Nov. 26, 2021
1-month accelerator - how does it work? By Brett Goldstein
Brett Goldstein, Co-Founder at Launch House talks about focusing on the new values instead of pushing old shit through accelerators and how exactly he approaches it. We spoke a lot about how the fundraising field has changed over the past years and why many accelerators are going obsolete with founders needing a better alternative. We also discussed some of the fundraising tactics that Launch House implements to help its participants fundraise.
Brett's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bgoldstein3/
Brett's Twitter: https://twitter.com/thatguyBG
Launch House: https://www.launchhouse.co/
Fundraising Radio's course on how to get in front of investors: https://bit.ly/FRpodcast101
Transcript
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They're releasing to fundraising
video a podcast about
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fundraising for early-stage
startups, the major rule that we
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follow here is no bullshit on
this podcast.
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No music to relax.
You know, advertisements of our
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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's a guest speaker,
have bread Goldstein co-founder
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and CEO of Lounge house a unique
Accelerator and in this episode
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we'll talk about accelerators
would allow each house.
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Exactly does how is it different
from other accelerators and
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later on, we'll talk about
whether or not you should go
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with a normal accelerator and
how to choose one.
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So bread.
Let's keep it out by you, giving
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us some background on yourself
and on Lounge house, hey,
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excited to be here background on
myself.
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Wow, maybe the tldr is from the
Bay Area.
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San Francisco, Bay Area,
California went to school in
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Berkeley worked in Consulting.
After I graduated spent some
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time on the Google MMA team.
Whereas, you know, researching
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startups and helping the
executives figure out what to do
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in terms of investment and
purchasing startups.
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And then I switched over to
product management and then I
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had the opportunity to kind of
dig into the startup world and
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become a p.m. at a start-up
before the pandemic.
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It and then we started launch
house.
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So yeah.
So launched house tldr is were
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Community for Founder's creators
and other ambitious, folks, the
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very simple explanation of what
we do is we have a mansion in
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Beverly Hills para sus and Paris
Hilton used to live there.
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And we have a, this beautiful
townhouse, in New York City and
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Chelsea that that this Goldman
Sachs executive live in there.
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So obviously, they're very
beautiful places and we run
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these One month long, you know,
residency programs as we call
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them in.
In each of these locations, we
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are also going to be starting on
the 28th of November.
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We're going to be running our
first metaverse location,
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Residency program, and all of
these have been for Founder's so
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far and basically the idea is
number one.
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Let's let's connect us as
Founders.
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Let's, let's bond.
Let's, let's go deep as people.
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Number two, its Let's help each
other.
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You know, get to the next level
in whatever we're trying to
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accomplish with our startups.
So it's been pretty great.
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So far, we've been in business
for a little over a year.
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We started in Tulum, we had to
two houses in Tulum that went
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pretty well and yeah, we've had
Founders come to go through our
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program, raise money from you
know all the top funds that you
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would imagine Sequoia and reason
why see all of those and yeah.
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Super excited to be here and
super excited for what's next
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100%.
And next, before we move on to
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the discussion of Lounge, house
and accelerators.
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One question about your work
ads, Google MMA division.
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Can you tell us just briefly a
little bit more?
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You mentioned that, you know you
were reporting to the executives
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at Google about you know what
was going on in this third field
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and would make sense to purchase
for them.
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Can you tell us a little more
about that and specifically what
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kind of steps were catching your
eye.
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I know a lot of Founders are
trying to figure out here.
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No.
How can I get noticed by someone
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at Google Facebook, Amazon, and
other, you know, talk to your
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companies in order to be
acquired, how were, you know,
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asking those companies were
there, any particular resources
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that you were actively scouting
or was it just, you know,
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someone mentioned this start
multiple times at your like art,
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you know what that actually
looks like a good start.
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Yeah.
So I mean I the process that I
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had was probably similar to what
a lot of VCS scattering process
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looks like which is meeting tons
of people in Venture.
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And in startups asking them what
they're excited about all that
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stuff.
Every month we would have a
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different topic that would
research.
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So one month I was researching
kind of the feature of the
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camera, obviously that included
augmented reality and other kind
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of like camera related content
creation applications.
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So I would just spend a lot of
time downloading apps looking
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around talking to friends, you
know, I was in there, I was in
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my early 20s so I was, you know,
I wasn't super plugged in
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compared to kind of the Google
execs who were in there you know
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late 40s.
So yeah so you know my job was
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just to relay that you know that
information.
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So you know one one example
project I work on it at that
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camera project is you know I
Musically.
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I like was super excited about
it interested in and all these
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other ones and I basically a
kind of like summarize what was
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happening in that space like why
I thought musically was
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interesting, why I thought
Snapchat was interesting and,
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you know, it was up to the
executives to do with it as they
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like.
As, as is true of basically
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every strategy organization,
you, we don't have a purchase
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power ourselves.
But um, yeah, I would say, like,
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best advice for Founders who
want to get acquired is Talk to
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Corp Dev.
Don't talk to people like me,
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talking product teams, talk to
talk to the people.
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You'd be working with because
these are the ones, you know,
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the product people and the
executives at any company are
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the ones with purchase decision
there that they're the ones who
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can like tell the Corp.
Dev team to go and make an
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acquisition.
It doesn't happen the other way
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around.
So if you have the blessings of
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those teams then you're in good
shape.
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If not you should you should go
and talk to this team.
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Eames.
And so, that is a short career
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advice.
I've Speak.
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I haven't read multiple
Founders, who were Acquired and,
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yes, it always starts with
collaboration.
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It starts with working with the
product team product, team being
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excited about their product and
then they're like, all right,
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you know what we're acquiring
you soap?
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Yeah, definitely, great advice
here.
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So now that we've covered that,
let's talk about a lounge house
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and first things first, let's go
a little bit more into the
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details of how it works.
So can you describe the program
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a little more?
So let's say I'm a Founder.
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I get into the program, I moved
to the location.
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Asian what happens for the
month?
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Yeah, so it's pretty similar to
a normal accelerator.
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We actually liked it like
compare it to this thing called
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Harvard reading period.
So Harvard reading period, is
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the period between finals and
classes where they don't have
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any classes.
They don't have anything to do
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all the club shut down.
And basically, the only thing
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students are supposed to do is
work and Ready for their for
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their finals naturally.
There was a guy named Mark and a
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guy named Bill who went to
Harvard and they were not
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studying.
They decided to build companies,
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instead most companies were
Facebook and Microsoft.
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So basically and there's a ton
of research on this.
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This idea of like free time,
creates Innovation, Kris
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intimate connections.
It's actually the secret sauce
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to like basically, you know, any
sort of amazing origin story,
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you know?
From from, you know, the origin
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stories of billion-dollar
trillion dollar companies, as
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well as, you know, deep
relationships and friendships.
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It's this unstructured time that
really is the magical magical
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thing.
So most of the days are pretty
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unstructured.
People have worked that they
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need to do on their companies
and we don't want to get in the
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way so just like, any
accelerator, we allow people to
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work on their companies all day.
Every day, but about four nights
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a week, we have programming.
And the programming is again,
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it's focused on two things.
One is building deep connections
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with, you know, within the
cohort within from one person to
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another and number two is
helping accelerate their
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startups trajectory.
And so obviously we have a like
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a pretty wide range of people in
different phases of there.
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Startup Journey, but it's mostly
early stage.
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So most people are really
concerned about fundraising
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ideation and growth, good like
getting getting their first
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customers and so we focus a lot
on the fundraising and the
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getting your first customer side
of things.
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But again, it's so just backing
up, you know, Monday nights.
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We had this thing called
Founders Circle which is a kind
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of a, like a, you know, intimate
bonding night.
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It's not like a Kumbaya AA
Circle.
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It's not like, it's not cheesy
or cringe, like it's authentic
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and fun, and it's fine.
But, you know, we're really, as
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if we really allergic to doing
anything that is like,
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uncomfortable cringe.
We also have these high-profile
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speakers that come in every
week.
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So, typically, there's are,
these are open events, but we
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get so many applications to come
to the event that we have to
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basically turn away a little
over half of the people who
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apply but you know we have sweet
Speakers like Justin con, Andrew
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Chan and fredersen and you know,
a handful of other even more
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amazing ones in the pipeline
coming up and these talks are
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usually just Fireside Chats.
Very casual, like literally in
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our living room to talk about
whatever, you know that person
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is an expert in and it's usually
relevant to whatever the
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startups that are working on.
We also have kind of coordinate
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office hours where somebody from
the launch house Timur.
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Our kind of network will come
and talk about something really
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relevant and important for the
startup.
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So I give a talk, every cohort
on Twitter for Founders because
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Twitter is basically the most
important tool in a Founders
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tool belt.
It's despite all of the
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excitement about it, it's still
pretty underrated and under
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discussed.
So we still have some people who
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either neglected, their Twitter
account or just starting their
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Twitter accounts every cohort.
Well, we also do It's been
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called micro conference, which
is basically where people in the
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cohort, give like ten minute
lightning talks on whatever they
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are, you know, an expert in, but
would be valuable for the other,
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for the, for the rest of the
community.
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And yeah, those are the main
ones we do have a lot of.
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We do have dinners every night.
We do have kind of more fun
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events.
So we have last night.
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We had a Content day where we
invited over a bunch of.
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Of like huge Tick, Tock and
Instagram influencers and played
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the squid games.
I don't know how.
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Yeah, so we played squid games
with them.
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It was really funny because it
was like, half of the
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competitors were startup
Founders, half of them were
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influencers.
And, you know, the objective of
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those types of content days and
things like that are to build
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connections between Founders and
creators.
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Because one of the biggest
things, one of our biggest
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beliefs is that creators are It
really, really important partner
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in terms of one, understanding
your audience.
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Like these people understand
audiences and humans better than
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anybody else.
And number two is getting the
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distribution.
You need to get front of your
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customers.
Right?
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Let's let's talk about
distributional, bit more and
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specifically Twitter.
Twitter is my weak point.
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I have started multiple times.
I have tried to be consistent
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consistent with it and I failed,
I just just doesn't work for me,
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so can you tell us a little
more?
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About Twitter specifically for
fundraising, how does it work?
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What is your major advice in
that fields?
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And just, you know, the share,
whatever you want to share on
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this subject?
Yeah.
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So fundraising is basically a
game of trust, right?
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So, when a venture capitalist is
evaluating you to invest in your
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company, they're evaluating the
risk.
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Like, and the easiest way to
mitigate risk is to create trust
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between you and the venture
capitalist.
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Because if you're telling
somebody hey my company is going
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to be worth a billion dollars in
two years, whether or not they
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believe you is a function of
trust.
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And one of the most important
things is that we trust our
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friends and family more than
anybody else in the world,
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right?
That's why I like the mafia is,
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you know, in, you know, in New
York and Italy and stuff,
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they're like literally families
like their crime families.
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That's why you call you call
each other brother or sister or
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whatever like that, you know.
It's To create trust, right?
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If you go into the souks and
they in the bazaars, you know,
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in different countries, they'll
they'll they'll call you
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brother.
He because family is family is
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Trust.
And so the idea is that one way
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one of the easiest ways to build
trust is familiarity.
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There's like a psychological
studies that showed that people
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who spend are exposed to
something more often so somebody
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else more often trust it more.
Right.
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So the idea is that, we repeated
exposure shows shows a stress.
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The other thing to think about
is like people who are in the
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same friend circles as you, you
trust them or right.
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So, the idea is like, Twitter is
just a group of people hanging
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out, think about it.
That Twitter is a group of
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people hanging out and what
anytime you get on Twitter, you
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apply to some tweets, you treat
yourself.
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You're basically showing up to
that hangout and the really
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important thing is that all
those people out of those people
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are Venture capitalists.
There are there their Founders
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their designers Engineers there
they are the people that you
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want to hang out with because
they are going to fund your
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company.
One day, they're going to work
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at your company one day and so
whatever you're doing, doesn't
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matter?
No matter what you're saying or
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doing as long.
You're not being an idiot or
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mean.
Uh-huh.
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As long as you show up in our
present for an extended period
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of time, you'll have familiarity
people will people know who you
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are and people will trust you.
So that's one of the simplest
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ways to understand what you
know, why Twitter is so
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valuable.
The other thing is Twitter is
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also your kind of like top of
funnel as a media company.
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So the reality is were all kind
of media companies.
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We all Product were selling as a
Founder.
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You're selling Equity to
investors, right?
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You're selling the vision, the
story of your company.
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And so, you know, you have to go
to where your customers are in
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order to Market to them to sell
to them.
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Hmm.
Your customers, The Venture
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capitalists are hanging out on
Twitter, so it's just a really,
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really important place to be.
It's the reason that launch
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house has been successful, both
from, you know, attracting
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investors, but as well as
attracting and, you know,
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Founders and employees and
stuff.
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All right, I mean, Twitter is
definitely a very good thing to
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raise money and recently
Clubhouse, a tattoo that's
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recently kind of died out, but
anyways, it was definitely
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somewhere up there.
So, yeah, those places you can
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legitimately find good money for
you around especially early
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rounds.
So this is very, very good
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advice and even begged by solid
evidence, take a familiarity
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researches.
That is true, and that Proven
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and yeah, great advice.
Love it.
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So we'll talk about normal
accelerators.
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Now, there are hundreds and
hundreds of them.
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Well, I have interviewed dozens
of founders of different
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accelerators, quite a few of
them are absolutely great.
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I have seen founders of
exteriors that are not as great
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as most of them are.
So can you talk a little more
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about those differences between
actually good accelerators that
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do provide value versus those
that are not as you know as good
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as as the others.
The reason there is terrible.
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I apologize for that but you
understand the point.
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Yeah.
So basically the way to think
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about fundraising and venture
capital is that it's a trait,
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the most basic component of the
trade is your trading money for
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equity in your company.
So way back in the day when like
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they're basically not that many
Venture capitalists or anything
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or companies or even knowledge
on how to build companies you.
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00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:40,000
That was it that was Entire
trade, you would trade capital
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00:16:40,600 --> 00:16:43,400
or your trade equity for
Capital, right?
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And so now that there's so much
more, you know, energy in the
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ecosystem, there's so many more
startups.
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There's so many more investors
accelerators emerged, basically,
301
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to give an extra value add
because guess what guess what's
302
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better than giving a company
money ensuring their success?
303
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So a lot of these accelerators
basically, their job is to
304
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ensure that their bets do well.
And so they have these
305
00:17:07,900 --> 00:17:10,800
obviously, that help help that
and the main ways that they
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focus, their main focus areas,
obviously our fundraising and
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getting customers.
Like so YC is, you know, the
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poster child here, which is like
they have their demo day,
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there's always the YC markup and
they also helped a lot with
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getting your first customers, if
you're a B2B SAS company.
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00:17:30,500 --> 00:17:33,100
And the reason for that is they
have this massive community of
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Founders, that is very, very
dedicated to the the YC brand.
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And so Founders obviously are
the primary customers for B2B
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SAS products.
So it makes sense.
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00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:48,300
That YC would be B2B SAS
oriented because, you know,
316
00:17:48,300 --> 00:17:51,000
that's those are the customers
that they have access to you
317
00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:54,100
right away.
So it's important about this is
318
00:17:54,100 --> 00:17:59,500
that times have changed
Founders, have tons, and tons
319
00:17:59,500 --> 00:18:02,200
and tons of options, the
internet and social media have
320
00:18:02,200 --> 00:18:06,600
matured, we're especially if
you're, you know, a Founder
321
00:18:06,600 --> 00:18:10,500
that's already in the Bay Area.
Or plugged into the, you know,
322
00:18:10,500 --> 00:18:14,900
the startup scene or on Twitter
to emphasize that point.
323
00:18:14,900 --> 00:18:19,600
Again, you don't necessarily
need to, you don't need a lot of
324
00:18:19,600 --> 00:18:23,700
the services that the the
accelerators are offering namely
325
00:18:24,500 --> 00:18:28,100
namely, you don't need the
fundraising support because
326
00:18:28,100 --> 00:18:32,200
guess what there's tons of
investors out there at now, it
327
00:18:32,200 --> 00:18:34,400
can that will give you the
valuation you need.
328
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And number two, is acquiring
customers.
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Is easier than it used to be.
So really, what's happening is
330
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great.
Founders know this and great
331
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Founders are opting out of going
to these accelerators.
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00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:50,800
It's, there's kind of a metaphor
for what's happening in
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00:18:51,300 --> 00:18:54,400
education as well.
We're like really, really smart,
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00:18:55,200 --> 00:18:58,800
you know, driven people as long
as they're not going into
335
00:18:58,800 --> 00:19:02,600
medicine or law, they're
dropping out of college right?
336
00:19:02,600 --> 00:19:04,800
And it doesn't mean that people
everybody that goes to colleges
337
00:19:04,800 --> 00:19:07,700
dumb.
It mean it means that many of
338
00:19:07,700 --> 00:19:09,900
the the smartest people are
dropping out of college.
339
00:19:10,200 --> 00:19:13,600
So as an accelerator your you
know, strategically obviously
340
00:19:13,600 --> 00:19:17,100
you want to get those coin basis
and and Stripes as much as
341
00:19:17,100 --> 00:19:19,900
possible.
But the reality is that's going
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00:19:19,900 --> 00:19:22,600
to become less and less true
because great Founders have to
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have options.
So what I think is happening in
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00:19:25,500 --> 00:19:28,400
the accelerator world, as this
kind of emergence of non
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00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:34,500
accelerators which where you
know, programs and companies and
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00:19:34,500 --> 00:19:37,800
organizations that deliver
value, and create genuine.
347
00:19:37,900 --> 00:19:41,900
Connections with Founders first
before asking for Equity before
348
00:19:42,200 --> 00:19:46,300
before doing anything like that.
So that's kind of what we're
349
00:19:46,300 --> 00:19:47,600
focused on at launch house right
now.
350
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Which is, you know, we know that
the greatest Founders in the
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00:19:51,200 --> 00:19:54,000
world have options.
So let's just create a great
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00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:58,000
experience for them and then you
know, eventually if they let us
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00:19:58,200 --> 00:20:03,700
investable do that, Perfect.
I love the response and yet 100%
354
00:20:03,700 --> 00:20:06,000
agree with you hear.
A lot of accelerators are
355
00:20:06,100 --> 00:20:08,800
extraordinary, extraordin,
really old school.
356
00:20:09,400 --> 00:20:12,800
I have seen some people even
giving advice that you should
357
00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:17,100
actually print out your pitch
decks and yeah, definitely on
358
00:20:17,100 --> 00:20:19,400
the same page with you hear, a
lot of the values that they
359
00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:24,700
provide are stuck in 2010 but
where it was not as easy to get
360
00:20:24,700 --> 00:20:27,500
in touch with investors with
your customers and you actually
361
00:20:27,500 --> 00:20:32,100
needed a lot of pink.
Reduction from well-connected to
362
00:20:32,100 --> 00:20:35,300
investors.
Intros are still good but not as
363
00:20:35,300 --> 00:20:37,900
valuable as they used to be so
bread, we're definitely on the
364
00:20:37,900 --> 00:20:41,500
same page here again.
So now that we have that all
365
00:20:41,500 --> 00:20:45,500
covered moving on to the last
two questions and one of them is
366
00:20:45,500 --> 00:20:47,700
just a technical one.
I forgot to ask it and I'm
367
00:20:47,700 --> 00:20:50,500
curious for Founders who are
listening to this right now and
368
00:20:50,500 --> 00:20:52,900
they're like, you know what
Lounge house does sound bound?
369
00:20:53,700 --> 00:20:55,600
How do I get in?
How much is it?
370
00:20:58,500 --> 00:21:03,900
Yeah so contest is a lot of fun
definitely emphasize that point.
371
00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:08,200
So we have an application
process just like any normal
372
00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:11,100
accelerator.
A lot of the lot of the
373
00:21:11,100 --> 00:21:12,600
questions are probably pretty
similar.
374
00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:14,900
We asked people to post a fun
video.
375
00:21:15,100 --> 00:21:18,200
We've had people even create
some cool fun Tick-Tock videos
376
00:21:18,700 --> 00:21:21,700
as well.
But yeah so we have we have
377
00:21:21,700 --> 00:21:25,700
residencies almost every single
month of the year in New York LA
378
00:21:25,700 --> 00:21:28,400
and online.
We actually this is a Is
379
00:21:28,400 --> 00:21:34,000
actually a sneak peek to special
for special for you guys.
380
00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:38,600
Here, we are probably going to
be launching a fundraising
381
00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:43,100
focused digital program in the
winter.
382
00:21:43,500 --> 00:21:46,800
So that would mean it would be a
four-week all online program
383
00:21:46,900 --> 00:21:49,900
would be paid.
There's no equity involved.
384
00:21:49,900 --> 00:21:53,700
It would be paid and we would be
bringing in experts in all the
385
00:21:53,700 --> 00:21:57,900
aspects of fundraising, which is
everything from like you know,
386
00:21:58,600 --> 00:22:02,400
Pitch deck, design.
AKA if you're early stage, don't
387
00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:06,600
make a pitch deck, make an ocean
document number two, number two,
388
00:22:07,300 --> 00:22:12,200
number two like public speaking
storytelling, all those things.
389
00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:14,500
So we did, you get kind of this
Tapas tasting of everything.
390
00:22:14,500 --> 00:22:17,500
You probably need to know in
terms of how to pitch your
391
00:22:17,500 --> 00:22:20,500
company, how to, how to have a
successful fundraiser.
392
00:22:20,500 --> 00:22:25,000
That will be in the winter, but
basically you apply, if you are
393
00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:29,600
a smart driven dedicated, you
know, Person doesn't matter if
394
00:22:29,600 --> 00:22:32,300
you've had success already.
As long as you're on some
395
00:22:32,300 --> 00:22:36,400
awesome trajectory and or your
company is like, really amazing
396
00:22:36,400 --> 00:22:40,800
and we're really excited about
it will admit you.
397
00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:46,000
And then the way it works is
that you pay a program fee as
398
00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:49,900
well as a membership fee.
And obviously, once you
399
00:22:49,900 --> 00:22:51,600
remember, you don't need to pay
the membership fee again.
400
00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:56,000
And you have a discount on the
program fee, but the program,
401
00:22:56,200 --> 00:23:00,300
you know those fees change
depending on On where what type
402
00:23:00,300 --> 00:23:03,000
of program you're doing so
obviously online online is the
403
00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:09,300
cheapest, you know, IRL is on
the other end of the spectrum
404
00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:13,900
and really importantly, we offer
grants for underrepresented
405
00:23:13,900 --> 00:23:17,500
Founders.
So that will all all those
406
00:23:17,500 --> 00:23:20,500
prices and everything will come
out in the interview application
407
00:23:20,500 --> 00:23:24,000
process lace.
Is there a way to take a sneak
408
00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:26,700
peek on it right now?
Can you give us a price range
409
00:23:26,700 --> 00:23:30,700
right now?
I would say that we were we're
410
00:23:30,700 --> 00:23:36,200
cheaper then we're cheaper than
any University, we are probably
411
00:23:38,500 --> 00:23:42,600
And we're cheaper than any
accelerator and we're on par
412
00:23:42,600 --> 00:23:46,700
with a lot of the other kind of
Social Clubs that you imagine
413
00:23:48,100 --> 00:23:52,200
cheaper than the university.
That is an extremely odd.
414
00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:56,500
Kreis Rachel I gave you nothing
but that is.
415
00:23:56,500 --> 00:23:59,600
Okay, let's move on.
Then to the very last question,
416
00:24:00,400 --> 00:24:02,400
the call to action.
So Brett, would you want to
417
00:24:02,408 --> 00:24:04,900
listen to do as soon as this
episode is over?
418
00:24:07,500 --> 00:24:11,800
So I'll actually break this down
into two different areas.
419
00:24:11,800 --> 00:24:15,000
Actually know very simply apply
to launch house.
420
00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:17,500
Launch house. .Ko is our
website.
421
00:24:17,500 --> 00:24:21,700
You can apply and we have
upcoming programs right now.
422
00:24:21,700 --> 00:24:24,700
But we also are going to be
announcing sooner our winter
423
00:24:24,700 --> 00:24:27,600
programs but honestly just hit
the apply button and we'll get
424
00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:32,600
you in the system and then get
you rolling on, you know, into
425
00:24:32,600 --> 00:24:36,300
the community and everything.
Number two is get on Twitter if
426
00:24:36,300 --> 00:24:40,100
you're not Already on Twitter,
get on it, follow launch house
427
00:24:40,100 --> 00:24:44,000
launched underscore house.
Follow me that guy BG.
428
00:24:45,500 --> 00:24:49,200
And yeah, start tweeting have
have some fun and raise that
429
00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:50,900
round.
Perfect.
430
00:24:50,900 --> 00:24:53,200
That is a good acculturation
indeed.
431
00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:56,600
I will not follow your advice
about coat on Twitter.
432
00:24:56,600 --> 00:25:00,100
I gave up on myself there but
that is definitely worth giving
433
00:25:00,100 --> 00:25:01,800
a shot two.
People who don't have any other
434
00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:05,100
exposure, I have my excuse, I
have the podcast so I just say
435
00:25:05,100 --> 00:25:07,100
to myself, you know, don't About
it.
436
00:25:07,100 --> 00:25:11,100
You have the podcast year.
You're fine people, you do make
437
00:25:11,100 --> 00:25:13,100
appearances.
So it's okay for people who do
438
00:25:13,100 --> 00:25:16,300
not have podcasts, definitely
check out the Twitter option.
439
00:25:16,300 --> 00:25:20,200
There are a lot of users to that
tool and the reload of
440
00:25:20,208 --> 00:25:21,800
alternative.
So that if Twitter is not your
441
00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:24,500
thing, there are hundreds of
other places where you can go
442
00:25:24,500 --> 00:25:27,000
where you can get exposure to
investors and where you can
443
00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:29,600
close your rounds in a very
relaxed way.
444
00:25:30,700 --> 00:25:32,900
So do that, follow that call to
action.
445
00:25:32,900 --> 00:25:36,400
And my call to action is going
to be simple as usually go to
446
00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:38,800
the from this episode, I'm going
to include everything that bread
447
00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:43,100
mention, which is Club
clubhouse.
448
00:25:43,100 --> 00:25:46,300
I Lounge house.
That's why I meant there's a
449
00:25:46,300 --> 00:25:48,200
lounge house.
There's going to be Brett's
450
00:25:48,500 --> 00:25:50,400
Twitter.
And also there's going to be
451
00:25:50,400 --> 00:25:54,300
linked to fundraising video
course on fundraising.
452
00:25:54,400 --> 00:25:58,000
We are actually building at
fundraising course, as well, on
453
00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:00,700
one particular part of it, which
is reaching out to investors.
454
00:26:00,700 --> 00:26:05,300
So if you want to figure out how
to do that, definitely check out
455
00:26:05,300 --> 00:26:09,300
the description of this episode.
And as usually have a good day,
456
00:25:41,500 --> 00:25:44,900
Club clubhouse.
I Lounge house.
457
00:25:44,900 --> 00:25:46,800
That's why I meant there's a
lounge house.
458
00:25:46,800 --> 00:25:49,000
There's going to be Brett's
Twitter.
459
00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:52,600
And also there's going to be
linked to fundraising video
460
00:25:52,600 --> 00:25:56,000
course on fundraising.
We are actually building at
461
00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:59,500
fundraising course, as well, on
one particular part of it, which
462
00:25:59,500 --> 00:26:03,100
is reaching out to investors.
So if you want to figure out how
463
00:26:03,100 --> 00:26:07,300
to do that, definitely check out
the description of this episode.
464
00:26:07,400 --> 00:26:09,300
And as usually have a good day,
00:00:05,200 --> 00:00:07,800
They're releasing to fundraising
video a podcast about
2
00:00:07,800 --> 00:00:11,400
fundraising for early-stage
startups, the major rule that we
3
00:00:11,400 --> 00:00:14,600
follow here is no bullshit on
this podcast.
4
00:00:14,600 --> 00:00:17,100
No music to relax.
You know, advertisements of our
5
00:00:17,100 --> 00:00:19,600
sponsors.
We only talk about fundraising
6
00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:23,000
here and nothing else.
So let's jump into the episode
7
00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:26,700
and today's a guest speaker,
have bread Goldstein co-founder
8
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and CEO of Lounge house a unique
Accelerator and in this episode
9
00:00:31,200 --> 00:00:33,600
we'll talk about accelerators
would allow each house.
10
00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:37,100
Exactly does how is it different
from other accelerators and
11
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later on, we'll talk about
whether or not you should go
12
00:00:40,300 --> 00:00:42,800
with a normal accelerator and
how to choose one.
13
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So bread.
Let's keep it out by you, giving
14
00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:49,000
us some background on yourself
and on Lounge house, hey,
15
00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:52,500
excited to be here background on
myself.
16
00:00:52,500 --> 00:00:59,600
Wow, maybe the tldr is from the
Bay Area.
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00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:02,900
San Francisco, Bay Area,
California went to school in
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Berkeley worked in Consulting.
After I graduated spent some
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00:01:06,700 --> 00:01:09,900
time on the Google MMA team.
Whereas, you know, researching
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startups and helping the
executives figure out what to do
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00:01:13,700 --> 00:01:17,300
in terms of investment and
purchasing startups.
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And then I switched over to
product management and then I
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had the opportunity to kind of
dig into the startup world and
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become a p.m. at a start-up
before the pandemic.
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It and then we started launch
house.
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So yeah.
So launched house tldr is were
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Community for Founder's creators
and other ambitious, folks, the
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very simple explanation of what
we do is we have a mansion in
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Beverly Hills para sus and Paris
Hilton used to live there.
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And we have a, this beautiful
townhouse, in New York City and
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Chelsea that that this Goldman
Sachs executive live in there.
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So obviously, they're very
beautiful places and we run
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these One month long, you know,
residency programs as we call
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00:02:04,500 --> 00:02:07,100
them in.
In each of these locations, we
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are also going to be starting on
the 28th of November.
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We're going to be running our
first metaverse location,
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Residency program, and all of
these have been for Founder's so
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far and basically the idea is
number one.
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Let's let's connect us as
Founders.
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Let's, let's bond.
Let's, let's go deep as people.
41
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Number two, its Let's help each
other.
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You know, get to the next level
in whatever we're trying to
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accomplish with our startups.
So it's been pretty great.
44
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So far, we've been in business
for a little over a year.
45
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We started in Tulum, we had to
two houses in Tulum that went
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pretty well and yeah, we've had
Founders come to go through our
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program, raise money from you
know all the top funds that you
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00:02:53,608 --> 00:02:59,500
would imagine Sequoia and reason
why see all of those and yeah.
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Super excited to be here and
super excited for what's next
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00:03:03,300 --> 00:03:05,500
100%.
And next, before we move on to
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the discussion of Lounge, house
and accelerators.
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One question about your work
ads, Google MMA division.
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Can you tell us just briefly a
little bit more?
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You mentioned that, you know you
were reporting to the executives
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at Google about you know what
was going on in this third field
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and would make sense to purchase
for them.
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Can you tell us a little more
about that and specifically what
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kind of steps were catching your
eye.
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I know a lot of Founders are
trying to figure out here.
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No.
How can I get noticed by someone
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00:03:32,700 --> 00:03:36,600
at Google Facebook, Amazon, and
other, you know, talk to your
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00:03:36,600 --> 00:03:39,200
companies in order to be
acquired, how were, you know,
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asking those companies were
there, any particular resources
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that you were actively scouting
or was it just, you know,
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00:03:45,900 --> 00:03:48,500
someone mentioned this start
multiple times at your like art,
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you know what that actually
looks like a good start.
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Yeah.
So I mean I the process that I
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had was probably similar to what
a lot of VCS scattering process
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looks like which is meeting tons
of people in Venture.
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And in startups asking them what
they're excited about all that
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stuff.
Every month we would have a
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different topic that would
research.
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So one month I was researching
kind of the feature of the
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camera, obviously that included
augmented reality and other kind
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of like camera related content
creation applications.
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So I would just spend a lot of
time downloading apps looking
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around talking to friends, you
know, I was in there, I was in
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my early 20s so I was, you know,
I wasn't super plugged in
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compared to kind of the Google
execs who were in there you know
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late 40s.
So yeah so you know my job was
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just to relay that you know that
information.
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So you know one one example
project I work on it at that
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camera project is you know I
Musically.
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I like was super excited about
it interested in and all these
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00:04:56,700 --> 00:05:00,300
other ones and I basically a
kind of like summarize what was
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00:05:00,300 --> 00:05:03,200
happening in that space like why
I thought musically was
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00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:06,300
interesting, why I thought
Snapchat was interesting and,
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you know, it was up to the
executives to do with it as they
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like.
As, as is true of basically
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every strategy organization,
you, we don't have a purchase
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power ourselves.
But um, yeah, I would say, like,
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00:05:17,300 --> 00:05:22,200
best advice for Founders who
want to get acquired is Talk to
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Corp Dev.
Don't talk to people like me,
94
00:05:23,800 --> 00:05:28,200
talking product teams, talk to
talk to the people.
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00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:31,100
You'd be working with because
these are the ones, you know,
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00:05:31,100 --> 00:05:35,100
the product people and the
executives at any company are
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00:05:35,100 --> 00:05:38,200
the ones with purchase decision
there that they're the ones who
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00:05:38,200 --> 00:05:41,400
can like tell the Corp.
Dev team to go and make an
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acquisition.
It doesn't happen the other way
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around.
So if you have the blessings of
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those teams then you're in good
shape.
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If not you should you should go
and talk to this team.
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Eames.
And so, that is a short career
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advice.
I've Speak.
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I haven't read multiple
Founders, who were Acquired and,
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yes, it always starts with
collaboration.
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00:05:59,200 --> 00:06:02,100
It starts with working with the
product team product, team being
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excited about their product and
then they're like, all right,
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00:06:04,400 --> 00:06:06,300
you know what we're acquiring
you soap?
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00:06:06,300 --> 00:06:08,300
Yeah, definitely, great advice
here.
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00:06:08,500 --> 00:06:11,900
So now that we've covered that,
let's talk about a lounge house
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00:06:11,900 --> 00:06:14,500
and first things first, let's go
a little bit more into the
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00:06:14,500 --> 00:06:17,300
details of how it works.
So can you describe the program
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00:06:17,300 --> 00:06:19,100
a little more?
So let's say I'm a Founder.
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I get into the program, I moved
to the location.
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Asian what happens for the
month?
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00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:31,500
Yeah, so it's pretty similar to
a normal accelerator.
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00:06:32,800 --> 00:06:36,500
We actually liked it like
compare it to this thing called
119
00:06:36,500 --> 00:06:40,200
Harvard reading period.
So Harvard reading period, is
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00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:44,500
the period between finals and
classes where they don't have
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00:06:44,500 --> 00:06:46,500
any classes.
They don't have anything to do
122
00:06:46,700 --> 00:06:50,200
all the club shut down.
And basically, the only thing
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00:06:50,200 --> 00:06:55,400
students are supposed to do is
work and Ready for their for
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00:06:55,400 --> 00:06:58,400
their finals naturally.
There was a guy named Mark and a
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00:06:58,400 --> 00:07:01,100
guy named Bill who went to
Harvard and they were not
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00:07:01,500 --> 00:07:03,600
studying.
They decided to build companies,
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00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:06,500
instead most companies were
Facebook and Microsoft.
128
00:07:07,300 --> 00:07:10,800
So basically and there's a ton
of research on this.
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00:07:10,800 --> 00:07:14,500
This idea of like free time,
creates Innovation, Kris
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00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:18,800
intimate connections.
It's actually the secret sauce
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00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:22,600
to like basically, you know, any
sort of amazing origin story,
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00:07:23,600 --> 00:07:26,300
you know?
From from, you know, the origin
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00:07:26,300 --> 00:07:30,200
stories of billion-dollar
trillion dollar companies, as
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00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:34,000
well as, you know, deep
relationships and friendships.
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00:07:34,700 --> 00:07:38,800
It's this unstructured time that
really is the magical magical
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00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:43,200
thing.
So most of the days are pretty
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00:07:43,200 --> 00:07:46,300
unstructured.
People have worked that they
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need to do on their companies
and we don't want to get in the
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00:07:48,400 --> 00:07:51,900
way so just like, any
accelerator, we allow people to
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00:07:52,500 --> 00:07:56,700
work on their companies all day.
Every day, but about four nights
141
00:07:56,700 --> 00:08:01,500
a week, we have programming.
And the programming is again,
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00:08:01,500 --> 00:08:05,800
it's focused on two things.
One is building deep connections
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00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:09,600
with, you know, within the
cohort within from one person to
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00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:14,500
another and number two is
helping accelerate their
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00:08:14,500 --> 00:08:19,400
startups trajectory.
And so obviously we have a like
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a pretty wide range of people in
different phases of there.
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Startup Journey, but it's mostly
early stage.
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So most people are really
concerned about fundraising
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ideation and growth, good like
getting getting their first
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customers and so we focus a lot
on the fundraising and the
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getting your first customer side
of things.
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00:08:41,600 --> 00:08:46,700
But again, it's so just backing
up, you know, Monday nights.
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00:08:46,700 --> 00:08:49,700
We had this thing called
Founders Circle which is a kind
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00:08:49,700 --> 00:08:52,700
of a, like a, you know, intimate
bonding night.
155
00:08:52,900 --> 00:08:54,600
It's not like a Kumbaya AA
Circle.
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00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:59,500
It's not like, it's not cheesy
or cringe, like it's authentic
157
00:08:59,500 --> 00:09:04,300
and fun, and it's fine.
But, you know, we're really, as
158
00:09:04,300 --> 00:09:07,000
if we really allergic to doing
anything that is like,
159
00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:10,500
uncomfortable cringe.
We also have these high-profile
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00:09:10,500 --> 00:09:11,900
speakers that come in every
week.
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00:09:12,300 --> 00:09:15,300
So, typically, there's are,
these are open events, but we
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00:09:15,308 --> 00:09:18,200
get so many applications to come
to the event that we have to
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00:09:18,200 --> 00:09:21,400
basically turn away a little
over half of the people who
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00:09:21,800 --> 00:09:26,600
apply but you know we have sweet
Speakers like Justin con, Andrew
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00:09:26,600 --> 00:09:31,300
Chan and fredersen and you know,
a handful of other even more
166
00:09:31,300 --> 00:09:35,600
amazing ones in the pipeline
coming up and these talks are
167
00:09:35,600 --> 00:09:38,300
usually just Fireside Chats.
Very casual, like literally in
168
00:09:38,300 --> 00:09:42,000
our living room to talk about
whatever, you know that person
169
00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:45,600
is an expert in and it's usually
relevant to whatever the
170
00:09:45,600 --> 00:09:50,000
startups that are working on.
We also have kind of coordinate
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00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:53,800
office hours where somebody from
the launch house Timur.
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Our kind of network will come
and talk about something really
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relevant and important for the
startup.
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00:09:58,700 --> 00:10:03,000
So I give a talk, every cohort
on Twitter for Founders because
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00:10:03,700 --> 00:10:06,800
Twitter is basically the most
important tool in a Founders
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00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:10,200
tool belt.
It's despite all of the
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00:10:10,200 --> 00:10:12,900
excitement about it, it's still
pretty underrated and under
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00:10:13,100 --> 00:10:15,800
discussed.
So we still have some people who
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00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:18,000
either neglected, their Twitter
account or just starting their
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00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:24,600
Twitter accounts every cohort.
Well, we also do It's been
181
00:10:24,600 --> 00:10:29,000
called micro conference, which
is basically where people in the
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00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:32,900
cohort, give like ten minute
lightning talks on whatever they
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00:10:32,900 --> 00:10:36,500
are, you know, an expert in, but
would be valuable for the other,
184
00:10:37,100 --> 00:10:38,400
for the, for the rest of the
community.
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00:10:40,300 --> 00:10:42,900
And yeah, those are the main
ones we do have a lot of.
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00:10:42,900 --> 00:10:45,900
We do have dinners every night.
We do have kind of more fun
187
00:10:45,900 --> 00:10:47,500
events.
So we have last night.
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00:10:47,500 --> 00:10:53,800
We had a Content day where we
invited over a bunch of.
189
00:10:53,900 --> 00:10:58,100
Of like huge Tick, Tock and
Instagram influencers and played
190
00:10:58,300 --> 00:11:00,400
the squid games.
I don't know how.
191
00:11:01,600 --> 00:11:04,200
Yeah, so we played squid games
with them.
192
00:11:04,200 --> 00:11:06,700
It was really funny because it
was like, half of the
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00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:09,800
competitors were startup
Founders, half of them were
194
00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:12,400
influencers.
And, you know, the objective of
195
00:11:12,408 --> 00:11:16,500
those types of content days and
things like that are to build
196
00:11:16,500 --> 00:11:18,300
connections between Founders and
creators.
197
00:11:18,300 --> 00:11:21,600
Because one of the biggest
things, one of our biggest
198
00:11:21,600 --> 00:11:25,900
beliefs is that creators are It
really, really important partner
199
00:11:26,900 --> 00:11:29,900
in terms of one, understanding
your audience.
200
00:11:29,900 --> 00:11:33,300
Like these people understand
audiences and humans better than
201
00:11:33,300 --> 00:11:35,700
anybody else.
And number two is getting the
202
00:11:35,700 --> 00:11:37,400
distribution.
You need to get front of your
203
00:11:37,400 --> 00:11:40,200
customers.
Right?
204
00:11:40,600 --> 00:11:42,700
Let's let's talk about
distributional, bit more and
205
00:11:42,700 --> 00:11:45,000
specifically Twitter.
Twitter is my weak point.
206
00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:49,200
I have started multiple times.
I have tried to be consistent
207
00:11:49,200 --> 00:11:52,700
consistent with it and I failed,
I just just doesn't work for me,
208
00:11:52,900 --> 00:11:53,800
so can you tell us a little
more?
209
00:11:53,900 --> 00:11:57,200
About Twitter specifically for
fundraising, how does it work?
210
00:11:57,200 --> 00:11:58,900
What is your major advice in
that fields?
211
00:11:58,900 --> 00:12:02,400
And just, you know, the share,
whatever you want to share on
212
00:12:02,400 --> 00:12:04,100
this subject?
Yeah.
213
00:12:04,900 --> 00:12:09,700
So fundraising is basically a
game of trust, right?
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So, when a venture capitalist is
evaluating you to invest in your
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company, they're evaluating the
risk.
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Like, and the easiest way to
mitigate risk is to create trust
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between you and the venture
capitalist.
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Because if you're telling
somebody hey my company is going
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to be worth a billion dollars in
two years, whether or not they
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believe you is a function of
trust.
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And one of the most important
things is that we trust our
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friends and family more than
anybody else in the world,
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right?
That's why I like the mafia is,
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you know, in, you know, in New
York and Italy and stuff,
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they're like literally families
like their crime families.
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That's why you call you call
each other brother or sister or
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whatever like that, you know.
It's To create trust, right?
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If you go into the souks and
they in the bazaars, you know,
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in different countries, they'll
they'll they'll call you
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brother.
He because family is family is
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Trust.
And so the idea is that one way
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one of the easiest ways to build
trust is familiarity.
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There's like a psychological
studies that showed that people
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who spend are exposed to
something more often so somebody
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else more often trust it more.
Right.
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So the idea is that, we repeated
exposure shows shows a stress.
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The other thing to think about
is like people who are in the
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same friend circles as you, you
trust them or right.
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So, the idea is like, Twitter is
just a group of people hanging
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out, think about it.
That Twitter is a group of
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people hanging out and what
anytime you get on Twitter, you
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apply to some tweets, you treat
yourself.
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You're basically showing up to
that hangout and the really
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important thing is that all
those people out of those people
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are Venture capitalists.
There are there their Founders
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their designers Engineers there
they are the people that you
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want to hang out with because
they are going to fund your
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company.
One day, they're going to work
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at your company one day and so
whatever you're doing, doesn't
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matter?
No matter what you're saying or
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doing as long.
You're not being an idiot or
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mean.
Uh-huh.
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As long as you show up in our
present for an extended period
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of time, you'll have familiarity
people will people know who you
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are and people will trust you.
So that's one of the simplest
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ways to understand what you
know, why Twitter is so
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valuable.
The other thing is Twitter is
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also your kind of like top of
funnel as a media company.
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So the reality is were all kind
of media companies.
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We all Product were selling as a
Founder.
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You're selling Equity to
investors, right?
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You're selling the vision, the
story of your company.
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And so, you know, you have to go
to where your customers are in
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order to Market to them to sell
to them.
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Hmm.
Your customers, The Venture
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capitalists are hanging out on
Twitter, so it's just a really,
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really important place to be.
It's the reason that launch
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house has been successful, both
from, you know, attracting
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investors, but as well as
attracting and, you know,
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Founders and employees and
stuff.
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All right, I mean, Twitter is
definitely a very good thing to
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raise money and recently
Clubhouse, a tattoo that's
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recently kind of died out, but
anyways, it was definitely
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somewhere up there.
So, yeah, those places you can
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legitimately find good money for
you around especially early
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rounds.
So this is very, very good
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advice and even begged by solid
evidence, take a familiarity
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researches.
That is true, and that Proven
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and yeah, great advice.
Love it.
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So we'll talk about normal
accelerators.
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Now, there are hundreds and
hundreds of them.
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Well, I have interviewed dozens
of founders of different
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accelerators, quite a few of
them are absolutely great.
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I have seen founders of
exteriors that are not as great
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as most of them are.
So can you talk a little more
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about those differences between
actually good accelerators that
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do provide value versus those
that are not as you know as good
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as as the others.
The reason there is terrible.
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I apologize for that but you
understand the point.
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Yeah.
So basically the way to think
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about fundraising and venture
capital is that it's a trait,
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the most basic component of the
trade is your trading money for
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equity in your company.
So way back in the day when like
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they're basically not that many
Venture capitalists or anything
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or companies or even knowledge
on how to build companies you.
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That was it that was Entire
trade, you would trade capital
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or your trade equity for
Capital, right?
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And so now that there's so much
more, you know, energy in the
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ecosystem, there's so many more
startups.
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There's so many more investors
accelerators emerged, basically,
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to give an extra value add
because guess what guess what's
302
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better than giving a company
money ensuring their success?
303
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So a lot of these accelerators
basically, their job is to
304
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ensure that their bets do well.
And so they have these
305
00:17:07,900 --> 00:17:10,800
obviously, that help help that
and the main ways that they
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focus, their main focus areas,
obviously our fundraising and
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getting customers.
Like so YC is, you know, the
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poster child here, which is like
they have their demo day,
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there's always the YC markup and
they also helped a lot with
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getting your first customers, if
you're a B2B SAS company.
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00:17:30,500 --> 00:17:33,100
And the reason for that is they
have this massive community of
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Founders, that is very, very
dedicated to the the YC brand.
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And so Founders obviously are
the primary customers for B2B
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SAS products.
So it makes sense.
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00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:48,300
That YC would be B2B SAS
oriented because, you know,
316
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that's those are the customers
that they have access to you
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right away.
So it's important about this is
318
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that times have changed
Founders, have tons, and tons
319
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and tons of options, the
internet and social media have
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matured, we're especially if
you're, you know, a Founder
321
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that's already in the Bay Area.
Or plugged into the, you know,
322
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the startup scene or on Twitter
to emphasize that point.
323
00:18:14,900 --> 00:18:19,600
Again, you don't necessarily
need to, you don't need a lot of
324
00:18:19,600 --> 00:18:23,700
the services that the the
accelerators are offering namely
325
00:18:24,500 --> 00:18:28,100
namely, you don't need the
fundraising support because
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00:18:28,100 --> 00:18:32,200
guess what there's tons of
investors out there at now, it
327
00:18:32,200 --> 00:18:34,400
can that will give you the
valuation you need.
328
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And number two, is acquiring
customers.
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Is easier than it used to be.
So really, what's happening is
330
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great.
Founders know this and great
331
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Founders are opting out of going
to these accelerators.
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It's, there's kind of a metaphor
for what's happening in
333
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education as well.
We're like really, really smart,
334
00:18:55,200 --> 00:18:58,800
you know, driven people as long
as they're not going into
335
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medicine or law, they're
dropping out of college right?
336
00:19:02,600 --> 00:19:04,800
And it doesn't mean that people
everybody that goes to colleges
337
00:19:04,800 --> 00:19:07,700
dumb.
It mean it means that many of
338
00:19:07,700 --> 00:19:09,900
the the smartest people are
dropping out of college.
339
00:19:10,200 --> 00:19:13,600
So as an accelerator your you
know, strategically obviously
340
00:19:13,600 --> 00:19:17,100
you want to get those coin basis
and and Stripes as much as
341
00:19:17,100 --> 00:19:19,900
possible.
But the reality is that's going
342
00:19:19,900 --> 00:19:22,600
to become less and less true
because great Founders have to
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have options.
So what I think is happening in
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00:19:25,500 --> 00:19:28,400
the accelerator world, as this
kind of emergence of non
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00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:34,500
accelerators which where you
know, programs and companies and
346
00:19:34,500 --> 00:19:37,800
organizations that deliver
value, and create genuine.
347
00:19:37,900 --> 00:19:41,900
Connections with Founders first
before asking for Equity before
348
00:19:42,200 --> 00:19:46,300
before doing anything like that.
So that's kind of what we're
349
00:19:46,300 --> 00:19:47,600
focused on at launch house right
now.
350
00:19:47,600 --> 00:19:51,200
Which is, you know, we know that
the greatest Founders in the
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00:19:51,200 --> 00:19:54,000
world have options.
So let's just create a great
352
00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:58,000
experience for them and then you
know, eventually if they let us
353
00:19:58,200 --> 00:20:03,700
investable do that, Perfect.
I love the response and yet 100%
354
00:20:03,700 --> 00:20:06,000
agree with you hear.
A lot of accelerators are
355
00:20:06,100 --> 00:20:08,800
extraordinary, extraordin,
really old school.
356
00:20:09,400 --> 00:20:12,800
I have seen some people even
giving advice that you should
357
00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:17,100
actually print out your pitch
decks and yeah, definitely on
358
00:20:17,100 --> 00:20:19,400
the same page with you hear, a
lot of the values that they
359
00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:24,700
provide are stuck in 2010 but
where it was not as easy to get
360
00:20:24,700 --> 00:20:27,500
in touch with investors with
your customers and you actually
361
00:20:27,500 --> 00:20:32,100
needed a lot of pink.
Reduction from well-connected to
362
00:20:32,100 --> 00:20:35,300
investors.
Intros are still good but not as
363
00:20:35,300 --> 00:20:37,900
valuable as they used to be so
bread, we're definitely on the
364
00:20:37,900 --> 00:20:41,500
same page here again.
So now that we have that all
365
00:20:41,500 --> 00:20:45,500
covered moving on to the last
two questions and one of them is
366
00:20:45,500 --> 00:20:47,700
just a technical one.
I forgot to ask it and I'm
367
00:20:47,700 --> 00:20:50,500
curious for Founders who are
listening to this right now and
368
00:20:50,500 --> 00:20:52,900
they're like, you know what
Lounge house does sound bound?
369
00:20:53,700 --> 00:20:55,600
How do I get in?
How much is it?
370
00:20:58,500 --> 00:21:03,900
Yeah so contest is a lot of fun
definitely emphasize that point.
371
00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:08,200
So we have an application
process just like any normal
372
00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:11,100
accelerator.
A lot of the lot of the
373
00:21:11,100 --> 00:21:12,600
questions are probably pretty
similar.
374
00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:14,900
We asked people to post a fun
video.
375
00:21:15,100 --> 00:21:18,200
We've had people even create
some cool fun Tick-Tock videos
376
00:21:18,700 --> 00:21:21,700
as well.
But yeah so we have we have
377
00:21:21,700 --> 00:21:25,700
residencies almost every single
month of the year in New York LA
378
00:21:25,700 --> 00:21:28,400
and online.
We actually this is a Is
379
00:21:28,400 --> 00:21:34,000
actually a sneak peek to special
for special for you guys.
380
00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:38,600
Here, we are probably going to
be launching a fundraising
381
00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:43,100
focused digital program in the
winter.
382
00:21:43,500 --> 00:21:46,800
So that would mean it would be a
four-week all online program
383
00:21:46,900 --> 00:21:49,900
would be paid.
There's no equity involved.
384
00:21:49,900 --> 00:21:53,700
It would be paid and we would be
bringing in experts in all the
385
00:21:53,700 --> 00:21:57,900
aspects of fundraising, which is
everything from like you know,
386
00:21:58,600 --> 00:22:02,400
Pitch deck, design.
AKA if you're early stage, don't
387
00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:06,600
make a pitch deck, make an ocean
document number two, number two,
388
00:22:07,300 --> 00:22:12,200
number two like public speaking
storytelling, all those things.
389
00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:14,500
So we did, you get kind of this
Tapas tasting of everything.
390
00:22:14,500 --> 00:22:17,500
You probably need to know in
terms of how to pitch your
391
00:22:17,500 --> 00:22:20,500
company, how to, how to have a
successful fundraiser.
392
00:22:20,500 --> 00:22:25,000
That will be in the winter, but
basically you apply, if you are
393
00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:29,600
a smart driven dedicated, you
know, Person doesn't matter if
394
00:22:29,600 --> 00:22:32,300
you've had success already.
As long as you're on some
395
00:22:32,300 --> 00:22:36,400
awesome trajectory and or your
company is like, really amazing
396
00:22:36,400 --> 00:22:40,800
and we're really excited about
it will admit you.
397
00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:46,000
And then the way it works is
that you pay a program fee as
398
00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:49,900
well as a membership fee.
And obviously, once you
399
00:22:49,900 --> 00:22:51,600
remember, you don't need to pay
the membership fee again.
400
00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:56,000
And you have a discount on the
program fee, but the program,
401
00:22:56,200 --> 00:23:00,300
you know those fees change
depending on On where what type
402
00:23:00,300 --> 00:23:03,000
of program you're doing so
obviously online online is the
403
00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:09,300
cheapest, you know, IRL is on
the other end of the spectrum
404
00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:13,900
and really importantly, we offer
grants for underrepresented
405
00:23:13,900 --> 00:23:17,500
Founders.
So that will all all those
406
00:23:17,500 --> 00:23:20,500
prices and everything will come
out in the interview application
407
00:23:20,500 --> 00:23:24,000
process lace.
Is there a way to take a sneak
408
00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:26,700
peek on it right now?
Can you give us a price range
409
00:23:26,700 --> 00:23:30,700
right now?
I would say that we were we're
410
00:23:30,700 --> 00:23:36,200
cheaper then we're cheaper than
any University, we are probably
411
00:23:38,500 --> 00:23:42,600
And we're cheaper than any
accelerator and we're on par
412
00:23:42,600 --> 00:23:46,700
with a lot of the other kind of
Social Clubs that you imagine
413
00:23:48,100 --> 00:23:52,200
cheaper than the university.
That is an extremely odd.
414
00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:56,500
Kreis Rachel I gave you nothing
but that is.
415
00:23:56,500 --> 00:23:59,600
Okay, let's move on.
Then to the very last question,
416
00:24:00,400 --> 00:24:02,400
the call to action.
So Brett, would you want to
417
00:24:02,408 --> 00:24:04,900
listen to do as soon as this
episode is over?
418
00:24:07,500 --> 00:24:11,800
So I'll actually break this down
into two different areas.
419
00:24:11,800 --> 00:24:15,000
Actually know very simply apply
to launch house.
420
00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:17,500
Launch house. .Ko is our
website.
421
00:24:17,500 --> 00:24:21,700
You can apply and we have
upcoming programs right now.
422
00:24:21,700 --> 00:24:24,700
But we also are going to be
announcing sooner our winter
423
00:24:24,700 --> 00:24:27,600
programs but honestly just hit
the apply button and we'll get
424
00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:32,600
you in the system and then get
you rolling on, you know, into
425
00:24:32,600 --> 00:24:36,300
the community and everything.
Number two is get on Twitter if
426
00:24:36,300 --> 00:24:40,100
you're not Already on Twitter,
get on it, follow launch house
427
00:24:40,100 --> 00:24:44,000
launched underscore house.
Follow me that guy BG.
428
00:24:45,500 --> 00:24:49,200
And yeah, start tweeting have
have some fun and raise that
429
00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:50,900
round.
Perfect.
430
00:24:50,900 --> 00:24:53,200
That is a good acculturation
indeed.
431
00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:56,600
I will not follow your advice
about coat on Twitter.
432
00:24:56,600 --> 00:25:00,100
I gave up on myself there but
that is definitely worth giving
433
00:25:00,100 --> 00:25:01,800
a shot two.
People who don't have any other
434
00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:05,100
exposure, I have my excuse, I
have the podcast so I just say
435
00:25:05,100 --> 00:25:07,100
to myself, you know, don't About
it.
436
00:25:07,100 --> 00:25:11,100
You have the podcast year.
You're fine people, you do make
437
00:25:11,100 --> 00:25:13,100
appearances.
So it's okay for people who do
438
00:25:13,100 --> 00:25:16,300
not have podcasts, definitely
check out the Twitter option.
439
00:25:16,300 --> 00:25:20,200
There are a lot of users to that
tool and the reload of
440
00:25:20,208 --> 00:25:21,800
alternative.
So that if Twitter is not your
441
00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:24,500
thing, there are hundreds of
other places where you can go
442
00:25:24,500 --> 00:25:27,000
where you can get exposure to
investors and where you can
443
00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:29,600
close your rounds in a very
relaxed way.
444
00:25:30,700 --> 00:25:32,900
So do that, follow that call to
action.
445
00:25:32,900 --> 00:25:36,400
And my call to action is going
to be simple as usually go to
446
00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:38,800
the from this episode, I'm going
to include everything that bread
447
00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:43,100
mention, which is Club
clubhouse.
448
00:25:43,100 --> 00:25:46,300
I Lounge house.
That's why I meant there's a
449
00:25:46,300 --> 00:25:48,200
lounge house.
There's going to be Brett's
450
00:25:48,500 --> 00:25:50,400
Twitter.
And also there's going to be
451
00:25:50,400 --> 00:25:54,300
linked to fundraising video
course on fundraising.
452
00:25:54,400 --> 00:25:58,000
We are actually building at
fundraising course, as well, on
453
00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:00,700
one particular part of it, which
is reaching out to investors.
454
00:26:00,700 --> 00:26:05,300
So if you want to figure out how
to do that, definitely check out
455
00:26:05,300 --> 00:26:09,300
the description of this episode.
And as usually have a good day,
456
00:25:41,500 --> 00:25:44,900
Club clubhouse.
I Lounge house.
457
00:25:44,900 --> 00:25:46,800
That's why I meant there's a
lounge house.
458
00:25:46,800 --> 00:25:49,000
There's going to be Brett's
Twitter.
459
00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:52,600
And also there's going to be
linked to fundraising video
460
00:25:52,600 --> 00:25:56,000
course on fundraising.
We are actually building at
461
00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:59,500
fundraising course, as well, on
one particular part of it, which
462
00:25:59,500 --> 00:26:03,100
is reaching out to investors.
So if you want to figure out how
463
00:26:03,100 --> 00:26:07,300
to do that, definitely check out
the description of this episode.
464
00:26:07,400 --> 00:26:09,300
And as usually have a good day,
