That’s what this storm’s all about.
And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through
Source of motivation
“And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.”
― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore
Startup Discovery Digest
Tradespace.io is a platform that helps innovators develop, manage, and commercialize their intellectual property. It provides tools to discover emerging technology, find high-value IP, and engage with potential partners. (Seed, US)
Brassicafin is an investment infrastructure that enables alternative investment platforms to launch private securities and digital assets with a single API. It provides transfer agent and trust services, as well as compliance and regulatory support. (Post-seed, US)
Arvis Games is a platform-agnostic game studio that creates immersive and memorable experiences for various audiences. It designs and develops IP-based games that are built around different worlds and stories for board, mobile, PC, and console platforms. (Seed, Turkey)
I engage with thousands of startups worldwide each year. If you're keen on participating in our co-investment rounds, kindly complete our form.
Handling Investor Relations and Steering Through Due Diligence for Early-Stage Startups
I'll provide an insider's perspective on our preparation process and the subsequent due diligence we perform once we've given tentative approval to a founder after the initial interview.
Vanity metrics refer to social media followers, traction, or other statistics that do not directly impact a business's core operations. While it's good to monitor progress, I prefer to focus on the results rather than the entire pipeline. Specifically, I'm interested in metrics that reflect the number of customers, revenue generated, and active users, which provide a more accurate representation of a business's success.
Competitive Comparison Slides: Lack of Understanding or worse bad mouthing Competition. A terrible way to present competition is to say we don’t have competitors. Our good friend Ozan has made a video to show founders what a terrible idea that is. (watch the video from here). This is a common mistake that I hate. The other mistake is to show a slide that compares the competition and rivals should not be simplified into check-boxes. A more effective way to present competitive comparisons is by using a table or better using Steve Blanks Petal Model. Startups should showcase their unique strengths and advantages without relying on check-boxes. It is crucial to transparently share accurate positioning in relation to all other rivals.
Revenue Expectations and Presentations: Presenting five-year revenue expectations during pre-seed or seed stage presentations is often meaningless and unhelpful for all parties involved. J curve revenue graphs or linearly increasing bar graphs are unnecessary and add little value. I especially cringe when founders tell me a financial advisor, or worse an accountant has made their financial models, or they send me the link to an unverified online model to validate your hypothesis.
Lack of focus: Founders who emphasize multiple potential ventures and opportunities without demonstrating mastery in any single area.
Over-reliance on a single customer or supplier: Startups that depend heavily on one customer or supplier for a large portion of revenue or resources may be exposed to significant risks.
Prioritizing profitability and lean operations: always favor startups that focus on acquiring clients and generating revenue early, rather than investing heavily in unvalidated products or building large corporate structures.
Excessive ask : Founders who possess the latest and most expensive electronic devices may be perceived as prioritizing personal luxuries over the financial well-being of their startup. Owning Macbooks is fine, but fundraising to buy macbooks for all your staff may not be a good sign, unless your competitive advantage and core is design.
Kindly refer to the previous set of articles I've written about how we conduct due diligence on startups.
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