Sid K. Hasan

So great to speak to Mohammed Islam on The Mo Show podcast last week! Watch the full episode here!

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In our pursuit of excellence, we often find the roadmap to success is etched in the wisdom we freely share with others, but rarely take to heart ourselves. Reflect on this—how often do we embody the counsel we provide? Let's embrace our own insights to drive authentic growth and lead by example. #Leadership #SelfGrowth #MotiveXInsights

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Excited to share a new podcast episode of "On-Chain Attention" featuring Mete Başkaya, MBA, a prominent figure in the blockchain and cryptocurrency space! One of the most compelling parts of our discussion was Mete's emphasis on education and hands-on experience. He shared his personal journey of discovering Bitcoin during a challenging time in his life and how he educated himself through books, online courses, and practical trading. Mete now teaches blockchain to students in Turkey, helping them understand the technology's potential and encouraging them to create real-world applications. He also advises governments, businesses and various global institutions about blockchain. His advice: educate yourself, get involved, and don't be afraid to experiment with small investments to gain practical knowledge. #blokchain #podcast #crypto #tech

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Who will be the next supply chain consolidator? From 2011 to 2021, XPO scaled up from $70M to $20B, fueled by a combination of organic growth and 18 acquisitions. The model was extremely successful. But the supply chain ecosystem remains extremely fragmented. There is plenty of room for new consolidators to emerge as winners. In the food supply chain software arena, one emerging acquiror is GrubMarket Inc. They have built a network model to help food suppliers automate their relationships with their customers. GrubMarket has acquired over 100 companies to date. They are expecting to exceed $2B in annualized revenue. And they just announced their latest purchase: Butter 🧈, a SaaS platform to automate food distribution. Kudos to Mike Xu, Winston C., and all involved! #logistics #supplychain #consolidation https://lnkd.in/emY4wpsy

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🗞️ Breaking News: Red Ventures Selling CNET at a huge Loss❗️ Context: Red Ventures, the privately held digital media and marketing juggernaut based in Fort Mill, South Carolina, is selling CNET, one of the largest tech publishers on the web, to Ziff Davis for just $100 million. For context: Red Ventures bought CNET for approximately $500 million. Reason for the Sale: Total traffic to CNET has dropped by a staggering 50% over the last three years. The main driver behind this decline is a 68% drop in organic traffic (loss off Google rankings and traffic). Tables turned: This sale is a stunning turn of events for CNET, which once bought Ziff Davis (then a tech magazine firm) in a deal worth roughly $1.6 billion - more than two decades ago. Catch Up: - Ziff Davis trades publicly with a market value of $1.94 billion. The company lost about half of its marketcap over the course of the last 48 months. Strategic rationale: If Ziff Davis is able to ink a content licencing deal with Google, Bing/Microsoft or ChatGPT (or else e.g. X.AI) - like Reddit did - it might turn out to be a very smart deal …

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I'm pleased to be featured in a recent Forbes Council article where I shared my strategy for navigating difficult business decisions. Challenging situations are quite common in startups and even in mature companies. Do not panic! Try to weigh possible scenarios and find an optimal outcome. Read the full article here:

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❓So what is the "Growth and Skills Levy" ❓ ➡ Here's a 1-post primer for you to save in case you missed it ➡ --------------------------- In A Line: ➡ A tax you must pay* but can spend yourself on skills & training. *see caveat in The Nitty Gritty --------------------------- In A Para: ➡ It replaces the Apprenticeship Levy. The main change is that whereas the AL required employers to spend the tax on apprentices, now the mandate is a lot wider i.e. skills training for your main workforce. --------------------------- A Bit More: ➡ The Levy was announced in July 2024 (just after the election) but it's not yet in force (and we don't yet know when it will be!). It ONLY applies to employers with £3m+ of annual NIC payments. With the Budget's NI changes, that group has just grown. The fee is 0.5% and it applies to the total wage bill. "Skills England" is in charge of defining what is / is not a legitimate spend on skills development (approving certain training courses etc). You can't just decide this unilaterally. --------------------------- My Thoughts The change / new Levy is designed to address the country's acute skills shortages. It makes a lot of sense. We have some massive skills gaps in the UK, as there are all over the developed world. Apprenticeships are great and they address the gaps to some extent; but they are pretty restrictive. Fundamentally they solve a different issue (training from the bottom). Employers can't be expected to shoulder everything. So the focus has shifted from apprentices to 'skills' in general. A logical move but we do need some clarity as to when it will come into effect!

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Episode 338 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Tasneem Dohadwala, Founding Partner at Excelestar Ventures LLC. It’s a lot more common to find VC firms that are investing into deep tech or hard tech, but when Tasneem started Excelestar Ventures in 2010, it was far from the norm. Not only was it abnormal to invest in companies building highly advanced engineering products, but it was also a very challenging time in the tech industry in general. So, to start a new VC firm was very rare. Excelestar Ventures is a bit different than most VC firms as they operate an evergreen fund which gives them flexibility, especially during different economic cycles, in terms of the types of investments they can make versus having to raise a new fund every 2-3 years. The firm is also passionate about funding disruptive businesses led by under-represented founders. Across Excelestar’s entire portfolio, 61% of their companies are minority-led and 50% are female-led. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Fundraising advice for women or minority founders and why you should always be thinking about asking for introductions. * Tasneem’s background story and how she got her career starting in finance, plus her decision to go back to B-school at HBS. * All the details about Excelestar Ventures in terms of the companies they are targeting, including her interest in personalized medical devices, as well as how their due diligence process works. * Tasneem’s involvement with Golden Seeds, a firm focused on investing in women-led companies. * Advice for pitching your company and the importance of being able to properly articulate the value proposition of your company, having the right market size for that investor, and another factor that she calls the confirmatory mindset. * And so much more. #podcast #venturecapital #startups #medicaldevices

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This week Mikal Ventures brings you a 4-week breakdown of the non-US capital market with an emphasis on the Mikal verticals. The 4-week period ending November 25 saw just over 1,300 new companies added, bringing the total to 112,141 companies included in the non-US Health Tech, Med Tech, AI Tech Fin Tech and Ed Tech verticals. Non-US AI Tech again saw the greatest percentage growth in new companies at 16%, vs. the vertical average of 12% for the period. Non-US HeathTech led the group in transactions. Non-US Med Tech led in SEC Filings and news articles.   Mikal Ventures publishes these stats on a rolling 4-week basis to provide a perspective on how the verticals and new startups move through time. We hope you find them informative and thought-provoking. VC Investors are always adjusting their "Play Book" with a variety of options for investing. Mikal Ventures is one of those alternatives, offering curated solutions to real world problems. Reach out if you have questions on how we can be of assistance and bookmark https://mikalventures.com/ for additional insights and information.

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The power went out and he just kept pitching. In the dark. One of my favorite things that happened at the Seed to Growth Conference could have been the worst thing that happened. Fahim Rahim, M.D, MBA was on stage presenting about Nephrolytics and the power at the entire Sun Valley resort went out. No lights, no screens, no deck, no windows. What did he do? He just kept pitching. He didn’t pause, didn’t stop, didn’t quit. This is a great example of two things- 1) Founders are constantly dealing with very hard things and unexpected crisis. The best ones just keep moving forward. 2) There is always an opportunity- even when something bad happens. Everyone in the room sat transfixed as Fahim just kept going in the dark. What could have been a disaster turned into one of the most impactful and memorable things at the conference. Don’t quit. Find opportunity. PC: David K. Gardner #venture #idaho #seedtogrowth

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👋 Kaan, what do you look for in founders? A questions I've been asked quite some times, and I think this great post says it all 👀⤵️ All credits to Nakul Mandan from Audacious Ventures and I would say a great read for founders (and investors). #founders  #investors #changethewaywework  #thefutureofworkisnow #firstdegree

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After immigrating to the US in 2009, Nakul Mandan finally got his green card in 2019. He set a date to start his new firm Audacious Ventures and raise Fund 1: April of 2020 What he thought would be a straight forward fundraise turned into year-long process. Raising from institutional LP's is typically a 3-6 months enterprise sales process, and the start of COVID had LP's more focused on what was happening with their kids schools, let alone having never made an investment over Zoom. He made a lot of rookie mistakes he corrected with Fund 2, like pre-marketing before officially going out for the raise. But grinding out a Fund 1 raise during COVID engrained a mindset of never taking capital for granted. Grab a link in the comments for the full conversation with Nakul on building a VC firm that helps you recruit at the zero to one stage, and and the biggest challenge Nakul thinks the new guard of seed funds will face.

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Great day at DC Startup & Tech Week (Formerly DC Startup Week) today! Moderated a panel of experts to discuss the the Future of Brand, Marketing, and Influence in an AI Driven World. Thanks to Jordan Karp, Reece Doris Quinones, and Sid Chakravarthy for joining me and sharing your wisdom. The set-up at DSTW is no joke! #dcstw24 #marketing #branding #AI

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Underscoring a PR tip from my post last week. Real world example 👇 It's kinda obvious but under-utilized: journalists use LinkedIn to tell you about what they're working on and how you can get involved. (X used to be the primary place for that. Now, not so much. I mean, can you blame them?) If you want more media coverage for yourself or your brand, follow the people who create media coverage you (your story, your brand) would be a good fit for. (Now what media you're a good fit for is a whole 'nother conversation 🙃 .... let me know if you'd like me to drop some tips on that) Then look at what they're posting. Send them good ideas. Don't spam or be weird or sales-y or irrelevant. Irrelevant might be the worst offense. Read or listen to or watch their content first.

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Finally proud of the industry leaders speaking out: "We spend our days looking for, investing in and supporting entrepreneurs who are building the future. We are pro-business, pro-American dream, pro-entrepreneurship, and pro-technological progress.   We also believe in DEMOCRACY AS THE BACKBONE OF OUR NATION. We believe that strong, trustworthy institutions are a feature, not a bug, and that our industry - and every other industry - would collapse without them. That is what’s at stake in this election." https://lnkd.in/d29PkKg6

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Unlock unparalleled growth with the USA's top startup growth advisor! With a proven track record in turning seed capital into major funding, I specialize in fast-tracking your startup to scale and achieve a lucrative exit. My strategic approach ensures your business is investor-ready, secures substantial funding, and optimizes operations for maximum scalability. Don't just dream of a multi-million-dollar payday—achieve it with expert guidance tailored to your unique vision. Let’s turn your startup into a success story. #StartupSuccess #GrowthAdvisor #SeedFunding #StartupFunding #ScalingStrategies #BigPayday #MillionDollarExit #InvestorReady #BusinessGrowth #Entrepreneurship #ScaleAndSell #TopAdvisor #MajorFunding #SuccessStory

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Practice, practice, practice. Yes, we’re talking about practice.

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🎙️ New Episode Alert: IREVOLUTIONIZING WELLNESS: With Phat Le🌟 Join us on “Think Big with Dan & Qasim” for an insightful episode featuring Phat Le as we dive into the ever-evolving world of nutraceuticals. Phat shares his journey, from understanding supply chain intricacies to leveraging new growth channels like TikTok.

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