Ash Ali

Fair warning for startup founders raising capital. Funny/not funny story ahead.   I caught up with a close friend last week. He’s part of the leadership team of a tech scaleup on the hunt for growth financing. About a month or two earlier he got in touch with me saying he and his team were in London to meet with a VC and asked if I was free for a coffee (sadly, I wasn’t).    At the time, out of simple curiosity, I looked up the VC in Crunchbase and circled back to my mate because I saw the firm last raised/closed a €150 million fund in 2019, which could very well be depleted by now. I said it’s worth asking if the firm is still deploying capital - or at least ask when the firm last made investments. The question wasn't asked.   When we spoke last week, he told me the firm took him and his team through a full due diligence process, handed over a term sheet...and then took it back, saying they didn’t have any money! What kind of VC operates like this?   No doubt this is an incredibly rare case of batsh*t crazy bad luck, but the lesson here is clear for founders: Ask the hard and sometimes seemingly stupid questions, especially if you can show the data. Raise well folks. James   Photo credit: Emil Kalibradov via Unsplash - https://lnkd.in/eAvMnADT

13

2 Comments

This is equally true of conversion optimization. Everybody is focused on magic quick wins but it is this instead. Consistently improving your website over time. Launch and iteration rather than seek perfection at launch. Fundamentals like readability, accessibility, usability and scannability.

3

Early-stage founders almost always end up with more than 1 ICP very quickly. Often they don't realise this and it ruins their CAC:LTV ratio We encourage founders to go backwards and stress test their ICP hypothesis. Most don't believe they have multiple ICPs, until that moment. And then their a-ha moment comes: Founder: "I thought I had product market fit, but now we've refined the ICP I realize we're not quite there, and now it's obvious why sales is not working." Upwards of 80% of our founders have this epiphany. It's a liberating moment 🚀 Aligning on a founder's GTM debt ensures we deliver BOTH painkillers and vitamins simultaneously, and we target the root cause of their growth challenges. ICP influences PMF, which (obviously) directly impacts GTM Fit and your ability to get to the promised land... Scale. It takes 20 minutes to complete our self-assessment... ...want to see your scores? Type "grow revenue" in the chat, and I'll send you the link. Note: open to B2B SaaS founders/executives. #sales #saas #startups #GTMdebt #venturecapital

39

22 Comments

Aligning business strategies require more than just intuition – it demands real-time, data-driven insights and competitive intelligence. Here's how you can stay ahead of the curve: 1️⃣ Stay Current with Partnership Trends: The latest collaborations can reshape industries. Access real-time data on partnership activity to understand who’s aligning with whom, and why it matters to your strategy. 2️⃣ Track Competitor Shifts: Competitors' strategies can pivot quickly. Use data to see what’s changing and gain actionable insights into their moves. 3️⃣ Measure the Impact of Partnerships: Get beyond the headlines – assess the true value of partnerships by tracking performance and outcomes. 4️⃣ Explore Clinical Evidence Creation: In the health sector, clinical validation is key. Ensure your strategy is backed by the latest in clinical evidence and data to build credibility and trust. Trusted data empowers smarter decisions, sharper strategies, and stronger results. Galen Growth | Insights You Can Trust #AlphaEdge

17

1 Comment

Remove the detailed roadmaps from your pitch decks. No VC will invest the time to go through all the milestones in your history and those in the future, with all the bullets providing details about each milestone. Far too early. VCs are not warm enough when they read your pitch deck. Put your detailed roadmaps into your data room and let VCs digest them after they had 1-2 meetings with you and ask for further material. If you think a roadmap could help to increase a VCs appetite, then only provide 3-5 high-level milestones on a slide that could be read and understood in max 10 seconds. Check my FundraisingCOUP program if you want to become a Top 1% fundraiser & get in touch with me if you're building a disruptive Future of Work & Learning startup and looking for Pre-Seed or Seed funding.

32

1 Comment

Solo GPs are shaking up venture capital. Could they be the partners your start-up needs? The rise of solo GPs brings: -Speed -Relationships -Founder-first thinking Here’s why they matter for your fundraising: 1️⃣ Agility and accountability Solo GPs act fast and own their decisions. With no committees, they’re fully invested in your success. 2️⃣ Founder-first perspective Many solo GPs are ex-founders. Bringing real-world insights and empathy. They get your challenges. 3️⃣ Strategic branding From strong networks to standout platforms. Solo GPs build influence in unique ways. 4️⃣ LPs betting on soloists LPs are backing smaller, focused funds. Valuing their agility and direct founder relationships. What can you do as a founder? Seek fit over size. A nimble, relationship-driven GP might suit your vision best. Leverage shared experience. Partner with GPs who’ve walked your path. Evaluate branding reach. Does their platform or network boost your growth? The VC game is changing. Could a solo GP give you the edge? Share your experiences! 🚀 Link to PitchBook article: https://lnkd.in/eJGGHPkd #startups #fundraising #vc

14

1 Comment

First Priority: Founder First duty: Protect The Founder at Foundership

10

This year is all about survival. I've seen enough data to call it. Multiple reports are showing Flat -> No growth. Wayflyer/Iris Finance report had Q1 overall growth at +4% YoY. Common Thread Collective Index has same store sales flat YoY. What does this mean? This year is about survival. The industry as a whole isn’t growing. We can blame this on whatever we want. But the outcome remains the same. Instead of obsessing about your topline growth. (Which is a steep mountain to climb.) Focusing on growing your bottom line. In a low topline growth year, spend time becoming more profitable. 100% YoY growth doesn’t do you any good if you’re out of biz in 2 years. The goal needs to be surviving to 2025. #shopify

72

23 Comments

Founder wants out of founder-led sales How long should it take? When the founder has so many important things to do, this is a common question With board pressure, market pressure, fundraising markets and more The speed to transitioning out of founder led sales is often misunderstood You can want it to be done in days or weeks Maybe you can do it Likely not going to be the case The transition done poorly bucks the revenue chart Be careful of the dip

42

33 Comments

All the cold outreach I get for Angel investment's are now following the same monotonous format. "Hi I am X, using AI to build Y which creates efficiencies in Z. Do you want to learn more?" There is no longer any info on the founder, why you are building this product or traction to date. It is like startup meme culture has convinced everyone that saying AI in your outreach will guarantee you funding. Also, it seems everyones outreach is generated by ChatGPT with the prompt "write me an outreach message for linkedin on my AI startup" Hopefully this will change soon.

124

51 Comments

A 92% increase in founder-advisor conversations on our platform says it all. Founders know scaling isn’t just about hard work—it’s about having the right people in their corner. I’ve seen the impact of experienced advisors have on startups: sharper strategies, clearer decisions and accelerated growth. If you’re ready to guide startups and make a difference, let’s connect 👉 https://lnkd.in/gBexuUVh #Startups #Founders #AdvisoryBoard #PortfolioCareer

12

7 unfiltered thoughts on “Founder Mode”, ranked least-most controversial (from a current founder): (…and someone who has done “Consultant Mode”—Paul Graham might consider it worse than Manager Mode 😊) 1. It’s hard (impossible) to find professional leaders with the same passion, ownership etc. as a Founder or know the business as well as them. 2. At the same time; showing a strong level of commitment and ownership in an organization is not necessarily exclusive to the founder. 3. Claiming that there is either a Founder Mode vs. Manager Mode is a form of black-and-white thinking. The best way to manage any company live in the gray. There are examples of great corporate cultures and practices (e.g.: Amazon’s Day 1 vitality or single-threaded leadership models) but achieving it is HARD. 4. The term itself is here to stay. It’ll be the new Corporate speak for “going hard and leaning in”. I can already imagine Fortune 500 internal meetings talking about turning on “Founder Mode for Q4”. 5. The idea can (and will) be easily abused to justify micro-management and back-fire in many workplaces. 6. If a leader feels like they have to be in every room, and be part of every decision, it most likely means they failed at building the right culture, hiring the right people. (…they also likely have some form of trust issues.) 7. I’m skeptical about buzz around things like this… especially when it originates from the VC world. It is self-serving for them to glorify the founder's path while bashing other career paths. Plus: weren’t VCs the ones who pushed startups to hire layers and layers of people like there is no tomorrow only to then push for lay-offs for “years of efficiency”? Let me know what you agree/disagree with 🤝

19

2 Comments

I've had the great luck to invest in some unicorns at inception. There's not so much you can look for when backing founders that early, but obsession can be spotted early and does play a massive role. In my opinion, our irrational, relentless drive (sometimes without the presence of a clear goal) can be more powerful than intelligence, industry experience, and vision. Thanks to Lisa, I had the honour to discuss my views on investing, my tech ventures, and EWOR with Pádraig Belton from the BBC. Thank you, Pádraig Belton for this fantastic interview. Short teaser below. Full version will be released soon!

116

9 Comments

OneAi 2.0 FE + Business Edition https://lnkd.in/dBBjnnuA Visit site 2 Clicks = Launch Your Very Own All-In-One Monthly AI Subscription Platform And Charge People ANY Amount For Using It... From A Single Dashboard... Warning: Next Price Prices Rises In... Click Here To Grab One AI 2.0 https://lnkd.in/dBBjnnuA https://lnkd.in/dBBjnnuA Usually $97, $14.95 Today! FREE Commercial License Included - Buy Now! World's 1st Cloud-Based AI App Supercharged With World's Premium & #1 Trending AI Apps In A Single Dashboard... Stop Paying ANY Monthly Fees On Expensive AI Tools And Apps... Start Your Very Own Monthly Based AI Subscription Platform & Charge ANY Amount... https://lnkd.in/dBBjnnuA Access Most Advanced Premium 8 AI Apps - KlingAI PRO, Lexica Ai PRO, Luma AI PRO, Hugging Face PRO, Elevenlabs AI PRO, Nvidia AI PRO - With ZERO Monthly Fees... Klingai Pro – Instantly Generate Intelligent Responses And Ai-Driven Insights. https://lnkd.in/dBBjnnuA Lexica Ai Pro – Craft Hd Images And Artistic Visuals In Seconds. Hugging Face Pro – Build Sophisticated Hugging Face Images, Videos & Models Elevenlabs Ai Pro – Generate Lifelike Voiceovers In Various Tones And Accents. Nvidia Ai Pro – Produce Visuals And Data Analyses Using Cutting-Edge Ai Models. https://lnkd.in/dBBjnnuA Heygen Pro – Make Talking Avatars That Captivate And Engage Your Audience. Ideogram Ai Pro – Design Stunning Typography & Graphics Effortlessly. Flux.1 Pro – Generate Real-Time Motion Graphics For Social Media Or Ads. Runwayml Pro – Transform Text Into Hd Images And Animations. Notion Ai Pro – Get Ai-Powered Notes, Writing, And Project Management Tools. https://lnkd.in/dBBjnnuA Pika Ai Pro – Turn Text To Ultra-Realistic Ai Images.. Perplexity Ai Pro – Develop Custom Ai Assistants For Q&A And Research. Adobe Firefly 3 Pro – Design 8k Ai Images Within Seconds. Claude Ai Pro – Generate Insightful Ai-Driven Ideas And Strategies. Playground Ai Pro – Create Interactive, User-Friendly Ai Experiences. Synthesia Ai Pro – Craft Personalized Video Content In Minutes. Photoshop Ai Pro – Edit Images With Ai-Powered Precision. Save Over $12,717 Annually Without Having To Any Amount on Premium AIs... https://lnkd.in/dBBjnnuA AI-Driven Live Chat Support... Fire All Your Expensive Tools & Services... Say Goodbye To Monthly Fees... Commercial License Included - Create & Sell as Many Assets As You Like To Your Clients... https://lnkd.in/dBBjnnuA Newbie Friendly, Easy-To-Use Dashboard... Iron-clad 30 Day Money-Back Guarantee.. #cfbr

1

Techies, Founders, Leaders, lend me your ears You might just love what’s coming 👇 The next month of Pain in the SaaS is packed with value just for you. Here’s a teaser of what’s to come: - Tom Pennings turning a server off even when could fix it. - Richard Russell explaining why the Google way isn't always the best way. - Nadia Pace’s office that was literally falling down. - Nikos Kryvossidis trying to change the culture and building bridges across departments. I’m dedicated to bringing you the best advice and information from VCs, founders, and sales leaders about how to scale your startup, become a better leader, and hear the real stories of experience. 🚀 It all starts tomorrow at 9am Berlin Time. Be sure to follow #PainInTheSaaS so you’ll get notifications of all the episodes as they drop and won’t miss a thing. #podcast

21

6 Comments

Is everyone launching VCs nowadays? In late 2022, I enrolled in the VC Lab programme but the timing wasn’t quite right, so I dropped out. Now, with better timing after selling my business, I’ve rejoined the VC Lab again (here is a spoiler into my future plans 🙈) Sifted tracked only 40 new first-time funds with a first or second close in 2023, a decrease from over 60 in 2022. As of 2024, only 18 new VCs have been launched in Europe. Anyone in my network launching a VC fund or considering it? How are you navigating this process? #VC #VentureCapital #Fundraising #BusinessOpportunity

73

17 Comments

10 startup tasks you can automate using ChatGPT for FREE - generating startup ideas - coming up with a business name - generating ideas for content marketing - design a conversational bot to challenge you to sell - develop a strategic plan - do market research, SWOT on competitors - get technical support - generating a P&L - writing a job description - crafting a letter to a customer All these prompts for free in my new AI Guide for startups https://lnkd.in/gadGEfWa #chatgpt #startup #scaling

10

Sometimes it clicks Meeting of minds Agreeing next steps Not so often but yes Here’s a thought👇🏼 A short while back we prompted a discussion about product market fit. Short form version is that you know it when you’ve got it. And the same goes for people and what they do. Sometimes it just clicks into place. Like Lego is just clicks together. We also acknowledge that sometimes it’s like standing on Lego in bare feet: immediately painful. The two ends of the range of outcomes. Perfect fit versus sharp pain. The early positive indicator was the preamble chat on the video call. Mind you that wasn’t a given as Teams is a test all of its own and rarely considered a joyful start to any proceedings. But even with that tortuous headwind it was tickling along nicely. Three broad components got us off to a good start and then got better. Quiet confidence and self assurance plus prior preparation and careful thinking plus open minded discussions. In many ways it was a case study for my constant message of #thinklikeaclient And this meant that we agreed meaningful next steps and there will be a positive collaboration that is a win-win for us both. Do note that this win-win started on here with cold outreach to connect with me, a few simple messages and then a call, all of which was achieved in short time lines and minimum fuss. #ThinkLikeAClient #GrumpyOptimist #VentureStudio #Entrepreneur >>>>>>> Footnote: all my content is freshly made daily by me with no additives or tricks. If it interests you please tag the 🔔 in my profile to get it delivered straight to you. Otherwise if you search #GrumpyOptimist you’ll see my past posts.

7

9 Comments