Evening update - 21 November 23
Today I…
#TodayI
Had first breakfast of french toast cooked by my son as part of his Duke of Edinburgh award scheme.
Shared that Microsoft may have pulled off the heist of the century. The stock market isn't so sure.
Had second breakfast with Barrie Baxter of Brixx Software.
Had coffee with Cameron Margetts of The Orbital Locker Company Ltd.
Intro'd an angel investor to a founder.
Worked on my to-do list.
Kudos to Satya Nadella
Microsoft may have just pulled off the biggest heist of the century.
Microsoft may have just pulled off the biggest heist of the century.
Kudos to Satya Nadella for his execution. He had to convince an uber-entrepreneur to work for Microsoft and his board that this was a good idea, both in record time. Not what you expect from an incumbent.
Evening update - 20 November 23
Today I…
#TodayI
Share a book recommendation.
Helped a local school with mock Oxbridge exams.
Had an impromptu chat with Jamie Beaumont of Playter.
Spoke with Edward Kandel at Founders Factory.
Worked on a custom ChatGPT and seemed to take the site down for a bit. That, or all the drama is too much for it.
#LaterI
Have improv practice ahead of our showcase next week. Buy tickets here.
Book recommendation - Daemon by Daniel Suarez
It's the only book nobody seems to have heard of that everyone I've recommended it to has loved.
Random book recommendation - Daemon by Daniel Suarez.
It's the only book nobody seems to have heard of that everyone I've recommended it to has loved.
Maybe better suited to techy types.
If you read it or have read it, let me know what you think in the comments.
Evening update - 17 November 23
Today I…
#TodayI
Shared a typical problem to get past with investors.
Took the kids to school.
Shared Jonny Plein's post on YASO's inaugural trends report on China's beauty market.
Had an impromptu coffee with Matthias Plunser of WXplr.
Chatted with Ollie Dotsch of IVY.
Shared Shaa Wasmund MBE's post about her upcoming The Rise of the Female Entrepreneur event.
Had a mutually agreed postponement.
Collected one son with flu from school - not many of us still standing.
Introduced a founder to a potential angel investor.
Caught up with Euan Cameron of Willo®.
Collected the remaining son from school.
#LaterI
Will watch a movie with whoever is still standing.
Help me understand
Founders, a classic problem I have that comes up time and time again is I don't understand your market as well as you do. I don't personally know the pain point you are solving.
Founders, a classic problem I have that comes up time and time again is I don't understand your market as well as you do. I don't personally know the pain point you are solving.
Find a way to make it easy for me to know these as well as you and it will be much easier for me to invest.
I can only make informed decisions. If I can't get to a high enough confidence level, I have to let it go.
This will also apply to other investors. What is important to them may differ.
Evening update - 16 November 23
Today I…
#TodayI
Shared my plans for the rest of the year.
Took the kids to school.
Worked from home because various family members have the flu.
Had my Important Not Urgent Day, had no meetings, got through quite a bit of backlog and started on one of the rest of year items.
Collected the kids from school.
#LaterI
Have an online class.
Will get an early night so if/when I get the flu, it isn't so bad.
No more commitments this year so what’s next
Because I don't plan to make any new commitments this year, I aim to spend the rest of the year working on things that will make me more effective next year.
Because I don't plan to make any new commitments this year, I aim to spend the rest of the year working on things that will make me more effective next year.
These include:
Making it easy for angels to auto-subscribe to find out when my companies are raising. (Let me know if you'd like to be on this list.)
A CRM for other VCs.
Auto-emailing those VCs quarterly so they remember I exist to invest alongside them and to check I have their remit correct.
Figuring out how to build a network of US VCs that might lead rounds in my companies at Series A & B.
Figuring out if I should switch most of my tech stack to Notion.
Figuring out if there are low-friction ways my portfolio companies can help each other. A good example is introductions. There are loads of introductions founders can make for each other and these get uncovered randomly rather than intentionally.
What else could I work on to help my investing, deal flow and portfolio companies?
Evening update - 15 November 23
Today I…
#TodayI
Took the kids to school.
Shared how I deal with conflicts (startups, not the kids).
Chatted with Anthea Stephenson of willow.
Had a postponement due to child dental issues.
Cancelled a pitch because it wasn't digital tech.
Couldn't go to the Renoir viewing at Art for Guernsey due to family reasons.
Collected the kids from school.
#LaterI
Have to collect one of them from table tennis.
#TomorrowI
May have to work from home for family reasons.
How to handle conflicts
If a startup wants to pitch you that might be a conflict with your portfolio, tell them ahead of time.
If a startup wants to pitch you that might be a conflict with your portfolio, tell them ahead of time.
If you're on a call with a founder and only then realise there might be a conflict, apologise, tell them straight away and ask them if they want to continue the call.
In each case make it clear that you won't share confidential information.
Also make clear that if you wanted to invest you would have to check with your portfolio company first.
This isn't rocket science.
Radical recruitment
I wrote an article for Business Brief magazine entitled Radical Recruitment.
I wrote an article for Business Brief magazine entitled Radical Recruitment.
It takes Reid Hoffman's tour of duty concept to its natural conclusion.
You can view it below or right here.
Evening update - 12 November 23
Today I…
#TodayI
Had Pilates with Joey Freeman of Pilates Core Club.
Shared unbundled vc's latest monthly newsletter - Why startup funding pressures will ease before VC ones - link in the comments.
Spent the morning helping a local school with mock Oxbridge interviews.
Had a call with Bram van Esch of Fundrbird.
Spoke with Jonathan Canizales of Squared who is helping me set up a basic CRM.
Caught up with Stuart Lewis of Rest Less UK.
Had a call with Peter Monteza of MyARC.
#LaterI
Am going to improv rehearsal ahead of our showcase two weeks today.
Why startup funding pressures will ease before VC ones
This is what I answer in my monthly unbundled vc newsletter. Read it in the link in the comments.
Why startup funding pressures will ease before VC ones.
This is what I answer in my monthly unbundled vc newsletter. Read it in the link in the comments.
No sympathy expected.
Evening update - 10 November 23
Today I…
#TodayI
Shared that unbundled vc is investing in Tash Grossman of Slip and why.
Caught up with Sara Stephens of Rest Less UK.
Chatted with Chris Rhodes of The Tech Dept.
Spoke with Dr. Rajen Nagar BDS MFDS RCS and Grant Nolan about MyOpNotes - Digital Operation Notes.
Had a call with Catalina Schveninger of C-YourCulture.
#LaterI
Am taking the kids to see The Marvels at the cinema.
Investment commitment in Tash Grossman at Slip
I have committed to invest in Tash Grossman at Slip's Seed round. Here's why.
I have committed to invest in Tash Grossman at Slip's Seed round. Here's why.
unbundled vc looks for:
1. Very strong founders
2. building differentiated products that matter
3. that can scale fast
4. with huge potential markets,
5. a plausible route to market
6. and great unit economics
1. Tash is a very strong founder. Very personable, great at sales and gives straightforward answers that always make sense. The combination is not so common. Often when people are good at sales it can cover flaws in the underlying answers. That either isn't the case here or she's even better at sales than I think.
2. Slip offers digital receipts. That does not sound exciting. Many people have tried this and failed. What they couldn’t do was super fast integration with high conversion rates for retailers. And there is a “why now” - sustainability-driven legislation is incoming because paper receipts are not recyclable. The offer has always been to drive loyalty and data-driven insights. Nobody has ever delivered on this until now.
JD Sports just did a three-week trial before rolling out to 370 stores UK-wide. They did this because it mattered and it worked. The rollout is already exceeding expectations.
3. This is a digital proposition. Integration is fast. Once integrated, it’s easy to roll out more broadly. It can be scaled very quickly as is evidenced by JD.
4. Because the integration is with POS providers, there is little implementation difference anywhere in the world. There are a lot of large retailers worldwide. The market feels like a winner-takes-all play. There will be no need for a second provider. You can get lock-in by providing additional data insights. Once you have that, you have a moat. There is easily room for a venture scale outcome.
5. Tash has an insanely good network along with advisers with their own great networks. Tash being who she is, her network will grow fast. The first enterprise client is on board. Once other retailers see the positive impact and easy implementation, they will come to her.
6. This is a purely digital proposition. The gross margins are high and the unit economics are great.
This is why I am investing. Let's see how it plays out.
Evening update - 9 November 23
Today I…
#TodayI
Shared I had an upcoming announcement and that you should listen to Alex Grant of Magrathea's podcast with Michael Liebreich while you were waiting.
Shared that I have made my final investment commitment of the year and everything resets Jan 1.
Contacted any founders who were in-flight with me before that so they heard directly from me first.
Updated my AMA chatbot to test Chatbase.
Chatted with Henry O'Brien of Mural Capital.
Had my Important Not Urgent day.
#LaterI
Am doing my first ever Clubhouse with Anton Kooll of StartUp to ScaleUP Club.
Am going to standup practice.
Final investment commitment of the year
I just made an investment commitment. It will almost certainly be my last one of the year.
I just made an investment commitment. It will almost certainly be my last one of the year.
Everything resets Jan 1.
I will let you know about the investment tomorrow.
I am in the process of updating my website to make this all clear. I don't want to waste founders' time.
Announcement coming
Reasonable size announcement coming at 11.30ish but not, you know, Fred Destin level.
Reasonable size announcement coming at 11.30ish but not, you know, Fred Destin level.
In the meantime, and unrelated, you really should listen to Alex Grant of Magrathea on Michael Liebreich's podcast. Listen here.
Evening update - 8 November 23
Today I…
#TodayI
Had Pilates with Joey Freeman.
Shared I will be a judge for SeedLegals Startup Awards.
Chatted with Karl Lokko of Black Seed.
Spoke with Jetan Chowk of JD Sports Fashion.
Was pitched by Melissa McBride 🚀 of Sophia Technologies Limited.
Was pitched by a founder who wishes to remain anonymous.
Had a call with Matt Cooper of Exceptional Ventures.
Judge Marc
Delighted to say I will be a judge for the upcoming SeedLegals Awards.
Delighted to say I will be a judge for the upcoming SeedLegals Awards.
There are many categories including Soonicorn, Eco Innovator, Customer Champion and Game Changer.
You can nominate yourself or someone else.
The closing date is this coming Monday 13th November so get a move on!
#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic
Pitch and newsletter links in my bio and on my website.