Mike Zani

A well-rounded PE board has: • Finance know-how • Strategic skills • Execution chops • Human capital expertise ...around the same table. Same goes for a port-co leadership team. Gotta have these key ingredients. Great convo with Ryan Tansom on the Intentional Growth Podcast! #PrivateEquity #Board #Leadership #Talent

7

4 Comments

DeepCast shipped a number of really cool new features recently in advance of a broad outreach push to podcast listeners. One new feature is our new Daily DeepDigest tool that sends you a concise daily email including any new episodes from the trailing 24 hours from any podcasts you Subscribe to (on DeepCast). Think daily podcast cliff notes or podcast news ticker tape, with a hint of Morning Brew various brews or PitchBook News—it's increasing information throughput when you're pressed for time. And this feature is rapidly evolving to distill other key extractions from shows you're already interested in, but also exposing you to other shows you might be unfamiliar with that also have nuggets to share—and thus increasing your aperture yet still conscious of your time. Want to go deeper on any given episode? Click the episode detail and you're off to an episode on DeepCast, where you can subsequently read a longer form distillation of that episode or go straight to the source and listen to the episode. (And podcaster friends, these pages are definitely increasing indexing and thus Google entry points to your shows!) I'm loving this feature as a user, personally. Can't wait to see what others think! #BuildingInPublic #Podcasts #AllTheWorldsInformation #HowYouWantIt

24

1 Comment

💰 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

26

1 Comment

One of the things we see quite often at Grit Capital Partners, is a newly minted CEO. We see a big difference in the transition to CEO based upon the historical lane the CEO is coming from. There are different new muscles if you are coming from Product, Engineering, Finance, etc. In this article, we go deep on the CRO to CEO transition, which includes some thoughts from Rosie O'Meara, a particularly fine example of someone who has made the transition quite well. What were your biggest transition moments? https://lnkd.in/eEB-K2ZU

79

6 Comments

I've sat on both sides of the M&A table dozens of times. Having a differentiated product with a defensible moat in a healthy market is critically important. Full stop. However, don't under-estimate the importance of demonstrating to the buyer that you have a deep, genuine understanding of your business. For example... Be able to clearly articulate why strategic decisions were made in the past. (What was your rationale? What adjustments did you make and why? What did you learn?) Be able to logically and reasonably describe how and why gross margins, growth rates, profitability, retention rates, etc. will improve over time. Know the language of your buyer...e.g. if you're a SaaS business seeking an investment from Private Equity, you must know what they mean by bookings, net revenue retention, gross margins, CAC, payback, cash EBITDA, etc. Further, when asked about these things, your ability to answer immediately with confidence and specificity ("$24.2M" is a MUCH better answer than "I think it's about $24 or $25M...but I can confirm with our investment banker"). This instills a level of comfort with the buyer, which generates real value in how excited they will get about the investment / acquisition and maybe even the price they're willing to pay. It may feel superficial, but someone that is going to write a check for tens or hundreds of millions of dollars wants to feel confident that you and your team are locked in on the economic engine of your business and can speak to it in black-and-white metrics. Obviously, I can't scientifically put a number or percentage to what this is worth, but I can tell you that I've been in the room with the people writing the big checks and have been engaged in the deal team debates on whether or not to buy and at what price. A seller that knows the "secret sauce" of their business, the levers that can be pulled, and the data that tells the objective story greatly increases the likelihood of a fast and high-value outcome. ************ P.S. Even if you don't plan to sell or take on a majority investment, run your business like you are. Your leadership team's ability to speak a common, data-driven language will allow you to make better decisions faster.

77

7 Comments

I just wrapped up a panel with the Marketing Leadership affinity group within the How Women Invest community with my hero Auntie Nancy Hayes, aka the Yoda of board membership, angel investing, and general badassery. We talked about different ways to serve on boards, a role in which experienced Marketers seem to be often underrepresented. Why? If I had to guess, I'd say: 1 - Most heads of marketing are women 2 - marketing is undervalued, especially under sales/revenue experience 3—Compound the first two with the messages you tell yourself about your own worthiness, and suddenly, you're a great marketer for everyone else but yourself. ___________ For those who are interested in getting closer or into the board room, there are so many ways to start/get experience: 1—Board Observer (one of my current board roles)—you represent the investor but have no votes. It is unpaid, but/and hugely essential to act as a bridge of visibility and communication between the fund you've invested with and the company in which the fund has invested. My role brings value to both sides with much less bias than the other VC board seats. 2—Corporate board director—There is much governance but not much influence on the product, as the company usually has big enough teams for that. There is a lot of hiring/firing CEOs (read: drama), which can still be fun, especially for those fresh-popcorn-in-my-bag swag kinda folks (both grossly generalizing and way understating this role's fiduciary importance, but you get the idea). 3—Independent board director—this is another of my favorite places to sit. It is much like the Board observer role but with voting rights and equity (although not always, as these terms are negotiated and influenced by the shareholding board seats). You are NOT representing a VC fund (typically), but you might have subject matter expertise in the product or are a generalist boss gal like myself and bring a sense of neutrality and balance to the board. 4—Advisor. Advisors are similar to IBD in terms of influence and type of advice but are not part of the board or its meetings. This role is usually paid in some combination of equity and cash. It's another of my faves. (Are you seeing the trend here?) We have not even touched non-profit boards (where I got my start and am currently sitting on my sixth), but we will save it for next time as it's a whole 'nother Oprah. If you want to learn more, How Women Lead is hosting its 5th annual #getonboard week, starting October 21. Hybrid virtual and in-person. Check it out: https://lnkd.in/diizwv8j #womeninleadership #boardofdirectors #howwomenlead #governance #boarddiversity #corporategovernance #boardservice #businessleadership #leadership Julie Candelon Susan Greenwood Schroeder Mikayla Ludwig

31

3 Comments

(NEW EPISODE) Embarking on the entrepreneurial journey is like diving into a vast ocean of uncertainties, challenges, and opportunities. In a recent interview with Guy Willner, an experienced entrepreneur with a string of ventures spanning decades, we gleaned invaluable insights into surviving crises. Guy also talked at length about raising funds, understanding private equity, maintaining work-life balance, and contemplating the future of AI. He also reveals his understanding of the role of private equity and venture capital firms. #entrepreneurs #entrepreneurship #entrepreneur #business #success #venture #venturecapital #investment #invest #investors #tech #technology #innovation #leanstartup #leanstartups #inspiration #startup #startups https://lnkd.in/eCmRgpGF

117

12 Comments

The metric that predicts founder burnout isn't revenue, churn, or valuation. It's something far more fundamental - and most of us are measuring it wrong. Check out my raw take in this latest piece for Forbes Coaches Council. I talk about why “successful” founders still aren’t satisfied and what they can do about it. https://lnkd.in/dUjJt5We

51

14 Comments

Episode 359 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Matt Douglas, Founder & CEO of Sincere Corporation: https://lnkd.in/eNp2-R5m. Boston has this legacy reputation that you can’t build consumer companies in the area, yet there are so many great companies that have scaled like Wayfair, DraftKings, iRobot, SimpliSafe, and so… so… many more. Plus, don’t get me started on how many brands, especially footwear, are located here. Anyway, Sincere is another example of a great consumer company at scale. It is highly likely that you’ve used one of their products like Punchbowl to plan a party, Timehop to relive past memories, or Memento, where you can collect and preserve memories together for a group video or photo album. Sincere’s latest brand is Lovebird, a new platform for the wedding industry which is taking on The Knot and other outdated incumbents and as highlighted in this interview with Matt, there will be more coming from Sincere. In this podcast, we cover: * A discussion around the legacy of an entrepreneur and what led Matt down the path of starting a corporate foundation at Sincere for charitable initiatives. * Matt’s background story, growing up with 5 brothers and how he started his entrepreneurial roots early on. * Getting his career started and how he became the youngest Product Manager at Adobe. * His brushes with tech luminaries like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Alexis Ohanian, Justin Kan, and Dharmesh Shah. * The background story of Punchbowl and the three key characteristics he used for building a business. * Why the expansion into the wedding market with Lovebird made sense for the company and how they are differentiating themselves from the competitors. * Matt’s philosophy around buying premium domains and a hint about his best 5 letter domain that is not even live yet. * And so much more. #entrepreneurship #startups #consumer #podcast

9

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

181

50 Comments

Some midweek wisdom from Y Combinator founder, Paul Graham, on why startups shouldn't stress over competitors. According to Graham, based on Y Combinator's extensive data set, few of their startups are actually killed by competitors. He compares the protection a startup has against competitors to the vastness of space, emphasising that the market is large enough for multiple players to thrive. Graham's analogy likens encountering a competitor to suddenly finding another runner in your race lane - the best course of action? “It’s sort of like if you’re running the hundred meters and suddenly a lane appears with another runner in it. What should you do? Run as fast as you can, just like you presumably were.” #Startups #Competition #Entrepreneurship #wearehiring

5

1 Comment

💼📈🤔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

20

11 Comments

I recently saw this metric from Carta’s 1Q24 VC Fund Report, which is very concerning. DPI... is nowhere to be found in earlier vintages that probably should start showing DPI. Funding early-stage projects is great, but ultimately, these venture dollars need to exit their investments and pay back their limited partners. That’s where the metric Distributed to Paid-In Capital (DPI) comes in. While managing a fund, we get interim measures during the life of the fund (e.g. IRR, MOIC), but ultimately, “you can’t eat IRR.” If you want to build a lasting venture capital organization, you need to start showing DPI for your fund. Keep in mind that this is traditional VC data from Carta, and is not strictly crypto venture. Crypto venture tends to get liquidity earlier (tokens) and things tend to go parabolic sooner (faster, more unicorns) - but I’d wager that the data here is somewhat similar for Crypto VCs… Not as much DPI as there should be from these earlier vintages. Read the full article, as well as a recap of all the crypto fundraising rounds for August, here: https://lnkd.in/g3eVJ-iF

19

2 Comments

One of my favorite tools for coaching, I learned in the Master of Science in Learning & Organizational Change at Northwestern University ELOCC Executive Coaching Certification program. It's call the Gibb's Reflective Cycle. 💫 It's a tool I use after each client session to make meaning of our session. 〰 What happened? 〰 What were they feeling and thinking? 〰 What was I feeling and thinking? 〰 What was good or bad about it? 〰 What sense could I make of it all? **** this is the magic step 〰 What else could I have done? 〰 What would I do if this happened again? The process of writing, actually helps me make more meaning of the full interaction. Sometimes, it surprises me what I realize upon summarizing. And the best part? - It's a great place to start to prepare for our next session. Thank you MSLOC ELOCC. 💜 🖤 It also has just happens to be the nickname I call my oldest son, Gibson

13

2 Comments

Well-written and sourced article describing what's going in seed-stage venture market. At 9point8 Collective we tend to orbit the seed-stage (both ideating and developing companies to reach seed and helping post-seed companies refactor and scale in anticipation of A) and for many companies it's a critical inflection point which determines their long term success or failure. The main takeaways I was able to gather: 1️⃣ Many startups that raised seed rounds in 2021-2022 are struggling to secure Series A funding due to tighter market conditions and increased investor expectations. 2️⃣ Seed investors are becoming more cautious, leading to longer diligence processes and a preference for startups with strong traction or experienced founders. As a result, valuations have stayed relatively high even as deal flow reduces. 3️⃣ Startups are adopting various strategies to navigate this challenging environment, including cutting costs, raising bridge rounds or convertible notes, and M&A/acqui-hires. 4️⃣ Despite the challenges, there are opportunities for both startups and investors in this new landscape, particularly for those who can adapt to the changing market conditions. Investors are accumulating dry powder -- and with rates on the decline -- will be looking to deploy into companies with stronger fundamentals than their 2021-2022 counterparts.

4

Have a story to tell... Use Narratize AI Co-Authoring platform to tell your stories in an impactful manner. Katie Trauth Taylor, PhD and the entire team is committed to helping you in becoming amazing storytellers. Check out their impressive work at https://lnkd.in/gnNYHSSX Start telling your stories with Narratize AI as your co-author. #generativeai #storytelling #innovation #aicoauthoring #innovators #researchers #impactstories #startups #problemsolvers #AI #AIStartup

3

1 Comment

On my way to London to work with a portfolio company at their QBR and annual planning process. Another example where having investors on your cap table that understand how to build companies vs just show up and pontificate at your board meetings will help you to build world class outcomes. Remember why we do this - build world class organizations that drive meaningful economic outcomes for employees, customers, shareholders, and investors. Lead from the Front!!! #vc #growth #venturecapital

1,122

49 Comments