At my old place we did this

What statements do you find triggering?

One of mine is, "At my old place we did this and it was great."

Really? Do you know why it worked at your old place? Given where we are now you think that means it will work here and why?

It's not just about experience. It's about understanding why things work and why they don't. Then you have a chance of translating that experience into something helpful.

What statements do you find triggering?

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 13 June 23

#TodayI

Shared my new frictionless pitch for VC-led rounds.
Had my first sign-up via this.
Received and gave feedback on investment docs for an imminent investment.
Helped a founder with intros and remits on other VCs.
Organised tutoring for one of my sons.
Chatted with a founder.
Caught up with Euan Cameron of Willo®.
Had a postponement.
Was pitched by Samuel Adesanya of Devo.

#NowI

Have to leave early for a parents' evening.
Have at least ten other things on my must do today list (apologies if you're not on it).
Need to take the bins out.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Pitch with a lead

Founders, if you have a lead VC you can now book straight into my diary with no filter.

I typically use a video pitch as my first filter rather than a pitch deck. I need that filter because of the volume of applications.

Now, if you are a pre Series A digital tech startup with a credible lead investor you can book straight into my diary. No filter. I don't need a filter because your lead has done that for me.

I've included extended hours to make sure we can meet quickly because I like to move fast and not waste anyone's time.

Why?

This was inspired by my receiving three introductions in 24 hours by VCs to founders whose rounds they were leading. I rate the VCs. I asked myself why I was asking for a video pitch when I knew they would meet my minimum quality requirements.

I didn't ask for the videos, I went straight to meetings and my investment in one of them is closing soon.

I could have missed the deal if I'd insisted on a video pitch and added friction to the process.

Any chance you have to remove friction where it's not necessary, take it.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 12 June 23

#SaturdayI

Woke up at 3am and walked 39 miles round Guernsey (half way round pic with my boys below).
Passed out.

#SundayI

Wrote a magazine article.
Sent emails to angels about a portfolio company that has a small additional raise.
Recovered.

#TodayI

Cycled to pilates.
Had a recovery pilates session with Maria Jose Freeman (Fernandez) of pilates core club.
Asked what you are running from.
Tried and failed to pay a bill.
Had a few postponements.
Prepped for my founder WhatsApp group and my monthly newsletter.
Added an unusual disclaimer to my email signature.
Soft launched my pitch with a lead process.
Was generally unproductive and not at my best.

How was your day?

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

What are you running from

What are you running from?

This is Harry Stebbings of 20VC's favourite question to successful founders and investors. He believes they are all running from something and that is what drives them.

A recent FT article suggests the same thing:

Hayes Barnard was sitting at a football match with a fellow chief executive when he decided to test a theory about what might account for his neighbour’s success.

“I gotta know,” ventured the founder of US fintech GoodLeap “Is it daddy issues, near-death experience or learning difficulties?”

What are you running from?

Do you need to be running from something to be successful?

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 9 June 23

#TodayI

Asked if you'd be interested in a quarterly unbundled vc newsletter and what you would like to see in it.
Took the kids to school.
Had coffee with MATHEW GULLY and collected my son's football trophy (below, proud Dad moment).
Spoke with Kornel Grunwald about his quantum computing startup.
Asked what platform I should use for a newsletter.
Was pitched by a founder who wishes to remain anonymous.
Chatted with Lottie Unwin (she/her) of Copy Club.
Was asked to write a magazine column.
Was pitched by Richard Lee of Venyu.
Finished early to collect the kids from school.

#TomorrowI

Walk 39 miles round Guernsey.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Bonus newsletter advice post

Bonus newsletter post.

What platform should I use and why?

I send portfolio founder updates using Gmail multi-send.
Many people use Mailchimp.
Substack seems interesting because I can also use Notes and get network effects.

Thoughts?

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Newsletter advice please

I'm considering starting a monthly or quarterly newsletter you can sign up for on my website.

My instinct is to keep it simple - who I've invested in, updates to what I am doing, most popular posts, portfolio company information and a request for great deal flow.

Would you be interested? If not why not? (Please be honest, I'm here to learn.)
What would you like to see in it?

Help me please!

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 8 June 23

#TodayI

Shared that you shouldn't take my advice.
Had coffee with Barrie Baxter of Brixx Software.
Had my Important not Urgent day.

#NowI

Am collecting the kids from school and taking them to the beach to collect pebbles for a school project.

#SaturdayI

Am walking 39 miles round Guernsey. I am not collecting sponsorship but if you'd like to make a donation to XLH UK, using this link, I'd be very grateful. They support people with the condition my youngest two boys have. I wrote about that here.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Don’t take my advice

Don't take my advice.

Anyone's advice, including this, is just advice. It's not instruction, it's what someone else thinks.

It's up to you to figure out what advice to take and what not to.

You have to figure out your own path.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 7 June 23

#TodayI

Shared how to think about competitive markets.
Spoke with Justin Meades of Phase Mechanical.
Had coffee with Nicholas Collinson.
Was pitched by Dr. Dupe Burgess of Bloomful.
Shared that my stealth startup has come out of stealth.
Made a load of intros.
Caught up with Dami Hastrup of MOONHUB.

#NowI

Have to feed the kids and attempt to stop them bickering.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Magrathea - out of stealth

Super excited to be able to announce I have invested in Alex Grant and Jacob Brown at Magrathea in both their Pre-Seed and Seed rounds.

Magrathea aims to industrialise the production of carbon neutral metal from seawater and brines, starting with magnesium, and you can see the first evidence below.

Today they are out of stealth with the announcement of their $10m Seed round led by VoLo Earth Ventures and Capricorn Investment Group (click the picture for details).

I also got to invest alongside the amazing Sam Altman of OpenAI though I did not know that at the time. (Back your judgment, not others'.)

Alex and Jacob are incredible founders and I am privileged to be a small part of their journey.

Magrathea is a US deep tech startup and so well outside my usual investment scope. I will explain how and why I broke my rules in another post.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Competitive spaces

How to think about building or investing in competitive spaces.

You have two viable options:

1. Differentiation. Your differentiation needs to matter. It needs to be the product and not the feature. If it's a nice to have and not a must have, you will lose.

2. Execution. You have to execute way better than your competitors. Partly this is about your ability to execute. Partly it's about your competition's. You have no control over the latter. Don't get involved if they're good. You want to compete against poorly run companies not great ones.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 6 June 23

#TodayI

Shared how to get started on your pitch.
Had a site meeting for our house build with DLM Architects Ltd and Infinity Group.
Had coffee with Claire Cherry of Joyance Partners.
Spoke with Perdie Alder and Margaret Anne Coyle of Hotbed.
Was pitched by Mark Perlmutter of Vegan Investing Club.
Chatted with Rachael Crook of Lifted.

#NowI

Am heading to a panel meeting.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

How to get started on your pitch

I'm often asked, "How do I get started on my pitch and what questions should I be expected to answer?"

1. Take this template.
2. Make sure you have good one-line answers for each of the questions.
3. Have a more in-depth answer prepared for each question if asked for more detail.
4. That's it.

There's obviously more to it. But this is a great start.

With thanks to Guy Kawasaki and Pitch.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 5 June 23

#TodayI

Shared that you should take founder reference calls.
Had coffee with James Ede-Golightly of Oxehealth and OXECO.
Chatted with Daniel Nyambe of Bantu Limited .
Had a call with Adrian Norman and Yordi de Kleijn of UniteVerse.
Chatted with Jake Abdinoor of @JX Ventures.
Spoke with Landon Sanford of Stealth.

#ThisEvening

I start realigning my sleep schedule ahead of a very early start for Saturday's 39-mile Saffery Rotary Walk.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Founder reference calls

Founders, make sure you take founder reference calls before accepting investment, particularly from your lead.

Ideally, they should be from founders they have been invested in for a while so they have more data points. They should also include a founder whose startup didn't make it.

You will have your investors with you for a long time. Your lead will be on your board for a long time and will have decision rights. It's important to get this right.

Most people are good actors. but there are some horror stories out there.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 2 June 23

#TodayWe (Dylan Cohen and I)

Attended London Tech Walk. Thanks again Haz Hubble and Magdalena Kościółek for organising.
Shared that I had attended London Tech Walk. Comment on this or the original post to be kept informed for next Friday's.
Had coffee with Daisy Harvey of Loom.
Postponed a founder call to watch Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse at BFI London Imax Cinema (pic below).
Tried to catch up with a founder and had a location mismatch that prevented it.

#NowWe

Are waiting to collect a repaired laptop then heading to Buckinghamshire for a friend's 50th tomorrow.

Have a great weekend everyone.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

London Tech Walk

Had great fun this morning on London Tech Walk 5 with these wonderful people - Alessandro Canella, Lodovico Sella, Dylan Cohen, Claire B., Rohan M., Haz Hubble and Magdalena Kościółek.

Meet at a new location each Friday at 8am, coffee and walk until 9am, chat with some new people you might never otherwise have met.

Very simple and very effective. I will be back.

To find out about future London Tech Walks, please comment below.

Thank you Haz and Magdalena for organising!

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 1 Jun 23

#TodayI

Hosted a founder breakfast with Matthew Codd of Cosmic Partners. Thank you everyone who attended.
Had coffee with Monika Holod of Wangie.app.
Shared about the founder breakfast.
Had coffee with Andrew Miles.
Sent my first ever unbundled vc founders email.
Caught up on my backlog.

#ThisEvening

I will be watching some improv at The Free Association.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic