Charity pitches

I am thinking about dedicating one video pitch a week to a startup founder who is raising money for charity. The founder doesn't have to know me or have pitched me for investment.

Do you think there would be any demand for this? Would you be interested in watching? How might I do it differently?

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic #charity

Evening update - 6 Feb 23

#TodayI

Took the kids to school.
Shared about the incredible inaugural unbundled vc founder ski trip.
Was pitched by Saul Truman and Wojciech Woźnicki of quester.
Chatted with Tatseng Chiam of RideTandem.
Shared Charlie Winton of OK Positive's video pitch.
Chatted with Nora Bavey of Unconventional Ventures who invests in diverse founders building impact businesses.
Attended lunchtime meditation at Guille-Allès Library.
Was pitched by a founder who wishes to remain anonymous.
Spoke with Jonathan Nwosu of ClimaView AI.

#NowI

Need to collect the kids from school
Have to drop off and collect one of my kids from table tennis training.
Need to prep for Physics Olympiad prep I am helping with at a local school tomorrow.
Have to do admin.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Public pitch - Charlie Winton of OK Positive

#PublicPitch

Delighted to share, with permission, Charlie Winton of OK Positive's video pitch.

OK Positive provides tools that prioritise mental health and open up healthy and workable narratives both in and out of the workplace.

Please let me know if you would like an intro or feel free to reach out directly.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

unbundledski

Thank you, Euan Cameron and Andrew Wood of Willo®, Larisa Budaeva of Nation.better, Robert Brewer of Alpha Edge, Andrew Duncan of Friend Digital, Ross Tuffee of Stealth Startup and Nick Ellwood of Playter for making the inaugural unbundled vc founder ski trip the incredible trip it was!

Hopefully, my ski bag will follow me back today! (please easyJet)

Here's a short video shared by Euan Cameron.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Catching up with old friends and unbundleski

#TodayIs a day for catching up with old friends and getting everything done before the inaugural unbundled vc founder ski trip.

This morning I caught up with the wonderful Jessica Mayers who I haven't seen for nearly five years (photo below).

Then I met for lunch the inestimable Kevin Liddy who was my boss over twenty years ago at NatWest/RBS.

Keep in touch with those old friends, it is lovely when you can see them.

Tomorrow is the very first unbundledski. We are meeting in Geneva and heading to Nendaz. I'm really excited as it is a great bunch of people.

Looking forward to seeing you all soon Andrew Duncan, Andrew Wood, Euan Cameron, Larisa Budaeva, Nick Ellwood, Robert Brewer and Ross Tuffee.

Thank you Edgar Smith and Nick Pointon for renting us the chalet.

I will see everyone else in a week or so!

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #inveestinginpublic

Evening update - 26 Jan 23

#TodayI

Shared a travel hack.
Flew to London on the 7am flight.
Had coffee with Fred Warren and Alex Osborne of Wonder 14.
Had lunch with James Campbell 甘吉 of Kuai Commerce.
Chatted with Jon Coker of Eka Ventures who led Runna's recent round that I was fortunate to invest in.
Took part in a fireside chat for The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) Private Equity Society alongside Hannah Leach of Houghton Street Ventures. My father was at LSE from 1966-70 and was able to attend which was lovely.
Had dinner with my father.

Thank you to Edoardo Cariati for hosting and inviting me and welcoming my father (wearing his original LSE scarf) and to Daryl Chiang, Treasurer, for taking this picture.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Travel hack: don't collect your checked luggage when you land

I'm flying to London this morning. I fly out to go skiing on Saturday. I don't want to be dragging one of these around London for two days.

Don't collect the bag, pick it up from left luggage on Saturday morning, save time, money and effort.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 25 Jan 23

#TodayI

Shared about excitement and deadlines.
Was pitched by Ajay Jagota of Veriwise.
Chatted with James Green of DQventures.
Shared Rob Taylor of ChipFlow's video pitch.
Was fortunate to get a masterclass on marketplaces and network effects from Greg Mccallum of hiPets.
Was pitched by Natalie Sullivan of The Retreater.
Collected my son from football club.

#NowI

Have to take another of my sons to football training
Need to pack for two days in London then unbundledski.
Am going for dinner with my wife.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Public pitch - Rob Taylor of ChipFlow

#PublicPitch

Delighted to share, with permission, Rob Taylor of ChipFlow's video pitch.

ChipFlow is a development platform that democratises custom microchip design.

Please let me know if you would like an intro or feel free to reach out directly.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Excitement and doom

I go to London tomorrow and skiing this weekend.

I'm both excited and can feel the impending deadline of get s*** done before I go.

Is it just me that feels this before a trip?

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 24 Jan 23

#TodayI

Posted about buying poorly run owner-managed businesses.
Had a call with some private bankers about how they can help founders.
Shared Sam Thomas Alexander Royle of SoSquared's video pitch.
Was pitched by Rob Taylor of ChipFlow.
Spoke with Matthew Codd about a shared offering (coming soon).
Did some admin.

#NowI

Have to clean the house before my wife gets back and murders me!

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Public pitch - Sam Royle of SoSquared

#PublicPitch

Delighted to share, with permission, Sam Thomas Alexander Royle of SoSquared's video pitch.

SoSquared is a marketplace that connects businesses with content creators to help them scale their content marketing and provides creators with tools to help them advance their careers.

Please let me know if you would like an intro or feel free to reach out directly.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Buying owner-run businesses

The best businesses to buy are owner run where you know you can run them better.

Why? Ego. The owners believe they are running them well. Then you can buy them at a great price.

Small-scale example:
A riverside pub I visited when canal boating where the owner criticised my 10yo son for ordering a glass of tap water and then took great pride in refusing us dinner when we were thirty seconds after the deadline. It had terrible reviews (I should have checked). The owner had no idea how much custom he was losing due to poor management. This could have been a great turnaround purchase.

Large-scale example:
$145m into $3bn in 3 years in under 6's Youtube - https://twitter.com/PrivatEquityGuy/status/1617246321114578946.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update 23 Jan 23

#TodayI

Asked for guidance on investing in startups with network effects.
Took the kid to school.
Was pitched by Sam Thomas Alexander Royle of SoSquared.
Met Barrie Baxter of Brixx Software for coffee.
Chatted with Emilio Cuevas and Aditya Bodke of Alator Capital and Entrepreneurs Collective.
Bought new father Bobby Phillips a much-needed coffee.
Attended lunch break meditation at Guille-Allès Library.
Had a call with Chris Wyles and John Yeo.
Spoke briefly with Francis Snoding CTA of LTS Tax Limited.
Was pitched by Taya Kudashkina of Penenza.
Collected the kids from school.
Bought food and cupcakes.
Took a kid to table tennis.

#LaterI

Have to collect from table tennis
Need to do admin.
Will start working through the resources on network effects people shared with me earlier.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

The cold start problem

I struggle to figure out if early-stage startups can get past the cold start problem.

Businesses that require network effects need either enough customers and suppliers on their platform or enough people using the product for the service to be valuable in the first place (see Uber, Airbnb, LinkedIn). They are incredible once they've got there.

What should I be looking for?

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 20 Jan 23

#TodayI

Shared that decks should tell a story.
Took the kids to school.
Chatted with Matthew Addison of StepLadder UK.
Booked a Xmas dinner
Shared Chris McAdam of Getahead's video pitch.
Recorded a podcast for Digital Greenhouse Guernsey and the Guernsey Press with Amanda (Mandy) Eulenkamp and Tony Curr.
Met with Daniel Blondel of BTP Limited - Blondel Touzeau Partnership, Chartered Surveyors about our house build.
Collected the kids from school.
Received my Runna t-shirt (below).

Have a great weekend everyone!

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Public pitch - Chris McAdam of Get Ahead Mindset

#PublicPitch

Delighted to share, with permission, Chris McAdam of Getahead's video pitch.

Getahead is a sports psychology-based mindset training program that aims to make mental training accessible, affordable and effective through daily mental warmups and cooldowns.

Please let me know if you would like an intro or feel free to reach out directly.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Every deck should tell a story

Every deck should tell a story.

Too many decks or presentations are just a list of things the presenter feels you ought to know. To be effective they have to tell a story.

How can you tell if your deck tells a story?

Turn each slide into a bullet point. Read your bullet points in order. If they tell a story, you're golden.

If they don't, figure out the story you want to tell in bullet points then turn each one back into a slide.

Optimally, you'd start with the story. I know I don't. I start by getting all the junk out of my head. Then I do this.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 19 Jan 23

#TodayI

Posted about how to think creatively about market size.
Took the kids to school (including a tantrum in Waitrose).
Shared that SaaS businesses should check out Playter Paid.
Dealt with some of the inbound after yesterday's announcement of Kuai Commerce's raise.
Chatted with Hector Mason of Episode 1 Ventures and Riding Unicorns about all the things.
Met JAMES A. MATTHEWSON 🇯🇪🇬🇧 of Kaelo .
Shared Charles Brecque of Legislate's video pitch.
Went shopping.
Collected the kids.
Fed the kids.
Took one to table tennis.
Improvised my joy back with Sarah Hansmann Rouxel.
Collected one from table tennis.

If you can't guess, my wife is away!

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Public pitch - Charles Breque of Legislate

#PublicPitch

Delighted to share, with permission, Charles Brecque of Legislate's video pitch.

Legislate uses knowledge graphs to make contracts machine-readable and easily manageable for businesses, allowing for efficient access to data and answers to questions about the contracts.

Please let me know if you would like an intro or feel free to reach out directly.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic