Nick Mattingly - Create I Share I Host I Earn’s Post

Building in public but keeping your pitch deck private? You're not alone. 🚀 As founders, we often share our journey but hesitate to reveal our secret sauce. I'm guilty of this too. But what if that transparency could fuel your startup's growth? Would you share your pitch deck 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱? Why or why not? Drop your thoughts below! 👇

🎙️ The Impact of Mentorship on Startup Success Alexandra DeBow, founder of Swsh, discusses the significant role that accelerators like the Thiel Fellowship and Z Fellows, along with mentors, played in her entrepreneurial journey. Being surrounded by inspiring individuals and valuable resources made all the difference. Discover the power of mentorship in shaping a startup’s path. 🚀

So excited to kick off our Startup Fundraising 101 series with a chat with Arpan Shah, Partner at Pear VC and former founder. Fundraising is painful even for the most experienced founders. But if you're a first time founder without a built-in network, it can feel even more daunting. We're diving deep into the art of building strategic investor relationships, covering: - How did he make that initial connection with his seed investors - How effective are cold Linkedin/Twitter DMs - What are some common mistakes he's seen founders make

Yesterday, we partnered with nextNYC and Charlie O'Donnell for How I Raised My Seed, a round panel discussion with the founders at BoldVoice, Infield, and Compyl. Our biggest takeaways for founders trying to raise? ✔ Filter out investors by asking the right questions. What’s your check size? What kind of companies do you fund? What industries? ✔ When negotiating your term sheet, take as much money as you can possibly get. It might seem tempting to minimize your funding to give away less equity, but consider this - everything may take 2x as long and costs 3x more than you expect. ✔ It’s all about networking. Leverage everyone you can think of - friends, family, college roommate - no one is off the list. Once you get more comfortable having these conversations, you will be able to identify potential investors from those who may not be suitable. ✔ Don't get boxed in by traditional labels. Fundraising stages are subjective. They're less about intrinsic meaning and more about articulating a startup's growth plans to potential investors. Pre-seed, Seed, Series A, B, C, call it what you need to reflect your company's unique milestones and strategic goals. ✔ No one knows your story better than you! As a founder, own your narrative and stay true to what got you started. Look out for more takes from NYC founders like Allison Pike.🗽 ❤️

We just closed our Pre-Seed Angel Round 🎉🎉 1 year ago, I wanted to be 100% bootstrapped... When we launched Scripe, bootstrapping felt like the right path. Lean and agile. In my mind, raising was just not necessary. I knew we wouldnt be ANY faster with more people or in the early days - we first needed to build our product and shape our vision. ✅ It was important to me to know that the time & effort we spend into fundraising pays off. Especially because we are profitable only 2 months after launching. So, why did we decide to raise now? 𝗪𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻'𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗶𝘃𝗲. 𝗪𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝗸𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗥𝗢𝗖𝗞𝗘𝗧𝗙𝗨𝗘𝗟. We realized it is the perfect timing for us. The biggest change for me → we can start hiring engineers 🤝 What I didn't realize before - it's not just the money, it's about the people. We decided to do an angle round. Now, we have 12 brilliant angel investors as our advisory board, each with unique insights into sales, AI engineering, LinkedIn branding, and B2B scaling. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲. I once thought of fundraising as black and white. Now I know - it's not a simple choice... It's a nuanced decision. I am suuuper excited to see Scripe grow. 🎉 Thank you all so much for joining us. Let's freaking go! Big thanks to: Richard van der Blom, Glenn Miseroy, Daniel Frese, Robert Heineke, Laura Raggl, Benjamin Visser, Nina Kani, Tony E. Kula, 👋 Michael Kamleitner, Julius Göllner, Roman Geugelin, 🛠 Nico Axtmann, Michael Streit, Emanuel Jöbstl, Stefan Smulders, Nicoleta Danu

Founders choose PearX for a variety of reasons, one of them being the quality of our mentors. A prime example is Helmy Eltoukhy, Founder and CEO of Guardant Health who has successfully guided his company from its inception to an IPO. Helmy shares a wealth of knowledge and experience with our teams, offering invaluable insights into business strategy, fundraising, product development, and navigating regulatory landscapes. This level of mentorship is crucial for startups looking to accelerate their growth and successfully navigate the challenges of scaling a business. https://pear.vc/pearx/

Business Wire predicts the global mental wellness market is projected to hit $150 billion by 2028! It's not just a business opportunity, but a chance to address a crucial social issue. Also the threefold increase in investment in mental health and wellness tech startups from 2020 to 2022 highlights growing investor interest in this sector. The startup Oppam tapping this market with an online platform offering counselling in local languages, starting with Malayalam and expanding soon to other Indian languages. With over 800+ sessions completed for individuals across 16 + countries within a short span of time, Oppam is committed to making mental wellness accessible to all. #MentalHealth #WellnessTech #SocialImpact #Oppam #startups

Thankful for the week I've had. What have I learned this week? Learned a lot about pre-product founders and their challenges based on what I shared about my own challenges this week. I learned that problems in investment and funding to under-represented/marginalised founders is much more deep seated and systemic even than my cynical brain had entertained an idea of What am I most thankful for? The communities I'm in Diversity-X, Let's Fund More Women, Venturing Women, Black Valley, Raise Ventures, Gen Z VCs (full), Colorintech, Entrepreneur Ship and Jamie Harford's FoundrX group (and many more). They've contributed to my own community going up to 150 members (I signpost people back of course). Thankful also that there's a huge momentum building to support innovative underestimated founders and people are starting to coalesce Asks? Starting testing of the Magic Sauce Online platform. Need some QA/Test help. I have questions!!! Have an awesome weekend. What's your own week been like?

10 years! It's a long time, and yet they flew by quickly... I forgot that Monday was Unshackled's birthday, and a milestone one at that. The excitement of work clouded my count of time, until the team reminded me what date it was. I was embarrassed for a moment, and then proud that I still come to work with the same enthusiasm as I had 10 years ago, when starting Unshackled Ventures with Manan M.. I took the time to reflect on why that is, and it’s clear why. 1) Partnership: Building a business is tough, and partnerships are delicate. We not only survived external adversities and typical business challenges, we also survived each other. Both Manan and I are competitive, expect excellence form ourselves, push the limits, hate stagnancy, and love experimenting. It doesn’t take much imagination to think of all that could have easily gone wrong with this combo! Fortunately, we are also different in a variety of ways and were willing to learn from each other, built mutual trust and respect, created time & space for strong communication, and channelled our strengths to complement each other, instead of colliding. I have learnt a ton from Manan, specially around being a nicer human, and look forward to many more decades of learning & growing. And I hope to add great partners who are equally great to work with and learn from! 2) Purpose: 10 years ago, I had no idea I will be becoming an investor. The business model (as investor) emerged organically behind the purpose, which was always clear - enable immigrant entrepreneurs to succeed faster by removing frictions that are not addressed by others. This purpose is what keeps me excited to do what we do, 10 years in. Seeing an entrepreneur’s eyes light up when they are told “you can do this, immigration status wont stop you” and then seeing them fly free given an opportunity, is among the most energizing feelings for me. I think I am addicted to it now and don’t mind this addiction at all :) Amazed at what we have built in these years, and what we are about to do next. Appreciate every founder, LP, advisor, co-investor, and collaborator who has made these years so gratifying!  Please keep believing in us 🙏🏽

Want to make a real impact as a startup board member? Check out our latest article on mastering this crucial role. From pre-meeting prep to post-meeting action, we've got you covered with practical tips and insights. Learn how to balance being a cheerleader, sounding board, and giver of tough love so you can elevate your board contributions with this article by Florida Funders' VP of Platform and Community, Maria Derchi Russo. https://lnkd.in/ePh8s-pC