Rare Founders

I’m happy to endorse Rare Founders and the excellent work of Vasily Alekseenko, who are making a real difference in the UK founder community. Their pitching events bring together top startups and investors, and while I didn’t attend the last one, I heard great things.If you’re a founder or investor, this is definitely worth checking out: https://lnkd.in/eqDDctX9

Love seeing the support from our wider startup community!

Pitch for 1 minute and raise up to £500K. Impossible? Not at London’s Largest Demo Day on the 14th of April hosted by Rare Founders. 🖊️ Pre-registration for founders to pitch is open until the 2nd of Feb. ** Only those who register will be invited to apply. 💻 📢 Sound interesting? post in the comments below and connect to host Vasily Alekseenko. 💰 🔢 Previous event stats: 100 pitching founders, 250-400 investors (VCs, Family offices, Angels), 1,500+ attendees. 30 founders secured funding ranging from £5K to £500K each. This event is a unique opportunity for investors to connect with the most promising startups, tailored to your investment interests and we're thrilled to be a community partner once again. #startups #fundraising #network

UK Venture Scene Lacks Investors with Real Venture Experience It’s refreshing to see VCs on a panel who start their intros with how many companies they’ve built, scaled, and exited. That’s not something I see often in the UK. A few takeaways from today’s lecture at Massachusetts Institute of Technology that might be valuable for founders: • Not every venture is VC-backable. At the pre-seed/seed stage, VCs look for startups that can return 30x in 5–7 years. If they invest $1M for 20%, they need to believe your company can reach a $30M+ valuation. If they don’t see that potential, they’ll pass. That doesn’t mean your business is bad—it just means it’s not the right fit (or big enough) for their fund. • VCs manage risk aggressively. 60% of venture-backed startups return zero. That’s why investors are so selective. • Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Fundraising is an inefficient process. It’s a numbers game, so you need to keep talking to investors until you find the right fit. • 10 minutes (at least in the US) is all it takes for a VC to decide if a company is venture-backable. • Pitch decks don’t raise money. Some of the most successful startups raised on terrible decks. A deck is useful, but it’s there to support the meeting, not replace it. • Cold emails don’t work. Investors get 30–50 decks per week—most go straight to spam. • Warm introductions are time-consuming, but they’re the only reliable way to get a meeting. (Not an investment—just a meeting.) Invest in networking long before you start fundraising and never stop. As your company grows, your ideal investors will change too. • At pre-seed and seed, it’s 70% about the team, 20% about the market, and 10% about traction. And now, the most important part: founders. Great investors don’t invest in ideas—they invest in founders. So what makes a great founder? • An athlete mindset—ready to run a marathon, knowing there might be nothing at the end. • Great communicator. • Fast learner. • Magnetic personality. • Able to attract great people. (Teams build companies, not solo founders.) • Creative. • Self-aware. (Know what you’re great at and what you’re terrible at.) • Charismatic. • Able to bend the world to your vision. • Coachable and open to feedback. • Knows how to filter advice. There’s a lot of noise—great founders distill what matters. Are you a rare founder?

The new newsletter is out!!!!

Hate to tell you this… If you didn’t attend the Rare Founders kick-off event for 2025 at Blue Marlin Ibiza - you missed out! (Ask Vasily he missed it🤪) For the first time since RF has been going, I had the pleasure of taking the reins and hosting our open mic pitching + networking event in Vasily's absence. A huge thank you to Rob & Juliette for being the best A team to smash out the event with me! With over 200 of you coming by, it truly surprised me that over 1/3 of you were new peeps, all expressing your love for the event & the atmosphere that surrounds it. However, it’s always so nice to see familiar faces like a huge reunion after Christmas. ❤️🔥 An even bigger surprise for founders was that after each pitch, we sent them next door to the Virgin Hotel to record their pitch for Simon Squibb & Richard Branson ‘Elevator of Dreams’. We would have sent 45-50 people over there in hopes that their dreams could be seen and heard! (BTW, some of these founders had only ever pitched for the first time that night before we sent them to record- Bravo to you all 💪) Plus, I even had to do my pitch for RF to explain what we were going to do… all we dreamed of was for Simon & Richard to join London’s Largest Demo Day 🤞let’s see if they can make our dreams come true, whilst we continue to help you all with your dreams in the #startup ecosystem 🔥 Thank you all for continuing to inspire me, your devotion and dedication to trying to make a difference in the world are unmatched 💫 See you in February, for a new style of event- keep your eyes peeled 😍 #RareFounders #Openmic #startup #community #networking #london #londonevents

💸 Pitch for 1 minute and raise up to £500K. Impossible? Not if you are pitching at London's Largest Demo Day on April 14. Pre-registration for founders to pitch is open now and closes on February 2. Only those who register will be invited to apply. Previous event stats: 🔵 100 pitching founders 🔵 250-400 investors (VCs, family offices, angels) 🔵 1,500+ attendees 🔵 Past successful raises: £5K-£500K 🔗 Ready to own a stage with your pitch? Register here: https://lnkd.in/eUNxqyMs You can also connect with host Vasily Alekseenko at Rare Founders, and he will send you an invitation to join. #pitchcompetition #startupevent #startups #investment

Last night, I had the absolute pleasure of attending the Rare Founders Pitch Open mic —what a night! Mingling with investors, founders, and the ‘white label’ dreamers (those not yet defined but daring to step into something bigger) was electric. I was in my element, listening to pitches, spotting the standouts, and seeing where some fell short. → Some were so well-prepared—passionate, polished, and precise. No fear of the small army holding water pistols, ready to fire if they dared to go over the 60-second limit. → Others knew their numbers and audience but lacked memorability. → And then there were the ones I’ll never forget—the founders who brought their own theme tunes, got the audience involved, and left an impression. With more refinement, they’ll be unstoppable. Common areas for improvement? 🚀 Know the room—who’s listening, what matters to them? 🚀 Understand your competition—where do you fit in the market? 🚀 Make us feel the pain—if the problem doesn’t hit, attention drops in seconds. Biggest faux pas? 🚨 Ignoring the time limit! Even I, who initially felt sorry for those unknowingly entering a wet t-shirt competition, was eventually cheering, "Shoot them!"—because hey, rules are rules. Respect. Consideration. Clarity. And always know your ask! Saying, “If you’re interested, come talk to me,” isn’t enough. Be clear. Make it easy for people to say yes. A highlight of the night? Meeting and chatting with the brilliant Patricija Gavele, Nick Sachs CA(SA), Carlo Pizzuti, Astrid Limal, and Umar Ushratov—so much talent in one room. And the surprise twist? After pitching, founders got to redo their pitch to the New Doorbell Initiative by Richard Branson and Simon Squibb. A brilliant challenge, followed by thought-provoking questions to refine their ideas further and really answer the question - What's your dream? Huge thanks to Rob and Fraya Brinkman at Rare Founders for an incredible event—I can’t wait for the next one! #Startups #Pitching #Founders

🎙️ Pitch for 1 minute and raise up to £500K. Impossible? Not if you are pitching at the London’s Largest Demo Day on the 14th of April. Pre-registration for founders to pitch is open now and closes on the 2nd of Feb. Only those who register will be invited to apply. If interested to apply comment on the post & connect to host Vasily Alekseenko Rare Founders. He will send the invitation to join. Previous event stats: 100 pitching founders, 250-400 investors (VCs, Family offices, Angels), 1,500+ attendees. 30 founders secured funding ranging from £5K to £500K each. Ready to own a stage with your pitch?

𝗣𝗜𝗧𝗖𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗬𝗪𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗶𝘀 𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗗 But you are not ready for that conversation 😏 What you should be ready for is 𝗟𝗢𝗡𝗗𝗢𝗡'𝗦 𝗟𝗔𝗥𝗚𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗗𝗘𝗠𝗢 𝗗𝗔𝗬! We come back for the 3rd time this 𝗔𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗹 𝟭𝟰𝘁𝗵! This time we are 𝗗𝗢𝗨𝗕𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗚 the number of Attendees! With: 💡 100 startups pitching 💰 250+ investors 🎟️ 2,000 guests & massive opportunities Do not miss 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘 to pitch! Mention your friend that pitches everywhere 👉 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿