Chanakya’s Post

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Fundraising in a down market: Our advice to early-stage founders by Daniel Tomov, Partner at Eleven Ventures 👇 Why it matters.👇 The post-2021 funding landscape is brutal. With fewer dollars flowing and investors sitting on high-valuation portfolios, founders need to bring their A-game. Product-market fit is everything, and investors are scrutinizing harder while setting higher benchmarks (think $5M ARR for Series A instead of $1M). Founders, expect tougher terms like 2x liquidation preferences and prepare to achieve higher milestones before closing rounds. Tomov emphasizes strategic adaptability: explore diverse investors and avoid being boxed into VC-only options. Read the full article on EUVC Insights! 🔽 https://buff.ly/3XESkar #venturecapital #startupfunding #Europe #EUVCInsights

Seeking the Perfect VC Partnership? Aligning Founder Expectations with Reality Founders Desire: ✅ Fair investment terms & friendly negotiations ✅ Communication that prioritizes founders’ needs ✅ Swift deal execution & capital provision ✅ Supportive guidance for company growth Reality Check: ❌ Unjust terms favoring VCs ❌ Excessive interference & prolonged negotiations ❌ Slow deal-making dragging on for months ❌ Support skewed towards select portfolio companies In today’s funding landscape, founders often face imbalances. But balance is key! Seek investors who truly value founders & align with your vision. Remember, negotiation is crucial. Connect with us for tailored founder-VC matches & leverage grant support for up to 50% funding! Unlock your business potential with CoFounder Pilot’s AI-driven platform. Sign up for early access now: https://lnkd.in/gqeBBCCq #StartupLife #FounderVC #BusinessPartnership

Could not agree with you more Alex Friedman. I have two kinds of conversations at the moment: Conversations with new fund managers competing for deals. And conversations with founders choosing to bootstrap their way to profitability. A month ago, I had a conversation with a new VC which focuses on AI and enterprise software. I told them that I know this serial founder who builds something that fits like a glove 🧤. Reached out to the founder, and his response “we’re not fundraising or planning to fundraise at the moment”. I still made the intro, and they hopefully chatted but founders, especially ones that have been in a former engagement with VCs choose not to do so. VCs should rethink how they engage and create value for founders. #VentureCapital #ValueCreation #Bootstrapping #Investments

💥 Highly Recommended Post: My honest opinion as a founder is, the whole VC industrial complex is like landlines instead of mobile phones, or quite frankly a massive difference between riding a horse in horrible cold weather and then cars come along, it drives faster and keeps you very warm. In fact, you end up loving your car 🚘 get it? To be fair to VC, I think it has added historical value, but in today’s world with a massive change in younger human behaviour, especially Gen z, web3 infrastructure and now AI that can enable so many things, why in the world would you want vultures as they call VC for a mild euphemism? I will never give my wealth to VC when I make wealth, never! Instead, I’ll seek out founders and startups I love myself, like going to restaurants I love and enjoying a great meal. In this sense, it’ll be enjoying the experience of helping another human being or startup. Our world has changed remarkably, which is why if the WEF are correct, we will all own nothing and be happy by 2030. Do you get the euphemism? 🤓 Morpheus thinks 🌿 very differently

The fresh new article answers all your queries related to tough questions being asked by angel investors during your next pitch. Do like and share the article to make it reach more people to benefit out of it. #investorpitch #startupstrategy #earlystagestartups #tipsforsuccess https://lnkd.in/gjRvGZhp

More positive trends in the startup/VC space as aggressive investor terms in closed rounds are on a consistent decline over previous quarters.  Founder unfriendly terms like >1x liquidation preference, participating preferred  shares and cumulative dividend terms are less common.  We covered these terms in my recent post with guest author Rupam B. here: https://lnkd.in/gm8hecPV How can founders avoid needing to agree to aggressive investor terms? - Have a business that doesn’t need investment 😁 - Have a business that is doing so well that you can dictate the terms 📈 - In the early stages you can raise from smaller non-institutional investors who are less likely to be aggressive and use SAFEs to simplify 😇

Three learnings that I really resonated recently with. Three learnings from building a global VC firm. 1/ Play the long game. It's all about relationships. It's all about trust. 2/ Keep growing. Innovation. That's the core of VC. To constantly innovate. 3/ Don't rest on your laurels. My source of inspiration was Christine Tsai. CEO & Founding Partner of 500 Global. Discover Christine's full story on #EUVC. Read the insights 👀 | Listen to the pod 🎧 Link in comments. #venturecapital #angelinvesting #startupfunding #europe

Well, as a bootstrap company founder, I can tell you that the main problem with VCs is that they are often the last to get a piece of the pie. They’ve lost the ability to predict a business’s value until it generates significant revenue, at which point their investments don’t make a big impact. Founders tend to prefer family offices and private equity firms because they have long-term visions and are willing to take higher risks.

Focus on Micro Private Equity. My advice to aspiring founders in Singapore? Screw the tech startup scene. Open or buy a laundromat, nail salon, waste management, funeral parlour, massage parlour or other cash flow business. Cash flow is king, a bitter lessons I've had to learn. Do the tech startup later.