Sky Nyla

There are few female founders. There are even fewer sole female founders. Those there are, don't talk about children because of the fear it will scare off investors.

Today let's celebrate the incredible Chantal Epp of ClicknClear and her very recent arrival, Sky Nyla, and let's try and normalise this.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 18 Oct 22

#TodayI

Posted that meat is not yet murder.
Had my haircut.
Realised I'd left all my chargers at home so rushed back and took the next two calls from home.
Chatted with Chantal Epp of ClicknClear who is back from maternity leave (more on that tomorrow).
Had a call with Sam Ettelaie who is helping LPs access first-time funds which typically outperform.
Had coffee and a piece of cake with Jo Stoddart of Locate Guernsey.
Shared Andy Taylor of Payful's video pitch.
Spoke with Roxane Sanguinetti of GHCO about angel investing.
Was pitched by a founder who prefers to stay anonymous.
Was pitched by James Freestone and Louis O'Connell-Bristow of Homemove.

#NowI

Have to get back to two founders.
Need to pack for my trip tomorrow.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Public Pitch - Andy Taylor of Payful

Delighted to share, with permission, Andy Taylor of Payful's pitch.

Andy created Payful to end late payments across the globe.

Please let me know if you would like an intro.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Meat is not yet murder

The only things that justify us eating meat are taste, health and price. It won't be long (5, 10, 20 years?) before none of these justifications is true.

I am not a vegetarian. I fully expect to be considered a barbarian by future generations for eating meat.

Inspired by Claire Cherry who has invested in businesses that may bring about this change and who walked in on me finishing a club sandwich when we met yesterday.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 17 Oct 22

Today I…

Ran 5k (new hobby? pastime?). My legs hurt.
Took a Pilates class with Maria Jose Freeman (Fernandez).
Posted to ask what founders want to know from VCs before contacting them.
Had coffee with Lance Plunkett of Found Tech.
Wished my brother happy birthday.
Met Claire Cherry of Ataraxia Partners and Joyance Partners for coffee.
Shared Sebastien Butler of Plusprop's video pitch.
Was pitched by a founder who wishes to remain anonymous.
Chatted with James Parkes of My Day App.
Received four video pitches.

Now I…

Am going to hear a dry run-through of
Daniel White - Holistic Health Expert's pitch and give feedback ahead of a pitch event.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Public Pitch - Sebastien Butler of Plusprop

Delighted to share, with permission, Sebastien Butler of Plusprop's pitch.

Plusprop is the first property portal in the UK designed for residential real estate investors.

Please let me know if you would like an intro.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Founders FAQ

Founders, would you like to know more about VCs before you contact them?

Comment to say what you'd like to know.

This is a cheat question because it tells me what to put in my FAQ and gives me content for future posts.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 14 Oct 22

Today I…

Had breakfast with Barrie Baxter of Brixx Software at Coco.
Chatted with David Levine about how he helps founders.
Beat David Levine to the punch with my post about not caring about exit strategies.
Spoke to a venture investor who is raising a fund.
Was pitched by Sebastien Butler of Plusprop.
Shared David John Kaye of Abaton's video pitch.
Had a call with Fearghal Power of Spark CrowdFunding and heard how they support Irish startups.
Postponed a call with a private investor.
Made some quick fantasy football decisions when I realised the deadline was today.
Was pitched by Jess Hodgson of Bounty Sports.
Heard a business I had committed to had received a term sheet, gave feedback on that term sheet and made two intros for founder DD.

Now I…

Am going for dinner with my wife.

Have a great weekend everyone!

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Public pitch - David Kaye of Abaton

Delighted to share, with permission, David John Kaye of Abaton's pitch.

Abaton's mission is to accelerate the commercialisation of intangible assets and intellectual property.

Please let me know if you would like an intro.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Exit strategy

Founders, I don't care about your exit strategy. If you are an early-stage business and are thinking about your exit strategy you are focusing on the wrong things.

Concentrate on building an incredible business. Then the exit will look after itself.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 13 Oct 22

Today I…

Realised I had a terrible review on Landscape.
Posted about that review and what happened and asked for feedback.
Had breakfast with Euan Cameron of Willo® at White Rock Cafe.
Had a call with Yoann Benhacoun of Upscalers and discussed our investment strategies and plans.
Spoke with Francesca Marsden of ZINC about their new cohort focusing on environmental impact.
Had a founder postpone because they need to focus on closing their round.
Had another postponement.
Fretted that this was because of the review.
Chatted with Bobby Phillips.
Attended two parents' evenings.
Got back to some founders.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

The reason British VC’s have a bad reputation

Yesterday I received a brutal review on Landscape describing me as "the reason why British VCs get a bad reputation".

This is what happened. I need your honest feedback.

We agreed to back a founder at a £1.8m valuation. The valuation was low but that was part of the reason we committed.
We weren't leading so the founder thought we weren't valuation sensitive.
When we received the legals, the round size went from £600k to £1m and the valuation from £1.8m to £3m.
We hadn't heard anything on valuation change before then.
We passed because of the significant valuation increase.
When I told them, the founder was visibly upset and clearly continues to be.

What could I have done differently? What should I do differently in future?

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 12 Oct 22

Today I…

Was pitched by David John Kaye of Abaton.
Shared why I broke my rules to invest in Spacemade.
Had coffee with Richard Bellis of EPIC Investment Partners and discussed the venture capital landscape.
Had lunch with Tatseng Chiam of RideTandem at Good Rebel. Both are recommended (Good Rebel and lunch with Tatseng).
Was pitched by Robin Yan of Fana.
Was pitched by Shwetank Tamer of Cooee®.
Received an email from a founder I have committed to telling me they have a lead investor.
Had a call postponed with an angel investor.

Yesterday I…

Set up an unbundled vc YouTube channel to host public pitches.
Forgot to mention this.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Breaking my rules for Spacemade

I am a digital tech investor. Why did I break my rules and invest in Spacemade?

So far, breaking the rules has gone well. Here is the story.

Jonny is my brother's wife's sister's husband. I first met him before he was married and teased him about making an honest woman of his now wife.

When I saw an opportunity in the commercial property space, I reached out to him for advice.

He told me he was raising for Spacemade, I met him and Dan for a chat and was very quickly convinced.

Positives:

Thesis - I have strong views about the future of work that are consistent with what Spacemade is building. They were pushing on an open door.

Founder skills:
Sales - Jonny in particular struck me as a good salesperson. You need one founder with this skill. You have to be able to sell to investors, to employees and to sell the product.
Decision making - there are points in both their histories where they have demonstrated exceptional decision-making. If I ask for your history, I hope to hear evidence of this.
Founder market fit - they both came out of the commercial property space and knew the market back to front.
Appearance - neither founder had more hair than me

Investor base - at the time I committed, every other investor was in real estate. This reassured me there was nothing I had missed in a space I was not expert in.

Negatives:

Investor base - I prefer a VC-led round.
Commercial property - I reached out to a friend who is very successful in commercial property. He didn't understand why landlords wouldn't do this themselves and didn't believe there would be demand.
Digital tech - Jonny and Dan were very clear that the business wasn't digital tech.
Size of the opportunity - typically I want to invest in something that has the potential to be 100x. That wasn't clear here.

Sometimes the positives are so strong they outweigh the negatives. Spacemade has been an excellent investment so far and I felt strongly enough about it that I invested again and significantly more than my first ticket.

Here's hoping the journey continues to be a successful one.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 11 Oct 22

Today I…

Posted about my South Park anti-portfolio.
Attended a site meeting for our house build by Infinity Construction and DLM Architects.
Had a call with Tom Gotsman about our backgrounds and what he is building at SoLo Protocol. We plan to go again and chat about AI.
Was pitched by Sam Beaney of Lumen Family.
Shared Jess Hodgson of Bounty Sports' video pitch.
Spoke to Henry O'Brien of Mural about our respective investment strategies.

Now I…

Have to get back to one more founder to meet my two business-day internal SLA.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Public pitch - Bounty Sports

Delighted to share, with permission, Jess Hodgson of Bounty Sports' pitch.

Bounty Sports has built the world's first daily fantasy sports platform designed for casual sports fans.

Please let me know if you would like an intro.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

My anti-portfolio - South Park

Many years ago my wife and I went to see The Book of Mormon (recommended). The show is written by Matt Stone, Robert Lopez, and Trey Parker, two of whom wrote South Park.

At the end of the show, the cast came on stage and announced they were raising money for charity. If anyone would donate one thousand pounds, they could have an autographed copy of the South Park episode Trapped In The Closet which satirised Scientology and Tom Cruise in particular.

The previous day I had played poker, won more than a thousand pounds and had the cash in my pocket. My wife urged me to donate/buy the script. I didn't.

I still have non-buyers regret.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 10 Oct 22

Today I…

Posted about having invested in Jonny and Dan and the team at Spacemade.
Was pitched by Evan Mcgloughlin of Weeve.
Had a quick call with Jonny Plein of Kuai Commerce.
Spoke with Jon Horsfield and Tristan Dodson of Diode.
Chatted with David Walsh of ClicknClear.
Shared Sam Beaney of Lumen Family's #publicpitch.
Was pitched by Harry Hubble of Pally.

Now I…

Am heading home to make dinner for the kids.

#founders #startups #venturecapital. #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Public pitch - Lumen Family

Delighted to share, with permission, Sam Beaney of Lumen Family's pitch.

Lumen Family is building the operating system for the physical world starting with solving the problem that desk work is unhealthy,

Please let me know if you would like an intro.

Powered by Willo.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Investment (again) in Spacemade

Delighted to announce unbundled vc invested again in Jonny Rosenblatt and Dan Silverman and the whole team at Spacemade.

Spacemade partners with landlords to create bespoke, own-brand, fully serviced, flexible workspaces.

Jonny and Dan have hit it out of the park since I first invested and I couldn't be happier to be part of their journey again.

This is one of unbundled vc's rare ventures outside of digital tech. I will share why later in the week.

https://placetech.net/strategy/flex-operators-shuffle-pack-as-market-matures/

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic