Janice Fraser

A SAFE and convertible note had a baby and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati was the midwife- out popped the D-SAFE! 👶🏽🎉 A new #climatetech funding instrument was announced by Elemental Excelerator last week. One of the company’s main goals is to support smaller, up and coming companies during the awkward “Scale Gap” phase between #VC funding and natural growth. It’s called the #DSAFE (Development Simple Agreement for Future Equity) and it aims to aid the process by giving companies a small amount of cash to overcome initial risks and expenses during the developmental stages of a product launch or company. How does it work? D-SAFE has a redemption clause meaning companies can choose to have their payments offered as a loan or convert to equity at the investor’s discretion. Funders and companies will have clear communication and expectations about where the money is going and how it will be applied to either the company or the projects at hand. Financiers and companies will work together with more #transparency, and that’s a great boon for #startups and VC alike. As of this month, Elemental has already invested using D-SAFE in eight different companies, including Dimensional Energy and Origen — both companies investing in innovative and out-of-the-box solutions to environmental issues! Seems like a win-win on the surface. What do you all think about the D-SAFE? Alfredo Coppola Momoka Ueda Tim Wagner Stephen D. Torres Olya Irzak Natsuho Toyama Noriya Tarutani Shin Ogawa

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Believing the conventional wisdom that they have roughly 90 days to prove themselves, many new CEOs get into trouble by launching bold initiatives before they’ve won the support and trust they need to effect change. According to our study of nearly 1,400 CEOs, earning people’s confidence actually takes two years. Learn more from my colleagues Claudius Hildebrand and Jason Baumgarten in their new article featured in Harvard Business Review: https://lnkd.in/d37yQ7VU

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With AI, exec coaching can now be a prosumer offering for every single knowledge worker in the world. The cost and capacity constraints of human coaches no longer apply. One could argue that AI exec coaches can be even better than 95% human coaches. Who's building this?

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Some key takeways on this podcast from Bob Sutton and Huggy Rao (Stanford) below: Key Takeaway 1: Friction in organizations increases as they grow larger and more complex, making it difficult to get things done efficiently. This is due to added processes, specialization, and hierarchy that are necessary but can hinder productivity if not managed well. Key Takeaway 2: Leaders should strive to be "elephants" who listen and ask helpful questions, rather than "hippopotamuses" who constantly talk and make statements. Encouraging open communication and collaboration while respecting others' time is crucial for reducing friction. Key Takeaway 3: Speed is important for startups, but it must be balanced with the ability to pivot when needed. Temporarily halting hiring or product development can allow for necessary adjustments and prevent friction from building up. >> This is the top reason startups fail, don't pivot/iterate fast enough. Key Takeaway 4: Founders should be mindful when allocating equity and hiring early on. Keeping some equity in reserve and staggering hiring can help maintain flexibility and prevent friction caused by misaligned incentives or onboarding challenges. Key Takeaway 5: Reducing organizational friction requires regularly "mowing the lawn" by removing unnecessary processes, meetings, and bureaucracy. This is an ongoing effort, not a one-time event, and is essential for maintaining efficiency as organizations grow. https://lnkd.in/e5SfQwCU

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If you’re a leader struggling with risk-taking, HBR offers four strategies to make the mindset and behavior shifts to become more collaborative and unlock growth.

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"For innovators and product builders, "Be Intelligent" isn't just about identifying a pattern in the data; it's about deeply understanding it. This means moving from surface-level definitions, which can be misleading or superficial, to deeper, explanatory insights that transform our understanding. We’ll explore this in the context of generative AI, discussing the difference between nominal and explanatory definitions and why this distinction matters for building truly insightful products." https://lnkd.in/gvkZGhNi

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One of the BIGGEST challenges in startups is getting everyone on the same page with the same priorities. I've found that OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) are an incredibly powerful tool, so I'm extra excited about this announcement: In our newest Ubiquity University, Curated CEO/Co-founder Peter Ombres breaks down OKRs for early-stage startups: https://lnkd.in/ghHxuMxP 📍 What are OKRs ("Objectives and Key Results") 📍 How they can help startups ensure that everyone in the company is focusing on the same important issues (from management down to the individual level) 📍 How exactly this is different from just selling goals 📍 Why 90% of the work is spelling out the language of the OKRs and building consensus -- the process is a big part of the value 📍 How even seed-stage startups can benefit from putting in place OKRs And a big CONGRATS to Peter Ombres as he steps into the CEO role at Curated after serving as COO since day 1 at the company! Read our summary and watch the Ubiquity Ventures University video now at https://lnkd.in/ghHxuMxP (including some graphics from Measure What Matters | OKR Resources)

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