Founders Forward Podcast

They did it! Jonathan and the team have wrapped up their raise and they are in the process of finishing up the round. Jonathan shares what he has learned during the raise and what is next for The Juice.

The first term sheets are in hand and the end of the raise is in sight. Jonathan joins us to discuss the term sheets he has in hand and what due diligence has been like so far. Finally, we talk through what hiring plans and projections look like once the cash is in the bank.

Coming off of their first ProductHunt launch, Jonathan joins us to share the current status of the round. We discuss what they've been focusing on internally as a business. Finally, we discuss the term sheets that are on their way.

We are back in the heart of The Juice fundraise. They are a few weeks in and starting to get to the middle of the “3 months of pitching.” We discuss how Jonathan is leveraging verbal commits to build urgency with new investors and discuss what is being shared in The Juice's data room.

Jonathan has been busy with investor meetings and pitches since the last time we chatted. Jonathan breaks down the “VC speed dating” event he attended and updates on other investor conversations. Finally, we hit on financial projections at the pre-seed/seed stage and what investors are looking for in the early stages of financial projections.

Trey Closson is the CEO and Founder of Amplio — a platform for proactively identifying the risks of tomorrow's supply chain. Prior to starting Amplio, Trey spent time at Flexport and Georgia Pacific. Trey joins us to break down his first year as a founder and what he has learned from transitioning from operator to founder. A couple of key topics we hit on:  The current state of the global supply chain issues  How Amplio found their first customers How Amplio is using pilot programs to scale their customer base The importance of relentless focus Why founders should invest in community Why building a startup is a marathon, not a sprint

On Week 3 of the Founders Forward Fundraising Series, Jonathan Gandolf, CEO of The Juice, discusses how pre-seed investors have been evaluating their revenue vs. product vs. team. A few other key topics we hit on: How to talk about revenue with investors How Jonathan leveraged their product while pitching Adding investors to the top of an investor funnel Identifying your ideal investor Related Resources: Building Your Ideal Investor Persona

Jonathan joins us after his first few weeks of heads-down fundraising. We discuss how he is going about adjusting and tweaking his pitch deck as more feedback comes in and how he is leveraging his network (and customers) to find intros to potential investors.A few other key topics we hit on: Managing pitch deck recommendations and changes Designing a pitch deck with a small team Finding introductions to potential investors Leveraging customers for investor introductions Related Resources: Our Teaser Pitch Deck Template Creating Momentum in Your Fundraise with Brett Brohl

We dig into the business behind The Juice and the fundamentals of their pre-seed funding round. Jonathan is ready to go with a list of 60 potential investors and a pitch deck in hand. Hop around and learn more about what we covered in week 1 below:  The Juice business model  How Jonathan is building his investor outreach list What Jonathan's plans are for reaching out to investors The pitch deck feedback loop

Josh Abulafia & Elle Curran are the Co-founders of ChefPrep. ChefPrep is a marketplace for ready made meals that are prepared by award winning restaurants, delivered to your door. Josh and Elle join us to break down their journey as startup founders. A few key topics: 00:00 Introduction01:20 How ChefPrep validated their core thesis02:45 Why ChefPrep decided to focus on the supply side 05:25 Key marketplace metrics they track08:25 Building barriers to entry in marketplaces09:45 Why tracking the right data is vital to startup success12:00 Building their company operating system

Malcolm Burenstam Linder is the CEO and Co-founder of Alva Labs. The team at Alva Labs is creating a more fair and data-driven recruitment process. Malcolm joins us to break down his story and journey as a founder.A few key topics we hit on:  How Alva found their first customers  Using personal networks to find their first customers Why founders need to be extremely diligent about their first hires Why seeing a professional coach has been a gamechanger for him  Why everyone should look beyond a resume when hiring 

Matt Achariam and Zach Hamed are the Co-founders of Clay. Clay is a beautiful and private home for all your relationships. Populated from the ground up using your calendar and social history, Clay is the most stunning, powerful way to remember who you've met—and what matters to them.Matt & Zach join us to hit on a few key ideas:00:00 Introduction02:28 How they acquired their first customers06:45 Manually onboarding their first users07:45 Why they focus on the problem to better build product12:45 Why founders should stop overthinking outreach14:30 The importance of empathy in the startup world18:45 Why you should compliment more people21:30 Relationship-based fundraisingLearn more about Clay here — https://clay.earth/Or follow along Twitter here — https://twitter.com/ClayHQ

Yaw Aning is the CEO and Founder of Malomo. Malomo is a shipment tracking platform that helps eCommerce brands turn order tracking from a cost center into a profitable marketing channel. Yaw joins us to break down: 00:00 Introduction2:10 How Malomo found their first customers13:10 The importance of finding a co-founder15:00 How and why you need to solve customer's problems16:45 How Yaw found his co-founder18:00 The importance of being able to shut down21:30 How to prioritize time If you have eCommerce questions or things you'd like to discuss, find Yaw on Twitter @YawA. If you'd like to learn more about Malomo, check out their website here — https://gomalomo.com/The Founders Forward is Produced by Visible — Our platform helps thousands of founders update investors, track key metrics, and raise capital. Try Visible free for 14 days here, https://visible.vc/

For the first episode, we welcomed Nick Loui, CEO and Founder of PeakMetrics. PeakMetrics uses machine learning to spot trends & predict message resonance across news, social, and TV/radio. In this episode, we break down: — Getting over the cold start problem— Creating value through aggregation— Narrowing down your target audienceGive episode 1 with Nick Loui a listen below (or give it a listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you normally consume podcasts)

On episode 10 of the Founders Forward Podcast, we welcome Gale Wilkinson. Gale is the Managing Partner at Vitalize Ventures — "an early-stage fund & angel community investing in software focused on future of work and future of learning."Before starting Vitalize, Gale started her career in venture capital at Irish Angels. Gale is one of our favorite follows on Twitter where she shares tactical tips for founders on fundraising. She joins us to break down some of her most popular threads on Twitter and offers countless takeaways to help early-stage founders fundraise — covering everything from list building to ownership benchmarks.What You Can Expect to Learn from Gale: How VC has changed over the last 10 years Why Vitalize is launching an angel group Why list building is vital to a successful fundraise How many investors a founder should expect to talk to during a raise What catches her eye in a cold email from a founder What she looks for in a pitch deck Why she cares about financial modeling at the early stages  

On episode 9 of the Founders Forward Podcast, we welcome Lisa Besserman. Lias Besserman is the Managing Director at Expa — an accelerator based in Austin, TX dedicated to supporting pre-seed companies. Lisa started her career as an economist but ultimately found her way to founding Startup Buenos Aires — an accelerator located in Buenos Aires to help support startups in Latin America. Since then Lisa has made the move to Expa where is the managing director of their accelerator. Between her time at Startup Buenos Aires and Expa, Lisa has a wealth of knowledge related to all things company building, fundraising, and leading — especially at the early stages. Our CEO, Mike Preuss, had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Lisa. Give the full episode a listen here. What You Can Expect to Learn from Lisa: How founders can best connect with investors How to determine if an accelerator is right for your business What kind of companies Expa is interested in funding Why founders should try their best for a warm intro What she likes to see in a cold email  How to determine how much to raise What she thinks the future of VC looks like Related Resources: Lisa's Twitter Lisa's LinkedIn Application to apply for Expa Expa's Visible Connect profile

On episode 8 of the Founders Forward Podcast, we welcome Anne Dwane. Anne is the partner and co-founder at Village Global — an early-stage venture capital firm backed by successful entrepreneurs. Anne has a unique perspective on the VC space as she founded her first successful startup, Military.com, in the 1990s. After Military.com, Anne founded a startup later acquired by Chegg where she helped scale as they went public. Anne joins us to share what she has learned from time in the space. We discuss who founders should look to for advice, the thought process behind the roster of Village Global's LPs, and how founders can build a fundraising process. Our CEO, Mike Preuss, had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Anne. You can give the full episode a listen above.What You Can Expect to Learn from Anne: What Anne learned from helping scale Chegg How the startup world has transformed since her time founding Military.com in the 90s Why founders should look for a "thought partner" Why founders funding founders is a good thing How to build a fundraising process What she likes to see in a cold email from a founder Related Resources: Anne's Twitter Anne's LinkedIn The Village Global application Village Global's Visible Connect Profile The Founders Forward is Produced by VisibleOur platforms helps thousands of founders update investors, track key metrics, and raise capital. Try Visible free for 14 days.

On episode 7 of the Founders Forward Podcast, we welcome Kristian Andersen. Kristian is a founder and partner at High Alpha, a venture studio located in Indianapolis. Before launching High Alpha, Kristian founded the prolific design agency, Studio Science. During his time at Studio Science, Kristian primarily served software companies which ultimately led to him being a founding partner at High Alpha. Between Kristian's experience at Studio Science and his time at High Alpha helping launch 30+ companies, it is safe to say he knows a thing or 2 about design and storytelling. Kristian joins us to break down how design can be a competitive advantage, the importance of storytelling in business, the High Alpha Studio model, and much more. Our CEO, Mike Preuss, had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Kristian. You can give the full episode a listen below:What You Can Expect to Learn from Kristian: How the High Alpha Studio models work What kind of co-founders they look for at High Alpha How design can be a competitive advantage  Why storytelling is important in business and fundraising Why Coco Chanel, Teddy Roosevelt, and Ralph Lauren are great storytellers What he likes to see in a cold email from a founder Related Resources: Kristian's Twitter Kristian's website Apply to become a High Alpha Co-founder High Alpha's Visible Connect Profile The Founders Forward is Produced by VisibleOur platforms helps thousands of founders update investors, track key metrics, and raise capital. Try Visible free for 14 days.

On episode 6, season 2 of the Founders Forward Podcast, we welcome Corinne Riley. Corinne is an investor at the prolific venture capital firm, Greylock, where she primarily invests in B2B companies. Over the course of her career, Corinne has built a knack for helping companies build and develop a go-to-market motion. Corinne has extensive knowledge of community-led growth and helping companies grow at the earliest stages of their business. Corinne joins the show to break down community-led companies and the thought process behind her investment decision-making. Our CEO, Mike Preuss, had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Corinne. You can give the full episode a listen below:

On episode 5, season 2 of the Founders Forward Podcast, we welcome Ezra Galston. Ezra is the founder and partner at Starting Line, a consumer-focused VC fund located in Chicago. As someone who has faced the ups and downs of being a founder (plus the stresses of fundraising), Ezra and the team at Starting Line has made mental health a focus. Every founder in the Starting Line portfolio receives a subsidy for "their first three sessions of therapy, executive coaching, or co-founder counseling (up to $200 each)." Ezra joins the Founders Forward to break down fundraising, founder health, and the consumer market/what excites the team at Starting Line. Our CEO, Mike Preuss, had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Ezra. You can give the full episode a listen below:

On episode 4, season 2 of the Founders Forward Podcast, we welcome Tyler Tringas. Tyler is the founder and General Partner at Calm Company Fund (formerly Earnest Capital). The Calm Company Fund invests in exactly what it sounds like — "profitable, sustainable, calm businesses." Tyler offers a unique perspective as someone who invest in companies that may not be the huge companies that a traditional venture capitalist eyes. He joins us to break down what exactly a "calm" business is, the current market dynamics that are creating more need for funders like Calm Company Fund, and much more. Our CEO, Mike Preuss, had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Tyler. You can give the full episode a listen below:

On episode 3, season 2 of the Founders Forward Podcast, we welcome Elizabeth Yin. Elizabeth is the founder of Hustle Fund, a venture fund for "hilariously-early founders." As a past founder and current investor (and a founder favorite Twitter follow), Elizabeth knows what it takes to successfully raise a round of venture capital. Elizabeth breaks down how founders can leverage tranches, raising from small funds and angels, and shares other tactical tips to knock out your seed round. Our CEO, Mike Preuss, had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Elizabeth. You can give the full episode a listen below:

On episode 2, season 2 of the Founders Forward Podcast, we welcome Brett Brohl of Bread & Butter Ventures. Brett is the Managing Director of Bread & Butter Ventures as well as the Managing Director of the Techstars Farm to Fork Accelerator. As a past founder and current investor, Brett has a wealth of knowledge on how founders can best create momentum in their fundraising process. Brett walks us through the soups to nuts of running a strong fundraising process.

On episode 1, season 2 of the Founders Forward Podcast we welcome on Kenn So of Shasta Ventures. Kenn is an associate at Shasta and invests in B2B enterprise software companies with a personal focus in Machine Learning. Kenn joins the Founders Forward to break down the trends taking place that are influencing company valuations. We also dig into how founders can leverage investor updates and cold email to create momentum in a fundraising process. 

On episode 12 of the Founders Forward Podcast we are joined by Lex Oiler, CEO and Founder of Billbox. Billbox is "reversing the debt cycle by making it easier for patients to pay medical bills- while improving their credit score." Lex took the idea for Billbox, started the company, and raised capital all within a few months (with a product launch slated for early 2021). Before starting Billbox, Lex was a product designer at Mixmax. On top of her journey from designer to founder, Lex is a holistic health coach. We talk everything from wellness to design to crowdfunding.

On episode 11 of the Founders Forward Podcast we welcome Lolita Taub of Community Fund and Eric Bahn of Hustle Fund. Eric and Lolita recently launched The First Pitches Podcast “where famous founders share the first version of their pitch.” Combined with the fact that they are both investors in early stage startups it is fair to say they've seen their fair share of fundraising pitches. We could not think of a better one-two punch to help founders improve their storytelling and fundraising.

On episode 9 of the Founders Forward Podcast we welcome Jim McKelvey, Co-Founder of Square. The now publicly traded company with a $100B+ market cap has humble beginnings dating back to Jim and his time in a glass studio. Jim recently published his book, The Innovation Stack: Building an Unbeatable Business One Crazy Idea at a Time, that studies how Square managed to thrive and beat Amazon and draws on similar stories from companies like Southwest and Ikea. 

On episode 9 of the Founders Forward Podcast we welcome Don Brown, Founder and CEO of LifeOmic. Prior to starting LifeOmic Don started 6 companies with his first being acquired by GM in 1986 and his most recent, Interactive Intelligence, being acquired for $1.4B in 2016. Since the acquisition Don has turned to his passion of medicine and the medical field by founding LifeOmic. LifeOmic is a single platform that "activates precision health and wellness."

On episode 8 of the Founders Forward Podcast we interview Nate Turner, Co-Founder of Ten Speed. Ten Speed helps "companies accelerate funnel growth by quickly growing traffic to existing content." Prior to starting Ten Speed, Nate was the VP of Marketing Operations at Sprout Social (and their first marketer). Nate helped take Sprout Social from a modest startup doing a $100k in revenue to a publicly traded company doing over $22M in revenue during his time there.

On episode 7 of the Founders Forward Podcast we welcome Cheryl Campos, Head of Venture Growth and Partnerships at Republic. Republic is a crowdfunding platform for startups. It allows founders to access a wide range of angel investors and small check investors. Cheryl has been there for 3+ years and has watched the market transform and become a popular funding option for startups.

On episode 6 of the Founders Forward Podcast we welcome Yin Wu, CEO and Founder of Pulley. Pulley is a cap table platform for hyper-growth startups. Pulley is the third company that Yin has started so it is safe to say she knows the ins and outs of building a startup. 

On episode 5 of the Founders Forward Podcast we welcome Kyle Poyar, VP of Growth at OpenView Ventures. OpenView Ventures is an expansion stage venture firm with an extreme focus on software (SaaS) companies. Unique to OpenView is their team of in-house experts, like Kyle, that portfolio companies can call on to help tackle a growth issue. OpenView coined the term product-led growth. If there is one person that knows the ins and outs of PLG, it's Kyle. 

On episode 4 of the Founders Forward Podcast we are joined by Aishetu Dozie, the CEO and Founder of Bossy Cosmetics. Before starting Bossy, Aishetu worked in banking at just about every major firm. Aishetu has an incredible story from banking to beauty. From her struggles raising venture capital to the incredible community she has built at Bossy.

On episode 3 of the Founders Forward Podcast we welcome Jeff Kahn, the CEO and Founder of Rise Science. Rise is the only app that unlocks the real-world benefits of better sleep. Jeff has 10 years of sleep science experience and research. Before starting Rise Science Jeff spent time publishing academic articles and supporting world class athletes and teams with better sleep. There is no doubt about it that Jeff knows about sleep. 

On episode 2 of the Founders Forward Podcast we are joined by Amanda Goetz, CMO of Teal and Founder at House of Wise. Before taking the leap into her second time as a founder, Amanda was the VP of Marketing at The Knot. With her experience in branding and recent jump to starting House of Wise we couldn't think of a better guest to chat about all things branding and founder life.

What You Can Expect to Learn from Lindsay: Why invest in a podcast at your company? How to measure podcast success, find the right guest, and create great content. Leverage podcasting for board meetings and product launches. How Lindsay approached fundraising and why she actually liked it. How to set boundaries and balance with work. The importance of conversation and connection. We created the Founders Forward Podcast to learn from people like Lindsay. For the founders out there debating a podcast (or alternative media type), Lindsay is a great guide to lean on and listen to.  As you scale your business, having the right guides at your side can make all of the difference. Each episode we'll talk to fellow founders, investors and experts. We'll dive into their zone of genius as well as hear about their past mistakes to give you a better chance of success.