Dan Jones

49 founders and senior startup leaders respond to a survey from Sifted on the relationship between founders and VCs. Are expectations off from the start as VCs try too hard to pander to their founders with over promises of "value-add" and extensive platform teams? Do founders need to be reminded of their primary role - execution?

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💣 Nearly HALF 5X+ VC funds are small funds sub $50m - I posted this last Christmas and tagged the 2 top emerging managers backing FoFs in Europe. Little would I know that by final closing time I'd be so fortunate and grateful for having both on board :) Data for the stats from Pattern Ventures, proving that emerging small funds smash larger, established funds. Now we just have to deliver and score a 5x+ pice of cake haha 😹 But hey, what would life be without a tough challenge 💪 #deeptech #europeantech #venturecapital #emergingmanagers Molten Ventures Multiple Capital

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This year is all about survival. I've seen enough data to call it. Multiple reports are showing Flat -> No growth. Wayflyer/Iris Finance report had Q1 overall growth at +4% YoY. Common Thread Collective Index has same store sales flat YoY. What does this mean? This year is about survival. The industry as a whole isn’t growing. We can blame this on whatever we want. But the outcome remains the same. Instead of obsessing about your topline growth. (Which is a steep mountain to climb.) Focusing on growing your bottom line. In a low topline growth year, spend time becoming more profitable. 100% YoY growth doesn’t do you any good if you’re out of biz in 2 years. The goal needs to be surviving to 2025. #shopify

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Today’s shoutout goes to Griffin.  A bank you can build on. And their founders, David Jarvis & Allen Rohner. Griffin, the UK's rising BaaS (Banking-as-a-Service) star. Just leveled up in a big way! Here's what makes them stand out: 1/ Going from startup to fully licensed bank. They just secured a full banking license. Proving their operational excellence and regulatory compliance. 2/ Focus on sustainability. From "light green" investments to a dedicated sustainability manager. Griffin walks the walk on ESG. 3/ New opportunities ahead. Griffin secured an additional $24M in funding. This brings their total capital to $39M for continued growth. Griffin is no longer just a sandbox player. They're building castles! My full shout-out note is in the latest EUVC newsletter. Link in comments. 🔽 How about you? Let's show our appreciation more often! Leave your shout-out to a product you love in the comments section! #venturecapital #angelinvesting #startupfunding #europe

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Compare this to founders and startups from developing Asia. The avg pre-seed round would be around €100K and Founder's salary would be around €10K PA. Startups with lower burn will be invincible as Innovation and tech tools aren't geo-restricted anymore. #Startups #VentureCapital #Investment #Innovation #Funding

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Y-Combinator Guide: How to Split Equity between Cofounders & When You Should (and Shouldn’t) Split… https://buff.ly/3WoVkav The Y-Combinator Guide delves into the intricate process of splitting equity among cofounders, outlining the crucial considerations and scenarios where equity division is warranted. Understanding the dynamics of equity distribution is essential for fostering a fair and sustainable partnership. By exploring real-world examples and statistics, cofounders can navigate this challenging aspect of startup collaboration more effectively. It is crucial to establish clear guidelines and agreements to prevent potential conflicts in the future. This guide provides valuable insights for entrepreneurs embarking on new ventures. #StartupEquity #CofounderCollaboration #venturecapital #startups

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Imagine speaking without saying a word! Sci-fi? Not Anymore 🧠🗣️ Rubén D. and I had the chance of interviewing Vasco Pedro, the CEO & Co-Founder of Unbabel, who demoed their mind-blowing product, Halo Halo is a revolutionary technology that combines hardware, software Gen AI and a non invasive neural interface to translate brain signals into words hence - "speaking without saying a word" 🤯 Early usage is transforming the lives of ALS patients who haven't been able to speak in years. Seeing it in action is absolutely jaw-dropping 📽️ You've got to see the demo in the interview below 👇 AI For Good 🤖💖 - It's here ✅

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LOOKING FOR INVESTMENT? 💰👀 Fuel Ventures 🚀 is one of the most active early stage tech investors in the UK. We back disruptive & ambitious founders at all the early stages: 👉 Concept/Pre-Seed 👉 Seed & Seed+ 👉 Series A stages 170 Investments and counting… 🚀 We look for/focus on fast growth digital/tech businesses. We like software, platforms fintech, e-commerce, B2B and B2C with super ambitious hard working founder/s or founding teams, companies that have large global growth potential with multibillion market opportunities. We really want to see companies that have the potential to deliver x100 potential growth, mostly meaning £1billion+ future market cap potential. 📈🚀 We have funds that can invest from Concept/Pre-Seed, Early Seed, Seed, Pre-A and A stages, so if your at any of these stages we are keen to hear from you. The best way for us to take a look at you business if you are looking for investment is to submit the business to our web form for me and our investment team of 8 people all get it directly into their inbox to review within our process, we review weekly in our investment meetings and will come back to you if we spot something of interest that gets us excited. So be punchy, ambitious and bold! Please do highlight why your business is special, the market size and opportunity and any traction or progress achieved. Please submit the business here: https://lnkd.in/d6AK2rjy

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Last month, we at World Fund announced our investment in Faircado. I’ve written a ‘why we invested in’ blogpost, looking at why we led the deal - and what excites me about this startup. Founded by the brilliant Evoléna de Wilde d'Estmael 🌱and Ali Nezamolmaleki, Faircado is an AI-powered browser extension that makes sustainable choices more accessible and mainstream for millions of consumers online. Our collective closets overflow with items we no longer need but that others could use. We need to embrace a circular economy, and Faircado can help us break this ineffective cycle - perpetuated by awful brands like SHEIN - by helping us make better buying decisions online. You can read the full piece here: https://bit.ly/4coXxYy

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4️⃣ SaaStock Fundraising Chatter: Finding the Right VC for You. A key takeaway from Tuesday’s post was how important it is to qualify your investors. With so many options, here's how to be strategic: 🔎 Qualify ruthlessly. Treat your investor funnel like a sales funnel. AlbionVC, for example, invests $1-10M in UK-based B2B software and deeptech. If you’re a Paris-based consumer marketplace raising $20M, it’s a non-starter. Founders waste precious time crafting outreach to funds outside their scope. 🥇 Prioritise Smartly. Rank your target funds by both appeal and likelihood of success. 💘 Find a Warm Intro. If you don’t know the fund directly, network like you would for sales. Get a concise, compelling intro via a mutual connection. Remember a “pass” could even lead to a referral to another, better-fit fund. 🎮 Sequence Pitches. Start with lower-priority VCs to refine your pitch with early feedback. Then, approach your top picks with a polished narrative. Generating interest early creates momentum in your process. ⚠️ Requalify Your VCs! It’s as important to assess us as it is for us to assess you. ➡️Ambition Alignment: Are their expectations aligned with yours? ➡️Personal Fit: Grab a coffee, breakfast, lunch, go on a walk: will you enjoy working with them for years? ➡️Support: What do you need? Do your diligence to ensure they deliver it. ➡️References: Talk to portfolio companies, successes and struggles. Were they fair? were they kind? ➡️Partner Stability: The partner who leads your investment will be emotionally and intellectually invested in you and your vision. They will be on call. They will fight for you when things get tough (bridge rounds, etc)…far more than someone who replaces them later. Also, high turnover at a fund could signal cultural issues. #SaaS #Fundraising #VC #AlbionVC

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So Toast is an absolute fricking monster and the best in class vertical SaaS company of our time. 💵 $1.2BN in ARR with 48.4% from payments 💸 Toast Capital has reached $1BN in annualised loans originated 🧑‍🍳 875K restaurants in the US (Toast has 112K: 13% market share) 🚀 75% of locations are coming from inbound channels The first investor invested $500K at a $3M price 😮 The full story and all the lessons 👇 1. Why This $14BN Company Would Not Exist Without Speed - Too many people worry about getting the product right. - One of the most important things you can do is get something out & learn from the user. - We wouldn’t have existed today if we didn’t move fast & iterate. 2. The Man Who Bought 12% of a $14BN Company for $500K - We were trying to raise in 2012-2013. - We were confident but almost everyone said no. - Steve Papa @ Endeca wrote us a $500K check at $3M. 3. The $14BN Company That Did Not Have a Good Business Model to Start - We realized within the first 10 customers that the financial model wasn’t working. - We were making $200 - $300 a month but there were too many customer service calls. - It wasn’t scalable at all. 4. Biggest Mistake: Not Hiring Managers Faster - There is also leverage in hiring managers vs. salespeople or engineers. - You need to move fast once you see signs of PMF. - Building out a team around us would have helped us move faster. 5. The Importance of Market Timing 3 Things: 1. Android 2. Cloud 3. Embedded payments - Without those 3 Toast wouldn’t have existed. 6. You Have to Sequence Strategy - We see many ways to expand the Toast platform across other geos & segments. - We need to be thoughtful about how to sequence this. - This is a long game: You underestimate what you can do in a decade and overestimate what you can do in a year. 7. This Public Company Creates Smaller Companies Within It - We have a New Ventures program for entrepreneurs. - We let them build companies as part of Toast but operate independently. - We want them to have the benefits of being part of Toast without the challenges of being part of a larger org. (links in comments) #founder #funding #business #investing #vc #venturecapital #entrepreneur #startup #seed #funding

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Question for all the founders in my network: What tools are you using for your customer waitlists? 💡 I've seen everything from simple one page websites to more developed integrated engagement/management platforms. Keen to know what people think is good! #founders #vc #startup

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Episode 353 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Giuseppe Stuto, Co-Founder & Managing Partner of 186 Ventures: https://lnkd.in/eS7CtuS5.  Co-Founded by Giuseppe and Julian Fialkow, 186 Ventures is a pre-seed & seed stage VC firm investing broadly across technology. I kept hearing about the firm, so I was excited to interview Giuseppe for the podcast as they have been out there hustling and have been earning the respect from entrepreneurs and their peers in the VC industry. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * A discussion around the importance of investor & founder alignment. * How a conference at Stanford changed the trajectory of his career into entrepreneurship.  * The full background story of SmakHigh and how they evolved to Fam, the first live group video application for iMessage, including how Jeffrey Bussgang's book - Mastering the VC Game - helped them raise venture funding from Jeff and Flybridge. * The full story of how the acquisition by DraftKings came to fruition. * The details about 186 Ventures and what they are targeting for investments. * The 4 fundamental parts of a business that matter. * The importance of building a repeatable sales model for not only your go-to-market strategy but also how it factors into raising capital. * Why Boston is the best place to build an AI startup. * And so much more. #ai #bostonstartups #startups #venturecapital #entrepreneurship

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🎉 Exciting News! ThirdRetail has secured SEIS advance assurance within 24 hours of self-application! 🚀 🔍 What is SEIS? The Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) is a UK government initiative designed to encourage investment in early-stage startups. It offers tax reliefs to investors, making it easier for young companies like ours to raise capital. 👋 Who are we? ThirdRetail is revolutionizing offline distribution for D2C brands! 🏪 We're the Airbnb of retail shelves, making it affordable and accessible for direct-to-consumer brands to scale their physical presence. Our AI-powered platform removes cross-channel blindspots, providing seamless integration between online and offline retail. 💡 Our mission: - Empower D2C brands to expand offline - Optimize retail space utilization - Bridge the gap between digital and physical retail 🤝 Calling SEIS Funds! Are you interested in being part of the third channel of retail sales? We're currently raising our pre-seed round and would love to chat with SEIS funds looking for exciting investment opportunities. Let's connect and explore how we can shape the future of retail together! 📈 Anil Junagal #RetailTech #SEIS #SEISFUNDS #Startup #D2C #Retail #Marketplace #B2B #SaaS

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As an EIR at Peachscore Accelerate, I have the privilege of talking to many startups and sharing my feedback on their ideas and their very first version of their product. It's interesting to see how many people are working on a new DATING APP! But the question is: Do we really need more dating apps, or should we focus on relationship-building apps? So, this is my take: it's never been easier to date, yet it has never been more difficult to build a relationship. And that is the problem they should focus on, not new features on dating apps. Take San Francisco, for example. San Francisco has a high population of tech professionals, living a fast-paced lifestyle where many may prioritize their careers over relationships. Add to that, the city's progressive attitudes can lead to a non-traditional relationship structures like open relationships, which may not align with everyone's preferences. Moreover, the transient nature of the population, when many residents moving in and out of the city for job opportunities, can make it challenging to establish long-term connections, not to mention the numerous options. How can one tackle these challenges? Do you believe the focus should shift towards relationship-building apps? How do you see the future of dating and relationships in today's world? 💬 #DatingApps #Relationships #TechIndustry

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Considering additional fractional roles through EmergeOne. Ones that are very much adjacent or complementary to the CFO and where I know there are some incredibly talented individuals. I think there are, in reality, very few roles that can be done well fractionally in startups and there are very few people out there that are actually any good at those roles - why we have such a stringent screening process. One that I think does fly is CMO but it's so far from our wheelhouse that I'm not sure we'd do anything but dilute our offering by launching that. So if I were to kick off with COOs and Chiefs of Staffs - do you think that would fly? If you're a startup founder, are those roles you'd happily take on fractionally?

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#Manchester based past SkilledUp Life tech startup customer Cytix raises £1.6 million Seed investment from Manchester based Praetura Ventures founded by David Foreman. Michael Rees well done. Limited Partner (LP) in this case is Northern Powerhouse Fund II operated by British Business Bank British Business Bank North of England Delyth Lloyd Edwards. Simon Cunnington SkilledUp Life helped Thomas Ballin and the team during the earliest stages of the tech startup when they were self-funded and bootstrapping. I also had the pleasure to mingle with Ben Armstrong at Techcelerate when they were just starting up and trying to build the first version of the product. Both Ben and Thomas stood up as a strong pair of co-founders. They came from the same industry, worked for the same boss and knew the market inside out. They knew how to innovate the market and slice a portion of the market for themselves. They also had a superb unfair advantage in addition to above. The pair was perfect to start a tech product company. Let me explain why. When you talk about building tech startups, especially at the very earliest stages, you need to two people: - Some one who can code and build - Thomas Ballin - Some one who can sell - Ben Armstrong Having been in the tech startup world for 20 years, I rarely see this ideal combination. I knew they would go places. And they had. A massive congratulations from me to Thomas, Ben and the team. My only regret was I could not convince them to join Techcelerate. 😁 Here's the story https://lnkd.in/ec7VzXp2 covered by Deal Lite. Here's the story about Pre-Seed round https://lnkd.in/eR4UQ9fi I look forward to reading the story about Series A investment not too long in the near future. Congrats all. A good day for #Manchester! 🥂 Oh, by the way, we have a ton of #cybersecurity volunteers on https://skilledup.life Here is a bunch of Manchester tech startups who are leveraging SkilledUp Life as they self-fund and bootstrap their businesses in the early stage. These companies are cash-efficient and understand how hard the journey is: - Dustid run by Michael Livingstone - Orakly run by Craig A. Taylor - also a Techcelerate member - mutuals run by eddy D. SkilledUp Life de-risked Cytix over 20 months period. SkilledUp Life is here to give a leg up to tech startups in early years. #Cytix #Cybersecurity #Manchester #TechManchester #SkilledUpLife

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Is everyone launching VCs nowadays? In late 2022, I enrolled in the VC Lab programme but the timing wasn’t quite right, so I dropped out. Now, with better timing after selling my business, I’ve rejoined the VC Lab again (here is a spoiler into my future plans 🙈) Sifted tracked only 40 new first-time funds with a first or second close in 2023, a decrease from over 60 in 2022. As of 2024, only 18 new VCs have been launched in Europe. Anyone in my network launching a VC fund or considering it? How are you navigating this process? #VC #VentureCapital #Fundraising #BusinessOpportunity

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