Reitler Kailas & Rosenblatt LLP’s Post

This is exciting news about our launch! If you're building hardware and want to improve your process, please contact me. Rollup is a comprehensive platform designed to simplify and accelerate hardware development. Our suite of tools covers systems engineering, modeling, requirements management, and more. By leveraging Rollup, you can create exceptional products while effortlessly balancing complexity and usability. Say goodbye to development headaches and hello to streamlined innovation!

Here's a very quick update for our future potential investors! KreiosLabs just surpassed $8.5k in ARR this month! While April's growth was slower than anticipated, we saw a strong rebound in May and hopefully it continues from here. I recently attended the Raid the Fridge event hosted by Kickstarter Ventures that featured Expedock Cofounders Jig Y. and Jeff Tan. My two main takeaways from the talk are: 1. I'm simply not working hard enough 2. Go global And guess what? That's exactly what we will do for the next few months - work harder and go global. Stay tuned for our next update!

Jed Tan is going global. I'm excited for more stories like this. Keep the fire alive, we need more young dreamers to rally around your story! Jed literally just proved the spectators wrong that "there's no tech talent and entrepreneurs in Manila" 🤣 🤣 🤣 I havent' been in the local scene for years because we were busy grinding but I'm shocked at this change in language from investors. "VC's" now love to call entrepreneurs, dreamers, and visionaries with the derogatory term of "operators". 🙄🙄🙄 "Operators" vs "Spectators" is harmful language and reflective of subconcious #crabmentality . To even debate this dichotomy is a farce. I will pick a fight with anyone who uses the word "operator" to puff themselves up because of their inability to execute & deliver results themselves. My younger brother, Jeremy Young, helped me realize that the real language should be: "Kings" and "Kingmakers" - allies who shape the future together. Both are capital & time allocators, both are operators that drive ROI, both are visionaries, both are dreamers. We have different roles and emphasis but a shared mission. Cheering your story on, Jed! I'm confident your SaaS first approach will surpass ours earlier and much faster! #carryingcrabs

It’s a common adage that Hardware founders are playing the game on “hard mode” but is that really true? Legendary Silicon Valley investor Peter Relan joined me on CLIMB last month as we interrogated the commonly held beliefs about hardware investing and why it scares a lot of VCs away from hardware and hard tech. Personally, I think if you have a hardware founder, building with eyes wide open about the challenges ahead of them, and they choose to do it *anyway* you’re backing an individual with a level of conviction that just can’t be taught. It's why we at VSC Ventures don’t shy away from hardware — whether in PaintJet, Presso®, Glacier, GaeaStar, or Sesame Solar. In fact just the opposite. We’re confident that the next decade of unicorns will come from founders building vertical solutions in legacy industries that have remained under-digitized and under-invested. You can hear Peter and I chat about what it actually means to be ‘eyes wide open’ as a hardware founder in 2024 on our latest episode:

All my #Chicago peeeps building and/or investing in B2B SaaS companies, this one’s for you! If your goals for attending #TechWeekChicago include meeting potential investors, other awesome founders to bounce ideas off of and/or just meet nodes in the ecosystem, definitely RSVP for our Founder & Funder Breakfast. We intentionally review all the RSVP’s and curate one awesome room full of people. Hope to see you there! 🥐☕️💫 #EarlyStage #Founder #VC

With #YCombinator demo day just a week away, many #YCS23 founders in the batch are in pitch mode, aiming to lock down a term sheet pre demo day. Back in 2018 I did just that. Here’s my story…. A week before Y Combinator demo day at least 10 funds had rejected me and my vision for community software. I had one more shot. It was the spring of 2018 in Palo Alto, and I had eaten a day-old sandwich for breakfast from Driftwood Deli that morning. I was mildly delusional from lack of sleep as I arrived at the Forerunner Ventures office. The General Partners entered the room and I pitched. They knew everything about the problem I was solving and seemed to agree it was something people would want. They asked detailed questions and seemed like genuinely good human beings. But the ball was in their court… Walking back down El Camino Real to the Palo Alto garage we had rented, I FaceTimed my team. But I got a call midway through. It was the Forerunner Partner. ‘We’d like to give you a term sheet and lead the round.’ Queue elation, a quick celebration, then back to work! 🚀 So, how do you raise a round pre demo day? Here’s what worked for me: 1. Do your research on which seed fund shares your world view - Read the website - Check out the partners social channels - Understand who’s in the portfolio and how you would fit 2. Get to know the principals and partners at the fund ahead of time, in a human way Meet up for a coffee to get to know them ahead of the official raise. Figure out if they are the type of investor you can see yourself working with through the good times and the bad. 3. Don’t pitch the fund you really want to work with first Get reps in with at least 5-6 others first. You’ll build and rebuild the slides 100 times but you’ll be really ready when the day comes. 4. Avoid glamorous multi-stage funds It can be great if a big name leads your seed round, but you then have a ton of pressure to deliver for the series A. If that big name fund doesn’t lean in to lead your next round, you’ll find it difficult to convince others why they should. 5. Don’t shop the term sheet or pretend you have one already. Yes you want to drive urgency and not dilute too much, but if you’ve got the fund you really want onboard stick with them. Silicon Valley is a repeat player game and people remember how you treat them. Stay heads down building for as long as possible before you start pitching. Nothing gets VCs excited more than a truly great product demo with early traction. Now I’m on the other side of the table with Brian Cho and Jason Yeh at Patron looking for ambitious founders with real grit. Good luck #YCS23 #founders and remember don’t eat day old sandwiches ;) #seedfunding #seedrounds #venturecapital

Check out my latest episode with Dan Conner, CFA, FSA. Vikram Lakhwara & I loved hearing about his childhood all over the world, surfing a hurricane, and learning about the one book that influenced his thesis. I also loved how he shared how he uses thoughtful gifts to create product storytelling that can help founders find PMF faster. So much to learn from Dan, listen in!

Choosing the right investor is just as important as a VC choosing the right founder to back! When you're looking for capital think about the skills and capability gaps and choose an investor that will help fill those gaps. Some questions to help with reverse due diligence. 🤔 What is your IIP - Ideal Investor Profile? Define the ideal traits and characteristics you seek in an investor. Consider factors such as industry expertise, network, operational experience, and cultural fit. 🤓 What are your expectations? Clarify your expectations from the investor. Are you seeking access to their expansive network, specific subject matter expertise, or a seasoned generalist to offer diverse industry insights? 👩💻 Do you need a strong product or GTM investor to help with your next phase? Assess whether your next growth phase requires specialised guidance in product development or go-to-market strategy. Look for investors with a track record of success in these areas who can provide invaluable insights and support. 🌏 Is going global the next key milestone in your journey? Consider whether your potential investor has a proven track record of helping launch in international markets. Their firsthand experience can be invaluable in overcoming challenges and seizing opportunities abroad Remember, the right investor isn't just a source of capital but a strategic partner who can help propel your venture to new heights. Join us at OnePitch VC's reverse pitch viewing party: https://lu.ma/77jftdye

Join the True Ventures team for an IRL talk on the ups, downs, twists, and turns of the entrepreneurial journey. Moneta Founder Paul A. Campbell and LoanSnap’s Founder Karl Jacob and I will share our experiences in raising venture capital, selling our stories to investors, the power of asking the right questions, what VCs look for in pitches, and more. Bites and bevs will be served following the conversation. RSVP: https://lnkd.in/ggJNQN3i

Week 6 already 😱 Time flies and we only have 4 weeks left of the program! This week, we had the pleasure of welcoming back two (now well-known) investors to the program, Erik Lindblad from Zenith Venture Capital and Eira Tobrand from Luminar Ventures 👏 💡 Key insights: - When meeting investors, keep it crisp! Have your house in order! (Documentation, product demo, roadmaps, know your metrics). - Size your round properly: know your runway, dilution, and amount you need to raise based on your plans ahead. - Build and follow a professional fundraising process to concentrate your time on fundraising and be efficient with it. - We dug deeper into the 5 T's: Team, Tech, TAM, Traction, Trenches. - Two common showstoppers for VC's: Uninvestable cap tables and having a vision that is not aligned with the VC model. Thank you Erik and Eira, always a pleasure to have you in the program!