Marc Cohen Marc Cohen

Evening update - 14 Sep 22

Today I…

Today I…

Met an angel investor to compare notes on our pipelines.
Had a call with Amory Poulden at D2 Fund to share investment criteria and pipeline.
Met Geoff Miller for coffee.
Met Francis Snoding CTA of LTS Tax Limited for coffee.
Had a call with Tatseng Chiam of RideTandem. RideTandem is launching a raise next month and is absolutely killing it.
Heard a portfolio company has secured another VC in their round.
Made four founder intros to funds.

Now I'm going for Chinese food with a friend.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

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Marc Cohen Marc Cohen

Evening update - 13 Sep 22

Today I…

Today I…

Had my hair cut by James Bransford.
Had a call with an angel investor about a business they are considering.
Had a no-show for a call with an old uni friend.
Chatted with Daniel Williams about his startup Hunch.
Was pitched by Shona Chalmers and Mark Apter of Roomix.
Was pitched by Tim Silbermann and Miles Bailey of RWRD.
Was pitched by Jan Deruyck of Guud.
Chatted with Daniel Rosenberg about angel investing.
Had a meeting about promoting #fintech in Guernsey.
Had a meeting with Public Health Guernsey.

Now I have to:

Take the bins out.
Feed the kids.
Reply to #founders to meet my internal SLA.

I have a glass of wine. I may need another.

#startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

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Marc Cohen Marc Cohen

The importance of founders

Why are #founders important in #startups?

Why are #founders important in #startups?

In #venturecapital there are so many critical decisions between now and exit, the difference between a good and great founder can be 10x.

What am I looking for in a founder?

The ability to be compelling. The most important founder skill is sales. You need to be able to sell to investors, to clients and to persuade employees to join a business that may not exist in a year.

What is my most common #feedback?

Not compelling enough about why I should invest. The most common reply is to explain why the business is great. This misses the point. I listen to learn about you, not the business.

#buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

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Marc Cohen Marc Cohen

Evening update - 12 Sep 22

Today I…

Today I…

Was pitched by Pavel Gertsberg, the Fluffiest CEO at Fluffy. Fluffy's round will be closing soon.
Had a call with Puja Balachander about how to get into Angel investing.
Met Suzanne Noble of Startup School for Seniors to pick her brain on how she has developed such an incredible brand and following.
Chatted with Bird Lovegod about how he's doing good in the world.
Had a call with Ellis Hudson 芮德森 at Blenheim Chalcot.
Chatted with Gordon Campbell at ClickBoost - Paid Media Agency about pay-per-click and how I learn from his content.
Was pitched by Rafael Guper at UJJI about how they plan to provide the skills needed for the future of work.
Spoke to Tristan Pieper, Venture Consultant.

Phew!

Later I will have a zoom and a glass of wine with my good friend, Nick Davis. Nick is co-founder at Alto.Ski, a demon WordPress developer and a fellow Fantasy Premier League obsessive.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

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Marc Cohen Marc Cohen

Evening update - 9 Sep 22

Today I…

Today I…

Met Lucas Johnston for coffee and chatted about what he is building at umber.
Spoke to Euan Cameron and Andrew Wood at Willo®.
Had a no show.
Got back to six of the seven #startups who shared video pitches - powered by Willo® - over the last three days with passes or next steps. Those I passed got honest feedback.
Introduced an investee company to a fund they will be a good fit for.
Followed up with both a founder and a fund I am strongly considering investing in.
Walked to Victoria Station via Buckingham Palace which was understandably busy.
Got the train to Gatwick.
Later I fly home to see my family who I need to spend lots of time with this weekend as I have been away all week.

Now, ramen.

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Marc Cohen Marc Cohen

Queen Elizabeth II

While I am not a royalist…

While I am not a royalist the Queen was clearly exceptional in her role as a figurehead and representative of the United Kingdom. She will be missed.

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Marc Cohen Marc Cohen

Morning update - 9 Sep 22

Yesterday I…

Yesterday I…

Had coffee with Rodney Appiah. Rodney is Managing Partner at Cornerstone VC which recently reached the first close of its fund to invest in UK tech start-ups led by diverse teams.
Met Tarig El-Sheikh of CINCHONA.
Had coffee with Jonathan Blausten of Sprout. Sprout is democratising access to VC by providing a curated selection of funds you would not normally be able to access.
Met Brian Snyder of Aide Health. Aide is a digital service to help understand and manage chronic disease.
Received one new video pitch.
Met Jamie Beaumont, Jonny Plein, Sam O'Connor ACA, Nicky Sugarman and others (sorry no name check) at James Pringle drinks.
Heard the Queen had died.

Ask me anything.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

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Marc Cohen Marc Cohen

Newsletters and podcasts

I like to keep well informed and learn from others.

Newsletters I read:

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Marc Cohen Marc Cohen

Morning update - 8 Sep 22

Yesterday I…

Yesterday I…

Had coffee with Philip Braham of Medimatch.io who is closing his round soon.
Met a friend, Seth Marks, for a Pret A Manger lunch and chatted about each of our plans.
Had coffee with Alison Metcalfe of Trybs Health which supports parents whose children self-harm. Alison and Trybs came out of Ella Goldner (Levy)'s ZINC venture builder.
Met Sade Amale of Physalis for coffee. Physalis helps businesses with video market research with AI-powered analytics. Sade is also closing her round soon.
Shared three businesses that were raising including one video pitch - Freyja XO, RWRD & Roomix.
Received four new video pitches.
Met Stuart Lewis and Sara Stephens and the team at Rest Less UK for a beer after work.
Had a cheeky Five Guys burger on my way back to my hotel.

Ask me anything.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

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Marc Cohen Marc Cohen

Early-stage digital tech and why

I am an early-stage digital tech investor. Why?

I am an early-stage digital tech investor. Why?

Why digital tech?

It is easier to scale fast with great unit economics. This is the guiding star.

Why early-stage?

It is where my investment size is enough to matter so I have a chance of getting great deal flow.

Why early-stage digital tech?

It is where my expertise sits

Do I ever break this rule?

Occasionally. I will explain why when those investments happen and one is happening soon.

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Marc Cohen Marc Cohen

Evening update - 6 Sep 22

Today I…

Today I…

Had a remote site meeting for the house I am building.
Had a call with Jamie Beaumont of Playter about sales channels.
Met Raj Mendhir and heard about how wippd can help companies manage costs in a downturn by hiring talent out of Malaysia.
Met Riz Iqbal and chatted about the startup he is considering founding.
Spoke with Jonny Plein of Kuai Commerce about how to manage an oversubscribed round.
Spoke to a #founder whose Seed round I didn't invest in about participating in his pre Series A raise.
Received three video pitches one of which I have permission to share.
Met a founder to hear the first run-through of their Series A pitch deck. I love this business and will be investing.
Sneaked in a quick McDonalds on the way back to my hotel.

Ask me anything.

#venturecapital #startups #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

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Marc Cohen Marc Cohen

Why Landscape is so important to the venture community

Yesterday I said I would explain why Landscape is so important to the venture community, founders VCs, and investors.

Yesterday I said I would explain why Landscape is so important to the venture community, founders VCs, and investors.
https://lnkd.in/eE--_7qH

It is nice to have a good rating like I do but it's not the most important thing.

What is? Behind the scenes, there is an anonymous slack channel for founders. Any founder can ask for feedback on any VC and get brutally honest feedback on them almost instantly.

What does this mean?

• It doesn't matter if you curate the reviews on the main page only offering them to those who you know will give you good feedback (we are all a little guilty of this). Founders will get the honest opinion anyway
• Founders need to be on there to find out who they are dealing with. Hopefully you have choices of who to take the money from and to spend time engaging with and you can spend that time more effectively
• VCs with poor reputations will struggle to get into deals. Founders have options and will increasingly do so as venture gets more competitive (and it will despite the current environment)
• Investors into funds need to know how that fund is perceived on the landscape slack channel. The best deals will be competitive, the founders will have options, and VCs with poor reputations will not get those deals. If you invest in a VC with a poor reputation, no matter their historic performance, you will struggle

PS If you read this far and it's convenient, a 1pm slot has opened up for coffee with me in London. Shushhh
https://lnkd.in/eqrt7Jng

Ask me anything.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #investing #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

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Marc Cohen Marc Cohen

Evening update - 5 Sep 22

Today I…

Today I…

  • Woke up at 5 and headed to the airport

  • Bumped into a friend, Matthew Falla. Matt is an exited founder and has a fantastic business, Parallel

  • Took the 7am flight to London

  • Set myself up by 9.15 at 116 Pall Mall where I am basing myself for the week

  • Had a midday meeting scheduled with a founder they were unable to make at short notice

  • Set unbundled vc up on Landscape and got my first five reviews you can see here - https://www.landscape.vc/investors/unbundled-vc. Thank you for the reviews, you know who you are!

  • Shared Rafael Guper of UJJI's pitch

  • Met Ioto Iotov of Capricorn Capital Partners UK for coffee to talk about unbundled vc and about the investment process and track record he is building at Capricorn Capital Partners UK. Ioto is very smart and is a deep thinker about the future of VC and what you need to do for success

  • Checked into my hotel

  • Had a quick call with Jonny Plein of Kuai Commerce

  • Went to dinner with Aditya Nagarsheth. Aditya is a good friend and a fantastic investor whose opinion I respect greatly. He invests in early and late-stage venture and in crypto

Tomorrow I will post about why Landscape is becoming critical for founders, VCs and investors in VCs (LPs).

#venturecapital #founders #startups #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

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Marc Cohen Marc Cohen

Mission and vision

My mission is to generate wealth for my family by investing incredibly and to take joy in the journey by helping founders.

My mission is to generate wealth for my family by investing incredibly and to take joy in the journey by helping founders.

My vision is by making exceptional investment decisions, helping founders and being as open as possible about all I do, to build a brand that generates incredible deal flow and enables my mission.

Then, once I have built that incredible brand, to explore opportunities for unbundled vc.

Ask me anything.

#venturecapital #founders #startups #brandbuilding #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

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