Dec. 30, 2020
Investing in Fintech by principal at Costanoa Ventures - Amy Cheetham
Amy Cheetham, principal at Costanoa Ventures talks about investing in Fintech during the pandemic (and post-pandemic) and how founders in these fields should work with investors at times like this.
Amy Cheetham, principal at Costanoa Ventures talks about investing in Fintech during the pandemic (and post-pandemic) and how founders in these fields should work with investors at times like this.
Amy's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-cheetham-61835127/
Amy's Twitter: https://twitter.com/amyecheetham?lang=en
Amy's Investment Profile: https://signal.nfx.com/investors/amy-cheetham
Costanoa Ventures: https://www.costanoavc.com/
P.S. Happy New Year! The next episode will be released only on January 4th.
Transcript
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They're releasing to fundraising
video a podcast about
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fundraising for early-stage
startups.
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The major rules that we follow
here is no bullshit on this
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podcast.
No music to relax, you know,
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advertisements of our sponsors.
We only talk about fundraising
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here and nothing else.
So let's jump into the episode
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and today is a guest speaker.
We have any Cheetham, principal
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add, Costa, no adventures.
And this episode.
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We'll talk.
Talk about ghosts and other
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Ventures.
Would it is like going from big
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company to a smaller funds who
should actually pursue that 3 or
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off and enjoying first, some big
Corporation and then starting
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his or her own Stirrup.
And of course, we'll talk about
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fundraising.
So.
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Amy a let's kick it off by you
giving us some background on
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yourself and on castano
adventures.
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Absolutely.
Thanks for having me on and
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happy to share a little more
background.
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So I joined Costa Noah a little
over a year ago, and I'm a
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principal on the investment.
They're my background is mixture
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of operating investing.
So before joining Costa Noah, I
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was at Zora running sales
strategy and operations, for one
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of their business units and then
prior to, that spent three years
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at Summit Partners doing growth
Equity investing and a few years
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before that as a on the dark
side, as an investment banker,
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at JP Morgan.
So that's the, that's the quick
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background on me.
And then on Costa Noah, we're an
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early stage fund based in SF
primarily.
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From seed to series a.
And we've been around for about
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eight years focused on B2B
software.
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Nice, that's a pretty rich
background.
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So my next question was
actually, what does because I
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know Ventures investment, but
you kind of answered that, could
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you just elaborate a little bit?
What's a level to invest in?
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What's the average excise?
They're absolutely.
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Yeah.
So we typically will invest 1 to
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10 million across seed, and
series a, and typically leader
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co-lead.
So we're a little more
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concentrated usually take a
board seat.
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And, you know, I mentioned
before, Or we're all focused on
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B2B software and within that we
spend a lot of time,
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particularly in infrastructure,
fintech a plate, applied Ai, and
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then, vertical and horizontal
SAS.
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Nice, actually.
I can you tell us a little more
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about vertical and horizontal
SAS?
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Not getting a lot.
I'm not sure what it is.
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Yeah.
Yeah more just, you know,
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there's certainly vertical
specifics ass.
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So think like hell, you know,
Healthcare a player SAS or you
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know something that's more
specific to an industry,
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vertical.
And then horizontal.
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I usually think of being
something that's more
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role-specific.
So maybe it's sales software.
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We're but it doesn't really
matter what industry you're in,
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you could use across any
industry.
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Just maybe a little more
role-specific.
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I got it.
I got okay in my defense.
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I'll say I knew I just forgot
the terminology for that thing.
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Alright next question just a
little bit more about khosla
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Ventures and then we'll move on.
Question is about your role.
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So as a principal at Austin
Adventures would what's your
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primary?
Rule would does take most of
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your time there?
Kinda depends on the week and
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all honesty, but I'll give you
the the rough breakdown.
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So my role is everything from
working with portfolio,
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companies to sourcing new
Investments and being an active
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member of the investment team.
I probably spend 60% of my time.
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I would say, out meeting new
companies and doing diligence,
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and hopefully executing new
Investments.
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So, a lot of time sourcing
meeting new companies.
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He's building industry Theses
and figuring out where to spend
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my time and other component
which, you know, you laugh.
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But like that actually is a
challenging part of the role, I
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think.
And then the secondary component
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is the companies that I work
with whether, you know, On the
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Border as a board, Observer
spending a bunch of time with
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them, kind of post investment.
As I said, we're a little more
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concentrated and so tend to
spend a lot of time with the
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company is in our in our
portfolio.
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So it's a Sure of sort of like,
you know, portfolio maintenance.
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And then, of course, going out
and finding new companies to
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invest in.
All right, right.
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Actually, I feel you're being
here every morning.
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I spent like 20 minutes thinking
of what am I supposed to do
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today?
To make supplies?
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My usability basically.
All right, as a principal, you
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mentioned that, you see a lot of
companies, you do a lot of due
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diligence and those are what are
the major factors that can look
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at.
Once you're running zoo.
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I do due diligence on the Any
four areas we think about as an
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investment team and I'll give
you those rough buckets.
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And, of course, there's lots of
other things we think about but
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usually at Cedar series, a we
look a lot at product and of
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course, depending whether you're
at Cedar series a it might be
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very different, right?
And Seed, it might be an idea
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and it series a hopefully it's
in market and is a much more
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fully formed Vision, but so
spent a lot of time on product
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diligence a lot of On Market,
diligence understanding.
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What's the opportunity look like
today?
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Or maybe it's a market formation
opportunity and there's a chance
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to, you know.
ABS engaged and enlightened
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people about a new market
opportunity.
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And then, you know, the team.
Honestly, I think is the biggest
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thing for us particularly at
seed at series a, you have a few
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more financial indicators.
And so you have to be, you know,
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you can be a little bit less
reliant on.
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Just what's the team like are
they going to be the people that
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can build a really big business
or they industry experts or
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area, you know have area
expertise in the in the industry
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they're building in.
So those are Rebate components.
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And then I say the last part,
that's probably something that
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doesn't get talked about quite
as much, is just the deal.
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Like, what are we paying?
What do we think?
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You know what type of risk from
a pricing standpoint?
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Are we willing to take and does
our excitement about the other
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three factors line up with the
the, the price, and the deal
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Construction?
interesting, and a lot, so here,
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we're moving on to the To how
you got to be CH way.
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So I have I would say you
listen, 1% of my listeners are
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actually future be seized or
current be seized and that's
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that's the question for them.
So you've gone through JPMorgan
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before.
Joining us know by injuries.
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Would you recommend other people
doing the same thing?
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So going through a big company
before starting something by
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yourself or joining a VC world
or start world?
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Yeah.
I think it very much dependent
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on what type of venture.
Want to be in, you know, for for
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my path, which went through a
growth Equity Firm and was, you
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know, initially at least more
focused on later.
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Stage, investing having banking
experience, was really important
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because at a later, stage fund,
so much is predicated on the
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financials, and you really need
to be very quantitative person
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and have that Financial
background.
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So, for my particular path, I
think it makes a lot of sense.
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I would say, However, if you
know you want to be a seed or
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series a investor and want to
invest at the very early stages,
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I think going and getting some
sort of product, or operations
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experience at a tech company is
probably maybe not a better
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path, but it's certainly an
equally helpful path.
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They can give you just a lot of
really good building blocks for
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learning, how to assess,
products, or just having more
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empathy for how hard it is to
build a company.
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So I think if I had known
initially right coming out of
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college that that I wanted to be
in really early stage.
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I might have considered that so
I think it's sort of stage
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dependent as to what the best
path is, Right.
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Absolutely.
I think Investment Banking is
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slightly less helpful at early
stages.
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I'm saying that is majoring in
Investment Banking right now,
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right?
This put, so it was talking more
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about early stage investing and
fundraise specifically, so,
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First question is, very basic.
Very general Buzz.
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Do I would like to ask you that?
What do you think are the major
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major major benefits of
investing at those early stages?
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Well, if the company hits, it
big clearly Financial return can
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be can be a significant factor,
but I there's a couple benefits.
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I think one is that you get to
be much closer as an investor to
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the ideation and the actual
building of the company,
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whereas, you know, if you come
in series, b or c, for example,
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like you're going to assume they
found product Market fit there.
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Much more in a scaling up phase
and it's going to be a lot more
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about perfecting what they've
already built and adding on
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products and continuing the
vision rather than getting in at
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the ground floor and being there
when he product decisions.
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Probably key hiring decisions,
maybe even, you know, hiring
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another co-founder just a lot of
these really early Palmer
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stations are happening and I
think as a more Junior person in
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earlier stage investing you off.
And get out sighs responsibility
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at an earlier level because the
company is are smaller and
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you're probably making a lot of
Investments every year just
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because you're writing smaller
checks.
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So I think there's an
opportunity for a more Junior
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people to get outside
responsibilities and really
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benefit from from that.
So, from a career standpoint, I
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think it's great.
And then certainly as you think
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about the, the financial
benefits and then sort of the
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intellectual benefits of being
there, really early, I think are
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really significant.
Mhm.
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Nice, my next question was, what
should Founders raising their
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first round focus on?
But I figured, that's too
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General.
So let's actually go over
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hypothetical company.
So let's say, I have a B2B SAS
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company.
I have kind of the MVP.
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I have a few pain better
customers and I want to start
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fundraising in three months in
three months.
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I want to open my brown to
outside investors.
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What should I focus on in this?
No.
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Three months.
Well, having customers, first of
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all, is amazing and often the
seed companies.
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I look at don't so you're
already ahead of the game and I
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would say that a couple of
things, one is just having a
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really clear run down of what
you're building.
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Why it's different and what pain
point it is that you're solving
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and being able to articulate
that and an extremely clear way
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hopefully in a sentence, right?
And and then being able to say,
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I know this pain point is real
because here are the customers I
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already have and here's the
laundry list of all the
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customers that I've talked to,
to help me develop this idea.
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So I think it's really this
marrying of, you know, building
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a product that hopefully works
and is solving a pain point.
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But also like really being able
to back up the fact that there's
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a real pain point there and that
people are going to pay for it
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again.
So much of this stuff.
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You're not going to be able to
prove out if you're a seed
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company, but you To have an
argument and a hypothesis.
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And I've done the research, even
if you don't have customers.
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So that's certainly on the
product and Market side of the
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house.
And then the third component for
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me would just be, why are you
the right person to build that
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company and have a very clear
ability to articulate why you
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and hopefully, your team are
going to be the best Founders to
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build this business.
Absolutely, speaking of the
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team, by the way.
How many times did you Jack the
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company because you saw those
only found by one single person
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instead of, you know, the
senator two co-founders or even
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three co-founders.
Yeah.
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That's a great question.
Um, I would say not that often
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actually because I think it's
actually rare that I've that I
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meet single founder teams that
are in that process.
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What's much more?
Common though is that I meet a
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Founder very early on in their
process.
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They probably haven't built a
product yet.
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And they're just looking for a
co-founder and so often times
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I'll buy into the vision and
I'll love them.
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But my interest will be semi
contingent in, you know, in on
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them finding the right person to
sign up as a co-founder.
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So, I think it's and in those
situations often we try to be
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helpful and help, you know, it's
in our best interest to help
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them.
Find someone good.
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If we think that solo co-founder
is exceptional so I don't I
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actually can't think of a time
when I pass specifically because
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of That but I've definitely told
people it's too early and they
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need to find that other person
before I'm willing to invest.
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Mmm-hmm.
Right?
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Make sense.
So speaking of finding the
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co-founder Woods, do usually
recommend Founders, some
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specific method of find those
co-founders or to just say go
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find co-founders, somehow it's
hard.
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I think there are it depends on
what what industry you're
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building and Ray and I think
some some areas we probably
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Probably have better ability to
do some of that matching.
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I'm building my kind of fintech
network at the moment.
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And that's been an area where I
feel like we can be maybe a
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little more helpful just because
I've got a deeper Network there.
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I mean luck.
It's hard.
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I think you have to put out
feelers everywhere, utilize
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every channel.
You've got whether it's social
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media or slack groups, you're
in, or people that you've met in
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your industry and just be really
You're looking for someone
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interesting and talk to as many
people as possible.
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You know, we of course, like
people list of people we've met
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that we think are awesome.
But it's honestly, fairly rare
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that there's going to be like an
immediate perfect fit in our
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Network and takes a lot of
digging on on both sides.
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So I think it's a challenging
search and I've got a lot of
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empathy for people that are
working on finding the right
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partner to start a business with
absolutely right and that can
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get tough.
So I highly recommend you start.
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Start doing that early starting
early, not just like couple
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months before you start
fundraising speaking of
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fundraising.
And so on our printer recall,
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you've mentioned that and
persistency is one of the very
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important factors in to start
world and in fundraising
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specifically.
So question is how much
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persistency is enough in
fundraising.
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That's hard.
I yeah, that's a really a really
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hard thing to gauge.
I would say if you are getting
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to a point where you're getting
a lot of NOS for whatever reason
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and by the way, let me caveat
this by saying that all as we've
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probably seen on Twitter this
week with the door - in Air B&B
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IPOs, like clearly.
So many people said no to those
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companies.
So you are not alone if you're
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getting knows.
But I would say if it gets to a
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point where You spend, I don't
know three, four, five months,
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or Beyond fundraising, and
you're just constantly hearing.
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No, I would challenge you these,
you know, someone in that
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position to be really
interesting fact about what that
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feedback is and try to go back
and figure out what you can
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change either in your pitch or
about the business that might
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allow you to better fund raise.
And I would also ask yourself is
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the fundraising becoming so
distracting that Are not able to
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focus on building your business
and those would be the two
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gauges for me.
And then the last component
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would just be, what do you have
for alternative options?
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And with some people might be
able to raise a friends and
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family around.
I probably wouldn't if I was
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praising her raising around but
some people might be able to and
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then I would also say like
there's debt, there's Venture
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debt.
There are Community grants,
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00:16:20,200 --> 00:16:22,100
especially if you're outside,
the Bay Area.
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00:16:22,100 --> 00:16:26,100
So many states and cities have
For people that are starting
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companies, you know, there are
lots of alternative options.
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And so if you start to feel
like, hey, I'm getting a lot of
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nose and it's really taking away
from my ability to build the
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business.
I'd start to see if there are
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alternative funding options out
there.
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Absolutely, that's actually
great advice.
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Definitely recommend following
that advice and there is
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actually a link in our official
website.
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00:16:51,900 --> 00:16:56,500
Fundraising, we deal where you
can check out episodes based on
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the topic and one of the topics
is alternative sources of
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funding for startups.
So definitely check it out
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00:17:03,400 --> 00:17:05,300
there.
There's just like we covered
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tons and tons of those.
So definitely check it out.
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Next thing is, let's say, the
founder doesn't really see any
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other way of, you know,
Fundraising and has to go
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00:17:14,900 --> 00:17:18,300
through Reese's.
So, what's the best way of
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00:17:18,300 --> 00:17:21,099
reaching to early stage
investors like Coast Ona?
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00:17:21,200 --> 00:17:24,400
Because 10 right now, now I'm
struggling to pronounce it.
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00:17:25,300 --> 00:17:26,900
What's that?
Noah Ben Carson?
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00:17:26,900 --> 00:17:28,800
Oh, yeah.
Person of Interest my bad.
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00:17:29,300 --> 00:17:33,100
Oh, you're good.
Yeah, I would say, for us
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specifically.
I think we've got emails on our
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on our website.
And, you know, I am very
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00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:44,700
responsive via DM on Twitter.
In terms of other VCS.
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00:17:44,900 --> 00:17:50,000
I think one of the things I
really want Founders to remember
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00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:52,900
is that, if you're going to send
a cold email, and by which, by
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00:17:52,900 --> 00:17:55,900
the way, I am very Pro cold
email, like send cold emails.
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00:17:55,900 --> 00:17:57,600
You do not need to get a warm
intro.
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00:17:57,700 --> 00:18:00,100
Clearly.
Those are helpful, but I
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00:18:00,100 --> 00:18:02,200
recognize that not, everybody
can do that, and that should
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00:18:02,200 --> 00:18:05,700
never be a gating factor to
getting in touch with a VC, but
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00:18:05,800 --> 00:18:09,000
I will caveat that by saying
that you need to do your
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research.
And, you know, I get in bounds.
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Time for Consumer companies.
And it always baffles me because
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00:18:16,600 --> 00:18:20,400
it's one, I say it in my profile
on Twitter and then it's on our
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00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:22,500
website.
Like we don't invest in consumer
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00:18:22,500 --> 00:18:28,100
and so be really mindful of that
because people are going to know
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00:18:28,100 --> 00:18:30,200
whether or not you read their
website.
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00:18:30,200 --> 00:18:32,900
If you're off Target for them
and maybe you can't tell from
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00:18:32,900 --> 00:18:34,300
their website.
That's fine.
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00:18:34,300 --> 00:18:37,100
Say that in your email just be
like, you know, I wasn't sure.
333
00:18:37,100 --> 00:18:39,100
I couldn't totally tell her you
guys invested.
334
00:18:39,100 --> 00:18:41,200
This is my pitch.
Let me know if we're fed.
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00:18:41,300 --> 00:18:45,600
So I think being are really
targeted, being and writing a
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00:18:45,608 --> 00:18:49,900
concise note about why you're
building what you're building.
337
00:18:49,900 --> 00:18:52,200
Why are the right person to do
it and why you're reaching out
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00:18:52,200 --> 00:18:56,500
to that VC.
Those would be my big tips, but
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00:18:56,500 --> 00:18:59,200
look like send cold emails.
You're probably going to have to
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00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:02,600
send a lot of them and don't
ever feel like you can't get in
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00:19:02,600 --> 00:19:05,400
touch with the VC because you
have to get a warm and show.
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00:19:05,400 --> 00:19:08,700
I think that's I think that's
just silly.
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00:19:08,700 --> 00:19:10,600
Honestly.
Absolutely.
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00:19:10,600 --> 00:19:14,200
Absolutely 2020, you know.
You do not need to have those
345
00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:16,800
warm ain't Rose anymore.
I mean, they definitely help but
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00:19:16,800 --> 00:19:20,200
not as much as before.
So definitely enjoy 2020 people.
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00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:23,600
So in this question, just this
morning actually, I interviewed
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00:19:23,600 --> 00:19:29,600
the founder of to can and she
said that one of her first
349
00:19:29,600 --> 00:19:33,600
investment she got from a VC
that previously rejected her
350
00:19:33,900 --> 00:19:36,400
with the other company that she
and the team started.
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00:19:36,400 --> 00:19:40,200
They just you know that BC
invested in them as soon as they
352
00:19:40,300 --> 00:19:43,600
opened around because they knew
the company I In the new team
353
00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:45,700
and they didn't really care
about the idea as much.
354
00:19:45,700 --> 00:19:48,200
They just would like, okay,
we're going with it seemed.
355
00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:51,800
So question is, how many times
have you rejected the founder?
356
00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:55,700
And then the founder came back
with something new, maybe an
357
00:19:55,700 --> 00:19:59,000
actual like whole new idea, or
maybe update results and you've
358
00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:03,800
changed your mind.
Yeah, I'm about, I'm probably a
359
00:20:03,800 --> 00:20:07,100
bad case study here because I
don't think I've ever done that.
360
00:20:07,100 --> 00:20:10,400
Well, okay, I guess I'll caveat
it by saying I've never
361
00:20:10,400 --> 00:20:15,400
explicitly said no and then you
know two years later had that
362
00:20:15,400 --> 00:20:19,700
same team come back.
I have definitely given feedback
363
00:20:20,100 --> 00:20:23,300
and said look, I really like
you.
364
00:20:23,300 --> 00:20:27,000
I don't think the idea is quite
there and then over the course
365
00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:31,300
of three or four months been a
part of that ideation process.
366
00:20:31,500 --> 00:20:34,200
And sort of help someone get to
a point where we were more
367
00:20:34,200 --> 00:20:35,900
excited about investing in the
idea.
368
00:20:35,900 --> 00:20:39,600
So, I think that has happened.
It's probably, but I haven't had
369
00:20:39,600 --> 00:20:43,000
a situation like, the the toucan
founder was mentioning where,
370
00:20:43,200 --> 00:20:45,700
you know, three years ago.
I said, no, and they came back
371
00:20:45,700 --> 00:20:48,300
with a different idea.
I'm hoping that will happen to
372
00:20:48,300 --> 00:20:51,000
me at some point, but haven't
had that luxury yet.
373
00:20:51,600 --> 00:20:53,600
Nice.
Well, silt, you know, being a
374
00:20:53,608 --> 00:20:56,500
part of ideation process and
then investing in the new idea,
375
00:20:56,500 --> 00:21:01,600
sounds sounds pretty good, but
speaking of ideas question, Not
376
00:21:01,600 --> 00:21:05,100
really related to fundraising.
But what is the craziest idea
377
00:21:05,100 --> 00:21:10,600
that you were ever pitched?
I, well, you have to remember
378
00:21:10,600 --> 00:21:12,300
that.
I was an associate at Summit
379
00:21:12,300 --> 00:21:17,400
Partners for three years and we
got, you know, it's a big fun.
380
00:21:17,400 --> 00:21:19,900
Right?
And so, we got a lot of very
381
00:21:19,900 --> 00:21:24,100
bizarre inbounds and the one
probably never and I wish I
382
00:21:24,108 --> 00:21:27,900
could pull up the deck and I
should probably tweet it out at
383
00:21:27,900 --> 00:21:29,200
some point because it was so
insane.
384
00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:33,900
I got an inbound pitch and the
The line of the email was
385
00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:39,200
billion dollar opportunity in
animal print and I opened the
386
00:21:39,200 --> 00:21:45,100
email back and the decal is like
a 30-page deck did all.
387
00:21:45,100 --> 00:21:49,000
It talked about was how they
were going to build a mall that
388
00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:51,800
exclusively sold animal print
products.
389
00:21:51,800 --> 00:21:55,900
I'm not making this up.
Honestly.
390
00:21:56,100 --> 00:21:58,300
I didn't even know what to think
about it, but it made my day and
391
00:21:58,300 --> 00:21:59,800
it was probably one of the
funnest things.
392
00:21:59,800 --> 00:22:02,500
I remember God.
That's perfect.
393
00:22:02,500 --> 00:22:04,800
That's perfect.
I hope someone one day someone
394
00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:08,200
will invest in that and I will
give it that mold for sure.
395
00:22:08,300 --> 00:22:12,700
It's just tell me.
All right, on that.
396
00:22:12,700 --> 00:22:15,200
On that positive note.
We're moving on to the last
397
00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:17,700
question of today's episode,
which is a call to action.
398
00:22:17,700 --> 00:22:21,300
So, Amy, what's the one thing
you want to listen to do as soon
399
00:22:21,300 --> 00:22:28,000
as the episode is over?
Yeah, I would say that they
400
00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:32,200
should go back to whether their
fundraising deck or whatever.
401
00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:35,700
It is, and their sales deck.
Anything they use to pitch their
402
00:22:35,700 --> 00:22:40,200
company, whether it's to VCS or
two new hires or two customers.
403
00:22:40,500 --> 00:22:45,300
And make sure that in two
sentences, they can explain what
404
00:22:45,300 --> 00:22:48,700
they're building.
Why it's important, why people
405
00:22:48,700 --> 00:22:52,100
should invest or become a
customer now and why they're the
406
00:22:52,100 --> 00:22:55,700
right team and make sure that
those You know, for kind of
407
00:22:55,700 --> 00:23:01,100
critical points are just really
hitting their prospects over the
408
00:23:01,100 --> 00:23:03,900
head for regardless of whether,
you know, whether they're a VC
409
00:23:03,900 --> 00:23:06,900
or a customer or a new hire,
perfect.
410
00:23:06,900 --> 00:23:10,800
Yes, that's a wonderful advice,
you know, putting your big, big
411
00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:13,300
idea into something really short
and simple.
412
00:23:13,400 --> 00:23:15,700
That's just perfect and
wonderful exercise.
413
00:23:15,700 --> 00:23:18,000
I'm telling you, it might take
you a whole day to write those
414
00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:21,300
two senses, but hundred percent
worth it and will definitely
415
00:23:21,300 --> 00:23:24,300
help, you know, understand you
are your own idea better.
416
00:23:24,500 --> 00:23:26,000
So, definitely followed that
advice.
417
00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:28,400
I'll make sure to leave a link
stew.
418
00:23:31,300 --> 00:23:35,900
Because no Adventures, of
course, two Emmys Twitter, and
419
00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:39,100
maybe just something else, maybe
not.
420
00:23:39,100 --> 00:23:42,300
We'll see if I will come up with
any other links that will share
421
00:23:42,600 --> 00:23:43,700
in the description of this
episode.
422
00:23:43,700 --> 00:23:45,900
But definitely, my call to
action is usually, first of all,
423
00:23:45,900 --> 00:23:48,300
follow Amy's advice, and
secondly, check out the
424
00:23:48,308 --> 00:23:51,700
description of this episode, a
bunch of helpful information
425
00:23:51,700 --> 00:23:54,700
will be there including a maze
contact information.
426
00:23:54,700 --> 00:23:58,100
So, do that, and as usually have
a good day.
00:00:05,100 --> 00:00:07,800
They're releasing to fundraising
video a podcast about
2
00:00:07,800 --> 00:00:10,100
fundraising for early-stage
startups.
3
00:00:10,400 --> 00:00:13,600
The major rules that we follow
here is no bullshit on this
4
00:00:13,600 --> 00:00:16,100
podcast.
No music to relax, you know,
5
00:00:16,100 --> 00:00:19,600
advertisements of our sponsors.
We only talk about fundraising
6
00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:22,900
here and nothing else.
So let's jump into the episode
7
00:00:23,400 --> 00:00:26,900
and today is a guest speaker.
We have any Cheetham, principal
8
00:00:26,900 --> 00:00:29,600
add, Costa, no adventures.
And this episode.
9
00:00:29,600 --> 00:00:31,100
We'll talk.
Talk about ghosts and other
10
00:00:31,100 --> 00:00:33,900
Ventures.
Would it is like going from big
11
00:00:33,900 --> 00:00:37,500
company to a smaller funds who
should actually pursue that 3 or
12
00:00:37,500 --> 00:00:40,800
off and enjoying first, some big
Corporation and then starting
13
00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:43,600
his or her own Stirrup.
And of course, we'll talk about
14
00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:44,300
fundraising.
So.
15
00:00:44,300 --> 00:00:47,100
Amy a let's kick it off by you
giving us some background on
16
00:00:47,100 --> 00:00:49,900
yourself and on castano
adventures.
17
00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:52,600
Absolutely.
Thanks for having me on and
18
00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:54,700
happy to share a little more
background.
19
00:00:55,200 --> 00:00:58,700
So I joined Costa Noah a little
over a year ago, and I'm a
20
00:00:58,700 --> 00:01:03,300
principal on the investment.
They're my background is mixture
21
00:01:03,300 --> 00:01:07,300
of operating investing.
So before joining Costa Noah, I
22
00:01:07,300 --> 00:01:10,400
was at Zora running sales
strategy and operations, for one
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of their business units and then
prior to, that spent three years
24
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at Summit Partners doing growth
Equity investing and a few years
25
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before that as a on the dark
side, as an investment banker,
26
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at JP Morgan.
So that's the, that's the quick
27
00:01:23,100 --> 00:01:26,600
background on me.
And then on Costa Noah, we're an
28
00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:29,300
early stage fund based in SF
primarily.
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00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:33,200
From seed to series a.
And we've been around for about
30
00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:35,900
eight years focused on B2B
software.
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Nice, that's a pretty rich
background.
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So my next question was
actually, what does because I
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know Ventures investment, but
you kind of answered that, could
34
00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:49,100
you just elaborate a little bit?
What's a level to invest in?
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00:01:49,100 --> 00:01:51,800
What's the average excise?
They're absolutely.
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Yeah.
So we typically will invest 1 to
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00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:59,500
10 million across seed, and
series a, and typically leader
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00:01:59,500 --> 00:02:01,300
co-lead.
So we're a little more
39
00:02:01,300 --> 00:02:03,900
concentrated usually take a
board seat.
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00:02:04,300 --> 00:02:07,500
And, you know, I mentioned
before, Or we're all focused on
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B2B software and within that we
spend a lot of time,
42
00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:15,900
particularly in infrastructure,
fintech a plate, applied Ai, and
43
00:02:15,900 --> 00:02:17,900
then, vertical and horizontal
SAS.
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00:02:19,500 --> 00:02:22,500
Nice, actually.
I can you tell us a little more
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00:02:22,500 --> 00:02:24,700
about vertical and horizontal
SAS?
46
00:02:25,700 --> 00:02:28,100
Not getting a lot.
I'm not sure what it is.
47
00:02:28,700 --> 00:02:31,200
Yeah.
Yeah more just, you know,
48
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there's certainly vertical
specifics ass.
49
00:02:33,900 --> 00:02:39,000
So think like hell, you know,
Healthcare a player SAS or you
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know something that's more
specific to an industry,
51
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vertical.
And then horizontal.
52
00:02:42,900 --> 00:02:45,600
I usually think of being
something that's more
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role-specific.
So maybe it's sales software.
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We're but it doesn't really
matter what industry you're in,
55
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you could use across any
industry.
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Just maybe a little more
role-specific.
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00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:57,500
I got it.
I got okay in my defense.
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I'll say I knew I just forgot
the terminology for that thing.
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Alright next question just a
little bit more about khosla
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00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:07,900
Ventures and then we'll move on.
Question is about your role.
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00:03:07,900 --> 00:03:10,800
So as a principal at Austin
Adventures would what's your
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00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:12,700
primary?
Rule would does take most of
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00:03:12,708 --> 00:03:15,900
your time there?
Kinda depends on the week and
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00:03:15,900 --> 00:03:18,600
all honesty, but I'll give you
the the rough breakdown.
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00:03:18,600 --> 00:03:23,400
So my role is everything from
working with portfolio,
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companies to sourcing new
Investments and being an active
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member of the investment team.
I probably spend 60% of my time.
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00:03:33,200 --> 00:03:37,100
I would say, out meeting new
companies and doing diligence,
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00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:40,300
and hopefully executing new
Investments.
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00:03:40,300 --> 00:03:43,600
So, a lot of time sourcing
meeting new companies.
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He's building industry Theses
and figuring out where to spend
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my time and other component
which, you know, you laugh.
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But like that actually is a
challenging part of the role, I
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think.
And then the secondary component
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is the companies that I work
with whether, you know, On the
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Border as a board, Observer
spending a bunch of time with
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00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:08,400
them, kind of post investment.
As I said, we're a little more
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00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:11,200
concentrated and so tend to
spend a lot of time with the
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company is in our in our
portfolio.
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00:04:12,900 --> 00:04:16,800
So it's a Sure of sort of like,
you know, portfolio maintenance.
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And then, of course, going out
and finding new companies to
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invest in.
All right, right.
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00:04:21,700 --> 00:04:24,300
Actually, I feel you're being
here every morning.
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I spent like 20 minutes thinking
of what am I supposed to do
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00:04:27,400 --> 00:04:29,300
today?
To make supplies?
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00:04:29,300 --> 00:04:33,100
My usability basically.
All right, as a principal, you
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00:04:33,100 --> 00:04:36,200
mentioned that, you see a lot of
companies, you do a lot of due
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diligence and those are what are
the major factors that can look
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00:04:39,700 --> 00:04:42,000
at.
Once you're running zoo.
90
00:04:42,100 --> 00:04:48,200
I do due diligence on the Any
four areas we think about as an
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investment team and I'll give
you those rough buckets.
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00:04:50,500 --> 00:04:53,300
And, of course, there's lots of
other things we think about but
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usually at Cedar series, a we
look a lot at product and of
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course, depending whether you're
at Cedar series a it might be
95
00:05:01,700 --> 00:05:04,100
very different, right?
And Seed, it might be an idea
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00:05:04,500 --> 00:05:08,800
and it series a hopefully it's
in market and is a much more
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00:05:08,800 --> 00:05:12,000
fully formed Vision, but so
spent a lot of time on product
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00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:15,800
diligence a lot of On Market,
diligence understanding.
99
00:05:15,800 --> 00:05:17,700
What's the opportunity look like
today?
100
00:05:17,700 --> 00:05:21,800
Or maybe it's a market formation
opportunity and there's a chance
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00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:25,800
to, you know.
ABS engaged and enlightened
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people about a new market
opportunity.
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And then, you know, the team.
Honestly, I think is the biggest
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thing for us particularly at
seed at series a, you have a few
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more financial indicators.
And so you have to be, you know,
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00:05:39,300 --> 00:05:40,900
you can be a little bit less
reliant on.
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00:05:40,900 --> 00:05:43,700
Just what's the team like are
they going to be the people that
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can build a really big business
or they industry experts or
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00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:51,700
area, you know have area
expertise in the in the industry
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they're building in.
So those are Rebate components.
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And then I say the last part,
that's probably something that
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doesn't get talked about quite
as much, is just the deal.
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Like, what are we paying?
What do we think?
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You know what type of risk from
a pricing standpoint?
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00:06:07,300 --> 00:06:10,500
Are we willing to take and does
our excitement about the other
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00:06:10,500 --> 00:06:14,500
three factors line up with the
the, the price, and the deal
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00:06:14,500 --> 00:06:19,700
Construction?
interesting, and a lot, so here,
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00:06:19,700 --> 00:06:25,400
we're moving on to the To how
you got to be CH way.
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00:06:25,400 --> 00:06:29,400
So I have I would say you
listen, 1% of my listeners are
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actually future be seized or
current be seized and that's
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00:06:33,800 --> 00:06:36,500
that's the question for them.
So you've gone through JPMorgan
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before.
Joining us know by injuries.
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00:06:38,400 --> 00:06:40,700
Would you recommend other people
doing the same thing?
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So going through a big company
before starting something by
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yourself or joining a VC world
or start world?
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00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:51,300
Yeah.
I think it very much dependent
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on what type of venture.
Want to be in, you know, for for
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00:06:56,800 --> 00:07:01,500
my path, which went through a
growth Equity Firm and was, you
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00:07:01,500 --> 00:07:03,800
know, initially at least more
focused on later.
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00:07:03,800 --> 00:07:07,800
Stage, investing having banking
experience, was really important
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00:07:07,800 --> 00:07:13,100
because at a later, stage fund,
so much is predicated on the
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00:07:13,100 --> 00:07:17,000
financials, and you really need
to be very quantitative person
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00:07:17,500 --> 00:07:19,500
and have that Financial
background.
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00:07:19,500 --> 00:07:22,400
So, for my particular path, I
think it makes a lot of sense.
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I would say, However, if you
know you want to be a seed or
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series a investor and want to
invest at the very early stages,
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00:07:31,300 --> 00:07:34,700
I think going and getting some
sort of product, or operations
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experience at a tech company is
probably maybe not a better
139
00:07:38,900 --> 00:07:42,300
path, but it's certainly an
equally helpful path.
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00:07:42,400 --> 00:07:46,200
They can give you just a lot of
really good building blocks for
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00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:49,500
learning, how to assess,
products, or just having more
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00:07:49,500 --> 00:07:51,900
empathy for how hard it is to
build a company.
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So I think if I had known
initially right coming out of
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college that that I wanted to be
in really early stage.
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00:07:59,900 --> 00:08:03,400
I might have considered that so
I think it's sort of stage
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00:08:03,400 --> 00:08:07,200
dependent as to what the best
path is, Right.
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00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:09,200
Absolutely.
I think Investment Banking is
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00:08:09,200 --> 00:08:11,600
slightly less helpful at early
stages.
149
00:08:12,500 --> 00:08:16,100
I'm saying that is majoring in
Investment Banking right now,
150
00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:20,100
right?
This put, so it was talking more
151
00:08:20,100 --> 00:08:23,100
about early stage investing and
fundraise specifically, so,
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00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:27,100
First question is, very basic.
Very general Buzz.
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00:08:27,100 --> 00:08:30,000
Do I would like to ask you that?
What do you think are the major
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00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:34,000
major major benefits of
investing at those early stages?
155
00:08:35,900 --> 00:08:41,200
Well, if the company hits, it
big clearly Financial return can
156
00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:47,300
be can be a significant factor,
but I there's a couple benefits.
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00:08:47,300 --> 00:08:52,100
I think one is that you get to
be much closer as an investor to
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00:08:52,100 --> 00:08:55,700
the ideation and the actual
building of the company,
159
00:08:56,300 --> 00:09:01,400
whereas, you know, if you come
in series, b or c, for example,
160
00:09:01,500 --> 00:09:04,400
like you're going to assume they
found product Market fit there.
161
00:09:04,600 --> 00:09:07,400
Much more in a scaling up phase
and it's going to be a lot more
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00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:10,600
about perfecting what they've
already built and adding on
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00:09:10,600 --> 00:09:14,200
products and continuing the
vision rather than getting in at
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00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:18,400
the ground floor and being there
when he product decisions.
165
00:09:18,400 --> 00:09:22,300
Probably key hiring decisions,
maybe even, you know, hiring
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00:09:22,300 --> 00:09:25,800
another co-founder just a lot of
these really early Palmer
167
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stations are happening and I
think as a more Junior person in
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00:09:32,400 --> 00:09:37,300
earlier stage investing you off.
And get out sighs responsibility
169
00:09:37,300 --> 00:09:41,900
at an earlier level because the
company is are smaller and
170
00:09:41,900 --> 00:09:45,000
you're probably making a lot of
Investments every year just
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00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:46,900
because you're writing smaller
checks.
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00:09:47,200 --> 00:09:49,500
So I think there's an
opportunity for a more Junior
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people to get outside
responsibilities and really
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00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:55,400
benefit from from that.
So, from a career standpoint, I
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think it's great.
And then certainly as you think
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about the, the financial
benefits and then sort of the
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00:10:00,300 --> 00:10:03,100
intellectual benefits of being
there, really early, I think are
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really significant.
Mhm.
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00:10:05,700 --> 00:10:11,000
Nice, my next question was, what
should Founders raising their
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00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:13,100
first round focus on?
But I figured, that's too
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00:10:13,100 --> 00:10:15,000
General.
So let's actually go over
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00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:18,900
hypothetical company.
So let's say, I have a B2B SAS
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company.
I have kind of the MVP.
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00:10:23,200 --> 00:10:26,700
I have a few pain better
customers and I want to start
185
00:10:26,700 --> 00:10:28,700
fundraising in three months in
three months.
186
00:10:28,700 --> 00:10:32,400
I want to open my brown to
outside investors.
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00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:34,400
What should I focus on in this?
No.
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Three months.
Well, having customers, first of
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all, is amazing and often the
seed companies.
190
00:10:40,100 --> 00:10:43,100
I look at don't so you're
already ahead of the game and I
191
00:10:43,100 --> 00:10:48,600
would say that a couple of
things, one is just having a
192
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really clear run down of what
you're building.
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Why it's different and what pain
point it is that you're solving
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and being able to articulate
that and an extremely clear way
195
00:11:01,800 --> 00:11:06,500
hopefully in a sentence, right?
And and then being able to say,
196
00:11:06,700 --> 00:11:10,400
I know this pain point is real
because here are the customers I
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already have and here's the
laundry list of all the
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00:11:12,900 --> 00:11:16,400
customers that I've talked to,
to help me develop this idea.
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So I think it's really this
marrying of, you know, building
200
00:11:21,900 --> 00:11:24,300
a product that hopefully works
and is solving a pain point.
201
00:11:24,300 --> 00:11:27,600
But also like really being able
to back up the fact that there's
202
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a real pain point there and that
people are going to pay for it
203
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again.
So much of this stuff.
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You're not going to be able to
prove out if you're a seed
205
00:11:35,200 --> 00:11:39,000
company, but you To have an
argument and a hypothesis.
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And I've done the research, even
if you don't have customers.
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So that's certainly on the
product and Market side of the
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house.
And then the third component for
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me would just be, why are you
the right person to build that
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company and have a very clear
ability to articulate why you
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and hopefully, your team are
going to be the best Founders to
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build this business.
Absolutely, speaking of the
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00:12:03,300 --> 00:12:07,000
team, by the way.
How many times did you Jack the
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00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:10,000
company because you saw those
only found by one single person
215
00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:12,500
instead of, you know, the
senator two co-founders or even
216
00:12:12,500 --> 00:12:14,400
three co-founders.
Yeah.
217
00:12:14,400 --> 00:12:20,000
That's a great question.
Um, I would say not that often
218
00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:24,400
actually because I think it's
actually rare that I've that I
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00:12:24,400 --> 00:12:28,600
meet single founder teams that
are in that process.
220
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What's much more?
Common though is that I meet a
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Founder very early on in their
process.
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They probably haven't built a
product yet.
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And they're just looking for a
co-founder and so often times
224
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I'll buy into the vision and
I'll love them.
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But my interest will be semi
contingent in, you know, in on
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00:12:48,300 --> 00:12:52,400
them finding the right person to
sign up as a co-founder.
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So, I think it's and in those
situations often we try to be
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helpful and help, you know, it's
in our best interest to help
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them.
Find someone good.
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00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:03,100
If we think that solo co-founder
is exceptional so I don't I
231
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actually can't think of a time
when I pass specifically because
232
00:13:06,300 --> 00:13:09,600
of That but I've definitely told
people it's too early and they
233
00:13:09,600 --> 00:13:12,800
need to find that other person
before I'm willing to invest.
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00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:14,400
Mmm-hmm.
Right?
235
00:13:14,400 --> 00:13:16,300
Make sense.
So speaking of finding the
236
00:13:16,300 --> 00:13:19,400
co-founder Woods, do usually
recommend Founders, some
237
00:13:19,400 --> 00:13:23,700
specific method of find those
co-founders or to just say go
238
00:13:23,800 --> 00:13:27,600
find co-founders, somehow it's
hard.
239
00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:32,000
I think there are it depends on
what what industry you're
240
00:13:32,008 --> 00:13:36,400
building and Ray and I think
some some areas we probably
241
00:13:36,500 --> 00:13:39,800
Probably have better ability to
do some of that matching.
242
00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:42,800
I'm building my kind of fintech
network at the moment.
243
00:13:42,800 --> 00:13:45,000
And that's been an area where I
feel like we can be maybe a
244
00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:48,500
little more helpful just because
I've got a deeper Network there.
245
00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:50,300
I mean luck.
It's hard.
246
00:13:50,300 --> 00:13:53,200
I think you have to put out
feelers everywhere, utilize
247
00:13:53,200 --> 00:13:55,200
every channel.
You've got whether it's social
248
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media or slack groups, you're
in, or people that you've met in
249
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your industry and just be really
You're looking for someone
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interesting and talk to as many
people as possible.
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You know, we of course, like
people list of people we've met
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that we think are awesome.
But it's honestly, fairly rare
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that there's going to be like an
immediate perfect fit in our
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Network and takes a lot of
digging on on both sides.
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So I think it's a challenging
search and I've got a lot of
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empathy for people that are
working on finding the right
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partner to start a business with
absolutely right and that can
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get tough.
So I highly recommend you start.
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Start doing that early starting
early, not just like couple
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months before you start
fundraising speaking of
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fundraising.
And so on our printer recall,
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you've mentioned that and
persistency is one of the very
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important factors in to start
world and in fundraising
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specifically.
So question is how much
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persistency is enough in
fundraising.
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That's hard.
I yeah, that's a really a really
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hard thing to gauge.
I would say if you are getting
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to a point where you're getting
a lot of NOS for whatever reason
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and by the way, let me caveat
this by saying that all as we've
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probably seen on Twitter this
week with the door - in Air B&B
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IPOs, like clearly.
So many people said no to those
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companies.
So you are not alone if you're
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getting knows.
But I would say if it gets to a
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point where You spend, I don't
know three, four, five months,
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or Beyond fundraising, and
you're just constantly hearing.
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No, I would challenge you these,
you know, someone in that
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position to be really
interesting fact about what that
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feedback is and try to go back
and figure out what you can
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change either in your pitch or
about the business that might
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allow you to better fund raise.
And I would also ask yourself is
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the fundraising becoming so
distracting that Are not able to
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focus on building your business
and those would be the two
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gauges for me.
And then the last component
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would just be, what do you have
for alternative options?
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And with some people might be
able to raise a friends and
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family around.
I probably wouldn't if I was
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praising her raising around but
some people might be able to and
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then I would also say like
there's debt, there's Venture
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debt.
There are Community grants,
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especially if you're outside,
the Bay Area.
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So many states and cities have
For people that are starting
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companies, you know, there are
lots of alternative options.
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And so if you start to feel
like, hey, I'm getting a lot of
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nose and it's really taking away
from my ability to build the
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business.
I'd start to see if there are
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alternative funding options out
there.
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Absolutely, that's actually
great advice.
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Definitely recommend following
that advice and there is
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actually a link in our official
website.
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Fundraising, we deal where you
can check out episodes based on
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the topic and one of the topics
is alternative sources of
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funding for startups.
So definitely check it out
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there.
There's just like we covered
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tons and tons of those.
So definitely check it out.
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Next thing is, let's say, the
founder doesn't really see any
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other way of, you know,
Fundraising and has to go
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through Reese's.
So, what's the best way of
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reaching to early stage
investors like Coast Ona?
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Because 10 right now, now I'm
struggling to pronounce it.
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What's that?
Noah Ben Carson?
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Oh, yeah.
Person of Interest my bad.
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Oh, you're good.
Yeah, I would say, for us
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specifically.
I think we've got emails on our
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on our website.
And, you know, I am very
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responsive via DM on Twitter.
In terms of other VCS.
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I think one of the things I
really want Founders to remember
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is that, if you're going to send
a cold email, and by which, by
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the way, I am very Pro cold
email, like send cold emails.
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You do not need to get a warm
intro.
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Clearly.
Those are helpful, but I
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recognize that not, everybody
can do that, and that should
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never be a gating factor to
getting in touch with a VC, but
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I will caveat that by saying
that you need to do your
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research.
And, you know, I get in bounds.
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Time for Consumer companies.
And it always baffles me because
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it's one, I say it in my profile
on Twitter and then it's on our
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website.
Like we don't invest in consumer
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and so be really mindful of that
because people are going to know
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whether or not you read their
website.
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If you're off Target for them
and maybe you can't tell from
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their website.
That's fine.
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Say that in your email just be
like, you know, I wasn't sure.
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I couldn't totally tell her you
guys invested.
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00:18:39,100 --> 00:18:41,200
This is my pitch.
Let me know if we're fed.
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00:18:41,300 --> 00:18:45,600
So I think being are really
targeted, being and writing a
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concise note about why you're
building what you're building.
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00:18:49,900 --> 00:18:52,200
Why are the right person to do
it and why you're reaching out
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00:18:52,200 --> 00:18:56,500
to that VC.
Those would be my big tips, but
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00:18:56,500 --> 00:18:59,200
look like send cold emails.
You're probably going to have to
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send a lot of them and don't
ever feel like you can't get in
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touch with the VC because you
have to get a warm and show.
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00:19:05,400 --> 00:19:08,700
I think that's I think that's
just silly.
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Honestly.
Absolutely.
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Absolutely 2020, you know.
You do not need to have those
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00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:16,800
warm ain't Rose anymore.
I mean, they definitely help but
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not as much as before.
So definitely enjoy 2020 people.
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So in this question, just this
morning actually, I interviewed
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the founder of to can and she
said that one of her first
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investment she got from a VC
that previously rejected her
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with the other company that she
and the team started.
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They just you know that BC
invested in them as soon as they
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00:19:40,300 --> 00:19:43,600
opened around because they knew
the company I In the new team
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and they didn't really care
about the idea as much.
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They just would like, okay,
we're going with it seemed.
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So question is, how many times
have you rejected the founder?
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And then the founder came back
with something new, maybe an
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00:19:55,700 --> 00:19:59,000
actual like whole new idea, or
maybe update results and you've
358
00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:03,800
changed your mind.
Yeah, I'm about, I'm probably a
359
00:20:03,800 --> 00:20:07,100
bad case study here because I
don't think I've ever done that.
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00:20:07,100 --> 00:20:10,400
Well, okay, I guess I'll caveat
it by saying I've never
361
00:20:10,400 --> 00:20:15,400
explicitly said no and then you
know two years later had that
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same team come back.
I have definitely given feedback
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00:20:20,100 --> 00:20:23,300
and said look, I really like
you.
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I don't think the idea is quite
there and then over the course
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of three or four months been a
part of that ideation process.
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And sort of help someone get to
a point where we were more
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excited about investing in the
idea.
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00:20:35,900 --> 00:20:39,600
So, I think that has happened.
It's probably, but I haven't had
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00:20:39,600 --> 00:20:43,000
a situation like, the the toucan
founder was mentioning where,
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00:20:43,200 --> 00:20:45,700
you know, three years ago.
I said, no, and they came back
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00:20:45,700 --> 00:20:48,300
with a different idea.
I'm hoping that will happen to
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00:20:48,300 --> 00:20:51,000
me at some point, but haven't
had that luxury yet.
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00:20:51,600 --> 00:20:53,600
Nice.
Well, silt, you know, being a
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part of ideation process and
then investing in the new idea,
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00:20:56,500 --> 00:21:01,600
sounds sounds pretty good, but
speaking of ideas question, Not
376
00:21:01,600 --> 00:21:05,100
really related to fundraising.
But what is the craziest idea
377
00:21:05,100 --> 00:21:10,600
that you were ever pitched?
I, well, you have to remember
378
00:21:10,600 --> 00:21:12,300
that.
I was an associate at Summit
379
00:21:12,300 --> 00:21:17,400
Partners for three years and we
got, you know, it's a big fun.
380
00:21:17,400 --> 00:21:19,900
Right?
And so, we got a lot of very
381
00:21:19,900 --> 00:21:24,100
bizarre inbounds and the one
probably never and I wish I
382
00:21:24,108 --> 00:21:27,900
could pull up the deck and I
should probably tweet it out at
383
00:21:27,900 --> 00:21:29,200
some point because it was so
insane.
384
00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:33,900
I got an inbound pitch and the
The line of the email was
385
00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:39,200
billion dollar opportunity in
animal print and I opened the
386
00:21:39,200 --> 00:21:45,100
email back and the decal is like
a 30-page deck did all.
387
00:21:45,100 --> 00:21:49,000
It talked about was how they
were going to build a mall that
388
00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:51,800
exclusively sold animal print
products.
389
00:21:51,800 --> 00:21:55,900
I'm not making this up.
Honestly.
390
00:21:56,100 --> 00:21:58,300
I didn't even know what to think
about it, but it made my day and
391
00:21:58,300 --> 00:21:59,800
it was probably one of the
funnest things.
392
00:21:59,800 --> 00:22:02,500
I remember God.
That's perfect.
393
00:22:02,500 --> 00:22:04,800
That's perfect.
I hope someone one day someone
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00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:08,200
will invest in that and I will
give it that mold for sure.
395
00:22:08,300 --> 00:22:12,700
It's just tell me.
All right, on that.
396
00:22:12,700 --> 00:22:15,200
On that positive note.
We're moving on to the last
397
00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:17,700
question of today's episode,
which is a call to action.
398
00:22:17,700 --> 00:22:21,300
So, Amy, what's the one thing
you want to listen to do as soon
399
00:22:21,300 --> 00:22:28,000
as the episode is over?
Yeah, I would say that they
400
00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:32,200
should go back to whether their
fundraising deck or whatever.
401
00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:35,700
It is, and their sales deck.
Anything they use to pitch their
402
00:22:35,700 --> 00:22:40,200
company, whether it's to VCS or
two new hires or two customers.
403
00:22:40,500 --> 00:22:45,300
And make sure that in two
sentences, they can explain what
404
00:22:45,300 --> 00:22:48,700
they're building.
Why it's important, why people
405
00:22:48,700 --> 00:22:52,100
should invest or become a
customer now and why they're the
406
00:22:52,100 --> 00:22:55,700
right team and make sure that
those You know, for kind of
407
00:22:55,700 --> 00:23:01,100
critical points are just really
hitting their prospects over the
408
00:23:01,100 --> 00:23:03,900
head for regardless of whether,
you know, whether they're a VC
409
00:23:03,900 --> 00:23:06,900
or a customer or a new hire,
perfect.
410
00:23:06,900 --> 00:23:10,800
Yes, that's a wonderful advice,
you know, putting your big, big
411
00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:13,300
idea into something really short
and simple.
412
00:23:13,400 --> 00:23:15,700
That's just perfect and
wonderful exercise.
413
00:23:15,700 --> 00:23:18,000
I'm telling you, it might take
you a whole day to write those
414
00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:21,300
two senses, but hundred percent
worth it and will definitely
415
00:23:21,300 --> 00:23:24,300
help, you know, understand you
are your own idea better.
416
00:23:24,500 --> 00:23:26,000
So, definitely followed that
advice.
417
00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:28,400
I'll make sure to leave a link
stew.
418
00:23:31,300 --> 00:23:35,900
Because no Adventures, of
course, two Emmys Twitter, and
419
00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:39,100
maybe just something else, maybe
not.
420
00:23:39,100 --> 00:23:42,300
We'll see if I will come up with
any other links that will share
421
00:23:42,600 --> 00:23:43,700
in the description of this
episode.
422
00:23:43,700 --> 00:23:45,900
But definitely, my call to
action is usually, first of all,
423
00:23:45,900 --> 00:23:48,300
follow Amy's advice, and
secondly, check out the
424
00:23:48,308 --> 00:23:51,700
description of this episode, a
bunch of helpful information
425
00:23:51,700 --> 00:23:54,700
will be there including a maze
contact information.
426
00:23:54,700 --> 00:23:58,100
So, do that, and as usually have
a good day.
