Evening update - Jan 13

#TodayI

Posted about not caring.
Had a call with Thomas Desimpel to understand his investment criteria and share opportunities.
Chatted with Jennifer De La Mare of Digital Greenhouse Guernsey about the mentorship scheme I will be taking part in.
Was pitched by Daisy Harvey of Loom.
Caught up with Euan Cameron of Willo®.
Was pitched by Tunji OLALEKAN and Peter Okafor of Lendha.

#NowI

Have a doctor's appointment.

Have a great weekend everyone.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

I don’t care

Founders, I don't care about your ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, if you are a solo founder or if you are 18 or 80.

If you're good enough, you're good enough.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 12 Jan 23

#TodayI

Chatted with Samuel Cohen about his Operations Consultancy.
Added Anthony Paine's Founder Jumpstart to my founder resources page.
Posted about ChatGPT.
Set up TallyHo! by Nick Pointon for unbundledski.
Spoke with Rus Newton of GABI Ventures about his investment interests.
Shared Rory Marks of Bragardo's video pitch.
Took a walk (with phone switched off Chris Smith).
Had a call with James Parkes of My Day App.
Was pitched by Chris McAdam of Getahead.

#LaterI

Am improvising my joy back with Sarah Hansmann Rouxel.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Public pitch - Rory Marks of Bragardo

#PublicPitch

Delighted to share, with permission, Rory Marks of Bragardo's video pitch.

Bragardo is a social networking platform that uses gamification to increase user engagement and provide a powerful tool for businesses to target specific audiences.

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

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Playing with ChatGPT

Like many of you, I have been playing with ChatGPT. It's insane.

What have you used it for or might like to?

I have used it to:
Generate summaries from pitch transcripts.
Check if a car was four wheel drive.
Produce potential topics for posts.

My son has used it to:
Search for guidance on his Italian revision.
Write code in Python and Lua.
Decode things when given the cipher.
Write essays.

Friends have used it for:
First drafts of blog posts for their business.
Translating code from Objective C to C#.
Drafting Information Memorandums.
Writing jokes.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Late update - 11 Jan 23

#YesterdayI

Posted about why consensus investing fails in venture capital.
Had pilates with Maria Jose Freeman (Fernandez).
Had a call with a CFO.
Chatted with Melissa Singh of ESM INVESTMENTS LIMITED about what we are each looking for.
Had coffee with a friend.
Collected my son from football.
Booked the hire cars for unbundledski.

#NowI

Have a Zoom and a glass of wine with a founder.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Consensus investing in venture capital

Consensus investing does not work in venture capital. Why? What does this mean?

Most businesses are passed on by most investors. That means the overall consensus is not to invest. In most of the world, the wisdom of crowds works well. Not in venture capital or nobody would ever invest in anything.

This is why venture investing is hard. You have to back your view that is different from the world.

It is also why raising money is hard for founders. As Peter Thiel famously said in Zero to One, you have to believe something about the world nobody else does. Then you have to convince investors to believe the same thing.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 10 Jan 23

#TodayI

Posted about how investing in Rest Less UK changed my life.
Got some docs to my accountant so I didn't miss a deadline.
Added the final people to unbundledski.
Dealt with a persistent salesperson.
Scheduled some pitches.
Arranged to do a podcast.
Met Evaldas Girskus.
Was pitched by Rory Marks of Bragardo.
Had a late postponement.
Signed follow-on investment docs.

#NowINeedTo

Feed the kids.
Do some more admin.
Read Benedict Evans's newsletter.
Get back to a founder.
Put the bins out (paging Kerrie Le Tissier).

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

How investing in Rest Less changed my life.

When I was younger, I had in my head that I wanted to retire at 50. I met Stuart Lewis and Sara Stephens when I was 46. It was 25 years since I left university.

As part of my research, I came across a book called The 100-Year Life written by Lynda Gratton and Andrew J Scott and was fortunate to attend a talk by Professor Scott run by Susie Crowder's Bright Futures LBG.

One important thing the book says is that there is no special reason for us to retire at all or at 65. We are living longer and many of us will either have to or choose to work until later.

If there was even a chance I would live a long and healthy life there was no way I would want to retire soon.

This was a huge mindset change. I was 46, may have had more than half my productive life ahead of me and knew so much more than I did at the start of that life at 21.

There was an opportunity to achieve great things if I put my mind to it.

Rest Less UK changed my life.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 9 Jan 23

#TodayI

Posted about why I added my personal pronouns on LinkedIn.
Had a misunderstanding no-show.
Met MATHEW GULLY for coffee.
Went on BBC Radio Guernsey with the wonderful Sarah Hansmann Rouxel to talk about her upcoming improv course I am attending. Thank you Isla Blatchford for having us on!
Shared Ashley Lockwood of Oya Kitchens' video pitch.
Booked a doctor's appointment.
Booked flights for a friend's 50th.
Received investment docs for a follow-on round.
Did more admin.

#LaterI

Will review those investment docs.
Will get some papers together for my tax adviser.
Will complete a bank account application. Exciting times.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Public pitch - Ashley Lockwood of Oya

#PublicPitch

Delighted to share, with permission, Ashley Lockwood of Oya Kitchens' video pitch.

Oya Kitchens connects underutilised commercial space with short-term use starting with the food service and delivery markets.

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

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Adding my personal pronouns

On Friday I added my personal pronouns to my profile on LinkedIn.

I wish to show my support for those it is important to in the LGBTQ+ community and that I respect their choices.

I held off on this because I was worried what people would think. Then I realised that was the least important thing.

This isn't virtue signalling. It is signalling.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 6 Jan 23

#TodayI

Posted about Making it Happen.
Met a friend for coffee.
Was pitched by Jimmy Braimah, BSc, MBA of Goodtalent Corporation.
Was finally able to add my personal pronouns on LinkedIn. I will post about this on Monday.
Had a great chat with Edward Kandel of Founders Factory about investing, tango and improv, not necessarily in that order.
Was pitched by Abraham Sillah of CloutScore who also told me jokes generated by ChatGPT.
Dealt with some admin.
Found out I have been matched on the University of Sussex's mentoring scheme.
Made plans for a short London trip at the end of the month.

Have a great weekend everyone.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Make it happen

It is easy to complain about things we are not happy about in our lives. Complaining achieves nothing.

What are you going to do about it?

If you want change, go out and make it happen.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update 5 Jan 23

#TodayI

Focused on unbundled vc's strategy and a framework for making sure I always focus on the right things. It has energised me.

I will continue that focus tomorrow.

I also spoke with Lucy Ann Kirby of Digital Greenhouse Guernsey about how I can help.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Strategy day

I am working today on strategy for unbundled vc.

I need a strategic framework for continuous evaluation and to unbundle venture capital into its constituent parts.

I'd appreciate advice and insight on either or both, please.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 4 Jan 23

#TodayI

Posted about Total Addressable Markets.
Chatted with old friend Vikas Brahmavar who is doing great things at Transwater system.
Was pitched by Tanuvi Ethunandan of Data Duopoly.
Shared Maria Bruna Moscatelli of Shamy LLC's video pitch.
Was pitched by Sohaib Ahmed of &facts.
Was pitched by a founder who wishes to remain anonymous.
Was pitched by Susan Kabani of Ugenie.io.

#NowI

Have to buy and make dinner for the kids.

#TomorrowI

Have a strategy and admin day. I may ask for help with the former tomorrow morning.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Public pitch - Maria Bruna Moscatelli of Shamy

#PublicPitch

Delighted to share, with permission, Maria Bruna Moscatelli of Shamy LLC's video pitch.

Shamy LLC aims to make digital space tourism accessible to everybody.

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

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Large existing Total Addressable Markets

Founders, sometimes your startup is in a space with a huge existing Total Addressable Market (TAM). The main thing that tells me is there are large existing players.

Tell me what pain point they are not addressing, why that pain point matters, how you solve it, how big a market that could be and why.

That market size could be much bigger or smaller than the original TAM. The existing one is irrelevant.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 3 Jan 23

#TodayI

Caught up on my LinkedIn messages and connection requests.
Posted about intentional self-improvement.
Prepared for a meeting.
Had that meeting.
Was pitched by Maria Bruna Moscatelli of Shamy LLC.
Shared Tanuvi Ethunandan of Data Duopoly's video pitch.
Had a meeting with Bobby Phillips of Virtus Financial Planning Limited, Partner Practice of St. James's Place Wealth Management.
Was pitched by Arseni Santashev of Gigimot.
Had coffee with a friend.
Got back into the swing of things.

#NowI

Have to reply to a few emails.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic