today, this is common - but at that time it was path breaking. Suddenly, they had the megaphone they needed to build massive brand awareness 🫡 Through the years, their distinct branding and marketing strategy allowed them to stand out on shelves across the world. In 2021, Vita Coco went public, raising $172M. Now, they’re on their way to clock $500M in sales :) From no business plan to building one of the biggest global beverage companies, the story of Michael and Ira building brand in a category like coconut water is one that’s always amazed me. In a lot of cases in consumer products, the product isn’t necessarily the moat. Success comes from brand and a relentless hustle - the willingness to roll with the punches. I’ve always said - the best way to start is to start. You will end up figuring out a lot on the way. I love the product. Have you tried Vita Coco? Do you think there is a case to build such a large coconut water brand in India? PS: Thinking of sharing more stories of our global Verlinvest portfolio like this. Thoughts? #business #entrepreneurship #founder

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