Series Tea

This week we're having tea with Nick Tommarello, founder and CEO at Wefunder, a crowdfunding platform that allows anyone—customers, users, fans—to invest as little as $100 in companies they love. Nick is an alumni of Y Combinator (W13) and Techstars (Boston '10). In this episode, Nick and Immad discuss:How the law changed on crowdfunding optionsWhy founders might choose to raise funds on WefunderThe benefits of having distributed ownershipThe future of Wefunder and crowdfundingLinks:Nick TommarelloWefunder

Join Immad Akhund with Pilot CEO and Co-founder, Waseem Daher, and Ramp's Chief Business Officer, Colin Kennedy, as they discuss the acquisition process for startups.

This week we’re having tea with Mike Miller and Michael Ma, Partners at Liquid 2 Ventures. Before joining Liquid 2, Mike founded Cloudant (now IBM’s Cloud Data Services) and raised $18M before getting acquired by IBM. Michael Ma was the COO & Founder of TalkBin, acquired by Google, and then served as a Product Manager for Google. In this episode, Mike and Michael share: - Areas they’re excited about investing in - What Liquid 2 looks for in a great team - The most common mistakes founders make when pitching

This week we’re having tea with Leo Polovets, co-founder and General Partner at Susa Ventures. Before joining Susa Ventures, Leo was the second engineering hire at LinkedIn and built the first versions of products like LinkedIn Jobs and LinkedIn Groups. In this episode, Leo shares: 06:50: Tips for sending a cold intro 18:44: How founders can think about and pitch valuations 50:29: If seed-stage founders should pay themselves a salary

This week we’re having tea with Scott Orn, COO at Kruze Consulting, a startup CFO consulting firm. Prior to joining Kruze, where he runs the Venture Debt consulting practice, Scott was a Partner at Lighthouse Capital and has been part of deals like Upwork, Impossible Foods, and Freshbooks.

This week we’re having tea with Alex Bouaziz, Founder of Deel. Prior to founding Deel, Alex Bouaziz was Founding Partner at Sarona Ventures and Co-founder at Lifeslice, a mobile app for creating collaborative videos. In this episode, Alex shares: 03:50: How to create serendipity between remote employees 14:20: Choosing between independent contractors vs. salaried employees 18:40: How to think about cost-of-living and salary adjustments Want to hear more? Like the episode? Send us a note at seriestea@mercury.com.

This conversation was recorded live on Clubhouse. In this episode, Kanyi and Steve share:- How many companies Kindred invests in per year- What makes a cold email stand out- If Kindred invests in companies from other countries Want to hear more? Like the episode? Send us a note at seriestea@mercury.com.

This conversation was recorded live on Zoom. In this episode, Sahil shares:- Should CEOs be running funds on the side?- Is there a base level qualification you need before you’re ready to start a rolling fund?- What is a syndicate? Do they work alongside rolling funds?-  How Sahil thinks about warm intros vs cold outreachWant to hear more? Like the episode? Send us a note at seriestea@mercury.com.

This conversation was recorded live on Zoom. In this episode, Jamie shares:- Mistakes founders make when thinking about growth- The best process for experimenting with a new channel- How to approach growth for products with a high learning curve- Attributes to look for in a good growth hireWant to hear more? Like the episode? Send us a note at seriestea@mercury.com.

This conversation was recorded live on Clubhouse. In this episode, Hunter and Satya share:20:14: Should entrepreneurs favor more involved lead investors?29:01: How to pitch Homebrew: cold emails vs lukewarm intros 49:33: Is equity crowdfunding a turnoff to future investors? Want to hear more? Like the episode? Send us a note at seriestea@mercury.com.

This conversation was filmed live on Zoom with questions from the audience. In this episode, John shares:- Founders Preferred - what is it and when to set it up- Is there a correct ratio for converting stock into Founders Preferred?- Ideal pre-Series A board composition- Avoiding dilution and pushing for equity refreshersWant to hear more? Like the episode? Send us a note at seriestea@mercury.com.

This conversation was filmed live on Zoom with questions from the audience. In this episode, Elizabeth shares:- How Hustle Fund defines pre-seed- Check sizes and valuations at Hustle Fund- Assessing for scrappiness in founders- How to  pitch Hustle FundWant to hear more? Like the episode? Send us a note at seriestea@mercury.com.

This week we’re having tea with Kevin Hartz, co-founder and chairman of Eventbrite. He's an early investor in startups like PayPal, Airbnb, and Pinterest. Most recently, he founded A-*, a new special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) which raised $200 million to acquire A-One and take it public. In this episode, Kevin shares: 0:55: What a SPAC is and why he chose to start one 04:44: How he launched a SPAC in 60 days 15:45: The revenue number at which startups should go public 19:21: The difference between SPACs and direct listings 28:23: How SPACs work in practice Want to hear more? Like the episode? Send us a note at seriestea@mercury.com.

This week we’re having tea with Andrew Ofstad, Co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Airtable. Andrew previously led the redesign of Google Maps and worked as a PM on Android. In this episode, Andrew shares: 0:39: The timeline of getting Airtable to market 9:10: Tradeoffs between going after a narrow use case and building a horizontal product 17:05: How Airtable thought about pricing their pro account Want to hear more? Like the episode? Send us a note at seriestea@mercury.com.

This week we’re having tea with Chris Lyons who leads the Cultural Leadership Fund at Andreessen Horowitz. The goal of the CLF is to connect great cultural leaders to the best new technology companies and enable more African Americans to get into tech. Chris previously served as Chief of Staff at Andreessen Horowitz and worked with Jermaine Dupri as a music producer and engineer. In this episode, Chris shares: 0:45: How Chris’ journey led him to A16Z and the CLF 5:10: Why CLF is tackling diversity on the cap table 14:07: What entrepreneurs can do to increase diversity in their own startups Want to hear more? Like the episode? Send us a note at seriestea@mercury.com.

This week we’re having tea with Allison Barr Allen. Allison is the COO and co-founder of Fast, a one-click login and check out startup. They recently raised a $20m Series A from Stripe and Index Ventures. Previously, she was Head of Product Operations for the Money team at Uber. She is also an angel investor with Trail Run Capital. In this episode, Allison shares: 3:50: Why existing financial tools don’t serve customers well 5:30: Where she sees opportunities in fintech and payments 12:10: Why designing simple products is so challenging 14:00: How Fast thinks about brand and content Want to hear more? Like the episode? Send us a note at seriestea@mercury.com.

This week we’re having tea with Semil Shah. Through his seed fund, Haystack, he's invested in 70+ startups including Instacart, DoorDash, and Opendoor. He's also a venture partner at Lightspeed. In this episode, Semil shares: - 2:48: What entrepreneurs need to know about portfolio construction - 10:08: Why public markets aren't matching the private investment sector - 19:30: How entrepreneurs can use valuation as a lever when fundraising - 22:28: Why he passed on investing in Clubhouse Want to hear more? Like the episode? Send us a note at seriestea@mercury.com.

This week we’re having tea with Brianne Kimmel, founder and managing partner of Work Life Ventures. She’s an investor in Webflow, Voiceflow, Tandem, and 20+ startups focused on the future of work. Business Insider recently named Brianne a top angel investor that every startup should know. In this episode, Brianne shares: 3:25: Why productivity tools blur lines between consumer and enterprise 6:12: Tools to help remote teams stay connected 9:30: How companies can reimagine benefits for remote teams 13:30: Advice for startups to extend runway and limit churn Want to hear more? Like the episode? Send us a note at seriestea@mercury.com.

This week we're having tea with Brad Flora, a Visiting Partner at Y Combinator. Prior to YC, Brad founded and sold Perfect Audience, an online advertising startup. He's an active angel investor and has invested in 150 startups around the globe. In this episode, Brad shares: 4:08: How he broke into investing  5:26: Why he bets big on international markets 13:16: Where he sees investment opportunities  15:33: Why raising in Silicon Valley is harder for international startups

This week we're having tea with Cadran Cowansage. Cadran is the CEO and founder of Elpha, an online community for women in tech. Prior to founding Elpha, Cadran was an Engineering lead at Y Combinator and Senior Software Engineer at Mongo DB. In this episode, Cadran shares: 1:55: How to know if building community makes sense for your company 5:05: What resources you need to invest in community building 8:45: Tactics to get a new community off the ground 13:10: How to building and monetize a healthy community Want to hear more? Like the episode? Send us a note at seriestea@mercury.com.

This week, we're having tea with serial entrepreneur and investor, Elad Gil. In a past life, Elad started the Mobile team at Google and co-founded Color Genomics. Now, he's an investor and advisor to companies including Airbnb, Pinterest, and Stripe. He's also the author of the High Growth Handbook.  In this episode, Elad shares: 1:27: How both early and late stage companies can adjust to a downturn  6:52: The amount of runway you should aim for  13:05: How to position decelerated growth to investors 18:07: Why now is a great time to start a new company Want to hear more? Like the episode? Send us a note at seriestea@mercury.com.

This week we're having tea with Seth Bannon, a founding partner at Fifty Years. Fifty Years, a seed fund backing socially impactful startups, has invested in companies including Memphis Meats, Solugen, and Astranis. Previously, Seth was founder/CEO of Amicus, a Y Combinator-backed fundraising tool for non-profits. In this episode, Seth shares: 2:00: The technological advancements that came out of WWII efforts, and how COVID-19 can help us prepare for future pandemics 4:45: Where technologists can go to get involved in COVID-19 efforts 24:40: How Fifty Years portfolio companies are tackling the COVID-19 pandemic 27:00: The one biotech startup Seth wishes someone would build Want to hear more? Like the episode? Send us a note at seriestea@mercury.com.

This week, we’re having tea with James Beshara, an angel investor in companies like Gusto, ThirdLove and Halo Top. James was also the CEO/Founder of Tilt, a crowdfunding platform that was acquired by Airbnb. In this episode, James shares: 0:35: How a very early bet on Gusto got James into investing 6:30: A 5-step framework for evaluating D2C brands 15:45: How D2C brands can think about valuations and fundraising Want to hear more? Like the episode? Send us a note at seriestea@mercury.com.