Follow your own path

Segui il tuo corso e lascia dir le gente

Source of motivation

“Segui il tuo corso e lascia dir le gente”

"Where the way is hardest, there go thou; Follow your own path and let people talk.”

— Dante Alighieri

Startup Discovery Digest

• Dreamsands is a generative AI-powered solution that converts images and designs into deploy-ready code, streamlining the development process. (Pre-seed, US / Sweden)

• Silo Team simplifies technical onboarding and scaling for tech teams in organizations via their platform that offers stakeholder organization, customizable templates, C4 modeling, API docs generation, and a centralized LMS for technical documentation. (Pre-seed, Sweden)

• The MCG provides a user-friendly and effective micro-learning platform that enables educators to create, distribute, and monetize their expertise and knowledge worldwide. (Pre-seed, Turkey)

Managing Investor Relations and Navigating Due Diligence for Early-Stage Ventures

After I express initial interest following the first interview, I can provide insight into our process of preparing for and conducting due diligence.

The social profile: The open online social profiles are  the first things I check during the due diligence process, and it carries significance. If a founder is overly committed to sharing feedback and commenting on everything, it may not be a good sign of time allocation. I am not suggesting that individuals should avoid social media, but if they spend an excessive amount of time discussing and sharing, it may be a red flag worth considering. Especially if you are not actively linking your product/service to these comments to connect with relevant decision makers, it’s a question mark.

LinkedIn pages: I check all founder LinkedIn pages and the company’s Linkedin page. If they do not add their startups to their profiles, this is an important WTH (What the heck) moment for me, unless the startup is in stealth mode for a valid reason. If their profile is still from an early company they worked for, they may not be ready to disclose their startup to everyone or may be ashamed. Sometimes startups do not want to share because of the product they develop, which is understandable. But if you change your job and start a venture, please add it to your LinkedIn.

Misrepresenting Education: If you take an executive education program at an Ivy League university, do not add it as if you have graduated from these schools. On LinkedIn, it may look like you graduated from Harvard or LSE, but you only had a two-week online course. It is not a good sign. There is a certificates section on Linkedin, use it. We don’t care too much about where you graduate from, good founders are everywhere. 

Utilize your startup's email address as it holds great marketing potential. When I receive emails from a startup, I prefer it to come from their branded email address rather than a generic address such as iamtoocheaptopayforagoogleaccount@gmail.com. The latter is not as professional and can also be  seen as inappropriate, if you have a funny looking personal email address from collage like igetdrunktoofast@hotmail.com.