Aran E.’s Post

In 2013 when I started nutpods I had never: -been a Founder or CEO before -been a part of the Food & Bev industry (other than a stint at #SubShop in high school) -raised capital or even created a pitch deck -known the differences in types of Investors (angel to PE) And yes, I was a #POC and a #femalefounder which made my odds* of success a bit harder. *According to PitchBook, only 4% of #VC funding and 2% of #PE funding goes towards Female Founded Businesses (nutpods went on to be both VC and PE-backed). Entrepreneurs accept daunting odds because we believe in what we are building. We learn fast because we have to: we are usually the first and only (typically unpaid) employee of our company handling all the departments of Sales, Marketing, Operations and Finance. Cash flow. Product Formulation. Route to Market Strategy. Finding a co-packer to produce our products. These are the chief challenges. #SeattleFreeze was not among them, respectfully. I get it. I do: it is lonely at the start-up phase when it’s just yourself. And frankly, it’s lonely at times as a CEO making all the decisions even at a thriving brand. I am eternally grateful to Morgen Newman who gave me wonderful advice early on: learn how to emotionally regulate yourself for this journey. GeekWire John Cook

Founders, nobody wants to sit through your demo, especially if it's the outcome of a cold outreach message. Investors have jam-packed schedules, from sharing obvious content on social media to ignoring founders and indulging in other short but pointless distractions. Save the demo for someone genuinely interested in your product – like a potential customer. #startup #founders  #venturecapital

At Pear VC we have been developing PearX for the most elite founders who have the grit and vision to make their companies succeed. We've funded category defining companies like Doordash, Dropbox, Vanta, Aurora Solar, Guardant Health, Affinity and have thought hard about what the best founders need when they are just getting started. We believe in small batches of 20 companies or less so we can work closely with each team. Small batches allow us to do a lot more: 1. Capital: $250k-$2m. Raise as much or as little as you need. One sized doesn't fit all. 2. Founder to founder: Work closely with one of our partners, most of whom have been founders who have started and sold their companies. 3. Join an incredible community of founders: We kick off the program with Camp Pear, a 3 day retreat where you get to know a group of founders as ambitious as you. 4. Access Pear Studio: our beautiful 30k sq ft office in SF which you'll be able to use for your first year of company building. 5. Build a scalable GTM motion: work directly with @joseluisagell and our GTM team to find your early customers and build the engine to scale your business. 6. Recruit the best talent: With PearX, you get an in house recruiter to source, interview and hire your cofounder, first engineer and early team. We've just launched this at PearX and have already hired 25 people for our companies 7. Raise more capital: ~90% of our teams raise additional capital after PearX. We help you create your pitch, build the story, target investors and help you negotiate and close the best round. Read more about PearX here: https://lnkd.in/g5_Cxe9Q Apply to our summer batch here: https://lnkd.in/gAZRN4cb Application Deadline May 1.

I know that YOU think your product is a no-brainer... But the success of your startup isn't about you! It's about getting enough prospects to adopt your product and support your business model.🤔 A lot of things seem obvious to you, but a HUGE percentage of founders discover (too late), that what they ASSUME to be true, may not be. Here are a dozen of the most common assumptions you should validate early and before you spend a ton of time and capital... 1. My target customers have the need I'm fulfilling, and they care deeply about it 2. There’s a large enough market for my product or service 3. My product fits what the market needs, and customers will use it 4. Customers will clearly see the value in my solution and will be willing to pay for it 5. I can easily reach and acquire customers cost-effectively 6. Customers will be willing to pay enough to justify our business model 7. We are better than our competitors in a specific way, and our customers will choose us over them 8. The business will scale easily once we have our initial customers 9. My team has the skills and resilience to execute our plan 10. Once we acquire customers, they will stick around and keep using our product 11. We will be able to raise more money as needed to continue growing 12. Our product will be feasible to build and scale with the technology available Validating these assumptions is one of the most valuable ways to spend your time. If you don't know how to validate them, let me know in the comment. I'm happy to share the tactics. Are there other key assumptions that you would add to the list? Put them in the comments below to help other founders avoid wasting time and money! ♻️ Share this with a founder you care about👍 #EarlyStage #StartupLife #Founders #LeanStartup #TheFoundersForge

Congrats to the Pepsales team, an AI-powered SaaS platform that enables sales teams to deliver highly personalized and scalable demos. Pepsales eliminates the pain of 'generic demos' by leveraging real-time data to personalize demos for every prospect, helping sales teams significantly improve engagement and productivity. Please reach out to them to learn more! Excited to see them transform the entire demo experience with AI

Startup life = Tough. But these moments? Absolute gold. • Meeting a stranger who knows your product. • Paying yourself the first salary. • Getting that first "big" customer • Reaching product market fit after 188393 pivots. • Your family begins to understand your business. • Hitting $1mn ARR. • Realising your co-founder is a really close friend. All founders, share your special moments in comments 👇🏻 #startuplife #founders #pivots

What are some of the most common challenges facing start-up founders today? Over the past few months, I've been working with dozens of founders helping them with establishing their sales process and fundraising strategy. Every startup is certainly unique but many of the challenges founders face, aren't. In fact, many of these challenges I struggled with personally while building Gondola. I've identified 10 core problems that most founders I work with have been struggling with. 1. Establishing a Value Proposition - Many founders struggle to articulate their product’s core value to investors or customers in a clear and concise way. 2. Overloading Demos with Too Much Information - Founders often try to show every feature in a product demo, which can overwhelm the audience and dilute the message. 3. Highlighting Competitive Differentiation - Struggling to effectively communicate what makes their product unique compared to competitors. 4. Not Knowing When to Go Deep into Technical Details - Some founders either dive too deep into the technicals or completely avoid them, making it hard for investors to gauge the product’s complexity or potential. 5. Engaging Investors or Customers Who Aren’t Technical - Founders often have difficulty explaining technical features in a way that non-technical stakeholders can easily understand. 6. Creating a Great User Experience - Founders sometimes focus on the backend technology without considering whether the user interface is intuitive and easy to use. 7. Unprepared for Investor Questions - Founders can get thrown off by tough questions, especially those about technical differentiation or scalability. 8. Keeping Presentations Visually Clean and Engaging - Founders frequently clutter their slides with too much information, making it hard for their audience to focus on key points. 9. Tailoring Pitches Based on the Audience - Many founders struggle to adjust their pitch depending on whether they are speaking to investors, customers, or technical teams. 10. Structuring Follow-Up Processes After Demos - After the demo or pitch, founders often lack a clear next-step process or don’t effectively engage the audience to move forward. Building a startup is one of the most challenging things I've ever done. Period. It's a marathon of a journey that's riddled with endless challenges. If you or a founder you know have been struggling with any of these challenges, send me a message, and let's chat. I don't know if I can help, but I'd love to try! #startups #founderlife #startupchallenges

🚀 Rejection, am I right? It's like getting hit with a cricket ball in the face when you least expect it! But hey, as an 86-year-old founder who recently got the ol' rejection email from Y Combinator, I wasn't going to let it rain on my parade! When I tossed my hat into the Y Combinator ring, I knew I was batting for six. I mean, who expects an octogenarian solo founder to be the next big thing in startups? But hey, I had this wild idea, this spark in my eye, and I thought, why not give it a shot? So when that rejection email popped up, it felt like the universe whispering, "Not today, pal." But instead of curling up in a ball of despair, I decided to turn that rejection into rocket fuel. 🚀 I realized that if I wanted to crack this startup game, I needed to switch gears. Enter stage left: the search for a co-founder. Yeah, teaming up with someone new sounded scarier than a horror movie marathon, especially when you've been the captain of your own ship for decades. But hey, I wasn't afraid of a challenge! So there I was, putting out a casting call for my startup soulmate. 📣. And who answered it? None other than my old old pal Brian! (He's not that old, only a few years more than I, but looks younger, and can still pull birds!). And then there were 2! But we're at it again, and this time looking for a 3rd, maybe even younger, Co-founder to join our ranks. So If you're passionate about startups, not afraid to get your hands dirty, and ready to dive into the entrepreneurial abyss with us, let's chat! Together, we'll turn rejection into resilience, setbacks into success, and maybe even snag a unicorn horn along the way. 🦄 Let's make the startup world sit up and take notice, one rejection-turned-win at a time! Who's with us?

Couldn’t help jumping on this trend ! As an investor, when founders ask me what they need to show other investors, I now always say: Traction. Previously, others metrics/decks/staff/marketing may had worked, but now it’s just traction in my opinion ! With everything that happened 2020/21, investors need even more reassurance that your startup has legs. Plus, it’s important to show them everything you are doing to make it work and to bring in revenue. And if you need money to build tech to build traction to get more money- try building it offline instead with as little tech as possible. I’ve seen this done and it’s a great route to success. It’s what we love to see as investors ourselves. Traction, traction, traction. Do you agree?

Anyone who has worked in a startup knows - When there is momentum behind demand, the team gains confidence. However, I believe momentum is overrated. An increase in demand doesn’t change a team’s abilities You are not a materially different startup just because you found a few customers. So if you are a founder grinding through hard times. Pretend like you have momentum. Celebrate small wins: product updates, # of investor calls, anything you can control. This will boost morale and keep the team excited. So why is momentum overrated? Not because it doesn’t have an impact, but because it can be artificially created. It’s something you can go out and achieve today - despite the demand.