Tag: Founders
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I just missed out on $157,000. Last year, I passed on a startup that is now raising at 25x the valuation. Here’s how I blew this deal, and what I’ll be doing differently next time… Why I Passed We’ll call this startup Supercorp. In April 2025, I had an opportunity…
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+ Angel, Angel Investing, Business, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Founders, Investing, Personal finance, Startups, Stocks, VC, Venture Capital+
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Friction is killing your fundraise. Here’s how to remove it and close out your round, fast… Take the example of an awesome founder I spoke with recently. “An investor told me to require an e-mail address to see the deck,” he said. “What do you think?” “Don’t require anything. Remove…
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+ Business, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Founders, Fundraising, Investing, Silicon Valley, Startups, Technology, VC, Venture Capital+
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Pattern I keep seeing in AI agent startups: > announce super powerful agent> ship agent> tons of sign-ups> insane revenue growth> massive funding round> product simply does not work> what now?> heavy churn likely Customers bought the dream of an agent that does everything. But the product fundamentally does not…
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+ Agentic, Agents, AI, AI Agent, Artificial Inteligence, Artificial Intelligence, Artificial Intelligene, Business, ChatGPT, Entrepreneur, Founders, Investing, Silicon Valley, Startups, Technology+
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I just found a secret weapon that could help you close your round: VC Boom. It grades your deck and automates investor outreach. It’s so good, I was astounded. The creator is Yoan Berno, a former VC — so he knows what investors are looking for. Best of all, most…
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+ Business, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Founders, Fundraising, Investing, Silicon Valley, Startups, VC, Venture Capital+
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“What is your moat?” This is the most pointless question investors ask pre-seed founders. Picture two guys in a tiny apartment, sleeping on mattresses, living off food from sponsored tech events. What moat do you expect them to have? Speed Is the Moat At this stage, it’s all about moving…
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+ Business, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Founders, Investing, Startups, Tech, Technology, Venture Capital+
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“We’re raising an angel round. Minimum check $250k.” Here’s why that’s a mistake… I get messages like this every now and then. These founders don’t understand how most angel investors operate. Lessons From a Billionaire Angel Two years ago, I invested in a round that included a multibillionaire. He wrote…
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+ Business, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Founders, Investing, Silicon Valley, Startups, VC, Venture Capital+
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Digital Ocean is worth $18 billion. This morning, I dug into their original seed round deck from 2013. Here’s what you can learn to help you in your fundraise… Clearly Framing the Problem Digital Ocean’s value proposition is simple: we let you deploy to the cloud quicker and easier. See…
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+ Business, Digital Ocean, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Founders, Investing, Silicon Valley, Startups, Stock Market, Technology, Venture Capital+
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This morning, I looked through all 194 companies in YC’s P26 batch. From space based manufacturing to AI doctors, here are the three most exciting startups I found… Dispatch Some products, like new pharmaceuticals, can only be made in space due to the lack of gravity. But to pull it…
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+ AI, Business, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Founders, Investing, Silicon Valley, Startups, Tech, Technology, Venture Capital, Y Combinator, YC+
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VC horror stories are flooding my timeline on X. Founders getting ghosted, dismissed, and disrespected. How do we investors behave better? Here are four simple rules we should all follow… Rule #1: Show Up On Time Founder time is the scarcest resource in the universe. Don’t waste it. Be sure…
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+ Business, Entrepreneurs, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Founders, Investing, Silicon Valley, Startups, Tech, Technology, Venture Capital+
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I see it in deck after deck: the founder waits until slide 27 to tell me about himself. Big mistake. Here’s how to do it right… Right after your title slide, put a slide about yourself. Tell us your biggest accomplishments. Before we care about your idea, we have to…
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+ Business, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Founders, Investing, Silicon Valley, Startups, Venture Capital+
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Tremendous 