Eliza Kamradt’s Post

Meet David Politis, the visionary founder of BetterCloud, recently acquired by Vista Equity Partners Our friendship spans over 15 years, and the story of how it all began is quite something: After being introduced via email, David and I decided to meet for lunch and in person for the first time. After enjoying good food and small talk, we figured we might reconnect sometime in the future. That very night, at the season opener for the Atlanta Hawks basketball game, I spotted a familiar face walking down the aisle - it was David. Both of us were stunned. Me: What are you doing here? David: I got season tickets! Me: Me too, where are your seats? David: Right next to yours. What were the odds? From a casual lunch to discovering we were season ticket neighbors on the same day, we still laugh about it today. Yesterday, we met for lunch and reminisced about old times. It was great to hear about David's professional success, but more importantly, about his personal happiness with life, his wife, and his kids. David hasn’t changed one bit; he's only become smarter and more successful. Yet he remains as funny, generous, and eager to share his knowledge with entrepreneurs as ever. Moments like these remind us of the incredible connections we make along life's journey. The lesson here is that life has a way of bringing good people together. They share lessons, break bread, and always be there for each other. #Friendship #Networking #LifeLessons #StartupJourney

Ever landed a big opportunity just by showing up? I have! One rainy day, I nearly skipped a networking event due to bad weather and traffic. I went anyway. There, I met the founder of a tech startup. That conversation, sparked under less than perfect conditions, blossomed into a vital partnership that helped us smash our quarterly goals and brought in many referrals. Another time, at a major industry conference, I felt out of my depth among seasoned execs. I stayed, engaged in a key dialogue, and secured one of our biggest deals that year. Showing up can be as simple as attending an overlooked event or joining a last-minute call. Each moment can significantly shape our paths. So, next time you’re hesitant, just show up. You might open doors you never knew existed. What's your take Rahul Wadhwa 🦄 Prayank Khandelwal? #BusinessDevelopment #Networking #CareerGrowth #ShowUp

Why is everyone "THRILLED to announce" something lately? You scroll through LinkedIn, and every founder (and their grandma) is rEvoLutioNiziNg something. It's a parade of perfection. We are thrilled to announce... ...a new feature. ...a new partnership. ...a new fundraising round. ...a new event we'll be hosting. ...a new member of the leadership team. And when things go south — *cricket sounds* Honestly, I’m guilty of it too. I wasn’t honest enough when I was a founder. I didn’t build in public, and a lot of startups today aren’t doing that either. Please, write widely and write openly. About how you didn't hit your fundraising goals. About how your retention rate is non-existent. About how a partner f*cked you over. About how overwhelmed you feel. About 99 other problems. But don't complain — share. People want to help, but they can’t if you aren’t being honest. P.S. — The more you start thinking about what you have to say and less about what people want to hear, the easier it will be for you to put your work out there. 📅 Posting Streak: 22 Days 🐍 Written by a human (me)

Very grateful for the people who help me. Do you see this lady on the left? Her name is Janine Marill. She is my superconnector in the United States. Americans take big risks and take big bets on you early in your business. They will be always your top early adopters. And Janine helped me there. I recently switched from investor outreach to pipeline re-engagement. I spent 8 months of this year researching, planning, and building a pivot. I managed to get founders in the UK, Canada, and Singapore to pilot with me. But I learned from Foundraisr that you need North American first movers. Even though Americans take big risks, they are highly relationship-driven. In Foundraisr, I had an early adopter Heather Dawson. I chased her team for 5 months until we began to work together. With our work together, she got a $100k cheque within 4 weeks of work. That was a pivotal moment. It blew me up overnight. So here I am in 2024, thinking how do I make another 2021 Heather Dawson moment happen again, but this time quickly and with less risk or anxiety, and without 5 months of chase to find a North American early adopter. Thank GAWD, Janine messaged me and started bringing beautiful positive intense ambitious chaos into my life, folks. After a bit of back-and-forth banter, she decided to introduce me to North American early adopters. This woman got me 2 pilots in a week. She. Is. Highly. Unexpectedly. Tenacious! TWO PILOTS IN A WEEK! The way she opened up her network... The way she stood over me and bullied me... The way she taught me American aggression in sales... The way she told me to stop being afraid of negative evaluation... The way she insulted me into being a winner... Listen. Are you tired of Eurasian risk aversion, sloth, fatigue, and delays? Do you want to do something crazy? Do you want to move fast? Do you want the equally crazy to work with you as customers? Do you have a crazy new business with a need for insane early adopters? Do you want something from the madhouse to hit the market out of nowhere? Do you want Americans? This. This is your woman. Janine Marill is your woman. BTW, do you see the man next to her? He is famous in the American entrepreneurial scene. When I say she is a superconnector... I am not joking at all.

. Success is not defined by age; it’s about perseverance and passion. Julian Hearn’s journey from working nights to building the most successful British food and drinks brand is a testament to this. Key takeaways: Maintain obsessive focus on your goals. Combine hard work with ambitious dreams. Prioritize the well-being of those around you. Julian’s humility and empathy throughout his journey remind us that staying grounded and connected to our roots is vital. His story proves that it’s never too late to start or achieve greatness. What’s one small step you can take today to move closer to your own goals? . .

𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐥 𝐝𝐚𝐝, 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐭-𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝟑𝐗 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐠 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞! 📌 This is my story: I’ve built 3 companies over 20 years: ⭧  HingePoint ⭧  Venture Launch Partners ⭧  ProConnector SaaS (acquired). But here’s the truth: 𝐈𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐈 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝. ⭧  Missed birthdays. ⭧  Missed bedtime stories I’ll never get back. ⭧  Missed school plays where my seat stayed empty. I was so wrapped up in "building a future" that I was losing time with my daughters. I worked 18-hour days, thinking I was doing the right thing. Then one day, my youngest looked at me and asked, "𝘋𝘢𝘥𝘥𝘺, 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨?" That question stopped me cold. I realized I wasn’t just missing out on moments. 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬. That’s when I made a change. I started building systems—automations. They allowed me to take a step back and finally be there. Today, those systems still pay off. But the real payoff? 𝐍𝐨𝐰, 𝐈 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐝𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬. I headed to Austin, TX, to visit my girls recently. I don’t just see them when I can fit them in. I deliberately make time now. Hearing their laughter, watching them grow, matters most today. 𝐓𝐨 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐚𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞: You don’t have to choose between success and your family. You can have both. If you're caught in the grind, DM me. Let’s talk about how you can build a business that runs without taking away the moments that matter. #business #fatherhood #familyfirst #hustleculture

I started (co-founded) a company in 2016 with a really close friend who I knew for over 10 years, only to break it off in a year. It was a gruelling 12 months that we spent together. And it made me anxious and miserable. There were numerous clashes. Being friends, our egos were hidden and pacified by all the fun times. But when it came to serious work, that used to be at the forefront. We were a perfect recipe made for a disaster. I realised that our business personalities were so different and couldn't align in how we transacted. It was almost like a new person who I was interacting with. After a year of working together, we called off our business partnership and parted ways. For the last 4.5 years, we have been building communities. And when we started onboarding partners, we had similar issues such as work ethic, delivery timeline, quality of work, trust or competency etc. These issues never cropped up in the initial days or maybe were hidden, which we also turned a blind eye to them. After working together and spending over 6 months on projects, we started to understand each others' working structure, strengths and weaknesses. And that's when the problems started. A few of us were able to sync and resolve these issues. But in a few cases, the baseline virtues didn't align and eventually led to killing the community. We are all inherently different, but there are middle ground and certain boundaries that we work within. After all these experiences, as a thumb rule today, we ensure we spend at least 6 months working together before we onboard anyone as a cofounder or a partner within our communities. That stands as one of the core community policies today. I have worked with my partners in the communities I am a part of for more than a year before we incorporated our ventures. Community Venture Studio | Moses Sam Paul Johnraj #CommunityPolicies

Founders Island update 004: We connect founders. Want to get value out of our community? Make an introduction... -------------------------------------------------- Morning pirates. Another great week on the high seas of Founders' Island. I’d like to shout out David Serapins for being a true pirate and sharing his knowledge with the crew. It seems like he made some good connections. If other founders here want to share their knowledge, send me a DM. It’s a great way to connect with other founders who could potentially buy from you. The August group parlay will be on August 8th at 9 a.m. ET. More details and an event will follow shortly. We’ve also been getting some great connections from pirates who can help each other from the introductions channel. It’s the quickest way to start getting value out of this group. If you haven’t yet, go over and drop an introduction. Have a great weekend, founders, fair winds and steady seas 🏴☠️🏴☠️ -------------------------------- To learn more about our founders' community, go here: https://tally.so/r/wkAeQR

Today’s Friday fun is a giant high five to a friend building something pretty special. Eric Harrison is building the Thrive Community and he’s been doing some great work! Show me the 5 people you allow to influence you the most and I’ll show you your future. That’s why a community like this is so important. Having a group of like minded individuals who are in-step with you at every stage only makes you better. It’s not a luxury. It’s a necessity. You see, Thrive is a community of bootstrappers who navigate the challenges of running a startup business day in and day out. They support each other, give great feedback, and help each other grow in more ways than one. Eric, you’re killing it, man. Can’t wait to see what the next year holds. Oh and it wouldn’t be right to go without mentioning some of those incredible individuals I’ve met inside. Zoya Lehrer Grace McCarrick Sam Bye Matt Jastremski Christian Allen Y’all are the best. Can’t wait to get to know the other faces as well and continue to build with such a great group of people. Do you have a community that helps you grow? If not, what are you waiting on? Join Thrive. ____________ Having fun yet? Then don’t stop now! Follow me, Daniel Brenneman 💛, (with notifications on, of course 🔔) for more like this every weekday. And if you’re feeling extra generous, share it with others. AND I’ll be opening a few spots for one to one partnership here soon. If you’d like to talk about it, DM me and we’ll chat. The first 5 get a steeply discounted rate!

You know when you’re dealing with a big challenge, things are spiraling, and you don’t have someone to turn to who gets it? That sucks, and it shouldn’t be that way. Here’s how we end that feeling once and for all … Everyone goes through something heavy in their life, and getting help is tricky. Traditional therapy can be inaccessible, expensive, and isolating. You don’t want to burden your friends and family, and in some cases, they simply won’t “get” what you’re going through. Well, instead of suffering alone, you should be able to connect with a vetted and trained peer who’s been there. And it should be as easy as getting an Uber. That’s what we're building with Fello: a different model for how to tackle the sh*t storm that life can rain down on you. A place where humans with lived experiences can earn. A place where you can get help from someone who gets you. ___ I’m thrilled to be able to start talking about my new startup. The amazing team at Fello is on a mission to transform lives through the power of human connection. Right now, we’re focused on building out our base of Fellos – peers who have conquered life’s toughest challenges – and we’ll launch our full app-based experience later this summer. Tag someone you know who would be a great Fello in the comments. #MentalHealth #Wellness #Innovation