Evening update - 10 Feb 23

#TodayI

Posted about Ada Lovelace and the importance of female role models to men and women.
Took the kids to school.
Was pitched by James Townsend of Mobilise.
Was pitched by Olalekan Salami of OneID Global Technologies Inc.
Shared Ric Porteus of ONE TRIBE's video pitch.
Had a catch-up with Euan Cameron of Willo®.
Was pitched by Jamie Traynor of DriveBox.app.
Packed my bag.
Changed the linen.
Didn't clean the house 😬

#NowI

Am heading to Poole for a Valentine's dinner with my wife then a friend's 50th tomorrow.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Public pitch - Ric Porteus of One Tribe

#PublicPitch

Delighted to share, with permission, Ric Porteus of ONE TRIBE's video pitch.

ONE TRIBE is a tech platform to help businesses reduce their carbon footprint and grow more sustainably.

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

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Ada Lovelace and International Day of Women and Girls in Science

Tomorrow is International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

Why is this important? Not enough women study and work in science. That leads to stereotypes leading to men not taking women seriously and women not believing the career paths are for them.

That won’t change without role models.

When I took my boys to the Science Museum last year, I was able to buy this print of Ada Lovelace beside the Analytical Engine. She was a mathematician and is often known as the first computer programmer.

This will be going on the wall in my new office. Hopefully my boys see it and receive a positive stereotype.

Thank you Hena Husain of The Content Architects for the date reminder.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 9 Feb 23

#TodayI

Posted about how I grew unbundled vc's follower list.
Took the kids to school.
Was pitched by Tom Harding of nemo.
Shared James Townsend of Mobilise's video pitch.
Chatted with Agata Leliwa Nowicka of Female Foundry.
Spoke with Harry Hubble about how Pally plans to use AI.
Was pitched by Ric Porteus of ONE TRIBE.
Went shopping.
Collected the kids from school.

#LaterI

Will be improvising my joy back with Sarah Hansmann Rouxel.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Public pitch - James Townsend of Mobilise

#PublicPitch

Delighted to share, with permission, James Townsend of Mobilise's video pitch.

Mobilise's mission is to build a digital platform that can support the world's carers with content, community and coaching.

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

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

1,000 LinkedIn Followers

unbundled vc was released to the world at the end of August last year. On New Year’s Day it hit 500 followers. Two nights ago, 37 days later, it hit 1,000.

How did I achieve this despite being immaterial in the venture capital world?

1. I made a commitment to post every day and stuck to it.

2. At the start I just posted. Now I have a format and stick to it.

3. I post in my authentic voice. People can tell if you are inauthentic. I hope that if people meet me I sound like the same person.

4. I post in my name then repost as unbundled vc. Personal posts get much more traction.

5. I try and learn from which posts get most traction. It’s not always obvious to an observer, impressions can vary wildly from likes and comments. LinkedIn can tell who is reading so impressions are important.

6. When you take a break you get less traction when you come back. LinkedIn wants you to post every day. I don’t post at weekends or when I’m not working. This hurts me but I made a decision that break days are just that.

7. I’ve not invited connections to follow unbundled vc other than one person by mistake. (Sorry Paul Tyler and thank you for following.)

8. I got lucky with LinkedIn’s algorithm. It must have started recommending unbundled to people. It will stop at some point and that will hurt.

9. I stuck to it. In any task, if you think what you are doing is right you have to stick to it. Don’t expect results quickly.

10. I don't have a 10. If I think of anything else I will put it in the comments.

tl;dr - keep grinding

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 8 Feb 23

#TodayI

Shared my learnings on network effects from my call with Sameer Singh.
Took the kids to school.
Attended a fund investor update.
Was pitched by Dayo Israel and Michelle A-J of Melanin Matchmaker (aka MM).
Had a call with a private bank.
Spoke with Ciaran Savage of Card Industry Professionals about how his business is going.
Shared that my podcast with Amanda (Mandy) Eulenkamp of Guernsey Press is live.
Was pitched by Charlie Winton of OK Positive.
Collected one child from school and another from football club.
Chatted with Jamie Beaumont of Playter.
Finally collected my ski bag from the airport.
Attended a school meeting.

#NowI

Have to start tidying the house.
Need to get back to some founders.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Podcast on with the Guernsey Press on investing

A pleasure to chat with Amanda (Mandy) Eulenkamp on this podcast about investing in digital tech.

Thank you Guernsey Press , Digital Greenhouse Guernsey and Tony Curr for all your help!

https://guernseypress.com/podcasts/2023/02/07/business-podcast-tech-investor-marc-cohen

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Network effects with Sameer Singh

Yesterday I had a fantastic call learning about network effects from Sameer Singh.

Here's what I learnt:

1. Is there a unique clearly defined interaction? If the interaction could be made without too much difficulty elsewhere you won't get network effects.

2. How can you tell if the unique interaction works? Network effects mean there is more value per user as the number of users grows. You need a KPI that captures this. It will often look high-ish at the start when friends and family use the product, will drop as you bring in other users then will rise again as you start generating network effects. If you can't define this metric or track it behaving in this manner, you don't have network effects.

3. Look for founders who understand the above. User or revenue growth doesn't matter if you don't have the network effect. First-time founders are often better at this for two reasons. Second-time founders are able to raise more money. They feel obliged to generate growth in conventional metrics because the money is there. They may also have a playbook from their previous startup and so not think out of the box which can be necessary to generate network effects.

Sameer Singh, thank you again. For those who are interested, he runs a course teaching network effects which you can find here - https://maven.com/breadcrumb/applied-network-effects.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Late update - 7 Feb 23

#YesterdayI

Posted to ask if founders would want to share charity video pitches.
Took the kids to school.
Had an incredibly useful call about network effects with Sameer Singh who I know through Alma Angels. Sameer, thank you again for your time.
Chatted with Gary Izunwa of Tangent.
Shared Taya Kudashkina of Penenza's video pitch.
Ploughed through my backlog.
Helped at a local school with Physics Olympiad prep.
Collected the kids from school.
Was pitched by Andy Aitken of Honest Mobile.
Took the bins out.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Public pitch - Taya Kudashkina of Penenza

#PublicPitch

Delighted to share, with permission, Taya Kudashkina of Penenza's video pitch.

Penenza is a B2B BNPL solution for small offline businesses in India.

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

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Charity pitches

I am thinking about dedicating one video pitch a week to a startup founder who is raising money for charity. The founder doesn't have to know me or have pitched me for investment.

Do you think there would be any demand for this? Would you be interested in watching? How might I do it differently?

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic #charity

Evening update - 6 Feb 23

#TodayI

Took the kids to school.
Shared about the incredible inaugural unbundled vc founder ski trip.
Was pitched by Saul Truman and Wojciech Woźnicki of quester.
Chatted with Tatseng Chiam of RideTandem.
Shared Charlie Winton of OK Positive's video pitch.
Chatted with Nora Bavey of Unconventional Ventures who invests in diverse founders building impact businesses.
Attended lunchtime meditation at Guille-Allès Library.
Was pitched by a founder who wishes to remain anonymous.
Spoke with Jonathan Nwosu of ClimaView AI.

#NowI

Need to collect the kids from school
Have to drop off and collect one of my kids from table tennis training.
Need to prep for Physics Olympiad prep I am helping with at a local school tomorrow.
Have to do admin.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Public pitch - Charlie Winton of OK Positive

#PublicPitch

Delighted to share, with permission, Charlie Winton of OK Positive's video pitch.

OK Positive provides tools that prioritise mental health and open up healthy and workable narratives both in and out of the workplace.

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

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

unbundledski

Thank you, Euan Cameron and Andrew Wood of Willo®, Larisa Budaeva of Nation.better, Robert Brewer of Alpha Edge, Andrew Duncan of Friend Digital, Ross Tuffee of Stealth Startup and Nick Ellwood of Playter for making the inaugural unbundled vc founder ski trip the incredible trip it was!

Hopefully, my ski bag will follow me back today! (please easyJet)

Here's a short video shared by Euan Cameron.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Catching up with old friends and unbundleski

#TodayIs a day for catching up with old friends and getting everything done before the inaugural unbundled vc founder ski trip.

This morning I caught up with the wonderful Jessica Mayers who I haven't seen for nearly five years (photo below).

Then I met for lunch the inestimable Kevin Liddy who was my boss over twenty years ago at NatWest/RBS.

Keep in touch with those old friends, it is lovely when you can see them.

Tomorrow is the very first unbundledski. We are meeting in Geneva and heading to Nendaz. I'm really excited as it is a great bunch of people.

Looking forward to seeing you all soon Andrew Duncan, Andrew Wood, Euan Cameron, Larisa Budaeva, Nick Ellwood, Robert Brewer and Ross Tuffee.

Thank you Edgar Smith and Nick Pointon for renting us the chalet.

I will see everyone else in a week or so!

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #inveestinginpublic

Evening update - 26 Jan 23

#TodayI

Shared a travel hack.
Flew to London on the 7am flight.
Had coffee with Fred Warren and Alex Osborne of Wonder 14.
Had lunch with James Campbell 甘吉 of Kuai Commerce.
Chatted with Jon Coker of Eka Ventures who led Runna's recent round that I was fortunate to invest in.
Took part in a fireside chat for The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) Private Equity Society alongside Hannah Leach of Houghton Street Ventures. My father was at LSE from 1966-70 and was able to attend which was lovely.
Had dinner with my father.

Thank you to Edoardo Cariati for hosting and inviting me and welcoming my father (wearing his original LSE scarf) and to Daryl Chiang, Treasurer, for taking this picture.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Travel hack: don't collect your checked luggage when you land

I'm flying to London this morning. I fly out to go skiing on Saturday. I don't want to be dragging one of these around London for two days.

Don't collect the bag, pick it up from left luggage on Saturday morning, save time, money and effort.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 25 Jan 23

#TodayI

Shared about excitement and deadlines.
Was pitched by Ajay Jagota of Veriwise.
Chatted with James Green of DQventures.
Shared Rob Taylor of ChipFlow's video pitch.
Was fortunate to get a masterclass on marketplaces and network effects from Greg Mccallum of hiPets.
Was pitched by Natalie Sullivan of The Retreater.
Collected my son from football club.

#NowI

Have to take another of my sons to football training
Need to pack for two days in London then unbundledski.
Am going for dinner with my wife.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Public pitch - Rob Taylor of ChipFlow

#PublicPitch

Delighted to share, with permission, Rob Taylor of ChipFlow's video pitch.

ChipFlow is a development platform that democratises custom microchip design.

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

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic