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A Much-Needed Perspective on Investors

A Much-Needed Perspective on Investors

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Image by Stefan Schweihofer from Pixabay

We were in an online webinar recently, with a young investor as the guest speaker on the virtual dais. He is a former founder with several failures and one success under his belt. Given the fact that he has sat on both sides of the table, we were particularly curious about his investment approach, especially since he is a partner in a quite large fund.

While he is new to the investment side of the table, he has already developed his philosophy: if he is predisposed to investing in a company, he advises the founder to get some traction – meaning paying customers – and check back with him in a few months, whether the founder had achieved this or not. After said time, provided the founder is in the same position monetarily, he advises a pivot.

He does position himself as a very early-stage investor. Maybe not back-of-the-napkin, but fairly close. Read More...

He’s Baa-aack!

He’s Baa-aack!

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Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay

Meta – the company formerly known as Facebook – has gone all in on the metaverse and judging from this past week’s press conference where Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg showcased his latest and greatest, it looks like this time, it might just have legs. Pun intended, of course, for those of us who remember his past iteration of the space and the legless floating torsos.

Now he’s back, like a bad penny, and in case you missed it, here is Everything Revealed in 10 Minutes, including “the launch of 28 chatbots (conversational agents), which supposedly have their own personalities and have been specially designed for younger users. These include Victor, a so-called triathlete who can motivate “you to be your best self”, and Sally, the “free-spirited friend who’ll tell you when to take a deep breath,” France24 reported.

“Meta sees these as “fun” artificial intelligence,” the piece continues. “Others…feel that this latest technological development could mark the first step towards creating “the most dangerous artefacts in human history”, to quote from American philosopher Daniel C. Dennett’s essay about “counterfeit people.” Read More...

Web 2 Oh, It’s Not Over Yet: The Era of the Fakes

Web 2 Oh, It’s Not Over Yet: The Era of the Fakes

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Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay

Despite all of the discussion about Web 3, it has been eclipsed of late by Generative AIs such as ChatGPT, which, according to many an article we’ve seen, is going to make a lot of white-collar workers redundant, as the Brits say. Artificial Intelligence Passes MBA Exam (given by a Wharton professor, FYI) and New ‘Robot’ Lawyer to Represent Defendant in US Court. ChatGPT even passed the US Medical Licensing exam. As we know, it’s also being used to write news articles, tweets and who know what else in startup land, giving new meaning to the term, ‘fake it till you make it.’

When we first got wind of the Generative AI, knowing that it was scraping the internet and well aware of the rampant censorship that has been and is being practiced by the social networks, all of whom have had a stranglehold on the conversation for quite some time, including the pre-Musk Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, we knew this would be a problem. And lest we forget, the programs tend to be written by programmers who have a certain bias, or whose C-Level has a certain bias, and in case you missed it:  The damage done to the credibility of AI by ChatGPT engineers building in political bias is irreparable. The AIs will always have human biases, because it’s humans who are creating it.

Generative AI isn’t the only thing that’s faking it. Getting more sophisticated and no doubt soon to hit that same tipping point are the Deepfakes, both visual and audio. For how many years has Big Tech been capturing your face and voice?  “With no barriers to creating AI-synthesized text, audio and video, the potential for misuse in identity theft, financial fraud and tarnish reputations has sparked global alarm,” the Japan Times reported. Read More...

The New Year’s Resolutions List for Founders

The New Year’s Resolutions List for Founders

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Image by h kama from Pixabay

We’re not a big fan of best of/worst of lists. Nor are we big on New Year’s resolutions, but not always easy to buck every trend that comes down the pike, so without further ado, nine resolutions founders might want to consider. We didn’t go for 10 as we do understand that even nine is pushing it…

  1. I will listen. It never makes a Top 10 list of why startups fail, but trust us, founders don’t listen. Not that they should listen to every piece of advice that they receive, but nor should they ignore it all. Helpful hint: if you hear the same advice again and again, you know that adage, ‘It’s not you, it’s me?’ In this case, it’s probably you
  2. I will understand that my investor pitch deck is a work in progress. It’s not finished until the round closes. You will change it many times, and may even have to scrap it and start over. No one ever said that this startup thing was easy.
  3. I will compensate all my developers. You’re no doubt compensating your coders somehow. But they’re not the only developers on your team. You need someone to help develop your market – they’re called marketers. Someone to help develop business leads – aka biz dev. People to help you develop the relationships you need to get your business to the next level. These are skills, too – and those developers must also be somehow compensated.
  4. I will do my investor due diligence. Especially in the current climate. Times – and term sheets – have changed. Investors are still writing checks – but there are those who seek to give founders less control and themselves more protection, of course, now that money is tighter. Beware of predatory terms. You may want and need the money, but at what price?
  5. I will get out of my own way. Here are The Most Common Limiting Beliefs of Entrepreneurs and How to Overcome Them
  6. I won’t be seduced by startup porn. You know, those influencers who post on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and give you rosy visions of how easy it is to start a company, work for yourself, you’re in charge. How many of them are running companies or anything besides their mouths? Building a company takes time. Even investors don’t expect an instant ROI. You know the adage: those who can, do. Those who can’t, post.
  7. I will think big. Investors – and successful founders – like big markets. But keep in mind that big rewards start with big risks, and there are going to be a lot of big headaches along the way, too.
  8. I will lose that excess weight this year. Meaning dead weight. Startups need to be lean – even after that initial funding comes in – and if there are those people who don’t seem to be pulling their weight, you need to find out why – were there promises made that weren’t kept, or are they not as committed to the project as you thought they were, or were at the beginning?  And once the funding comes in, don’t over hire. Another big mistake founders make. It’s not the time to put that weight back on.
  9. I will listen We know that we already said this. We’re repeating it – in case you weren’t listening…

And a very happy and productive 2023 to one and all, as we go onward and forward.

The Dangers of Founder/C-Suite Myopia

The Dangers of Founder/C-Suite Myopia

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Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

The tech times, they are a-changing. Companies are laying off big time and basically across the board, meaning companies large and small, or are in hiring freeze mode. Google employees weren’t happy when they were told that their travel and swag budgets were being cut. Oh, in case you didn’t see the memo, the days of Tech Entitlement are over, too. The economy isn’t what it was during the halcyon days of tech and, news flash – the tech sector is not immune.

Speaking of behemoths, Amazon Abandons Home Delivery Robot Tests in Latest Cost Cuts, Reuters reported. Called Scout, “The slow-moving devices, accompanied by human minders during tests, were designed to stop at a front door and pop open their lids so a customer could pick up a package. Amazon said the battery-powered robots were part of an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in its delivery operations.”

Amazon is feeling the slower sales, too. Then again, the lockdowns are over, and people can go past their doorsteps once again and shop. With many smaller stores shut down in the lockdown era. Amazon was a go-to, and boom! Hockey stick growth. Now, not so much and they’re cost-cutting too, given their now ‘slow growth.’ Did the company think they’d maintain lockdown-level growth or conditions forever? Even hockey sticks have an end point – something tech and tech investors could seemingly never quite grok. Read More...

Entrepreneurial Gigolos and B Teams

Entrepreneurial Gigolos and B Teams

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Photo by Sander Sammy @Unsplash

 It’s September. The investors are back from the end of summer break and paying attention again. There are funds to be deployed, and meeting to take, the holidays will be here again before you know it and they’ll once again disappear, so it’s a good time to get that investor deck out and those meetings lined up.

 

We work with founders all the time, helping them to refine/write their decks, since, as we’ve said before, all founders think the 10-15 slide construct is written in stone in terms of the order of the slides, and often bury the lead. Or are so in love with the tech they’ve created, they didn’t bother to include the lead at all. And do keep in mind that your deck is a teaser. Purpose: to get you to that meeting with investors. Read More...

The Founder Test: Do You Have What It Takes?

The Founder Test: Do You Have What It Takes?

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We all know the statistics: most startups fail for various reasons, primarily because they run out of money, or didn’t raise enough – or any. There is another factor to consider: do you have what it takes to be a founder of a company? There’s a lot of advice out there on the slides you need in your deck and why startups fail, but what about some basic skills you need to be a founder? We do know that many founders of very successful companies are psychopaths – do try to avoid going that route – and that aside, here are some things you need to consider: Read More...