Startup Runway Foundation, Inc.’s Post

I get it—some venture funds treat their investments like bets, aiming to place as many as possible and leaving it up to the founders to make things work. While I understand that approach, it’s not one I subscribe to. I believe the investors on your cap table should be your biggest champions. What does that look like? It means opening doors through their networks, answering late-night calls when things get tough, inviting you to the big industry events, giving you honest feedback (even when it stings), and standing by your side throughout the journey. Finding these kinds of investors isn’t easy, which is why we created the Founder-First Investor Award. After launching it in NYC, we’re excited to bring it to #Chicago, where founders have nominated local investors who truly go above and beyond for their portfolio companies. A huge congratulations to Desiree Vargas Wrigley, this year’s winner of the Founder-First Investor Award in Chicago! And shoutout to the finalists who were also recognized by founders for their exceptional support: Rebecca Sholiton Kahnweiler, Collin Bhojwani, and Jyothi Vallurupalli 🚀 We’ve also compiled a list of other Chicago-based investors who share this "founder-first" mentality and were nominated by their founders. Founders, consider this your resource for building a pipeline of target investors who will have your back. Link to the blog-post in the comments ⬇

Founders and investors, There are still 66 days left in the year—just over two months to make an impact! As we enter the final stretch, where’s your focus? What will you accomplish to finish the year strong? What’s your top priority? If you’re planning to fundraise in the new year, is your startup or fund set up to hit the ground running? Are you building your sales pipeline to show traction? My advice: don’t squander the time, make these last days count! Inspiration from Shaan Puri at My First Million and Frank Slootman

There's a fine line between never giving up and knowing when to quit. I've been in the startup and investing business now for nearly 15 years. With the benefit of all that hindsight (but definitely not at the time!), I now realise that one of the best things I did in my startup was fail quickly. Despite raising $2m, our company was finished within 2.5 years. I was crushed, to be honest. But today, as the Kurgan—and my brother (who loves Highlander)—would say, I agree that in my case it was: "Better to burn out than to fade away." •— I was 39 when we started our business and 41 when we closed. That meant I was still young enough to start again (just). Sure, had we scaled right back, we MIGHT have made it eventually, but we would have put ourselves and our families in even worse positions. Deep down, we felt this was the wrong move. So we stopped and reset. This meant: 01. We could earn some much-needed cash. 02. We could reduce the intense pressure on our personal lives. 03. We could allow ourselves to heal, away from investor overwatch. 04. Our investors could realise their losses and tax breaks. Today, I'm running DQventures and my former co-founder has been part of two Series B success stories. If and when I finally get my big exit, I'll have the option to make my previous investors whole, and I won't have 'burnt completely out' in the process. ... There's a lot of talk about never giving up, but it's not that simple. Sometimes it's right to keep pushing. At others, you need to shut down. Investors can't tell you what to do. Nor can friends, family, mentors or advisors. Only you can make that decision. Trust your gut. (Having said that, if want to chat to someone who's been in your shoes, drop me a DM.) •— #startabusiness #givingup

🌟 Elevating Aspirations, Embracing Greatness 🌟 John D. Rockefeller's call to "Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great" resonates deeply as we step into a new week. It's a powerful reminder that true greatness often requires the courage to leave behind the comfort of the familiar and venture into the realm of extraordinary possibilities. At Somras Ventures, we thrive on empowering those visionaries who are not just content with good enough but are driven by the pursuit of greatness. We believe in the transformative power of aiming higher, pushing boundaries, and redefining what's possible. As you navigate the week ahead, consider what 'good' you are prepared to release in order to seize the 'great'. What comfort zones are you challenging? How are you restructuring your goals to not just meet but exceed your own expectations? Let's make this week about bold transitions and remarkable achievements. Let go of the good, and let's chase the great together. Here's to a week of making monumental moves and capturing greatness! #BeyondGood #ChaseGreatness #RockefellerInspired #SomrasVCSupports #MondayDrive #AimHigher #morningquote #QOTD 🚀✨💼

What a week! Raising capital is no joke – the secret sauce? Build relationships before you need the $$$. Conferences and events are prime for expanding your network, but real talk: human connection is the key to everything, whether you’re selling or raising capital. Someone asked me recently, “How do I know if an investor is the right fit?” Here’s my take: don’t dive in with your pitch. Start by asking the right questions. Find out what brought them to the event, how their portfolio is doing, and whether they’re actively deploying capital. Then, share a bit about what you’ve built/scaled and why you were excited to meet them. (Seriously, prepare this!) The goal of this first interaction? Get them on your prospective investor list, so you can keep them updated and show, not tell, how awesome your startup is. It all boils down to finding the connection. Without that, nobody’s writing checks. Wrapping up my second year at Venture Atlanta, and wow, hats off to Allyson Eman! This year was next-level – new friends, incredible panels, and inspiring founders. Huge thanks to all the amazing sponsors for putting the southeast on the map! And yeah, I know I usually post with travel photos, but this is the real startup grind. Drained, blurry-eyed, but grateful for the connections.

With Spark's one-year anniversary approaching, I wanted to reflect on the things I've learned in business over the past year. Here are the first three of twelve lessons: 1) Whatever your business is you better love it. When I tell you I have a whole relationship with my business. It’s like a friendship that needs to be cared for and nourished. It requires sacrifice. 🧡 2) People move and flow. Some people I thought would support me have not, and other people I didn’t expect have been huge supporters. I’ve learned to be grateful for both. For those who have not, they have given me the gift of recalibration. For those who have, they have given the gift of surprise. 3) Inspiration is not on a Monday to Friday, 9-5. It hits when it hits and you need to be ready to write it down! 📝 Stay tuned for the next nine lessons as we approach Juneteenth and our one-year anniversary! 🥂 #businessanniversary #entrepreneurlife #businesslessons #lovewhatyoudo #startupjourney #sparkoneyearstrong

As we prepare for Demo Day, 💪💪 Here’s a recap of what the founders got up to in week 3 + 4! ➡️ Subha Sivaraman, Hive Founders took our founders through an extremely important part of the investment process, Financial Models. This should be a reflection of your business story told in numbers! ➡️ Edward Keelan, Octopus Ventures has a very unique, and highly practical, way to address this critical topic Market Sizing. It’s very difficult to raise investment without doing this correctly, Edward taught our founders why this is! ➡️ Mariette Ferreira, PPRO led the Session on Go-to Market! GTM is the most important slide in your Pitch Deck ‘Ideas are great. Execution is hard.’ This is the reason why GTM is so critical - if you cannot clearly communicate your distribution plan, investors will not have confidence that you’ll now what to do to get your product or service in the hands of customers. ➡️ Nick Wasmuth and Caroline Hughes, took founders through varies Strategies for Growth. Growth is a critical piece of the puzzle to build a viable business and it's also a hugely important part of what you need to confidently communicate to investors. ➡️ Heidi Celeghin, Qualtrics. is a powerhouse she is so knowledgeable when it comes to sales strategy! Founder-led sales alone is not sufficient - you need a strategy that goes beyond your network. Heidi's session will explored how to do this effectively for each of our founders businesses! We’re looking forward to another week packed full of great content and expert advice, but for now our founders are enjoying a well needed break over the Weekend! 💪👩💻 Does this peak your interest?  ➡️ Register your interest to join the next cohort now! https://bit.ly/4aowXgO #fundraising #investmenttips #investment #funding #pitching #femalefounders #startupgrowth #womeninbusiness #investmentstrategy #investmentaccelerator #startupsupport Ursula Morgenstern Andrea Sommer Denise Celeghin Kim Toker Nufar Segal Bareket Lucy Navas Emma Bell Jyoti Bagaria Christina Nesheva

The final event of the 2nd cohort of the BKR Capital VC Fellowship was a whole vibe! We can’t be thankful enough to all our panelists, partners and sponsors (RBC, BDC / BDC Capital (Canada), Spring, and Pivot Education LLC) without whose support this couldn’t have been possible. Our panelists discussed some important themes at length with our instructor turned moderator, Marlon Thompson: Panel 1 on ‘Fund Raising & Investor Relations’ consisted of Annick Charbonneau (Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Accelia Capital), David Nault (Co-Founder & General Partner, Luge Capital), and Emmanuelle Coppinger (Managing Partner, Front Row Ventures). The second panel on ‘Investing & Supporting Early-stage Startups’ included Dinar Ahmed (Partner-Seed Investments, BDC), Matt Golden (Founder & Managing Partner, Golden Ventures) and Sophie Forest (Managing Partner, Brightspark Ventures). Taking the conversation forward was a third panel on ‘Exits’ with esteemed guests such as Steven Abrams (Partner, BDC), Katy Yam, ICD.D Yam (Partner, Real Ventures), and Christophe Bourque (White Star Capital, General Partner). A special note of appreciation for Phil G. Joseph (Founder, Rep Matters) for moderating an insightful interview session with Frank Baylis (Executive Chairman, Baylis Medical Technologies), Frantz Saintellemy, C.M. (President & CEO, LeddarTech- Automotive Software: Low-Level Sensor Fusion & Perception), and Diogo Barry, B. Sc.A-g, MBA (Co-founder, Chrono Innovation). The perspectives this panel of experienced entrepreneurs brought to the table were invaluable for all our aspiring VCs. Look at us all, creating a more inclusive ecosystem for everyone ;) Onward and upward! (Video courtesy of Ben Zion Jackson.) #BKRCapital #VentureCapital #BlackFounders #BlackEntrepreneurs #Innovation #Growth

👉 Should you stay in touch with Series A investors when you're not raising yet? 👉 What do you do with junior VC outreach? 👉 How can you create FOMO during a raise? 👉 What metrics do you need to be ready for a Series A? We'll dive into these questions and more on Tuesday night. What questions do you have?

🌟 30 Days of StartUp Gratitude: Mike Weinbach (Day 6)🌟 Today, I want to express heartfelt gratitude to someone who made a profound impact on my entrepreneurial journey: Mike Weinbach. When I had exhausted support from family and friends for my Kickstarter campaign, I took a leap of faith and started reaching out to C-suite executives in the financial space. Among the many emails sent, one person not only responded but went above and beyond—Mike Weinbach. Mike didn’t just back my Kickstarter he became our top supporter. His contribution was more generous than I could have imagined from a stranger. But it didn’t stop there. When we sent him our LEGACY! card game, he played it with his son, loved it, and even shared his positive feedback. What stands out most about Mike is his humanity. He made it clear that his support wasn’t tied to his professional role—it was personal. He believed in me and my mission. Beyond his financial backing, Mike offered advice, shared connections in the financial space, and encouraged me to keep going. Mike’s support taught me a valuable lesson: never underestimate the power of reaching out to people, even strangers. You never know who will believe in your vision and help you bring it to life. To Mike Weinbach—thank you for being an incredible human being, for your generosity, and for championing a stranger’s dream. Your kindness will always be remembered. 💛 To fellow dreamers: If you’re running a Kickstarter or starting something new, don’t be afraid to email people you don’t know. Sometimes, amazing things happen when you take that chance. 🚀 Visit us @ https://lnkd.in/gtW_Nwc #StartUpGratitude #KickstarterSuccess #NeverGiveUp