CB Insights’ Post

Nice to see public figures, actors and athletes in as investors in startups, would be interesting to know some of following: -Do they bring in other public figures -Does its a difference to founders, if one set of investors has a public figure -What stage they are typically focused/bias -What amounts -Are they active involved or passive with their investments -Do they follow on invest -What have been some sample exits?

How to raise a Series A in today’s market | TechCrunch

Last night I joined over 100 founders, operators, and investors at Cooley LLP for “Did VCs get it right?”— a panel hosted by SPANVentures. as part of their Breaking Barriers of VC series. Some key takeaways: 1️⃣ Average fundraising rounds now take 6-9 months to close, reflecting current market trends. 2️⃣ GenAI: VC’s are more inclined to invest in startups that enhance human capabilities rather than replace humans. 3️⃣ Alcohol funds are thriving, with a notable $13.7 billion revenue surge in vodka and tequila mezcal brands last year (as reported by CNBC) 4️⃣ European VCs are placing emphasis on business models, considering elevated operational costs in the region. How does $2M in the US compare to the EU with inflation in mind? 5️⃣ VC’s should prioritize burn management immediately after writing the check. 6️⃣ Zehra Naqvi, investor at Headline, shared compelling insights on investing in platforms that foster TRUE social connections, igniting discussions on human connection in today’s digital age (and perhaps, finally breaking up with your AI girlfriend 😉). A heartfelt thank you to the panelists for their valuable contributions and Q1 2024 predictions. Looking forward to the next Breaking Barriers of VC series event!

The tell-all story behind the viral 'VC shoe map' I made; "they say you can only really understand a person once you walk a mile in their shoes. To understand investors, look down." This video is an outtake from SaaStr BCN keynote 'From Memes to 'Value-Add': What Matters 'Beyond Money' and How to Find it.' Thanks again, Jason M. Lemkin. I made this as a satirical attempt to explain to founders what a shoe might say about telling investors apart, their culture, and what you can expect in a conversation with said fund. The remainder of the keynote went beyond the superficial, humorous attempts (such as this one) to examine the commoditization of capital and very real criticism of the #venturecapital industry, including its 1) opacity 2) a-symmetry of power and information, and 3) the true color of money. 💸 If you missed it the first time, check out the OG post: https://lnkd.in/ekJdtM7Z Full keynote here: https://lnkd.in/e4rzGAWv & without further ado, unapologetically for the #algorithm: Peak, McKinsey & Company , Boston Consulting Group (BCG) , Cavalry Ventures, La Famiglia , Speedinvest, Cherry Ventures, Visionaries Club, HV Capital, Lakestar, SquareOne Venture Capital, Global Founders Capital, b2venture, Headline, Creandum, Iris Capital, HEARTFELT_, Atlantic Labs, First Momentum Ventures, Picus Capital, 10x Founders, JOIN CAPITAL, DN Capital, Earlybird Venture Capital, Target Global, Capnamic, Heartcore Capital HTGF | High-Tech Gründerfonds, Partech & all the @ associates with the same white sneakers. xoxoxox

If you haven't met David Cooperstein 🏳️🌈 you are missing out! David has the most amazing ability to take complex things and simplify them in an easy, effective and consumable manner. He is literally a genius at this. We are truly blessed to have such an amazing operator helping our portfolio build. He is a 35-year veteran of the Internet via strategy, marketing, research, and editorial experience in telecom, retail and media/advertising, David has observed, engaged and built marketing strategies for companies across verticals in the digital domain. He is a a very diverse background in high growth sectors, including social media, online advertising, television and direct mail - all at companies that range from pre-start up to mid-stage venture-backed firms and mid-cap public companies including Lily AI, PebblePost, Ad-Lib.io, Simulmedia, and Forrester Research. “I cut to the chase to help companies come up with a vision and message that stands apart from the crowd. I can code switch on different industries and strategies in seconds, and can extract the real meaning of a company's offer to their customers in a single bound.” 👏 - David C. Pumped and honored to be building with you Hatchet Ventures 🪓!! LET'S GROOOOOWWW!!! #hatchetventures #scaleyourbusiness #startupsuccess #investmentsuccess #advisorfeature

This is so good from Madeline Lawrence. Capital needs to market itself too, this is why VCs need to differentiate themselves (having arrived at uniform generalism) #capitalraising #startups #fundraising #founders #venturecapital #investors #vc #vcfunding #technology #startup #tech

First time founders never focus on the main game Paul Graham of the infamous Y combinator said something like, "First-time founders think competitors are what kill 99% of start-ups. But 99% of new businesses die from suicide, not murder”. That means we can too easily stop ourselves before we start, before we allow ourselves time to dream. Pitching to investors, strategising, business modeling is not the whole story. It can be like a plane on autopilot going in the wrong direction. Yes we are focused but it has unintended outcomes. Like the Air NZ plane that got it 1% wrong and passengers and crew died on an Antartica mountain. Better to focus on yourself. Be Self accountable. It is the rare quality investors, collaborators, partners, and your team are looking to you to be.

The SXSW PanelPicker is now live! Last year, our CEO & Founder Vishal Sunak 🚀 shared his playbook for getting to $10M ARR in 2 years, and we need your help getting him back on stage in 2024! Check out and vote for his sessions below: The Tried & True Playbook to Fundraising: [https://lnkd.in/e64m2wky] -Vishal will share a playbook for raising capital & setting founders up for success in their next round. CEO Playbook to Creating and Scaling an Innovation Culture: [https://lnkd.in/eQCup5hW] -Join Vishal as he shares his best practices for fostering innovation at scale, ensuring that your company continues to embrace creativity, take risks, and drive breakthrough ideas (and outcomes)! Scaling Startup Success: People, Finances, Asset & Brand: [https://lnkd.in/eVPHwCsB] -This session, learn how to prioritize and allocate time between each pillar in order to develop a forward-looking, holistic strategy for your company. Hype or Hope: Navigating Generative AI: [https://lnkd.in/eMzpqdeE] -Vishal will discuss how to identify real business problems that have a use case for gen AI, and highlight the considerations leaders need to make (that no one tells you about).

Audience is EVERYTHING in today's economy. If you aren't posting content regularly in today's ATTENTION BASED economy than idk what you are doing. I'm not saying it will be impossible to scale but it will be DAMN HARD. I protected my digital anonymity for 10 years with ZERO social media until I read an article in late 2022 about the creator economy and content. I then began posting content IMMEDIATELY once the lightbulb went off 💡! Boomers don't understand business has changed entirely. You need LEVERAGE. Before there were mainly two types of leverage: 1) CAPITAL 2) LABOR And now there's four: 1) CAPITAL 2) LABOR 3) CONTENT 4) CODE There are either those who understand how to leverage code to scale their labor with it OR those who know how to build code to scale a profitable business with HIGH margins. With content, there are 3 options: 1) You have the upfront capital to pay to get on someone's platform 2) You have the skill to NETWORK your way into making guest appearances 3) You have the ability to produce your own content You can also do a combination of the 3. If you want to take entrepreneurship SERIOUS, you better be known. It's no longer about how good you are or how great your product is. Cigarettes are a shitty product but you know why British American Tobacco is worth 70 billion dollars!? Well because it's "cool" to smoke. It's "sociable". This is why they keep selling cancer sticks and people keep buying. I believe in the 90/10 rule... 90% BRAND/10% product (controversial perhaps). You don't have to be the best. You can be even below average but with a killer BRAND like MOONBOY, you too can crush it 😉 We SPECIALIZE in HIGH RISK, HIGH REWARD decentralized assets. Book a meeting: https://lnkd.in/ei7vnkQU - See you space cowboy

What a great conversation! Cheers Katie Street for talking us through the world of Go To Market (GTM) strategies and how founders should get on board with these strategies from the get-go to increase their chances of success.