Random untargeted outreach
Random untargeted outreach: I'd love to see how xxx can help unbundled vc with *substitute any service I don't need*. If you're not the right person for this, could you point me to whoever is.
Me: nobody here is the right person for this.
Harsh?
Founders and team members and ethics
Founders, if one of your team reached out to me for advice on what investors are looking for because they want to start something themselves, would you want to know?
They say it's not imminent but have done some research.
Obviously asking for a friend 🤐
Solving a real problem
I always like a pitch that convinces me it's solving a real problem that people will pay money for that can generate a venture scale, and ideally much bigger, outcome.
If that's there as early as possible, I'm paying attention. I can't speak for others but I'm laser focused on that.
If it's later and/or not presented as directly, people may never get it or get to it.
Extracurricular for university
My son just asked me, "What extracurricular stuff do I need, over and above results, to get into a good university?"
He's 14 and just started his first year of GCSEs. It shocked me that he's already thinking of this. I love that he's planning ahead.
How would you answer?
Hinton Nobel congrats
A bit late, but congratulations to Geoffrey Hinton on his Nobel. My AI Masters course was run by one of his mentors, Inman Harvey.
We never knew until Hinton tweeted about this when he got the Turing Prize.
I can't find any images of them together so this will have to do.
Link to Turing Prize tweet in the comments for those who are interested.
Obligatory
Obligatory chopped liver and pickle sandwich at Tongue & Brisket.
Who's up for a Tongue & Brisket meetup next time I'm in town.
Focal team minus Issie
With Joel Hambly, Taos Edmondson, CFA & Hector Mason, most of the Focal team, at the Focal W24 Afterparty.
Sorry I missed you for this one, Issie James. If you don't know, Issie actually runs Focal.
It was a pleasure to earlier host one of the Focal Founder Sessions, with Dario Di Carlo of Bricks AI. Expect great things from him and them.
Pre-fountain colour coordinated coffee
Colour coordinated coffee (and cheesecake) at Arto Coffee at The Dubai Mall with Burj Al Khalifa in the background.
Next stop: the fountain display.
Robert Farquar of Ctrl Alt
Coffee in Dubai with Robert Farquhar who explained the amazing progress Ctrl Alt is making here.
Great things lie ahead.
Thank you for your time today, Robert.
Tony Stark energy
Tony Stark energy this morning with Kyle Lightbody who is building something impressive in the property space.
The Channel Islands connection comes good in Dubai.
Process => Outcome
Your outcome will reflect your process, not your beliefs.
Build a process that reflects your beliefs and you will get the outcome you want.
Don't? Then don't be surprised if you get the same outcome as everyone else.
My ears hurt
Current status: listening to painful cover versions at breakfast.
My ears hurt.
Colour coordinated coffee with Aisling Gray
Colour coordinated coffee with the amazing Aisling Gray, communications consultant, coach and adviser extraordinaire, in Dubai.
Always lovely to catch up with people you know from the UK so far from home.
With His Excellency Omar Sultan AlOlama
"Metal is Hot" baseball cap in Dubai listening to His Excellency Omar Sultan AlOlama talk about AI at Expand North Star.
They even handed me the mic and got to hear a little about unbundled vc 😮. Definitely a risk given the amount of coffee I've consumed.
A great event so far.
Pre Dubai airport report
Waiting at the airport to fly to London before I fly to Dubai tomorrow for Expand North Star.
Couple of nice coffee meetings this morning. Have to finish an article this afternoon.
This evening I'm going to the BIll Murray comedy club to see how the pros do it.
B2B mission driven startups
Again and again and again, if you are B2B and mission-driven to help a human end-user, you need to lead with why the business buying your product will care. That's not the human it supports at the end.
This is one of the most common deck and pitch problems. I see it all the time.
It is great that you care. I care. But you only get to fulfil your mission if the business buying your product cares.
Why do they? Make me believe it. That's your pitch.
Why warm intros matter
Why do warm intros matter?
People are busy. They have to make decisions on which meetings to take on very little info.
Cold means it is less likely to be useful.
Warm with no context means they can't have enough confidence to be sure it's useful.
Warm with tight context is best. Context so they can figure out if they should. Tight because they can make a quick decision. Make their life easy.
They still might not take it but you've given it your best shot.
Founder vs entrepreneur
Founders, do you consider yourself entrepreneurs? Do you see any difference between the skills you need to be a founder and an entrepreneur?
I'd love your feedback. I'm writing an article on entrepreneurship and all the distinctions I can see seem like different categorisations of the same underlying skills.
The best way to find angel investors
Founders, here's the best way to find angel investors:
Find people that are sector experts. They should much more easily understand you are solving a real problem people will pay for.
That makes it easier to get in front of them and for them to invest. Anyone else, you have to convince them it's a real problem from scratch.
If you can't get in front of sector experts or convert them, either your messaging is wrong or you're not solving a real problem.