How to pitch in the current VC landscape
At 2pm today, come and hear me and Anthony Rose of SeedLegals chat about and take questions on:
At 2pm today, come and hear me and Anthony Rose of SeedLegals chat about and take questions on:
"How to pitch in the current VC landscape".
The market has changed. AI is here. Some things remain the same.
Really looking forward to this. Hope it's helpful.
Evening update - 31 October 23
Today I…
#TodayI
Shared my joy at attending The Maydays improv retreat.
Chatted with Nic Newman of Emerge.
Had coffee with Matthew Westgarth-Smith of HFL.
Recorded a podcast with Jack Richardson of ProRata and Focal.
Had a call with someone very helpful.
Spoke with Anthony Rose of SeedLegals ahead of our webinar tomorrow. Link in the comments.
Had coffee with Andrea Widstrom Holt of Terraco.
#NowI
Am taking my two youngest trick or treating.
Paean to The Maydays
This is my annual paean to The Maydays Improv Retreat.
This is my annual paean to The Maydays Improv Retreat.
I just got back from this and every year I have the most incredible time with the loveliest people.
Last year I wrote about stretching yourself and putting yourself in uncomfortable situations for personal growth and, while that's all true, this year I just want to say to anyone who's considered doing anything like this...
Just do it. You'll have so much fun.
Evening update - 30 October 23
Today I…
#TodayI
Was pitched by Markuss Rozins ✨️ and Espen Myklebust of bandit app.
Collected my car from being fixed.
Had breakfast with Mark Reilly.
Got the ferry back to Guernsey.
Had to postpone a meeting.
Saw my 13yo son's new perm.
Spoke with Shaa Wasmund MBE about her annual event - The Rise of The Female Entrepreneur - link in the comments.
Was pitched by Chris Bruchhausen of Strove.
Evening update - 25 October 23
Today I…
#TodayI
Had coffee with Ioto Iotov, CA, CFA, CAIA.
Shared that I missed a deal and am using this as motivation.
Spoke with Matt Penneycard of Ada Ventures.
Chatted with Farah Mulji who is a co-investor in Mica Vaipan's RunYourself.
Nerded out with Tom Savage of Ventures Together on portfolio construction and VC investing value-add.
#NowI
Am heading to Bournemouth to collect my car in the morning.
#TomorrowI
Am attending The Maydays improv residential so will be off for a few days. Link here.
Missing a deal and motivation
Yesterday evening I found out I'd missed a deal I really wanted to get into.
Yesterday evening I found out I'd missed a deal I really wanted to get into.
First, I was disappointed. Then I realised that a year ago, I wouldn't even have had a sniff of this deal.
I wouldn't have known it existed, I wouldn't have had a warm intro from the lead, and the founders would have had no reason to even consider me.
My job is to ensure that in a year's time, I would get into the deal and that seeing deals of this quality is my default.
Challenge accepted.
Evening update - 24 October 23
Today I…
#TodayI
Shared why I invested in Matt Ong's Ctrl Alt.
Had a walking meeting with Tim Jackson of Walking Ventures.
Had coffee with Guy Laurence.
Had a call with David Szekely of Columbvs Capital.
Had chopped liver with Jonny Plein of YASO.
Was pitched by Emilia De Stasio, CFA of Artscapy.
Had coffee with someone who wishes to remain anonymous.
Met some friends before another open mic spot.
Why invest in Ctrl Alt
Why have I invested in Matt Ong's Ctrl Alt?
Why have I invested in Matt Ong's Ctrl Alt?
I look 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. Matt is very strong. He doesn't fit my prior founder stereotype. I may write about this another time.
2. Ctrl Alt can do something nobody else can. It can sit between investors and alternative assets and bring them together in a regulatorily compliant way at a speed and cost structure that nobody else can match. Matt's background in structured products is a huge help here.
4. This enables an almost unimaginably huge potential market. It enables access to those markets in a way that has never previously been possible. Others have tried but haven't built the right tech or structure to do this. This is about creating products that don't currently exist for those potential clients. Does providing the product at this price point enable something incredible? Does it release unseen demand? That's the bet here.
3. Because it is a B2B offering that sits between clients and products, to scale fast you need to find existing businesses that have clients that want product and producers that need to find clients. They need a Ctrl Alt to sit between them. If both producers and those businesses are large enough, you can scale very fast. This is the benefit of a B2B approach.
5. I can't really talk about this but it's already happening.
6. The business is built on great technology that enables this access at a very low price point. The unit economics are great. It's about providing it at scale in a huge market.
This is why I have invested. Let's see how it plays out.
Evening update - 23 October 23
Today I…
#TodayI
Got the overnight ferry to the UK.
Got two hours sleep on aforesaid ferry.
Dropped my car off to be fixed.
Got the train to London.
Had lunch with Lawrence Barclay of Manta Ray.
Had a call with Romain Sestier of StackOne.
Shared that unbundled vc has invested in Matt Ong and the team at Ctrl Alt.
Spoke with Amar Shah.
Had pizza with with Rayan Bannai of Squared (pic below).
Drunk a lot of coffee.
Did an open mic spot in Kings Cross.
#NowI
Really need to sleep.
Investment in Ctrl Alt
So excited to announce that unbundled vc has invested in Matt Ong and the whole team at Ctrl Alt's Seed round alongside Forward Partners and MiddleGame Ventures who co-led the round.
So excited to announce that unbundled vc has invested in Matt Ong and the whole team at Ctrl Alt's Seed round alongside Forward Partners and MiddleGame Ventures who co-led the round.
I will post about why tomorrow.
Article link.
Evening update - 20 October 23
Today I…
#TodayI
Shared feedback on my feedback.
Chatted with Rahel ራሄል Tesfai of FroHub.
Caught up with Thaleia Misailidou.
Had coffee with an old colleague.
Had a postponement.
Was pitched by Martin Mason of TalentMapper.
Spoke with 🎥 Gabriel Isserlis of Tutti (visit www.tutti.space).
Feedback on feedback
Giving feedback to every founder is hard. It takes time and thought and you never know how people will take it. I won't always get it right.
Giving feedback to every founder is hard. It takes time and thought and you never know how people will take it. I won't always get it right.
It was nice to get some positive feedback on my feedback yesterday along with some for 7percent Ventures.
Link. Thank you Andy Ryan, 🚀James Freestone and Orri Bogdan.
Evening update - 19 October 23
Today I…
#TodayI
Shared that startup valuation is hard.
Had coffee with Mark Chasey of Oak Group.
Had my Important not Urgent day.
Received feedback about my feedback.
#LaterI
Have standup practice.
The valuation cliff
Startup valuation is a dark art. It's hard.
Startup valuation is a dark art. It's hard.
I keep a close eye on any startup whose most recent round was in the first half of last year or earlier.
All valuations dropped when we came back from holiday last year. Sometimes the 'now' valuation is not where it should be given that.
Evening update - 18 October 23
Today I…
#TodayI
Drove to Pilates with Joey Freeman of Pilates Core Club. (I am a fairweather walker, cyclist and Runna.)
Shared that you should feel the fear and do it anyway.
Was pitched by Romain Sestier of StackOne.
Was pitched by Ian Brewer of Forever Mortal.
Had a nice gap in my diary that seemed to disappear into the ether.
Had a quick call with Jonny Rosenblatt of Spacemade.
Caught up with Euan Cameron of Willo®.
#NowI
Have a call with Finn Murphy of Nebular.
Have a University of Sussex alumni mentoring onboarding meeting.
Feel the fear and do it anyway
Lean into the fear and try and do the things you are most fearful of.
Feel the fear and do it anyway.
Lean into the fear and try and do the things you are most fearful of.
This is the fastest way to learn.
This is the fastest way to ensure that the next time you have to do something completely new you feel ready to go for it.
Thank you Daisy Harvey for bringing this phrase to my attention.
Evening update - 17 October 23
Today I…
#TodayI
Shared that selling is all important.
Had coffee with Barrie Baxter of Brixx Software.
Had coffee with Simon Livesey.
Attempted to clear some of my backlog.
Had a demo from Archie Hollingsworth of FyxerAI.
Chatted with L. Michael Meyer, CFA of MiddleGame Ventures.
#SoonI
Am heading to a very early sixteenth birthday dinner for my son.
#LaterI
Have to remember to take the bins out.
Selling is all important
A great product improves the world because it helps people or companies in some small way.
Selling is all important.
A great product improves the world because it helps people or companies in some small way.
It can't help if you can't sell it.
Evening update - 16 October 23
Today I…
#TodayI
Cycled to work.
Shared a genius marketing hack.
Started using DALL-E 3 to generate images for my posts.
Did a visit for a panel.
Attended lunch break meditation at Guille-Allès Library.
Had a postponement.
Worked on my narrative.
Spoke with Jennifer Mathisen and Matt Williams of KiDSiE.
#NowI
Am about to be pitched by Molly Johnson-Jones of Flexa.
#LaterI
Have to collect my son from table tennis.
Genius marketing hack
Genius marketing hack: add your startup to a list of banned apps to make it popular.
Genius marketing hack: add your startup to a list of banned apps to make it popular.
From the article (link in the comments):
When Wolfe Herd noticed signs outside local college lecture halls banning social media platforms in class, she hung additional signs, adding Bumble to the list.
No one knew what Bumble was yet, so when we associated ourselves with these products ... we inserted ourselves into the assumption that that would be the app that they would want to use in class,” she said. “All of a sudden, those downloads started going up.
