Jonny Boyarsky’s Post

VCs and founders seem aligned, but do their interests fully overlap? According to Seth Levine, hidden incentives can lead to friction down the road. Next time you're negotiating a VC deal, remember that incentives may diverge. Align on vision but watch for signs investors prioritize their own interests over the company's long-term growth. As Seth points out, founders and VCs don't always work in perfect harmony despite seeming aligned on the surface. VCs ultimately need to serve their own fund's interests first. This can lead to conflict when those incentives diverge from the startup's, especially at later stages. #venturecapital #startupfunding #founderlife #startupinvesting #VCfunding

I also disagree with Y Combinator's advice to only meet investors when you're actively raising. Instead, I believe founders should start building relationships with investors from day one. Raising a seed round typically requires numerous conversations, and having established connections can make this process smoother. While focusing solely on investor meetings is impractical for most founders, dedicating 10-20% of your time to regular interactions with angels, syndicates, and VCs can be invaluable. Treating investors as people rather than just sources of capital helps you understand their interests and build a rapport. Keeping them updated on your progress not only fosters goodwill but can also lead to valuable connections, including potential customers, partners, or hires. Building these relationships early on is akin to creating a sales pipeline for your startup’s future success. #InvestorRelations #StartupAdvice #Fundraising #Networking #FounderTips #Entrepreneurship #Business

TOMORROW! Black Dog Venture Partners and VC Fast Pitch present, "How to find and pitch investors for your startup". Date: Thursday, Oct 17, 1:00 PM Eastern Time via zoom. Register FREE at: https://lnkd.in/eRpB9xJS #Pitch #investors #Venturecapital #angelinvestors #startup #founders #funding #financing #fundraising

"You are always raising three rounds at the same time, just at different dates." - Christian Rangen   This perspective underscores the need for a long-term funding strategy that goes beyond the immediate round. The founder’s journey from pre-seed to IPO is marked by various milestones, each requiring a different focus: Pre-Seed: Prove the market need and raise initial funds from friends, family, and angels. Seed: Establish problem-solution fit and secure accelerator investment. Seed+: Demonstrate vision-founders fit and the team’s capability to execute the plan. Series A: Achieve product-market fit, prove customers are willing to buy. Series B: Establish business model fit, demonstrate unit economics. Series C and beyond: Focus on customer creation, scaling, and expanding to new markets and segments. Each stage requires a different strategy and a different set of investors, making it crucial for founders to understand where they stand and what they need to focus on next. You can read more about navigating the road to Series A on our latest blog post ➡️ https://lnkd.in/dRhHPQr3 #VentureCapital #StartupFunding #FounderJourney #PreSeedToIPO #SeriesA #ScalingStartups #InvestorStrategy #FundingRounds #FutureOfFinance #FutureEconomies

Panellist announcement for MeetFounders VC Night in London, January 31st 2024! Please welcome Alex Menn, VC at Begin Capital who will be joining as a VC panelist on our "Panel 1: Investor Outreach - Best Practices", should be a great one. About Alex: If Alex was asked why did you choose the profession of a venture investor? He would answer: What else could I do? Sometimes you have to stop thinking so much and go where your heart takes you. We believe that Alex’s heart is somewhere between AI and Software, albeit his soul and body actively approaching FoodTech.  Alex is not able to sit still and wait for new opportunities, but proactively creates them. For 15 years in private equity and venture capital investments, he took part in more than 50 transactions with a total volume of over $3.5 billion. Alex's strengths include: structuring deals, finding new opportunities, finance, strategy and sales. Unlike most VCs, Alex loves to read long letters and study detailed decks from the founders. We will have two panels of VCs give advice and 10 startups will be pitching for funding live :-) Check out our Eventbrite page for the full list of VCs attending! #venturecapital #entrepreneur #startup #fundraising #london

If you EVER consider raising money from VC, raise from angel investors first. This is Julius, Nico and David, co-founders of the unicorn Sennder and investors in Twain. I religiously believe that getting founders to invest in your startup as early as possible is a must for anyone taking the VC, hyper-growth, all-in, change the world track. Why? # They’ve been there! # You don’t know what you don’t know. # You get to learn from all their mistakes. # Having successful founders involved gets you street credit. # You’re more likely to take advice from someone who got where you’re going. # You get answers to the most difficult questions of building a company (that mostly have nothing to do with your product). And if you get really lucky, there’s more: # They follow through on their word. FAST. # They become role models that inspire you. # They introduce you to many amazing people. # You will feel safe to open up to them about your worries. # They’re in your corner when you raise new rounds of funding.  Being a founder can be insanely lonely. Get yourself people to cheer you on. We have 21 angel investors. Mostly founders. You can never know when and how someone will be helpful. You can never know who you’ll be more close with, even become friends. But you can only have all these things if you get yourself as many great people on board as you can. You might have guessed it by now, the reason why I mention Julius, Nico, and David here is because to me, they check ALL the boxes and deserve a huge shoutout 🤍 Founders investing in founders don’t get enough credit. Think about it, they’ve gone through hell to get to a financial situation that allows them to make investments, and then they pour it back into early stage companies knowing all too well that most startups are chaos, cash burning, and unlikely to ever return your investment. Founders still love to angel invest. Why? Because when they started, someone invested in them. And it just feels right to pay that trust forward. That’s beautiful. PS: Not everyone who’d be a great angel investor has deep pockets. Take small checks. Anything above 5k is fine. Use pooling to keep your cap table clean.

Founders: Don’t ignore junior VCs. No they can’t write checks, but they can: (1) Present the deal to the firm's GPs (2) Help you through the firm's diligence process (3) Introduce you to other VCs (4) Connect you with other founders (5) Answer fundraising questions (6) Provide feedback on your deck + so much more. 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐕𝐂𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐬. They can also be the ones to guide you through the diligence process and help you understand where the firm sees the most risk. Don't underestimate the power of working with a junior VC throughout a firm process. Not to mention - they will be the Partners writing checks eventually and venture is small! Don't burn bridges. #venturecapital #vc #startup #founder

From business plans to raising capital and growth strategies, startups and real estate syndications follow similar paths. Understanding the basics of each can help you become a better investor overall. Watch more of our interview with Matt on our Youtube Channel. #BusinessStrategy #RaisingCapital #TechStartups

We’ve successfully raised over $24M in equity and $33M in debt for 20+ startups, connecting them with angel investors and VCs. Ready to elevate your business? Let’s connect at getfunded@venturebridge.in #venturebridge1 #SuccessStories

From business plans to raising capital and growth strategies, startups and real estate syndications follow similar paths. Understanding the basics of each can help you become a better investor overall. Watch more of our interview with Matt on our Youtube Channel. #BusinessStrategy #RaisingCapital #TechStartups