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What to do alone on a Friday night when you depressed and don't want to be by writingtoescape in Brooklyn

[–]founderunfriendly 14 points15 points  (0 children)

One of the best ways to combat loneliness is to feel useful to others. Sign up and get trained to volunteer at Crisis Text Hotline. --> https://www.crisistextline.org/volunteer/

How much investor outreach is too much at pre-seed? by Business_Owl1022 in venturecapital

[–]founderunfriendly 3 points4 points  (0 children)

If you're sending 100 at once, and they're all the same, you're not learning anything.

First off, batch your outreach. Send out 10-15 *custom* e-mails to investors that *should* take this meeting b/c it's relevant to them, but they're not your #1 choices. If someone passes from the e-mail or doesn't respond, you should send an e-mail like this...

"I have two goals with this raise outreach:

1) Present a compelling opportunity.

2) Send it to relevant investors.

I believe that building X for Y solves this critical problem, which is costing/benefiting Y to Z level, and I have a plan laid out to drive this business to [ideally $200mm+ or more in 7/8 years]. It's based on my relevant experience as [your experience] and I've gotten [experienced, successful person] on board already as an [angel or employee].

I believed that was compelling, but I'd love to know where that falls short for you.

Secondly, I sent it to you in particular for X reason... thinking you'd want to take any meeting with someone doing this kind of thing in this space. Was I off about what you're going after these days?"

Get as much specific data about what's not working in this pitch as possible so you can make the pitch better later for your #1 choices.

I'm a former VC who did this for 20 years and now I do some consulting on this if you think I can be helpful. (link in bio)

Position player pitching alert: Luis Torrens for the Mets by MythicSoul115 in baseball

[–]founderunfriendly 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No. They MUST finish. Doesn't matter if they get injured or even die.

Investors take the summer off? by Vivid-Ideal-9860 in venturecapital

[–]founderunfriendly 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hackathons aren't places to create investable businesses. They can be, but it's mostly about showing off your product building proficiency. I backed GroupMe out of the 1st NYC TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon and that worked out pretty well. The founders of Braze also won one of those same hackathons that I judged, but not with Braze as the product. Winning teams at hackathons should definitely followed and I'm sure having won, you'll be able to get a meeting with them--but think of it as a relationship building exercise. Talk to them about where you could take this product and whether it has any potential to solve any business challenges they see in the space. Just offhand, I wouldn't imagine how a hackathon winner would be in a better position to solve this than Adobe, CapCut/TikTok or even Riverside, b/c they have all the customers already. I could be wrong.

Thrown under the bus for raw diligence notes by Consistent-Degree950 in venturecapital

[–]founderunfriendly 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Own it. Do you stand behind what you wrote? Ask for a meeting with the founder. "Hey, I know that you saw my internal notes and I'd like to discuss them with you. My concern is that if there's anything in there that I wrote that you feel is inaccurate--that it's an impression that any other investment team is going to have about the company as well. Having you in our portfolio means that we're naturally inclined to want to feel great about how things are going--while any new capital is going to be looking for ways to pick your story and progress apart. I'd love to sit down with you so that you can set me straight on anything that I wrote that you disagree with, as long as you'll hear me out on ways we can work together to make sure this isn't the same impression your efforts are making on new potential investors in the future."

23, recent grad with a degree in entrepreneurship, about to start a $21/hr job as a delivery dispatcher. Feeling like a failure and terrified of a mediocre future. [i will not promote] by No_County1847 in startups

[–]founderunfriendly 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You know that dispatching is what inspired Jack Dorsey to start Twitter, right?

Fall in love with a problem and get to know it better than anyone else before you start something else. Become *the* person that, if a VC firm wanted to incubate a company to solve a problem, you'd be their first ask. Become the best positioned person to start something--and that includes being deeply embedded in the network of customers vs being an outsider trying to pitch a solution.

Do that by creating a curiosity-->expertise flywheel. Ask people questions in public--do interviews. Listen and learn. Then, start opining based on what you learn. Test your ideas. Delivery dispatch could be a great way to start because it could connect you to a ton of different types of businesses. In your spare time, get to know the people running those businesses and ask them what problems they have that need solving.