270. A Smaller Deck With Less Information
Don’t answer every question in your deck. Give just enough information to pique curiosity.
October 25, 2024
The VC Minute
Quick advice to help startup founders fundraise better.
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269. Inside the Mind of an Investor When There’s Too Much Text on the Slide
Let’s peer into the spooky world inside a VC’s brain when you’re pitching with a wall-of-text slide.
October 24, 2024
268. Maximum Information in Minimum Words feat. Justin Izzo from Dropbox DocSend
Understanding that you have a very limited amount of time and space to compete for a limited amount of investor attention.
October 23, 2024
267. Too Much or Too Little on the Team Slide feat. Justin Izzo from Dropbox DocSend
The Team slide is your chance to answer the question, “why you?” A handful of logos is no more helpful than two paragraphs of text.
October 22, 2024
266. From Three Sentences to the Structure of a Solid Pitch, feat. Justin Izzo from Dropbox DocSend
If your pitch deck should form an argument, the best way to formulate that argument is by writing it out in three sentences.
October 21, 2024
265. Pitch Deck Should Form an Argument feat. Justin Izzo from Dropbox DocSend
Structure your pitch deck in a way that it forms an argument and each slide supports that argument all the way through.
October 18, 2024
264. Market Sizing feat. Justin Izzo from Dropbox DocSend
Market sizing should articulate how you see the market, showing that you understand your target market and can focus on it.
October 17, 2024
263. Your Deck is Too in the Weeds, feat. Justin Izzo from Dropbox DocSend
You don’t have critical distance from your business to be able to get out of the weeds. Get feedback on your deck from someone with that critical distance.
October 16, 2024
262. Justin Izzo on the Art and Science of Pitch Decks
The author of Dropbox DocSend’s pitch deck analyses shares his insights into building a “snappy” pitch deck.
October 15, 2024
261. Build the Future, feat. Sunny Han, Founder & CEO of Fulcrum
“There’s very few companies, or people, or teams that get to build the future.” -Sunny Han
October 11, 2024
260. Venture Capital Is A Game, feat. Sunny Han, Founder & CEO of Fulcrum
Sunny looks at VC as a game, one that has rules. You can still choose to play with people good people, but know that they have objectives that may not be the same as yours.
October 10, 2024
259. Delusion and the Series A Extension, feat. Sunny Han, Founder & CEO of Fulcrum
After raising in the bubble of 2021, the next raise proved both challenging and humbling.
October 9, 2024
258. Raising Series A in 2021, feat. Sunny Han, Founder & CEO of Fulcrum
Sunny shares, “The Series A felt like poetry. It didn’t feel like finance. And I think there, underlying that, there’s some delusional problems with how I was managing the company at the time.”
October 8, 2024
257. Rapid Growth, Is It the Right Growth? feat. Sunny Han, Founder & CEO of Fulcrum
VCs push founders for growth. Founders push their teams for growth. But is all growth the right growth?
October 7, 2024
256. Choosing the Right Investors, feat. Sunny Han, Founder & CEO of Fulcrum
Sunny shares his lesson on how he would choose investors.
October 4, 2024
255. Raising Seed and Reaching Investors, feat. Sunny Han, Founder & CEO of Fulcrum
Running a targeted fundraising process—knowing who he want to reach and who can introduce him—got the fundraise moving quickly.
October 3, 2024
254. Friends, Family Fools Round, feat. Sunny Han, Founder & CEO of Fulcrum
Sunny leveraged his personal savings and help from family to fund the pivot.
October 2, 2024
253. From Consulting To Startup, Painfully, feat. Sunny Han, Founder & CEO of Fulcrum
Starting out as a consulting business was a great way to learn what customers wanted, but caused problems as the other founders didn’t want to give up the consulting work.
October 1, 2024
252. Meet Sunny Han, Founder & CEO of Fulcrum
Meet Sunny Han, founder & CEO of Fulcrum. SpringTime invested in Fulcrum and has been with them through all the ups and downs.
September 30, 2024
251. Fundraise Now, Or Focus on the Business Then Raise Next Year?
Should you back off of the business to fundraise for 3 months, or can you accomplish more by spending 4 months heads-down growing the business?
August 23, 2024
250. Get Intros, Set Meetings, Create a Tight Feedback Loop
Pick three weeks to block out just for initial investor meetings to create a tight feedback loop.
August 22, 2024
249. Before Going To Your Full List, Start With Friendlies
Should you back off of the business to fundraise for 3 months, or can you accomplish more by spending 4 months heads-down growing the business?
August 21, 2024
248. Top Fundraisers First Build Their Lists
Before you send a single email, build a list of 200+ target VCs. Here are four sites you can use for free.
August 20, 2024
247. You Need a Term Sheet Before Thanksgiving
There are 14 weeks between now and Thanksgiving. If you don’t have a term sheet by then, you’re not going to get one until Q1 next year.
August 19, 2024
246. Summertime Slowdown
In fundraising, the end of June is a lot like the end of November. If you don’t have a term sheet on the table, you’re not going to get one in the next month.
June 21, 2024
245. Love Your People
The title of the book is not about romantic love, it’s about instilling a love for the work within your organization.
June 7, 2024
244. The Authoritarian Approach vs. Loving Your People
If you can become a great leader, people will dig deeper for what they’re building. An authoritarian approach will drive people away from your startup.
June 6, 2024
243. Start Building a Culture of Innovation Now
A culture of innovation that is tied into your vision and team goals will drive success throughout the organization.
June 5, 2024
242. Hiring Great People
You’re not going to hire the right people every time. Increase your chances by learning the “Who” methodology by Geoff Smart.
June 4, 2024
241. Live By Your Core Values
Live by your core values, without exception. Because any one exception will undermine those values for everyone.
June 3, 2024
240. Key to Enabling Autonomy for Founders
It’s not just you; enabling autonomy is hard for all founders.
May 31, 2024
239. Importance of Clear Expectations
After you have articulated the vision, break it down into clear expectations for each individual. Done right, this will create autonomy.
May 30, 2024
238. Three Components of Setting the Vision
The vision for your startup needs to come out of your head and be articulated to you company.
May 29, 2024
237. Jeff Gardner, Author of Love Your People
SpringTime partner, Jeff Gardner, released a new book, “Love Your People” that shares his insights through years of successful startup growth, turnarounds, and exits.
May 28, 2024
236. Don’t Fundraise, But If You Do Be Ready for Due Diligence
Why would Tom self-fund or limit fundraising if he could? It can distract from the business
May 17, 2024
235. Priced Rounds Clean Cap Tables
Stacking SAFEs gets messy, vs. priced rounds that clean cap tables. And having more investors can benefit you because they can make introductions to other investors.
May 16, 2024
234. Trying to Tell Everything In the First Meeting
Two common mistakes: trying to tell everything in the first meeting, and not finding your painkiller solution.
May 15, 2024
233. Changing CEOs
If the CEO’s job is to fundraise, what do you do when the best fundraiser on your team isn’t the CEO? What iink did was change CEOs.
May 14, 2024
232. Bootstrapping Your Investor Network with LinkedIn
Despite not having a network of wealthy people that could invest in his startup, Tom built that network himself, leveraging service providers, LinkedIn, and highly customized emails.
May 13, 2024
231. Seed Crust: What to Expect from 2024
After digging through the data, I lay out my expectations for the rest of the year.
May 10, 2024
230. Seed Crust: The Dangers of SAFEs
Peter & Allyson share about some of the things founders should be aware of when raising money on SAFE notes.
May 9, 2024
229. Seed Crust: Year of the Bridge
Peter Walker dubbed 2023 “The Year of the Bridge Round.” In many cases, the founders did what they set out to do, it’s just that the bar for Series A moved.
May 8, 2024
228. Seed Crust: Seed To Series A Graduation Rates
Startups getting from Seed to Series A in two years has dropped by a third. It’s creating a “messy middle in the earliest parts of the market,” according to Peter Walker.
May 7, 2024
227. Seed Crust: The Bifurcation and Its Unfairness
Fundraising is not an equal market and that feels shitty for most founders.
May 6, 2024
226. Rays of Hope, Paths Forward
There are rays of hope for the market, but the most important thing is to stay focused on what you can control.
April 26, 2024
225. Seed Crust: This is the Seed Crust
The Seed Crust is the perfect storm of multiple market factors converging at once.
April 25, 2024
224. Seed Crust: VC Allocation Shift
If all Seed & Pre-Seed funds shift just 5% of their allocation from first checks to follow-on checks, there will be $3 billion fewer available for first checks.
April 24, 2024
223. Backlogs Everywhere
The backlog in the private markets extends from IPOs to PE, all the way down to Series A. It’s one of the primary drivers of so many startups stuck at Seed.
April 23, 2024
222. Seed Crust: The Story So Far
The market conditions driving Seed have been building for the past few years. More Seed funds kept Seed isolated from the later stage problems… until now.
April 22, 2024
221. Post-Fundraising, Hire Smart and Celebrate!
After you raise, recognize that you can’t possibly hire everyone all at once. Take your time to hire right. And most importantly, celebrate!
April 19, 2024
220. Negotiating Valuation
What to say when asked about your valuation expectations. And don’t forget to negotiate valuation!
April 18, 2024
219. Create a Board Team to Drive a Fundraise
One of Karyn’s clients put together a team from the Board to support the fundraise. It drove the process and drove results.
April 17, 2024
218. Early Financial Pitfalls
Avoiding some common financial pitfalls can help with both cash flow and fundraising.
April 16, 2024
217. CFOs Help You Understand Your Business
It’s invaluable having a CFO that can provide meaning and actionable business insights.
April 15, 2024
216. What You Can and Can’t Control
There’s so much in fundraising that you cannot control. Focus on what you can control and it will help what you can’t control fall into place.
April 12, 2024
215. Mental Game of Fundraising
By making fundraising into a game, you can change your mindset around it.
April 11, 2024
214. Time-wasting VCs
Advice to founders to avoid time-wasting VCs: ask in the first call if a fund is actively investing.
April 10, 2024
213. Raising During a Downturn
A year after the boom-times, raising another funding round was a different story.
April 9, 2024
212. Raising During Boom Times
Unsure of whether or not he wanted to raise, Alex found himself with term sheets for both venture funding and an acquisition in mid 2021.
April 8, 2024
211. The Pitch Deck is YOUR Story
What works for one founder might not work for another. Build the pitch deck that works for you.
April 5, 2024
210. The Real Reason Long Pitch Decks Are A Red Flag
I didn’t have time to make a short deck, so I made a long one instead.
April 4, 2024
209. Send the Update!
Consistently sending investor updates maintains awareness, opens opportunities for serendipitous introductions, and demonstrates transparency about the company’s progress and challenges.
Follow more of Allyson’s writing on the VC Minute Substack: https://vcminute.substack.com/
April 3, 2024
208. Honing Your Target Customer
Focusing on a well-defined target customer profile is crucial for rapid growth and investor confidence.
Follow more of Allyson’s writing on VC Minute Substack: https://vcminute.substack.com/
April 2, 2024
207. Why now?
The longer an investor has been around, the more likely they’ve seen someone attempting to solve the same problem you’re tackling. Convince them “why now” to get their attention.
Read more of Allyson’s work on our Substack: https://vcminute.substack.com/
April 1, 2024
206. Lessons Leading: Why Most Venture Funds Don’t Lead
Ever wonder why so few funds lead? There are real risks for a small fund.
March 22, 2024
205. Lessons Leading: Momentum
I made a critical mistake by underestimating the importance of momentum.
March 21, 2024
204. Lessons Leading: The Business Agreement And Back To Relationships
Coming back around to the first lesson, the relationship between the founder and lead VC is the most important part of the whole process.
March 20, 2024
203. Lessons Leading: Manage Legal Depth
Clearly define the depth of legal scrutiny required on each issue to streamline the process.
March 19, 2024
202. Lessons From Leading My First Round: Relationships & Lawyers
This past December, SpringTime Ventures led a complicated priced equity round. It was the first round that I ever led and I learned a ton of lessons. The first two are that the relationship between the lead VC and the founder is the single most important thing. Second, have great lawyers who know the unknowns.
March 18, 2024
201. It’s Supposed To Be Hard
“Knowing that it is supposed to be hard is oddly freeing because it kind of alleviates that feeling of, oh, so and so makes it look so easy.”
March 15, 2024
200. Liz’s Fundraise Process
The best fundraisers run a process. It’s no surprise that Liz has a rigorous for building and executing her fundraise.
March 14, 2024
199. The Deck Stands Alone
Your pitch deck should be able to tell the story without voiceover. VCs are going to send it around externally and internally at a fund. Everyone needs to understand it without you presenting it.
March 13, 2024