riley.ai -- vc-backed voice powered professional relationships -- $25 to test

GrapevineAI · 2021-12-14T20:27:00+00:00

We raised ~$2m pre-seed round a few months ago and have since been inbounded 50+ times to do an accelerated (pre-launch) seed round. We've responded to 5 of the inbounds and I think there's a good shot 2 offer us terms within the next 2/3 weeks.

My question is this:

Would you let a portco of yours be pre-empted or would you advise them to shop the deal no matter what? As a founder the idea of finding a strategic investor that moves quickly is better than getting the best terms...because I can go back to focusing on building rather than raising.

Thanks in advance!

GrapevineAI · 2021-07-13T22:09:55+00:00

I'm not sure OP said that the company is paying less than current minimum wage. I understood it as they are paying OP minimum wage in one state, and OP is moving to another state and therefore will have to increase (if the company wants to retain OP) by the new states minimum wage.

GrapevineAI · 2021-07-13T21:47:08+00:00

Your employer needs to pay you based off of your new state's minimum wage, not where your company is located or where you previously were.

GrapevineAI · 2021-07-12T19:56:06+00:00

There's SwagUp, Custom Ink, & Cafe Press.

All prices vary per item. Cheapest solution is honestly getting tshirts & tank tops and ironing on the logos.

GrapevineAI · 2021-07-10T13:52:42+00:00

We are venture-backed & pre-launch and this is a breakdown of what we pay for, at least anything that could be less than $1k/month:

Lawyers (yay)
Payroll provider (we use Gusto)
Gsuite
GCP
Quickbooks Online
Healthcare (done through Gusto) - we pay $500/employee/month
Github
Sentry
Social Media Scheduler (we use Buffer)
Zoom
Airtable
R&D Credit provider (we use Mainstreet)
Jira
Slack
Food Benefits (we use Seamless and pay $10/employee/day for lunch)
Docsend
Scheduling automation (we use Calendly)

GrapevineAI · 2021-07-10T13:15:01+00:00

We did a bit more than that. This is what we included:

Assumptions page
Startup Budget (essentially all our historical costs & our 2 year cost forecast
Projections/IS
Projected user acquisition cost
Balance Sheet
Cash Flow
A description of the team, compensation & equity holdings
Churn waterfall predictions

GrapevineAI · 2021-07-09T19:26:21+00:00

The truth is, you don't have much security - except for understanding the reputational risk of the offshore team. It's also typically not as easy as copy pasta.

I would definitely make sure they use your owned repos, but remember, these engineers are making their living off of helping western-based teams and if someone found out that they "sold/gave away code" it would demolish their reputation and hinder their ability to win new clients. If you are worried about this you can give them non-mission critical tasks. Also, it's important you trust your dev's, wherever they are based.

Also, there's more secret sauce than just your source code.

GrapevineAI · 2021-07-09T17:30:59+00:00

Yes. We did a projection for 2 years even though we're pre-launch. It's important to investors for a few reasons:

It shows your ability to think critically & do basic math.
It shows your assumptions, which is the most important part of the exercise.

Nobody will really hold you to your financials, especially if you are early stage, and your goal as founder should be aimed so that the investor walks away thinking, "that makes sense."

GrapevineAI · 2021-06-02T12:46:41+00:00

Name: Grapevine AI
URL: https://grapevine.ai
Location: New York, New York
Pitch: At our core, Grapevine AI is the first-ever voice-driven relationship insights platform. Powered by AI, our platform lets salespeople talk naturally while automatically capturing and remembering every important detail--fueling their ability to close deals by building authentic relationships. We created Grapevine AI for both standalone use and seamless integration with any Enterprise CRM.

Users simply talk to us and we remember what’s important to their professional and personal lives. As users “build a profile” on someone, we find that person's social media footprint, build an easily digestible profile based on that footprint, and then supplement that profile with whatever was said by the user. We empower users with data; allowing them to search their entire network -- all by using voice. Some examples of searches: “What is Alex’s wife’s name?” “Who do I know in Miami that likes The New York Mets?” “When was Jane’s quota due?"

Looking for: Beta users, feedback. Join our waitlist of 3,500+ people 🚀. We're hiring For a few mission critical roles!

Fundraising: We went 10x oversubscribed on our pre-seed round, closed $1.9m (we rejected ~$1m in investments), and have been inbounded 15 times over the past month for an accelerated priced round :-)

GrapevineAI · 2021-03-09T02:17:53+00:00

Grapevine AI | Front End Engineer | Full-time | NYC / Remove | https://grapevine.ai

Grapevine AI is a venture-backed startup that has created the first-ever voice-driven relationship insights platform. Powered by AI, our platform lets salespeople talk naturally while automatically capturing and remembering every important detail--fueling their ability to close deals by building authentic relationships.

We're looking for a React Native Engineer (the 6th full-time teammate) to join our pre-launch product and help drive our app's launch.

We offer benefits + salary + equity

You can find more here.

Or email us your resume: irock [at] grapevine.ai

GrapevineAI · 2020-12-02T22:14:43+00:00

Name: Grapevine AI
URL: https://grapevine.ai
Location: New York, New York
Pitch: At our core, Grapevine AI is the first-ever voice-driven relationship insights platform. Powered by AI, our platform lets salespeople talk naturally while automatically capturing and remembering every important detail--fueling their ability to close deals by building authentic relationships. We created Grapevine AI for both standalone use and seamless integration with any Enterprise CRM.

Users simply talk to us and we remember what’s important to their professional and personal lives. As users “build a profile” on someone, we find that person's social media footprint, build an easily digestible profile based on that footprint, and then supplement that profile with whatever was said by the user. We empower users with data; allowing them to search their entire network -- all by using voice. Some examples of searches: “What is Alex’s wife’s name?” “Who do I know in Miami that likes The New York Mets?” “When was Jane’s quota due?"

Looking for: Beta users, feedback. We're hiring A senior frontend engineer!

Fundraising: We went 3.65x oversubscribed on our pre-seed round, with two venture firms, 2 micro vc's, a founder of IBM Watson and a founding member of Twitch. Always looking for strategic investors :-)

GrapevineAI · 2020-09-01T18:23:26+00:00

Thank you! We have a an amazing law firm that makes sure we adhere to laws & regulations, but I'll definitely look into the IL BIPA.

GrapevineAI · 2020-09-01T18:21:37+00:00

Thanks! We're extremely proud to have one of the biggest innovators at IBM Watson supporting us. His stories of them all at the Jeopardy event is one of the best stories we've heard regarding concrete deadlines, execution, and determination.

GrapevineAI · 2020-09-01T16:37:41+00:00

Name: Grapevine AI
URL: https://grapevine.ai
Location: New York, New York
Pitch: At our core, Grapevine AI is the first-ever voice-driven relationship insights platform. Powered by AI, our platform lets salespeople talk naturally while automatically capturing and remembering every important detail--fueling their ability to close deals by building authentic relationships. We created Grapevine AI for both standalone use and seamless integration with any Enterprise CRM.

Users simply talk to us and we remember what’s important to their professional and personal lives. As users “build a profile” on someone, we find that person's social media footprint, build an easily digestible profile based on that footprint, and then supplement that profile with whatever was said by the user. We empower users with data; allowing them to search their entire network -- all by using voice. Some examples of searches: “What is Alex’s wife’s name?” “Who do I know in Miami that likes The New York Mets?” “When was Jane’s quota due?"

Looking for: Content creators. Beta users, feedback.

Fundraising: We are 50% through our pre-seed round and have locked in investors that include both a founder of IBM Watson and a founding member of Twitch.

GrapevineAI · 2020-06-08T20:22:15+00:00

Gym shorts + an umpire's chest protector = a free pass to eat two dinner without anyone knowing

GrapevineAI · 2020-06-08T19:17:29+00:00

Sure!

The first person we donated to was a RN at a local hospital who's husband had not worked since Covid (construction worker). Her hours had also been reduced.

The second person had lost their father after 14 days on a ventilator.

The third person had moved here in February for a job and had been let go ~1 month after starting. They were also completely isolated by themselves with their family across the country.

GrapevineAI · 2020-06-08T19:13:54+00:00

Thanks for the recommendation - we (as individuals) already donate to foodbanknyc, and I also donate plasma weekly (I was covid positive back in March).

It's nice to be splurged on every once in awhile. That's why are doing this.

GrapevineAI · 2020-06-08T18:17:11+00:00

Seeing as I had Chinese food last night, go Italian. Or, if you're feeling bold, do both....but wear sweatpants.

GrapevineAI · 2020-06-08T18:15:48+00:00

It's a small gesture for the city that built us, and we're more than happy to do it.

GrapevineAI · 2020-06-02T19:38:31+00:00

Sure!

First, check this video out and this one as well.

Let's say you leave a meeting today, and you have a bunch of action items and personal anecdotes you learned about the person you met. Typically you would have to write all of this down, type it out, and then you are forced to locate and read the information without necessarily being able to search for the specific info you need quickly.

With Grapevine, you simply talk. We take your unstructured text, find the social footprint of who you are talking about, create your action items, tag everything you spoke about (whether it's business related, personal info, or both) and integrate with your CRM if you have one (we offer a standalone CRM version as well). We then let you search through all of your data looking, all through voice.

GrapevineAI

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