Late update - 28 November 23
Yesterday I…
#YesterdayI
Shared Runna's £5m round.
Had a site meeting for our house build with DLM Architects Ltd and Infinity Group.
Had coffee with Daniel Jurkiewicz.
Had a quick call with Jonny Plein of YASO.
Reached out to some co-investors on behalf of a founder.
Went home.
Spent 45 minutes tying the worst bow tie in the world.
Attended the Guernsey Cambridge Society AGM and Xmas dinner.
Am no longer the chair of the society - thank you James Ede-Golightly.
Runna’s £5m round
Congratulations to Dom Maskell, Ben Parker and the whole amazing team at Runna on their £5m round led by JamJar Investments.
Congratulations to Dom Maskell, Ben Parker and the whole amazing team at Runna on their £5m round led by JamJar Investments. Link in the comments.
Runna has the fastest growth I’ve ever seen. unbundled vc was very fortunate to be able to invest in its Seed round. Thank you.
Here’s to many more insane years.
Improv showcase tonight
Personal post: This evening, come and watch me and nine other crazies perform at our improv showcase!
Personal post: This evening, come and watch me and nine other crazies perform at our improv showcase!
Doors open at 7 at the Princess Royal Centre for Performing Arts.
Tickets here.
Late update for 24 November 23
Friday I…
#FridayI
Walked to work.
Shared that you should always thank founders for their updates.
Had a lovely call with Anthony Paine.
Hopped onto an Alma Angels virtual coffee.
Caught up quickly with James Roycroft-Davis of Baseline.
Spoke with Claire Mongeau of Founders Factory.
Had a call with an old friend about AI.
Went to a friend's 50th.
Forgot to post this update.
Thanksgiving out of office
Thanks for your message. I'm taking full advantage of Thanksgiving, so you'll find me in my kitchen covered in flour most likely baking a pumpkin pie and then fighting a four day long food coma. If your message is urgent, please contact…
Bonus post, great out of office I got today:
Thanks for your message. I'm taking full advantage of Thanksgiving, so you'll find me in my kitchen covered in flour most likely baking a pumpkin pie and then fighting a four day long food coma. If your message is urgent, please contact...
A belated Happy Thanksgiving!
Thankful for investor updates
Investors, every time you receive a written update from your founders, always thank them.
Investors, every time you receive a written update from your founders, always thank them.
They work hard on them, they do them just for you, don't just leave it.
#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic
Pitch and newsletter links at unbundled dot vc.
Evening update - 23 November 23
Today I…
#TodayI
Walked to work.
Shared my upcoming Clubhouse with Anton Kooll's StartUp to ScaleUP Club.
Had coffee with MATHEW GULLY.
Had my hair cut.
Saw my article for Business Brief on Radical Recruitment was in the Guernsey Press (pic below).
Continued to work my way through my backlog. Apologies if you are still on it.
#NowI
Am helping with a mock Oxbridge interview.
#ThenI
Am doing the Clubhouse
#LaterI
Am at standup practice.
Clubhouse tonight
https://www.clubhouse.com/invite/wgASlp306QaoeXJ9DL34vQnp52zptXldNJb:_-JaFWD5KJqaMllU7B4FMXU-HESe-tE5o2WJz7IZkH8
This evening at 5.15pm I'm on the panel for Anton Kooll's StartUp Fundraising Q&A on Clubhouse for StartUp to ScaleUP Club alongside Keshni Morar and Tommy Breen.
Ask us anything.
Sign up here.
Evening update - 22 November 23
Today I…
#TodayI
Walked to work.
Shared I will be on a panel at Shaa Wasmund MBE's The Rise of the Female Entrepreneur event.
Had coffee with Lukas Laubscher of Rock Talent Search.
Spoke with Matthew Codd of Cosmic Partners about the event we plan to run in a couple of weeks. He also helped me understand what I should try and achieve by the end of the year.
Worked on my to-do list.
Caught up with Roxane Sanguinetti of Alma Angels.
Walked home.
#LaterI
Will be a football training taxi service.
The Rise of the Female Entrepreneur
In twelve days, I am happy to announce I will be on a panel at Shaa Wasmund MBE's incredible event at the London Stock Exchange, The Rise of the Female Entrepreneur.
In twelve days, I am happy to announce I will be on a panel at Shaa Wasmund MBE's incredible event at the London Stock Exchange, The Rise of the Female Entrepreneur.
There are some incredible speakers including a keynote by Trinny Woodall.
Other speakers include Ruby Raut, Kanya King CBE, Brenda Emmanus OBE, Emma Thackray, Susan C. Allen Augustin, Olivia Jenkins, Sophie Luck, Vanessa Vallely OBE CCMI, Kerry Dwyer, David B Horne, Janet Coyle CBE, Graham Rowan and Sarah Turner.
I'm still not sure why she asked me but three of my five investments this year have been in female founders and a reasonable chunk of the nine I've invested in will be at the event.
Unfortunately and fortunately, the event is already sold out. All the proceeds are going to charity. Link in the comments.
Evening update - 21 November 23
Today I…
#TodayI
Had first breakfast of french toast cooked by my son as part of his Duke of Edinburgh award scheme.
Shared that Microsoft may have pulled off the heist of the century. The stock market isn't so sure.
Had second breakfast with Barrie Baxter of Brixx Software.
Had coffee with Cameron Margetts of The Orbital Locker Company Ltd.
Intro'd an angel investor to a founder.
Worked on my to-do list.
Kudos to Satya Nadella
Microsoft may have just pulled off the biggest heist of the century.
Microsoft may have just pulled off the biggest heist of the century.
Kudos to Satya Nadella for his execution. He had to convince an uber-entrepreneur to work for Microsoft and his board that this was a good idea, both in record time. Not what you expect from an incumbent.
Evening update - 20 November 23
Today I…
#TodayI
Share a book recommendation.
Helped a local school with mock Oxbridge exams.
Had an impromptu chat with Jamie Beaumont of Playter.
Spoke with Edward Kandel at Founders Factory.
Worked on a custom ChatGPT and seemed to take the site down for a bit. That, or all the drama is too much for it.
#LaterI
Have improv practice ahead of our showcase next week. Buy tickets here.
Book recommendation - Daemon by Daniel Suarez
It's the only book nobody seems to have heard of that everyone I've recommended it to has loved.
Random book recommendation - Daemon by Daniel Suarez.
It's the only book nobody seems to have heard of that everyone I've recommended it to has loved.
Maybe better suited to techy types.
If you read it or have read it, let me know what you think in the comments.
Evening update - 17 November 23
Today I…
#TodayI
Shared a typical problem to get past with investors.
Took the kids to school.
Shared Jonny Plein's post on YASO's inaugural trends report on China's beauty market.
Had an impromptu coffee with Matthias Plunser of WXplr.
Chatted with Ollie Dotsch of IVY.
Shared Shaa Wasmund MBE's post about her upcoming The Rise of the Female Entrepreneur event.
Had a mutually agreed postponement.
Collected one son with flu from school - not many of us still standing.
Introduced a founder to a potential angel investor.
Caught up with Euan Cameron of Willo®.
Collected the remaining son from school.
#LaterI
Will watch a movie with whoever is still standing.
Help me understand
Founders, a classic problem I have that comes up time and time again is I don't understand your market as well as you do. I don't personally know the pain point you are solving.
Founders, a classic problem I have that comes up time and time again is I don't understand your market as well as you do. I don't personally know the pain point you are solving.
Find a way to make it easy for me to know these as well as you and it will be much easier for me to invest.
I can only make informed decisions. If I can't get to a high enough confidence level, I have to let it go.
This will also apply to other investors. What is important to them may differ.
Evening update - 16 November 23
Today I…
#TodayI
Shared my plans for the rest of the year.
Took the kids to school.
Worked from home because various family members have the flu.
Had my Important Not Urgent Day, had no meetings, got through quite a bit of backlog and started on one of the rest of year items.
Collected the kids from school.
#LaterI
Have an online class.
Will get an early night so if/when I get the flu, it isn't so bad.
No more commitments this year so what’s next
Because I don't plan to make any new commitments this year, I aim to spend the rest of the year working on things that will make me more effective next year.
Because I don't plan to make any new commitments this year, I aim to spend the rest of the year working on things that will make me more effective next year.
These include:
Making it easy for angels to auto-subscribe to find out when my companies are raising. (Let me know if you'd like to be on this list.)
A CRM for other VCs.
Auto-emailing those VCs quarterly so they remember I exist to invest alongside them and to check I have their remit correct.
Figuring out how to build a network of US VCs that might lead rounds in my companies at Series A & B.
Figuring out if I should switch most of my tech stack to Notion.
Figuring out if there are low-friction ways my portfolio companies can help each other. A good example is introductions. There are loads of introductions founders can make for each other and these get uncovered randomly rather than intentionally.
What else could I work on to help my investing, deal flow and portfolio companies?
Evening update - 15 November 23
Today I…
#TodayI
Took the kids to school.
Shared how I deal with conflicts (startups, not the kids).
Chatted with Anthea Stephenson of willow.
Had a postponement due to child dental issues.
Cancelled a pitch because it wasn't digital tech.
Couldn't go to the Renoir viewing at Art for Guernsey due to family reasons.
Collected the kids from school.
#LaterI
Have to collect one of them from table tennis.
#TomorrowI
May have to work from home for family reasons.
