xBlock’s Post

What we work on at Broth&Co is to empower both farm gates and consumer ones, where awareness arises as the catalyst for fair profits and reset of the equation set for decades. When powerful institutions do not make the maths be it difficult, to make the bill payable by stakeholders, streets strikes shocks happen, not yet riots. It could be simple to make carbon if right reference first, to be monetized and make sure the farm gate bill is shared by the size of impact, cashcowing the inflation problems for logistics solely added value, real estate and brand/packaging driven, is this virtuous? we at B&C are not activists but active, in doing connection within a first promotion of 8 companies, with synergies, from roots, soups, tracking sales protocols from supply, valuable habits for consumers starting with no single plastic use, and with mixing resources, one conceives, one produces, one distributes, one upcycles. More to come after our coming event March 7th, for investors like-minded. As we are at Novalpian. Backstage working, small to big. Simply Souperlicious, Lupifood, SwissImpactStore, Nuha, Back to Roots, Proseed, Bluana, Hexem, and Tree of Life, be part of the event. PM me to know more and reserve a seat. 📆 Broths, brothers, good sense, no fatality in treating our regional ecosystems for the right way, and recipes will work hopefully to bigger federations, in this world.

Current Air conditioning technology involves dehumidification as part of the refrigeration process. This is not energy efficient. New technology using much less energy for the dehumidification part will lower the energy requirement, thus reduce significantly the CO2 greenhouse gas emissions component of air conditioning.

2 Proven Templates to Raise Money for your Startup - cold email template - slide deck template ⏵ TEMPLATE 1 Cold email that led to investment: (via Matt Schaar) Funded by Accion Venture Lab Investor Matt Schaar said this email below "Hits on all of the really key points of a good cold intro." :: EMAIL EXAMPLE :: "Hi Matt, Hope all is well! My name is (Name) and I am co-founder at (Company Name). (Company name) is banking the unbanked $35B logistics sector XYZ, and then the region - powerful and sticky software and hardware integrations with Shippers and Carriers gives us unprecedented origination to deploy capital at scale, improving financial outcomes for historically underserved stakeholders. Deck: (link to slide deck) Demo: (link to demo) Led by a team of entrepreneurs with a multitude of experience at top firms across the world. We've all started, scaled, and successfully exited businesses as founders in MENAP (Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan) region. Thanks for taking the time, (Name) (your LinkedIn) :: WHY IT WORKS :: my take, 1. name 2. role 3. company 4. what startup does 5. market size 6. market industry 7. geographic market 8. results for market 9. deck 10. demo 11. about team experience 12. location ⏵ TEMPLATE 2 Slide deck that led to investments: (via Tyler Denk) beehiiv seed deck used to raise $2.6M in 2021 nearly 30 people wired them money in a very competitive space Here's the slide deck: https://lnkd.in/eHE2bv33 :: WHY IT WORKS :: my take, a. spacing on every slide so there's no crowding b. easy to read font and color scheme c. slides are quick to review d. what startup does e. what startup solves f. who the market is g. why this team is THE TEAM to make this startup a success h. monetization opportunities i. why this is a growing market j. demonstration of pain point k. competitive landscape l investment return potential m. competitive analysis n. where competition is lacking o. social proof p. why the market wants this q. feature set r. value proposition s. business model t. future revenue opportunities u. financial projections v. demo w. timeline x. founder/s bio and contact y. fundraise dollar amount ask z. what expenses the investment would cover What success stories have you seen from startups who have raised money?

On Saturday my org (UNM-Taos HIVE) hosted the very first Hackathon in Taos (possibly the first in Northern New Mexico), and it was an incredible event. For those who know what a hackathon is - we deconstructed it - rather than focusing on coding we took an expansive view of technology, which encompassed any codified application of knowledge. If a system or structure works by a set of rules it can be hacked, and so we had three amazing projects emerge: One was about digitizing local billboards and facilitating the process of connecting people who have skills and interest with people who need things done. One was about incubating regenerative agriculture and giving more people access to the skills and knowledge they need to develop sustainable ecosystems. One was about building community around activities known to promote healing and mental health, to give more people access and motivation to get outside and connect. It was really cool. I made a visual guide for teams if they wanted some structure without having to come up with it all themselves.

Fixed priced (and very well priced for that matter) gives certainty in an area that most founders (especially first time founders) are nervous. FounderCatalyst have done a superb job and have built, what I think is, a superior package. Dominant players need alternative competition and this is a great alternative.

State of the seed ecosystem We are excited to share our latest 2023 report on the state of the seed ecosystem: https://lnkd.in/e5MtM_qR

Webinar on CSIT’s Clean Tech R&D Seed Grant Pilot Program and Catalyst R&D Seed Grant Pilot Program! 

A few thoughts today on #AgTech. One as I’ve stated yesterday is I’m going to World Agri-Tech next week so happy to meetup with anyone around. Two, I added some thoughts on a fun and great report that came out today by Tenacious Ventures with Sarah Nolet and J. Matthew Pryor and also Rhishi P.. I’ll summarize more on that here too if you don’t want to watch. Basically AgTech software and adoption has sucked as they point out and it’s nothing knew from me bitching about it too. They why’s are harder and I think they do a good job calling out the main parts. There are some other nuances missed I feel in it but there’s a limit to how much one can write up so no blame there. One I address is just the culture and stubbornness of Ag in general. We are creatures of habit to say the least. Another are I think they could’ve dove into more was many of the smaller FMIS groups out there that weren’t bought or managed by the large input and OEMs and the work and challenges they have done to almost keep the ship afloat. Some core ones out there for sure. Mismanaged expectations and money are key factors in it and misguided corporates trying to do too much with not enough. Combined with gobs of money from investors to startups also had the same issues. They touch on that though maybe a little more emphasis on the input groups which have a lot of influence, but I’d say are not as much innovators as perceived. One thing I’d argue is there are many behind the scene holding adoption and use of #AgTech strong in certain niches and regions of the word. Some fairly new some fairly old and many that are small and go unnoticed as they raised money through non-traditional means or they didn’t raise much if any at all. The silent majority maybe even. There was an increasing trend in adoption always, though maybe we all were just swarmed with too much new and big too fast lately. Slow and steady wins races in Ag I’ve found. Finally, they talk about AI helping this all and I’d agree. We need to very careful though with that too as the hype train with AI is also coming round the bend. It’s an easy verb to get attached too and while exciting it needs real substance unlike much of what wasn’t the last 10 years as highlighting in the report. We need to learn from our mistakes. Overall, it’s a good detailed report I’d recommend to download. My style is not that but more in your face and through memes naturally. Cheers to them for spending the time and effort and I guess I’ll see them I’m sure and many others this next week in San Francisco!

I've been working with Mashal Waqar on putting together a report on the State of Web3 Grant Programs. The report will be out in a public gdocs version in early Sept and a more formal version in Oct. In the meantime, wrote up some blog posts relating to grant programs: 1. Update to my post from April wondering if grants are becoming in-house VCs. tl;dr, most aren't https://lnkd.in/ezrD4Ty7 2. What do I mean when I talk about grants, incl. 2 short case studies on the NIH and Gates Foundation https://lnkd.in/e7cctSrn 3. Impact measurement and program evaluation. tl;dr grant programs should develop theories of change. growth of the ecosystem =/= impact, it's an outcome that can lead to further impact https://lnkd.in/e2g_yYkR I'm keen to do an exploration of grant programs in traditional foundations and gov't orgs to compare processes, tooling, impact measurement, etc. Reach out if that's on your mind too!

I was recently elected to the NetVU Board of Directors and thought I would share some thoughts from my first board meeting in Dallas this week. 1. The level of passion, knowledge, commitment, and excitement for the industry and the NetVU members is energizing. Instead of feeling brain-dead at the end of a full-day board meeting/strategic planning session, I felt more excited and engaged than ever. 2. A LOT of time was spent strategically planning for the next three years with an emphasis on involving more voices, perspectives, and ideas and making sure we as an organization are meeting and exceeding member needs. 3. As always, and similar to every board I’ve been on, we discussed telling our story better, communicating our value proposition better, and letting people know the “why” better. Even though membership in NetVU is free for any agency that uses a Vertafore product, many people don’t know the difference between Vertafore and NetVU or the value they receive from being involved. 4. We spent time discussing advocacy both with the industry as a whole and with Vertafore as our partner. And as with all partnerships that goes both ways. How can we communicate our member needs better? How can we be a better resource for Vertafore as they look to improve and grow? 5. We spent quite a lot of time talking about the volunteer and engagement opportunities and how best to communicate those. Getting involved with NetVU over 20 years ago is one of the best career decisions I made. I have access to a huge resource of people and knowledge that I can turn to for advice, help with issues, ideas for improvements in processes or business strategies, and good friends that I know and trust. The level of knowledge sharing in this organization is better than any organization I’ve ever been a part of - it's truly amazing. How can we make it easier for others to participate at a level they find valuable to them? 6. Finally - Dallas is HOT..... like walk out the door into an oven hot. This Northern Michigan blood was NOT used to that! Thoughts and prayers to everyone dealing with extreme heat right now - it's unreal. I'm beyond excited to see what the year holds for us and can't wait to dive into my board membership further. The next big event for NetVU is Spark in New Orleans - have you checked it out yet? After attending last year, this is now an automatic attend event for me and my operations manager. https://lnkd.in/gbPMA_E4 Thanks to all for a fantastic first meeting experience & I'm so looking forward to working with you all! Kate OToole, MBA, NcSA, Joyce Sigler, CISR, CPIW, CPIA, NcIA, NcAM, NcSA, Shyla Lankford, CRIS, NcAM, Jim Rogers, Anthony Gardner, Doug Mohr, Jenny Petersen, Jeffrey Dromeshauser Jon Gorman, CAE, CUDE Melissa Bond, Deborah Ivie,