Optimal Capital’s Post

🚀Highlights from the St. Petersburg VC Fast Pitch 💫 I really enjoyed the St. Petersburg VC Fast Pitch presented by Scott Kelly and Black Dog Venture Partners. The event was a fantastic opportunity to connect with fellow investors and get a sneak peek at some of the innovative ideas brewing in the early-stage startup space. Pitching isn't easy, so I want to give a huge shoutout to all the presenters. Your energy was infectious, and your ideas were truly inspiring. Keep pushing forward! ⭐HighRewards: Josh L., Rob H. ⭐MeasuredRisk: Tom Albert ⭐Work Well Reviews: Jim Carey ⭐Gale Force AI: John Samillano, MBA ⭐Wags and Wine: Ryan Levy, Lindsay Levy ⭐Bibe: Steven Rehrig, MBA ⭐Avagate: Steven Douglas ⭐Connect: Todd Allen ⭐US Precision Medicine: Frederick Fey ⭐Hook Security Co.: Zach(ary) Eikenberry ⭐Service Near: Leo C. ⭐SavvyCard: David Etheredge ⭐Check What's Good: Dustin Rowe ⭐LVED.com Inc.: Terry Anderton It was a pleasure to support the journeys of these amazing founders and share how growth credit (venture debt) can be such a helpful tool. This financing option can really make a difference, helping businesses grow with less ownership dilution, lower costs, faster closing times, and more favorable terms compared to pure equity financing. 👍 Like 🎤 Comment ♻️ Repost 🔔 Follow: Zack Ellison, CFA, CAIA, Applied Real Intelligence LLC ("A.R.I.") #VCFastPitch #VentureCapital #VentureDebt #Founders #Startups #Entrepreneurship #StartupPitch #StartupInvesting

We’ve been tirelessly pushing forward these past few days at our Storm X office in West Palm Beach! Exciting new videos are on the way, featuring insights on the secrets of raising capital and our journey as diverse founders who are redefining the world of investor relations, among other topics. Thank you Ben Wingender for snapping this picture of us! #founders #vc #vcfunding #startuplife #venturecapital #entrepreneurship #businessgrowth #investmenttips #techstartups #innovation #fundinggoals #angelinvestor #scaleup #startupfunding #businessstrategy #growthhacking #mvp #startupadvice

At the #SEENSummit2024 in NYC, I had the privilege of joining The New VC Playbook panel with Gabby Cazeau (Harlem Capital), Morgan Blumberg (M13), and Desiree Almodovar (AlleyCorp). One of the biggest takeaways from our conversation was how tough it really is out there for entrepreneurs right now. With interest rates persisting, tighter funding, and investors playing it safe, it’s a grind to even get a foot in the door—especially if you don’t have the right connections. The reality is, the bar is higher, and the road to securing capital is getting longer and harder. We talked about how to keep pushing through, strategies to get funding, and why it’s critical to support founders who’ve been overlooked for too long. It’s tough, but the drive to change the game is what keeps us going. Shoutout to Tech:NYC, Visible Hands, and everyone who showed up and made this summit an honest, energizing conversation about what it really takes to make things happen. #Entrepreneurship #Growth #Innovation #Startups #VC

Ever wanted to attend (and potentially invest) in a live Shark Tank event? April 24th is your lucky day. I’m teaming up with Michele Romanow, Andrew Wilkinson and Peter Pham to hear 4 founders pitch their business... Sign up to watch the virtual Battle Royale go down here: https://kern.al/events Here’s the format: 📌 Pitches are 5 mins or less 📌 Each of the founders will be looking to raise ~$500K 📌 Viewers can request to meet/invest* during or after the founder's pitch (*accredited investors only) It should be a boatload of fun and will likely be super helpful to the founders raising their rounds. So if you're too busy to join, just forward the event link to someone on your team so they can take a listen and give you the recap notes. See you there: https://kern.al/events #startups #entrepreneurship #innovation

Last night's Startup Grind Scotland event was an invaluable one. The event, 𝐁𝐞𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡: 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐬 𝐓𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞-𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫. I had the incredible opportunity to pitch my business and received invaluable insights from investors, founders, and industry leaders. Here's what I learned... 𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐚 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝. Focus on solving real, existing problems that your customers face. 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰. Invest in understanding your market and its pain points first. 𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐚 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬. Build to generate sales and create sustainable revenue. 𝐊𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡. Continuously have conversations, learn, and iterate to improve your business. Meeting Pete Preston of Settlrz was an amazing encounter, and it was great connecting with Gunisetty Venkata Charan Teja, and Edward Pollock. I learned so much from our conversations. The panel discussions were packed with wisdom from Daniel McKiddie, Aakanksha Sadekar, Usman Ali, Craig McGill, and Jenson Brook. I walked away with renewed energy and actionable strategies for navigating tough market conditions. 🚀 Thank you, Oluwaseun Franklin Olabode for the invite. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received when building investor confidence? Drop your thoughts in the comments! #StartupGrind #Entrepreneurship #InvestorConfidence #Networking #Startups #BusinessGrowth #Pitching #VentureCapital #ScottishStartups

Last month, our founders faced their first major checkpoint in the venture building program: pitching their business idea to the #Investment #Committee. We caught up with the teams right after the meeting to get their immediate reactions. For the Enaptiq team, composed of Isaak Affan, Esteban Poviña and Frederick Hamilton, things went quite well, and they have a clear idea of their next steps in order to help energy providers to upsell in a smooth and easy way. First up? Finding a great spot for lunch to relax before diving headfirst into MVP development. Follow us to keep up with more post-Investment Committee updates! #entrepreneurship #careers #innovation #startup #venturebuilding

Investor of the week! Dear founders, we would like you to meet Lane Merrifield – Canadian Tech Entrepreneur & Investor Lane is best known for co-founding Club Penguin, the largest children's online social network at its peak. In 2007, at the age of 28, he sold Club Penguin to Disney, becoming their youngest executive vice president and transforming it into a billion-dollar brand. Lane's investment focus includes sectors like technology, education, and digital media, reflecting his commitment to fostering innovation and supporting emerging businesses. Lane Merrifield's estimated net worth is approximately $350 million. So if  you’re fundraising now, don’t forget to share your PitchSee profile with him. 🙌 #PitchSee #WherePassionMeetsSupport #LaneMerrifield #InvestorsOfTheWeek #StartupSupport #PitchSeeInvestors #StartupGrowth #InnovatorsAndInvestors #InvestmentOpportunities #EntrepreneurialJourney #BerlinStartups #ParisInnovation #LondonTech #AmsterdamStartups #EuropeanInvestors #TechInvestments #GlobalInnovation

🔥 **When Founders and Investors Meet at a Pub Quiz...** 🍻 The Mountside Ventures pub quiz was really good fun well done Yasemin Gunes amd Sarah Weingust for organising another great event. Picture this: a room full of passionate founders and sharp investors, all putting their brains to the ultimate test in a fierce pub quiz. 🧠🏆 Check out the video below to see some intense (yet friendly) competition. Spoiler: There were no sore losers, just a bunch of people who really, really don't like losing! 😅 Special shoutout to Karan Chouhan who celebrated a back-to-back victory, winning the pub quiz twice in a row! He was very subtle about it 🙄 🥇 Here's to making connections, having fun, and who knows, maybe even securing that next big investment! 🥂💼 #Networking #Startups #Investors #PubQuiz #Founders #Entrepreneurship

Startup investing is about more than providing capital for the highest ROI. It’s about supporting founders, strategizing to transform vision into reality, and embracing an abundance mindset. Investors today focus on building relationships, offering strategic guidance, and creating impact, shifting the narrative from 1 in 10 startups surviving to 9 out of 10 for customer-centric startups. Learn more in this TEDx talk by Silvia Mah, Crowell School of Business associate professor of entrepreneurship and innovation and director of Biola’s Office of Innovation. Watch here: https://lnkd.in/gfDfcuNn #BiolaUniversity #Entrepreneurship #Innovation #ImpactInvesting

This week we're highlighting two members of our staff! Matthew S. and Matthew Little assist in all levels of the organization, including raising and LP management, deal flow and due diligence, marketing and events, data analysis and database management, and more. Thank you both! #VentureCapital #MarvinVC #MarvinAngels #MarvinFounders #MarvinVentures #Startups #Entrepreneurship #AngelInvesting