Kenneth Ler of Singapore Economic Development Board

Coffee and a great conversation with Kenneth Ler of Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) which has some great incentives for founders looking to expand into Asia.

He would love to hear from you when you are considering that path.

Thank you StJohn "Singe" Deakins for the introduction.

Burosumab approved for adults

This is fantastic news. My two youngest boys have this.

Investor founder speed dating at Spacemade Breton

Great to join this fantastic set of investors and startups, selected from over 260 applications, at the amazing Spacemade Breton in Barbican courtesy of Hotbed, SeedLegals & Brave Corporation Ltd.

The founders were 🥁🥁🥁

Henry Majed of MyMynd
Megan Hale of Team Repair
Hamish Geddes of Lenz Labs
Michael Smith of Sagittal.ai
Jon Fletcher of Energy Helper
Laura Pomfret (Financielle) 💸 & Holly Holland (Financielle) of Financielle
Jen Lothian of MyArk
Ella-Louise Andrew (Gaskell) of PS Bridal Rental (Techstars ‘23)
Mark Newton & Ashley Lockwood of Oya Kitchens
Austin Tasker of The Cirkel

Lovely to meet you all.

Optimise for learning

Investing is like anything else, the day you start is the worst you will ever be.

If you want to be good, or even better great, optimise for learning. Get better every day. It compounds fast.

You will look back and realise what you didn't know. This is as it should be. Once it stops, you are stagnating.

Everyone thinks theirs is the great one

Everyone thinks theirs is the great one. We all do.

Without that great delusion, nothing great would be built.

VC Value Add

Delivering lunch to Jonny Plein and James Campbell 甘吉 at YASO HQ

#vcvalueadd

We are human and it’s hard

We all have biases based on our own experience.

Science doesn't work like that - it asks many people not one and it has a control set - people who didn't take the action.

But we as individuals have to figure out what's right with just our personal experience and our inherent biases.

We are human and it's hard.

hashtag#founders hashtag#startups hashtag#venturecapital hashtag#buildinginpublic hashtag#investinginpublic

More at unbundled dot vc.

Building relationships with investors

Founders, is it worth building relationships with investors before you raise?

Yes. If you spend enough time with us, we will know you and your business idea much better than if you come in cold. We see so much deal flow we have to build filters at every stage and may never get to that level of understanding otherwise.

But don't expect us to invest just because we've built a relationship. Our job is to make cold, hard decisions with a view to maximising returns. It helps to know and like you but that can't be the basis of our decisions.

Onshoring hurts

What's happening geopolitically with China is real but it's a great shame.

Comparative advantage is the basis of all international trade and leads to much better outcomes. Onshoring, while it might be necessary, therefore leads to worse outcomes - both in terms of resource allocation and what the world is able to produce and distribute.

Launches don’t matter

Airbnb had three launches. They don't matter.

If this one event is your main customer acquisition or brand awareness channel, there's a problem.

They are but one piece of the puzzle.

How much do you want it

Investors, how much do you want it? As much as the best founders?

Why is this an inflection point

"Why is this an inflection point?

Founders, if you're raising and you've not been growing as fast as you or investors would like, your job is to show why this is an inflection point.

Can you figure it out

"Can you figure it out?"

What matters at Pre-Seed? By definition, you won't have everything figured out. You do have to be someone who investors believe will figure it out.

Then you have to do it.

What could I have done differently

"What could I have done differently?"

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Always ask yourself, "What could I have done differently?"

Don't expect the world to change, change yourself.

Don’t even think about exit strategy

Early-stage founders, your regular reminder that you shouldn't even be thinking about exit strategy.

Focus on building a business that will be hugely profitable at scale. Then all the exit options will be open to you.

Investment announcement - Tash Grossman’s Slip

Announcement - it's finally public - unbundled vc has invested in Tash Grossman of Slip's £2.5m Seed round led by Adjuvo alongside Haatch and other investors!

Tash, Eddy and the whole team are building something special. Slip turns receipts into an engine of engagement, loyalty, and seamless post-purchase experiences.

Slip rolled out nationwide with JD Sports Fashion to great success and you really need to watch this space.

Link to article and "Why Slip" post.

Should family offices use external managers

Should family offices invest themselves or use an external manager?

Read my article in this month's Business Brief and find out!

As always, thank you Amanda (Mandy) Eulenkamp for the opportunity to contribute.

Decoding VC Secrets: What Investors Really Want

Tomorrow, with John Radford, I am co-hosting:

Decoding VC Secrets: What Investors Really Want.

10-11am, online webinar. Hope to see you there!

Valuation frameworks

When considering if you should pay a higher than normal valuation for an investment, do you have a consistent framework for this decision?

The best investors do. The rest are just following the herd.

5% of the market

"If we get just 5% of this market..." - this can be a red flag to investors.

Why are you not aiming for 100%? If your solution is that much better than everyone elses, this is what you should be aiming for.

If you are not solving for it all, you've defined your market wrongly.

Know the market you are solving for and aim for 100%.