Insights and advice from founders, VC, and experts on marketing, sales, fundraising, and product development.
Judy Faulkner, founder and CEO of Epic Systems, is a titan in the health tech industry. Her company, valued at $4.9 billion, provides electronic health records (EHR) for 325 million patients worldwide. Thanks to Faulkner’s technology, she helped transform how healthcare institutions all over the world manage patient files for healthcare institutions. In 2024, Faulkner … more
Tyler Bliha, 33, never thought he’d hold the title of founder. In fact, the CEO of Abode, a home finance manager, was earning the educational pedigree necessary to cement a career on Wall Street—a path that was “ingrained” into him and his peers at Notre Dame. According to Tyler, most classmates followed the 2+2+2 track: … more
Virginie Raphael, founder of the pre-seed fund FullCircle, is currently based in New York City, but her upbringing was far more quaint. In the tiny town of Lyon, she grew up among the mere 800 inhabitants. Half of whom, she jokes, “were probably somewhat related to me in one way, shape, or form.” When Virginie … more
Ethan Austin, 43, never imagined he’d launch a startup, let alone a venture capital firm. Today, he leads Outside VC, a pre-seed fund that invests in overlooked founders building a more equitable financial system, offering $100,000-$250,000 first checks. Growing up in the 1980s suburbs of Orange County was miles away from anything resembling a tech … more
Every VC is different. There are thousands of funds and investors within those funds, and they vary tremendously even within a fund. Some love crowded spaces, some will only invest in blue sky verticals. Some will only invest in Ivy League grads, others don’t like high-pedigree founders. Some will only invest in startups that came via … more
While Scot Wingo, 55, describes his upbringing as vanilla, his career path has been anything but. Scot began his entrepreneurship journey 30 years ago and led him to his current love and obsession Research Triangle Park (RTP) in North Carolina. Located in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill region, Scot is deeply passionate about the RTP’s prospects for … more
Since she was a child, Sydney Thomas, the founding general partner of Symphonic Capital, had an innate curiosity about what her legacy will be. The San Diego native became obsessed with building a legacy. But to find it, she had to leave home. Then, 20 years later, she found her way back to start Symphonic, … more
Paul Gassée, 43, has spent most of his career in the early stage startup ecosystem with the “battle scars to prove it.” Paul founded two startups, ran sales at a recruiting software company, and spent the past eight years as a sales coach with Gassée Consulting. But it took a while to find what he was … more
Product-market fit, or product/market fit, is often mischaracterized and misunderstood even by “experts.” Contrary to popular belief, product/market fit is not a well-defined state that a product or startup has achieved or did not achieve. Instead, product-market fit is the degree to which a product meets the needs of a particular set of users trying … more
The advice that single startup founders need co-founders to be successful is simply wrong. Before you rush into partnering with a co-founder, consider what the data says, potential downsides, and alternatives. In this article, I explore why there is ample evidence to suggest that co-founders are often not worth it and what to do instead … more
Why can’t someone explain, in simple terms, what TAM, SAM, and SOM mean? Well, as it turns out, there is no common standard for calculating these measures of market sizing. But never fear! In this article we’ll take a close look at different ways to think about and calculate total addressable market (TAM), serviceable addressable … more
Having spoken with hundreds of founders winning and failing to win angel investment, there are a couple of clear trends that come up repeatedly. Many founders want to skip right to blasting countless angel investors with emails, or they spend the majority of their time designing and re-designing their pitch deck. I’m yet to meet … more
Okay, now you know how to identify angel investors, vet, prioritize, and meet with them. There are a lot of questions about logistics that you might still have, such as how to take in the investment, how to track connections, and what’s the best way to email them. This chapter covers all those questions and … more
After you have qualified your angel investor leads and prioritized those with the highest likelihood of investing, it’s time to reach out to them. This is usually the part where founders get most intimidated and confused about what to do. Fear not, however! I’ve got some actionable and effective tactics that will demystify the process … more
Fundraising is sales, and as any good salesperson will tell you, the first step in the sales process is qualifying or vetting leads. In other words, it’s deciding, based on pre-determined criteria, how likely a lead is to buy what you are selling. You can either spend 10 hours trying to convince a lead that … more
How and where to find angel investors that are likely to write your startup a check? This chapter is all about identifying prospective angel investors. Chapter 5 is focused on ways that you can get on their radar. In my experience, it’s best to think of this process in these two steps because they are … more
Not all angel investors are the same. In fact, there is an incredible amount of variety among angel investors. Some angel investors are one-off investors that invest based on how much they know and trust you. Other angel investors make dozens of investments per year and are very sophisticated. Still other angel investors write $1-10 … more
The biggest mistake that I see founders make is not giving themselves enough time to raise money from angel investors. Nine times out of ten founders with whom I have spoken severely underestimate how much time it will take them to identify and connect with angels, built rapport, and get them to invest. Countless founders … more