Tech Alley Vegas | Who’s Got My Money - August 2024

01:28:45
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ytrvym4kzjI

Ringkasan

TLDRDer Vortrag beginnt mit einer kurzen Referenz zu einem Song von Journey, der als Metapher für die Chancen und Herausforderungen im Fundraising dient. Dabei wird betont, dass Glück oft das Ergebnis von sorgfältiger Planung und Design ist, was durch Zitate von Branch Ricky und John Milton illustriert wird. Ricky, bekannt als Innovator in der Geschichte der Major League Baseball, und seine Entscheidung, Jackie Robinson zu unterzeichnen, werden als Beispiel für mutige und durchdachte Geschäftsentscheidungen verwendet. Der Vortrag beleuchtet den Unterschied zwischen ungeplanten und geplanten Geschäftsstrategien, insbesondere im Hinblick auf Fundraising und Marktstrategien. Betont wird, dass Gründer oftmals die Notwendigkeit einer strukturierten Herangehensweise vernachlässigen, um erfolgreich Kapital zu beschaffen. Ein weiterer Fokus liegt auf der Wichtigkeit, Probleme statt Lösungen zu lieben, um eine nachhaltige Unternehmensentwicklung zu gewährleisten. Dies wird durch das Beispiel von Yuri Levine verdeutlicht. Im Mittelpunkt steht die Idee, dass Erfolg in der Unternehmenswelt durch berechnetes Handeln und ständige Anpassung an die Marktbedürfnisse erreicht werden kann. Diese Punkte werden im Zusammenhang mit den Herausforderungen und Chancen beim Fundraising und der Skalierung neuer Geschäftsideen diskutiert.

Takeaways

  • 🎵 Journey's Song als Metapher für Fundraising-Chancen
  • 💡 'Luck is the Residue of Design' - Gezielte Planung bringt Erfolg
  • ⚾ Beispiel Branch Ricky und Jackie Robinson für mutige Entscheidungen
  • 🚀 Wichtigkeit der Markt- und Fundraising-Strategien
  • 🧠 Liebe das Problem, nicht die Lösung - nachhaltige Entwicklung
  • 🔄 Erfolg durch ständige Anpassung an Marktbedürfnisse
  • 🛠 Fusion 42 unterstützt Gründer mit Feedback und Strategien
  • 🏆 Der Weg zu 'Market-Ready' ist essenziell für den Erfolg
  • 📊 Retention als wichtigster Erfolgsindikator für Startups
  • 🌍 Amerikanischer Unternehmergeist als Vorbild für die Welt

Garis waktu

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    Die Sitzung beginnt mit einer Reflexion über das Lied "It Could Have Been You" von Journey. Der Sprecher betont die Wichtigkeit von Design und Planung, insbesondere beim Fundraising, und zitiert Branch Rickey, der sagte, Glück sei das Ergebnis von Design. Der Schwerpunkt liegt auf der Bedeutung von absichtsvoller Planung für Unternehmensgründer in Hinblick auf ihre Markteinführungs- und Fundraising-Strategien.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    Der Gründer betont die Bedeutung von Go-to-Market-Strategien (GTM) und erklärt, dass viele Gründer diesen kritischen Schritt überspringen. Er nennt Beispiele von erfolgreichen Unternehmern wie Uri Levine, der betont, dass der Verkauf der Lösung vor dem Produktbau entscheidend ist. Glück wird als das Zusammentreffen von Vorbereitung und Gelegenheit beschrieben.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    Es wird über die Herausforderungen und die Notwendigkeit einer strukturierten Herangehensweise beim Fundraising gesprochen. Der Gründer hebt hervor, dass viele Startups trotz potenzieller Produktinnovation oft nicht bereit sind, Investoren zu präsentieren. Es ist entscheidend, Marktbereitschaft zu erlangen und finanziell sowie organisatorisch gerüstet zu sein.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:20:00

    Der Fokus liegt auf dem Konzept der Originalität von Geschäftsmodellen und der Vermarktung. Es werden wichtige Themen zur Fundraising-Strategie, wie die Bedeutung von Frühphaseninvestoren und die Wertschätzung für den Erhalt von Kapital, diskutiert. Der Vergleich von Gewinnspannen und die nachhaltige Skalierung von Geschäftsmodellen werden erörtert.

  • 00:20:00 - 00:25:00

    Der Gründer beschreibt, dass der Verkauf vor dem Bau eines Produkts von entscheidender Bedeutung ist, um nicht in ineffiziente Ausgaben im Marketing zu investieren. Die Notwendigkeit eines effektiven go-to-market Plans wird durch das Beispiel von Michael Dell verdeutlicht, der den Just-in-Time-Produktionsansatz erfolgreich angewandt hat.

  • 00:25:00 - 00:30:00

    Es werden verschiedene Methoden zur Kapitalbeschaffung erörtert, einschließlich der Bedeutung von Baut- und Leasingstrategien. Der Schlüssel liegt in der richtigen Einschätzung von Marktanforderungen und der Anpassung von Geschäftsmodellen, um Investoren zu überzeugen und Fallstricke in der Kapitalbeschaffung zu vermeiden.

  • 00:30:00 - 00:35:00

    Die Präsentation von Erfolgsgeschichten prominenter Unternehmer, die durch Anpassung und kontinuierliche Iteration ihrer Strategien erfolgreich waren, wird hervorgehoben. Die Rolle von Marktverträglichkeit und Rentabilität in den frühen Phasen eines Unternehmens wird als wesentlich für das Wachstum bezeichnet.

  • 00:35:00 - 00:40:00

    Die Diskussion konzentriert sich auf die Herausforderungen der Fundraising-Kommunikation. Es wird betont, dass persönliche und öffentliche Präsentationen differenziert angegangen werden sollten. Der Gründer weist auf die Notwendigkeit hin, Marktfeedback in die Produktentwicklung zu integrieren, um Investoren zu gewinnen.

  • 00:40:00 - 00:45:00

    Ein Beispiel aus der Pilzfarm-Industrie wird angeführt, um die Bedeutung einer gut durchdachten GTM-Strategie zu unterstreichen. Die Notwendigkeit einer detaillierten Marketingstrategie und die Gefahr ineffizienter Kapitalallokation im Verkaufsprozess werden hervorgehoben.

  • 00:45:00 - 00:50:00

    Es wird darüber gesprochen, wie wichtig es ist, aus Ideen umsetzbare Geschäftsstrategien zu entwickeln und nicht darauf zu warten, dass Investoren von einer bloßen Idee überzeugt sind. Es wird empfohlen, das Bewusstsein für die Herausforderungen der Unternehmensumsetzung durch Markttests zu schärfen.

  • 00:50:00 - 00:55:00

    Der Vortrag beleuchtet die Wichtigkeit von Community-Building und wie man Netzwerkeffekte nutzt, um den Erfolg eines Unternehmens zu fördern. Es wird erklärt, dass Network- und Community-Effekte essenziell für den Aufbau einer stabilen und wachsenden Nutzergemeinschaft sind.

  • 00:55:00 - 01:00:00

    Die Diskussion über nicht-verwässernde Finanzierungsansätze hebt die Möglichkeit hervor, dass es neben traditionellem Kapital auch andere Wege gibt, um ein Unternehmen zu finanzieren. Es wird betont, dass man flexibel und offen für verschiedene Kapitalformen sein sollte, um den Erfolg langfristig zu sichern.

  • 01:00:00 - 01:05:00

    Während der Fragerunde wird auf spezifische Fragen zu Convertible Notes und deren Anwendung im Fundraising-Prozess eingegangen. Die Komplexität und der Verhandlungscharakter von solchen Finanzinstrumenten wird betrachtet.

  • 01:05:00 - 01:10:00

    Es werden praktische Tipps gegeben, wie man erste Investitionen anzieht und dabei sowohl traditionelle als auch innovative Kapitalquellen berücksichtigt. Die Rolle von legalen und operativen Strukturen beim Aufbau von Startups wird ebenfalls diskutiert.

  • 01:10:00 - 01:15:00

    Der Fokus liegt auf den Herausforderungen bei der Präsentation von Marktideen und wie wichtig es ist, marktfähige und fundierte Geschäftsmodelle zu entwickeln. Der Gründer betont die Notwendigkeit von Genauigkeit und Klarheit in der Kommunikation mit potenziellen Investoren.

  • 01:15:00 - 01:20:00

    Durch zahlreiche praktische Beispiele wird verdeutlicht, wie Gründer ihr Fundraising und die Einführung neuer Produkte optimieren können. Die Session mutet an, das Verständnis für wirkungsvolle Kommunikationsstrategien zu verbessern und Gründer auf Marktveränderungen vorzubereiten.

  • 01:20:00 - 01:28:45

    Abschließend wird eine Einladung zur Teilnahme an weiteren Gemeinschafts- und Lernerfahrungen angeboten, um die Fähigkeiten im Fundraising und in der Startup-Entwicklung weiter zu verbessern. Die Bedeutung des kontinuierlichen Lernens und Anpassens an Marktveränderungen wird als entscheidend beschrieben.

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Peta Pikiran

Mind Map

Pertanyaan yang Sering Diajukan

  • Wer ist Mr. Branch Ricky?

    Branch Ricky war eine bedeutende Figur in der Major League Baseball, bekannt dafür, Jackie Robinson 1946 unter Vertrag genommen zu haben.

  • Warum ist der Song von Journey relevant?

    Der Song symbolisiert die Chancen und Herausforderungen beim Fundraising in der Startup-Welt.

  • Was bedeutet 'Luck is the Residue of Design'?

    Es bedeutet, dass Glück oft das Ergebnis von Planung und zielgerichtetem Handeln ist.

  • Was sind die Hauptthemen des Vortrags?

    Musik, die Wichtigkeit von Design beim Gründungsprozess, Fundraising-Strategien und die Rolle von Zufall und Vorbereitung.

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Gulir Otomatis:
  • 00:00:06
    we were so close but we were so far
  • 00:00:09
    away so played a song at the beginning
  • 00:00:12
    of the session today some of you guys
  • 00:00:14
    might know the band Journey any 80s
  • 00:00:17
    music fans in here everybody should
  • 00:00:18
    raise your hand or you're out anyway
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    this is a song that's not you know
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    necessarily played very often when we
  • 00:00:24
    think of Journey but I think it's an
  • 00:00:26
    appropriate song it's called it could
  • 00:00:28
    have been you which comes off this
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    Raised on Radio album and I played it a
  • 00:00:32
    few times I played it during the pitch
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    Kung Fu session which we do every
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    Thursday for Founders to come pitch and
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    get expertise and feedback and hear from
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    other funders I played it the other day
  • 00:00:42
    on that session but I wanted to play it
  • 00:00:43
    again today at who's got my money
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    because I think that we stand at a great
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    opportunity right now as we head into
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    fundraising season so I think that very
  • 00:00:55
    often we don't look at the situation
  • 00:00:57
    where we realize how much we can
  • 00:00:59
    actually do to affect the outcome how
  • 00:01:02
    much it absolutely can be you that can
  • 00:01:05
    be the one that gets funded welcome
  • 00:01:07
    welcome Sit Close guys
  • 00:01:11
    so there was an individual named Mr
  • 00:01:13
    Branch Ricky and he said that luck is
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    the residue of design luck is the
  • 00:01:20
    residue of design what do you guys think
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    that actually means luck is the residue
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    of design now Branch might not be
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    somebody you remember but he did do
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    something very significant that changed
  • 00:01:32
    the face I think of the United States in
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    certain ways and certainly of the sport
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    that he was a part of which is Major
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    League Baseball he was the one that made
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    and took an enormous risk and signed a
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    baseball player named Jackie Robinson
  • 00:01:45
    and he said in
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    1946 that luck is the residue of
  • 00:01:50
    design luck is the residue of design was
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    also said by Mr John Milton in
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    16008 it was true in 16008 was true in
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    1946 and it's true today luck is the
  • 00:02:03
    residue of design so this idea that we
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    can design things and that we can
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    actually be intentional about how we
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    live our lives how we build our Ventures
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    and how intentional we are about the
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    design of our fundraise strategy the way
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    that we approach that for many people
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    it's this halfhazard super casual like I
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    know some angels and maybe I'm going to
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    hit up some family you know friends you
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    know that kind of thing it's very casual
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    approach and so one of the things we try
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    to do at Fusion 42 which is our online
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    community with pairing and matching
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    technology backend is to get Founders to
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    understand that they are the X Factor in
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    their business and that 80% of what
  • 00:02:43
    they're going to experience is going to
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    come down to their design how
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    intentional are they about their
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    approach to their go-to Market strategy
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    to how they collect client feedback to
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    how they recruit how they hire and also
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    obviously to the topic at hand today and
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    who's got my money about about how they
  • 00:03:00
    approach their fund raise and this is a
  • 00:03:01
    reason why even though many of you if
  • 00:03:03
    you're studied startups you hear this
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    concept of go-to Market which is I think
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    the most significant thing that Founders
  • 00:03:10
    miss when they are going to build their
  • 00:03:12
    company goto Market literally helps to
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    dictate whether or not you have a
  • 00:03:16
    marketable which is to say Market ready
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    Venture Market ready Ventures usually
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    either get revenue or they get revenue
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    and they
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    raise so this is the thing that Founders
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    think that they can skip in this attempt
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    to go towards raising and so design I
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    think is this thing that we can think
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    about are we just trying to do things by
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    default or are we actually trying to do
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    things by Design and what does that make
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    a difference for as we build somebody
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    else that was pretty cool in the way
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    that he built some things said that luck
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    is where Readiness which goes back to
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    the design piece meets
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    opportunity and this was a gentleman uh
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    by the name of Yuri Levine and he
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    created a little app that we call
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    ways how many of you guys have used ways
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    how many of you guys know that was one
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    of the first billion dooll unicorns and
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    this guy's already created a few more so
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    one of the things that you guys will get
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    to have at the end of the session you
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    want to come hang out in the uh telegram
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    group that we have on Fusion I will make
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    the audio book which is called fall in
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    love with the problem not the solution
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    fall in love with the problem not the
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    solution again this is an intentional
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    design decision that we make a lot of
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    times Founders are so in love with their
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    product they want to build their product
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    product that they're too afraid to sell
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    they don't think that I need to sell the
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    solution before I actually go and build
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    it which means you need to understand
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    the problem first before you can then go
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    build it and Founders don't do this they
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    they love to go into their little
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    workshop and go build something without
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    actually checking what the market
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    response is this is the reason why GTM
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    is so critical and Yuri the reason I
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    Yuri's an impressive individual is he's
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    probably on his way to his fourth
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    billion dollar company
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    the first one took him seven year uh
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    just under six years the next one took
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    him four years and he's got a few more
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    in the hopper his last one was in 2020 I
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    think his first one I can't remember
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    when the exit was uh for ways Google was
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    the one that bought him Google came to
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    him first they rejected the offer Google
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    came back a couple years later billion
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    and a half exit and immediately he left
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    that and said it's time to start
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    something new and his book actually
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    breaks down this process and he really
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    tries to hammer home the importance of
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    that luck is not just this luck thing
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    guys this is a repeatable pattern one of
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    the things that we talk about when we
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    break down capital is that there is a
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    way you can rig the game for the success
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    of your venture capital is not the be
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    all end all it's not going to save your
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    startup one investor is not going to
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    save your startup we cover that here at
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    these sessions but capital is the rocket
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    fuel to the raw resources and the source
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    that you show up as as the founder and
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    so I want you guys to start thinking
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    about luck in a very different way yes
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    there's a huge amount of luck I I don't
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    know what I did to be born in the United
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    States at this time as a Founder to be
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    able to create businesses I got lucky
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    right however if luck is really when
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    Readiness which is something you do
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    control meets opportunity will you be
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    ready so back to the Journey song you
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    know how many of you guys are going to
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    be able to say yeah it was me it wasn't
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    it could have been me it actually was me
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    I was ready at the time I happen to be
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    in the elevator with a certain
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    individual and they happen to know the
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    right fun then brought a bunch of their
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    funer buddies along right these are the
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    kinds of things that Founders are just I
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    will just say this in general as as
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    we're building a funding platform to
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    automate the fundraising process it does
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    not tend to occur to Founders that
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    they're the problem very often to their
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    own success this is a good problem to
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    have Founders because if you're not the
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    reason that you're most likely to not be
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    successful you also can't be the
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    solution of why you're most likely to be
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    successful so put it another way if if I
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    were to give a bunch of investor
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    referrals to a Founder that's not ready
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    mentally which we spend a bunch of time
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    in the fundraising fluency sessions on
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    Tuesdays online breaking down the money
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    raising mindset and energy we need to
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    have the 80% that we need to bring to
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    the table and then the rest is all
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    mechanics 20% of like how do we do it
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    and and Yuri in his book is going to
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    break down how much you must be obsessed
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    with the the problem you're solving you
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    can't stop thinking about it you're
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    ready to burn the ships at the shore
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    you're not going to worry about income
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    all these other things that are very
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    legitimate concerns but really when a
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    startup founder has really decided they
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    made a choice they they can't stop right
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    so these are things that we often don't
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    really tend to give enough weight to in
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    my opinion so when we're building a
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    funding platform I could give all sorts
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    of investor leads to individuals and
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    they're almost never ready for them
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    they're not ready for the introductions
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    they're not ready to pitch and there's
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    really two major components that are
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    missing there's the market Readiness
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    which is where Founders should spend the
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    majority of their time time and then
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    there's the financial literacy and the
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    capital and raise ready side of it which
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    we also address in depth in the sessions
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    and online in the telegram chats with
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    all the Champions that are experts on
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    different
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    topics you know Founders usually just
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    want you to hand them somebody and they
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    don't realize how far away they are from
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    being fundable as a result you can get
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    occasionally as we say in another way
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    the different kind of Lucky but is that
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    the kind of lucky you want to be or do
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    you want to be the kind of Lucky where
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    you literally designed this to happen
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    this is just an
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    eventuality another interesting
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    entrepreneur that really changed the way
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    we look at manufacturing processes how
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    many of you guys know who Michael Dell
  • 00:08:40
    is Michael Dell Dell computers so they
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    had this really s you know sophisticated
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    you know business plan that they were
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    going to write up many of you guys
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    noticed that I don't use a lot of
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    backing stuff or whatever because at the
  • 00:08:52
    end of the day that's not what really
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    matters you know when you go to
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    fundraise fundraising is a full contact
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    sport so we can talk about Theory and
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    have nice diagrams and all that stuff
  • 00:09:01
    but at the end of the day it's really
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    more the energy behind it so Michael
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    Dell's in there and this is actually
  • 00:09:05
    talked about in Yuri's book as well it's
  • 00:09:07
    worth kind of looking at in more depth
  • 00:09:09
    than he covers in the book uh but it's a
  • 00:09:11
    good reminder that he's got in the book
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    uh is that Michael Dell says okay so
  • 00:09:16
    they he puts it on the screen here's
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    here's our here's our plan we're going
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    to build
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    computers we're going to sell them done
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    now who could tell me what might have
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    gotten switched in this
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    who can tell me maybe what was wrong
  • 00:09:32
    with this particular plan put the GTM
  • 00:09:35
    first GTM first you yeah I problem like
  • 00:09:39
    why makes special right so we had one
  • 00:09:42
    person said either because he's
  • 00:09:44
    listening or he already knew the answer
  • 00:09:46
    uh he didn't put the GTM first so
  • 00:09:48
    Michael Dell changed it he got it and he
  • 00:09:51
    said no what we're going to do is we're
  • 00:09:53
    going to sell computers then we're going
  • 00:09:56
    to build
  • 00:09:58
    them do you see how that little switch
  • 00:10:01
    made them a billion doll company here's
  • 00:10:03
    why how many of you guys know what
  • 00:10:04
    justtin time manufacturing is okay great
  • 00:10:08
    A lot of people are familiar I'm not a
  • 00:10:10
    manufacturing guy I'm not really a
  • 00:10:12
    technical guy when it comes to a lot of
  • 00:10:13
    that stuff but here's what Justin Time
  • 00:10:15
    Manufacturing means is that you have the
  • 00:10:18
    processes you have the systems so dialed
  • 00:10:20
    in that the minute you get the order is
  • 00:10:23
    when you start producing and creating
  • 00:10:24
    the finished good product now I don't
  • 00:10:27
    know that Dell was the first company to
  • 00:10:28
    do this but they were we're certainly
  • 00:10:29
    the first company to do it in the
  • 00:10:31
    commuter space and that little thing
  • 00:10:34
    think about that we're going to build
  • 00:10:39
    computers and we're going to sell them
  • 00:10:41
    get switched to and this is a design
  • 00:10:43
    decision right think about the
  • 00:10:44
    intentionality of it we're going to sell
  • 00:10:48
    computers and then we're going to build
  • 00:10:50
    them think about the efficiency this
  • 00:10:53
    creates think about the margins this
  • 00:10:54
    creates think about the listening to the
  • 00:10:56
    customers that this creates
  • 00:10:59
    think about how powerful that is and
  • 00:11:01
    this is the reason why Michael Dell is a
  • 00:11:03
    billionaire so I mentioned that we're
  • 00:11:05
    going to be running uh some events uh
  • 00:11:07
    here in the future as we always do at
  • 00:11:08
    Venture house and all that Venture
  • 00:11:10
    Studio Summit some family office events
  • 00:11:12
    I actually went and looked at a hotel
  • 00:11:15
    that I decided would be a great location
  • 00:11:17
    to do a family office event Michael Dell
  • 00:11:19
    owns the place it's massive it's on the
  • 00:11:22
    water it's gorgeous beautiful it's old
  • 00:11:24
    probably 100 years
  • 00:11:25
    old and uh you know these are the kinds
  • 00:11:28
    of things you get to do when you go from
  • 00:11:29
    being a Founder to a fun and as you guys
  • 00:11:33
    know founder funders are really our
  • 00:11:34
    North Star a fusion that is what we're
  • 00:11:36
    focused on creating how to Founders go
  • 00:11:39
    build their companies get resourced up
  • 00:11:41
    and exit their companies so that they
  • 00:11:43
    can repeat it again I had an interesting
  • 00:11:44
    conversation with a new friend of mine
  • 00:11:46
    earlier today who moved to this country
  • 00:11:48
    from another country got to love those
  • 00:11:49
    immigrant entrepreneurs they're freaking
  • 00:11:51
    badass aren't they and he had an exit
  • 00:11:54
    from a company that you guys would know
  • 00:11:57
    Roblox and he is now now Angel Investing
  • 00:12:01
    he's investing in other models he's
  • 00:12:03
    looking at different models this is the
  • 00:12:05
    kind of opportunity that you get when
  • 00:12:07
    you live your life by Design and I find
  • 00:12:10
    that he's extremely high learner so I'm
  • 00:12:12
    like why are you asking me and and Derek
  • 00:12:15
    my partner um all of these questions
  • 00:12:17
    about capital and what is it that you
  • 00:12:19
    find interesting about the pitch Kung Fu
  • 00:12:20
    sessions and everything else and his
  • 00:12:22
    response was is I just feel that there's
  • 00:12:24
    always more that I can learn and I think
  • 00:12:26
    that's again an an intelligent design
  • 00:12:30
    decision so getting back into the
  • 00:12:33
    intention of things how often do you
  • 00:12:34
    guys recognize the major things that are
  • 00:12:36
    going to make up your ability to raise
  • 00:12:39
    for your company and raising for your
  • 00:12:40
    company as we talk about the capital
  • 00:12:42
    macros how many of you guys like Fitness
  • 00:12:44
    you guys know what the food macros are
  • 00:12:45
    right different types of food that we
  • 00:12:47
    can eat there's Capital macros too the
  • 00:12:49
    one we always think about as far as
  • 00:12:51
    capital is dollar Capital that's the the
  • 00:12:53
    currency that comes into our business
  • 00:12:56
    but how often do we think about the one
  • 00:12:58
    that's probably most most important if
  • 00:12:59
    we're going to have a business at all
  • 00:13:01
    which is our sales and client Capital
  • 00:13:03
    this is our ability to acquire users and
  • 00:13:05
    then third we have what we call human
  • 00:13:09
    capital which is probably the most
  • 00:13:11
    important thing in the business long
  • 00:13:12
    term you don't see billion dollar
  • 00:13:14
    companies without amazing teams and how
  • 00:13:16
    good are you as a Founder at being able
  • 00:13:18
    to recruit and I think your
  • 00:13:20
    intentionality and your energy dictates
  • 00:13:22
    whether or not you'll attract Capital
  • 00:13:24
    whether or not you know how to acquire
  • 00:13:25
    clients and customers which needs to
  • 00:13:27
    come first and third whether or not
  • 00:13:28
    you're going to build a team that's
  • 00:13:30
    badass and for those of you guys that
  • 00:13:32
    don't know your go-to talent strategy
  • 00:13:34
    needs to be really robust because you're
  • 00:13:36
    in an allout war with other companies
  • 00:13:38
    and other startups for getting the best
  • 00:13:39
    talent into your Venture okay today we
  • 00:13:43
    decided we're going to do something a
  • 00:13:44
    little bit different we're going to do
  • 00:13:45
    quite a bit of AMA ask me anything which
  • 00:13:48
    we also have a channel inside of the
  • 00:13:49
    telegram group where you guys can come
  • 00:13:51
    in real time and get real feedback on
  • 00:13:53
    what you're working on what you're
  • 00:13:54
    confused about whether it's legal we
  • 00:13:56
    have a really robust AI channel for any
  • 00:13:58
    of you guys that are confused about AI
  • 00:14:00
    we have Financial modeling and there's
  • 00:14:02
    Channel champions in each of these
  • 00:14:03
    channels that are willing to make time
  • 00:14:06
    to give you a real time feedback which I
  • 00:14:08
    think how many of you guys like to save
  • 00:14:09
    time as you're already feeling like this
  • 00:14:11
    is a pretty difficult process to build a
  • 00:14:12
    startup the other thing is we have
  • 00:14:14
    horizontal if that's a vertical track we
  • 00:14:16
    have horizontal tracks where we have
  • 00:14:17
    content in each of these channels on a
  • 00:14:20
    rotation six weeks every 3 months those
  • 00:14:22
    kinds of things okay so what we said we
  • 00:14:25
    were going to do is ask me
  • 00:14:26
    anything if you guys have a really short
  • 00:14:29
    question um we can handle that there but
  • 00:14:32
    if you guys want to you can come up here
  • 00:14:33
    and you're going to tell everyone what
  • 00:14:34
    you're building very succinctly you're
  • 00:14:36
    going to you're going to explain it in
  • 00:14:37
    two to three sentences no more and then
  • 00:14:39
    we're going to get into your questions
  • 00:14:40
    so who feels like they're ready ready
  • 00:14:42
    for that experience T want to come up
  • 00:14:45
    and then you Mr GTM we we'll be on deck
  • 00:14:49
    make sure that you guys have your
  • 00:14:50
    questions prepared and that you've
  • 00:14:51
    thought through how you're going to
  • 00:14:52
    announce what your building what's
  • 00:14:53
    you're intending to the universe all
  • 00:14:56
    right Mr to good to see you again good
  • 00:14:57
    to see you thank you
  • 00:14:59
    it's on we we're building um we're
  • 00:15:01
    developing a test cancer screen test for
  • 00:15:03
    women that is faster better and
  • 00:15:05
    affordable awesome what are your
  • 00:15:07
    questions let's do it uh in terms of
  • 00:15:09
    convertible note
  • 00:15:11
    mm or or valuation cap let's talk
  • 00:15:15
    valuation cap is that is that a
  • 00:15:17
    pre-money valuation why it's not on it's
  • 00:15:20
    on it's just
  • 00:15:22
    recording yeah is
  • 00:15:27
    that is evalu cap pre-market I I mean
  • 00:15:32
    pre money or is it post money what what
  • 00:15:35
    does investors look at it uh well you
  • 00:15:37
    you can decide but for them they you
  • 00:15:40
    know it depends on what they want it
  • 00:15:42
    that's a situational okay so let's let's
  • 00:15:45
    break this down for everybody everybody
  • 00:15:46
    know what a convertible note is
  • 00:15:48
    convertible note is one of the
  • 00:15:50
    structures you can use to raise it's a
  • 00:15:52
    legal document essentially in an
  • 00:15:53
    agreement and it is essentially a debt
  • 00:15:56
    instrument that can convert into equity
  • 00:15:59
    now one thing I'll mention as we
  • 00:16:00
    mentioned on the last call is is that
  • 00:16:02
    there are seasons something else I
  • 00:16:04
    forgot to mention here in this room is
  • 00:16:06
    we are heading into fundraising season
  • 00:16:08
    which is the reason why we're doing the
  • 00:16:09
    session we are doing this way today
  • 00:16:12
    fundraising season the second
  • 00:16:13
    fundraising season in the United States
  • 00:16:15
    which is responsible for 65% plus of all
  • 00:16:19
    available capital for Venture in the
  • 00:16:21
    world is open from Labor Day weekend
  • 00:16:25
    after that to Thanksgiving so it's
  • 00:16:29
    really important that if you guys are
  • 00:16:30
    serious about learning this and you're
  • 00:16:32
    serious about having a pitch Blitz that
  • 00:16:34
    you start getting prepared and you start
  • 00:16:36
    showing up at the sessions and those
  • 00:16:37
    kinds of things to be ready for it the
  • 00:16:38
    other fundraising season is January to
  • 00:16:40
    the end of May so summertime is not
  • 00:16:43
    usually an ideal time to raise unless
  • 00:16:45
    you're going after alternative Capital
  • 00:16:47
    traditional capital is all the capital
  • 00:16:49
    types that you're already aware of
  • 00:16:50
    you've already heard of it friends and
  • 00:16:52
    family money Angel Money VCS that's all
  • 00:16:54
    traditional money most of them are
  • 00:16:55
    checked out and most families period
  • 00:16:58
    most Banks most everything they're
  • 00:17:00
    completely not thinking about investment
  • 00:17:02
    during the summer I even have a very
  • 00:17:04
    large funer that came to me that wants
  • 00:17:06
    to back more of the stuff that we're
  • 00:17:07
    building and he just called it out as it
  • 00:17:09
    was he goes look I'm super interested uh
  • 00:17:11
    I think we need to work together but
  • 00:17:12
    just know I'm on vacation mode all over
  • 00:17:15
    the planet with my kids until September
  • 00:17:18
    right okay the other thing I was going
  • 00:17:20
    to mention with seasons is that when
  • 00:17:22
    money is
  • 00:17:23
    cheap you end up having Pro founder
  • 00:17:26
    agreements that are more common
  • 00:17:28
    agreements being the legal structure or
  • 00:17:30
    the entity that you raise inside of
  • 00:17:32
    we'll get into that in a second when
  • 00:17:33
    money is more expensive which we're in
  • 00:17:35
    an environment now where money is a
  • 00:17:37
    little bit more expensive and it will
  • 00:17:38
    probably stay that way for the
  • 00:17:39
    foreseeable future the funders tend to
  • 00:17:42
    have a little bit more of the upper hand
  • 00:17:44
    so we just went through a 15-year period
  • 00:17:46
    where you kind of didn't have to be a
  • 00:17:48
    genius to do pretty well in a lot of the
  • 00:17:50
    markets because they were uptrending
  • 00:17:52
    this also includes what the individual
  • 00:17:54
    ultra high Networth check writers were
  • 00:17:56
    doing many of them got a little bit of
  • 00:17:58
    an attitude a little bit of some
  • 00:17:59
    confidence because they're like oh I
  • 00:18:02
    don't need support services I don't need
  • 00:18:04
    people that are veterans and Venture
  • 00:18:05
    because I'm doing so well as an LP
  • 00:18:07
    limited partner inside of a fund but now
  • 00:18:12
    the emperor is being shown to not have
  • 00:18:13
    clothes as many VCS are being exposed
  • 00:18:17
    for the lack of performance in their
  • 00:18:19
    funds because they made dumb bets or
  • 00:18:22
    they got involved in crypto at the wrong
  • 00:18:23
    time for the wrong reasons I'm I'm Pro
  • 00:18:25
    blockchain in general but getting
  • 00:18:27
    involved in something just cuz it's a
  • 00:18:28
    fad here's here's speaking to you AI is
  • 00:18:31
    not really a great you know investment
  • 00:18:34
    thesis I believe that AI is the most
  • 00:18:35
    significant technology that we've seen
  • 00:18:38
    since the internet if not more it's
  • 00:18:40
    moving that fast it's already changed
  • 00:18:41
    the world and if you're not taking it
  • 00:18:43
    seriously which is the reason we've
  • 00:18:44
    devoted a whole channel to breaking down
  • 00:18:46
    the speed at which it's moving you're
  • 00:18:48
    not taking things seriously but you
  • 00:18:49
    can't just show up and say I'm an AI
  • 00:18:51
    startup and that that's going to get you
  • 00:18:53
    funded there is a lot of fomo fear of
  • 00:18:56
    missing out going on as often there is
  • 00:18:58
    uh with VC
  • 00:18:59
    with AI but you have to explain how it's
  • 00:19:02
    actually an enormous part of what you're
  • 00:19:04
    building and in general it shouldn't
  • 00:19:07
    really be a feature it should just be
  • 00:19:08
    part of the way you're creating the
  • 00:19:11
    solution for the problem that you've so
  • 00:19:13
    well researched so coming back to
  • 00:19:15
    agreements during a high pro- founder
  • 00:19:18
    environment safe agreements which is a
  • 00:19:21
    convertible note that's even safer for
  • 00:19:24
    the founder uh were very big but in
  • 00:19:27
    general a funer has to be pretty
  • 00:19:30
    motivated to do a safe because they are
  • 00:19:33
    absolutely not in the funders best
  • 00:19:36
    interest because the founder can
  • 00:19:38
    basically just convert it to debt and
  • 00:19:40
    then then the and the funer never gets
  • 00:19:41
    equity and very few Venture related
  • 00:19:44
    investers actually want just debt
  • 00:19:46
    interest rates they want the big pop
  • 00:19:49
    because they're going to wait several
  • 00:19:50
    years for this to come into something
  • 00:19:53
    right convertible notes are a little bit
  • 00:19:55
    simpler because they're actually a
  • 00:19:56
    little bit more on the pro funder site
  • 00:19:58
    of things where they have a little bit
  • 00:19:59
    more control his other question is do I
  • 00:20:02
    do pre and post money uh you know
  • 00:20:05
    situation we actually just did a whole
  • 00:20:07
    legal session on this that will break
  • 00:20:08
    this down in way more depth this week uh
  • 00:20:11
    with one of our legal experts and
  • 00:20:12
    there's even diagrams inside the legal
  • 00:20:15
    channel on telegram that break down the
  • 00:20:17
    the differences between post money and
  • 00:20:20
    pre-money think of it this way though if
  • 00:20:23
    a because if this is a piece of real
  • 00:20:25
    estate the sellers on one end they want
  • 00:20:28
    the most price right and the buyer wants
  • 00:20:31
    the the lower price right this is the
  • 00:20:33
    same thing when you're dealing with a
  • 00:20:34
    venture investor the founder wants to
  • 00:20:37
    sell their stock at the highest price
  • 00:20:39
    possible which is the highest valuation
  • 00:20:41
    possible right and I know you know this
  • 00:20:43
    the uh funer on the other hand would
  • 00:20:45
    love to buy a cheap investment where
  • 00:20:48
    they feel that the stock that they're
  • 00:20:50
    buying and investing in is undervalued
  • 00:20:52
    they get they're getting the investment
  • 00:20:54
    so another kind of tip to just mention
  • 00:20:55
    the higher your valuation is in the
  • 00:20:57
    preed and Seed range especially before
  • 00:21:00
    you're producing product Market fit and
  • 00:21:02
    you have clients and you have Revenue
  • 00:21:04
    the more scared an investor is going to
  • 00:21:05
    be to get involved because they're
  • 00:21:07
    buying an expensive which is to say
  • 00:21:09
    maybe pre uh much more than five six s
  • 00:21:13
    million in in the preed and sometimes
  • 00:21:16
    even seed round goes up a little bit you
  • 00:21:18
    start having investors say this is
  • 00:21:20
    actually kind of expensive like if this
  • 00:21:21
    doesn't work out because if they get
  • 00:21:24
    involved at 4 million versus 7 million
  • 00:21:26
    you see the difference they're going to
  • 00:21:28
    make a much better return at a at a
  • 00:21:30
    lower rate now we need to also know what
  • 00:21:33
    the the uh percentage of stock they're
  • 00:21:35
    getting for their investment in order to
  • 00:21:37
    really calculate these numbers but they
  • 00:21:39
    want something that's post money they
  • 00:21:42
    don't usually want something that's
  • 00:21:43
    pre-money the founders want it to be
  • 00:21:45
    pre-money look at that
  • 00:21:48
    smile so so if if there's more questions
  • 00:21:51
    you have on this I just want to make
  • 00:21:52
    sure everybody's on the same page well
  • 00:21:53
    convertible would have provision where
  • 00:21:55
    you can actually buy down the debt and
  • 00:21:57
    not convert to equity so this is the
  • 00:21:59
    reason I bring up real estate because
  • 00:22:00
    real estate is all a negotiation a
  • 00:22:04
    building is literally worth what
  • 00:22:05
    somebody's willing to buy for it pay for
  • 00:22:07
    it so if you can get somebody to buy uh
  • 00:22:10
    to if you can get somebody to sell you a
  • 00:22:12
    building for a dollar in a contract you
  • 00:22:14
    have a deal so coming back to venture
  • 00:22:16
    guys it's a negotiation and the first
  • 00:22:19
    major investor that comes and does maybe
  • 00:22:21
    that has Brand recognition that comes
  • 00:22:22
    and does their due diligence will be
  • 00:22:25
    typically the lead investor and that's
  • 00:22:26
    called pricing the round what they de
  • 00:22:28
    side what you guys negotiate together is
  • 00:22:30
    the valuation that they're putting their
  • 00:22:32
    money in at tends to be the the the
  • 00:22:35
    moving valuation for the company and
  • 00:22:36
    then all the other investors will follow
  • 00:22:38
    suit and there's many investors you guys
  • 00:22:39
    will find that don't invest at all until
  • 00:22:44
    there's a lead or recognizable or brand
  • 00:22:47
    investor that's already involved that
  • 00:22:48
    did the due diligence they're following
  • 00:22:50
    them in and this is really annoying to
  • 00:22:52
    us as founders of course because it is
  • 00:22:54
    hard to sometimes find that lead
  • 00:22:56
    investor that will take the chance um
  • 00:22:59
    and you know there's all sorts of
  • 00:23:00
    reasons why funders do this go Ahad CL
  • 00:23:02
    clarification so if you're doing a first
  • 00:23:04
    round AN unpriced round yeah with a
  • 00:23:06
    convertible yeah with the provision you
  • 00:23:08
    can buy down the debt or pay off the
  • 00:23:10
    debt so so so the along those lines is
  • 00:23:14
    how important is valuation number should
  • 00:23:17
    an investor ask because it's not a price
  • 00:23:19
    round however on the option pool side
  • 00:23:22
    you may be doing a
  • 00:23:24
    409 for the grants now can you defer
  • 00:23:27
    those grants but important is this this
  • 00:23:30
    is where the negotiation comes in it
  • 00:23:33
    really is going to come down to the
  • 00:23:34
    investor the lead investor in particular
  • 00:23:37
    and then of course some of the other
  • 00:23:38
    investors have to be on board as well
  • 00:23:40
    because they're going to follow in and
  • 00:23:41
    this is where I would say having the
  • 00:23:43
    right legal that understands these types
  • 00:23:46
    of transactions that actually does these
  • 00:23:47
    types of transactions and that in real
  • 00:23:49
    time I can give you like what can be
  • 00:23:52
    generally true as I am already and
  • 00:23:54
    explaining it to everyone here but it is
  • 00:23:57
    going to come down to the situation like
  • 00:23:58
    there I'll give you an example when we
  • 00:24:00
    were doing Venture debt we wouldn't
  • 00:24:02
    really try to so when you do Venture
  • 00:24:04
    debt there's a couple of different
  • 00:24:05
    things that can happen but it's
  • 00:24:06
    essentially it's it's it's debt so we
  • 00:24:08
    would look for companies that were doing
  • 00:24:09
    a million dollar run rate and we would
  • 00:24:11
    come in and we'd say look we're going to
  • 00:24:12
    give you 300 Grand upwards of a million
  • 00:24:14
    dollars whatever it is and then we're
  • 00:24:16
    going to agree on what your company is
  • 00:24:19
    at the minute we give you the money and
  • 00:24:21
    then we are going to have golden tickets
  • 00:24:23
    we're going to have warrants which is an
  • 00:24:24
    option to buy the stock at a later date
  • 00:24:26
    and time right like you would in real
  • 00:24:28
    estate an option to buy it and then we
  • 00:24:30
    agree but in but in order for this
  • 00:24:32
    negotiation to finish we have to agree
  • 00:24:34
    on a number that we think the company's
  • 00:24:35
    worth because if we if we we uh Venture
  • 00:24:38
    debt at 10 million and through the
  • 00:24:41
    shared efforts of both the funding team
  • 00:24:43
    and the founder and their team in a
  • 00:24:45
    couple years let's say under five years
  • 00:24:47
    are going to get to 100
  • 00:24:49
    million that's a good chunk of
  • 00:24:52
    difference in the valuation of the
  • 00:24:53
    company so we have an option to buy the
  • 00:24:55
    stock at a late dat and time but it's at
  • 00:24:57
    a pre-agreed price you said Venture debt
  • 00:25:00
    is it
  • 00:25:00
    convertible uh not usually can be it t
  • 00:25:04
    depends on the agreement it depends on
  • 00:25:05
    what we negotiate the reason I bring it
  • 00:25:07
    up is because it really is that
  • 00:25:12
    variable and I was just explaining the
  • 00:25:14
    importance of that valuation being
  • 00:25:16
    agreed upon because it changes the
  • 00:25:18
    nature of the deal and it changes the
  • 00:25:19
    incentives in the deal so a great
  • 00:25:21
    funders is going to know that we need to
  • 00:25:23
    make sure we Le leave enough equity on
  • 00:25:25
    the table that the founding team is is
  • 00:25:27
    is motivated through every round because
  • 00:25:29
    every round a fun founder is going to
  • 00:25:31
    get uh you know they're they're going to
  • 00:25:33
    get diluted and so will the the early
  • 00:25:35
    funders right the the value of their
  • 00:25:38
    stock per Stock's going to rise though
  • 00:25:39
    so that that tends to be the balance but
  • 00:25:41
    there's always a negotiation with that
  • 00:25:43
    and on the on the uh Venture debt side
  • 00:25:46
    there was two parts that we wanted first
  • 00:25:48
    we wanted our interest rate which we
  • 00:25:50
    always got but the thing we were most
  • 00:25:52
    excited about is we really wanted the
  • 00:25:55
    company to be very successful because if
  • 00:25:58
    they did 100 million we just got $100
  • 00:26:00
    million worth of value stock for a $10
  • 00:26:04
    million price now we still have to bring
  • 00:26:06
    the physical dollars to the founder at
  • 00:26:08
    the moment we decide to exercise that
  • 00:26:10
    option so coming back to the convertible
  • 00:26:12
    note situation is it really depends on
  • 00:26:14
    the agreement and it depends on what you
  • 00:26:16
    set up with that individual so what I'd
  • 00:26:18
    recommend is is let's have a deeper
  • 00:26:20
    conversation in telegram about it and
  • 00:26:22
    kind of nerd out on it in there cool
  • 00:26:24
    anything else I think that's that's it
  • 00:26:26
    awesome all right who's next Mr GTM
  • 00:26:29
    it is just a real newbie question you
  • 00:26:32
    you toss the offer out for detailed
  • 00:26:35
    opportunity yeah quick ones um so my
  • 00:26:38
    question is uh how do you protect IP
  • 00:26:40
    when you're just socializing the idea uh
  • 00:26:43
    the question was how do you protect IP
  • 00:26:45
    when you're socializing the idea uh my
  • 00:26:47
    first response to that is you don't stop
  • 00:26:49
    worrying about it what matters is your
  • 00:26:51
    ability to execute on that idea in
  • 00:26:53
    general okay this is what the typical VC
  • 00:26:55
    Venture response would be now um and
  • 00:26:59
    don't be a newbie and ask VCS to sign
  • 00:27:01
    nnc's and ndas they won't we won't do it
  • 00:27:04
    for the most part we don't need to uh
  • 00:27:06
    ndas are more valuable when you have a
  • 00:27:08
    company that's got $100 million in
  • 00:27:09
    revenue and you want to see the profit
  • 00:27:11
    and loss statements and the financials
  • 00:27:12
    okay that's different right but in
  • 00:27:14
    Venture uh ndas are almost never signed
  • 00:27:17
    Founders spend entirely too much time
  • 00:27:19
    focusing on the idea and not realizing
  • 00:27:22
    the idea is worth nothing almost I don't
  • 00:27:24
    want to be you know dismissive of any
  • 00:27:27
    founder but at the end of the of the day
  • 00:27:29
    it's the founder and the founding team's
  • 00:27:31
    job to execute and to iterate another
  • 00:27:34
    thing I bring up the design process when
  • 00:27:36
    you're building a startup you're
  • 00:27:38
    iterating if you're doing it right it
  • 00:27:41
    gets better and better and better people
  • 00:27:42
    say well why are you still building a
  • 00:27:44
    funding platform because it takes a lot
  • 00:27:46
    of time to iterate all the different
  • 00:27:48
    steps in the chain most Founders don't
  • 00:27:50
    realize all the things that have to be
  • 00:27:51
    set up right in order for them to raise
  • 00:27:54
    where it's a pattern where it's a system
  • 00:27:57
    where it's designed instead is some
  • 00:27:58
    halfhazard thing right so this is
  • 00:28:00
    something that again people like
  • 00:28:02
    Overlook when it comes to their idea is
  • 00:28:05
    sure I could tell you I'm building a
  • 00:28:06
    funding platform this is how we're doing
  • 00:28:08
    it good luck trying to do it and the
  • 00:28:10
    reason is is it requires an intimate
  • 00:28:12
    knowledge of the
  • 00:28:14
    transactions and I mean full contact
  • 00:28:16
    like you're in the trenches doing them
  • 00:28:18
    you see all the Haywire that can happen
  • 00:28:20
    not just what you theorize or you see on
  • 00:28:22
    a page right and then there's the
  • 00:28:24
    relationship
  • 00:28:25
    side fundraising is relationships
  • 00:28:28
    recruiting is relationships getting
  • 00:28:31
    clients is
  • 00:28:32
    relationships and so a lot of the
  • 00:28:34
    challenges Founders have with raising is
  • 00:28:37
    is they don't have any access to Capital
  • 00:28:39
    because a they don't know anyone that
  • 00:28:41
    has it or B they don't know where the
  • 00:28:43
    different types of capital are hiding
  • 00:28:45
    out and how they move and how they talk
  • 00:28:46
    to them so when we talk about
  • 00:28:48
    fundraising season uh there are seasons
  • 00:28:51
    like offseason where it might be
  • 00:28:53
    actually the best time to approach uh a
  • 00:28:55
    non-traditional check writer for the
  • 00:28:57
    things that we talk about sponsored
  • 00:28:58
    capital and raised Revenue which is
  • 00:29:00
    where you're getting a check where it's
  • 00:29:01
    not for equity and it's not for interest
  • 00:29:03
    in your business you heard that right
  • 00:29:05
    it's not for Equity or interest in your
  • 00:29:06
    business those types of people if you
  • 00:29:08
    build the relationship with them right
  • 00:29:10
    you can get a call during the summer
  • 00:29:12
    that could very much lead to getting
  • 00:29:14
    some of the funding that you need if you
  • 00:29:16
    understand how to do Capital Discovery
  • 00:29:17
    and to build the relationship with them
  • 00:29:19
    right to find out what the trigger is
  • 00:29:21
    that they're willing to write a check
  • 00:29:23
    for right so uh week and a half ago one
  • 00:29:26
    of my uh from college came and basically
  • 00:29:30
    announced hey look I used the narrative
  • 00:29:31
    that you shared with me around sponsored
  • 00:29:32
    capital and I was able to raise a couple
  • 00:29:34
    million bucks from the people I was also
  • 00:29:37
    doing my research from so he was going
  • 00:29:39
    and doing the 100 client conversation
  • 00:29:42
    conversation and literally one of those
  • 00:29:44
    groups is like if you're building this I
  • 00:29:45
    will fund it not Equity not debt so it's
  • 00:29:49
    the reason we call it sponsored Capital
  • 00:29:51
    this happened during the summer which is
  • 00:29:53
    exactly what I just said is that's not
  • 00:29:55
    fundraising season but sometimes when
  • 00:29:57
    you're doing the alternative of track
  • 00:29:58
    that is the best time to catch somebody
  • 00:30:00
    cuz they're you know if if they're
  • 00:30:02
    anything like me we're we're junkies as
  • 00:30:04
    an investors we're deal guys and on top
  • 00:30:06
    of it we love what we do we love what we
  • 00:30:08
    build and so that's something to kind of
  • 00:30:10
    consider as you're approaching the
  • 00:30:13
    different aspect of what you're doing
  • 00:30:14
    I'm not saying that sponsored capital is
  • 00:30:16
    perfect and I'm not saying it's easy I
  • 00:30:18
    have groups that have approached me to
  • 00:30:20
    do stuff they came to me and it's still
  • 00:30:22
    going to be on their timeline because
  • 00:30:24
    they're writing large checks for
  • 00:30:26
    different things right it's a it's cases
  • 00:30:28
    it's a gift they Here's 2 million bucks
  • 00:30:31
    because I want to see this outcome come
  • 00:30:33
    into reality because I care about the
  • 00:30:36
    impact this is going to have for female
  • 00:30:37
    Founders or for Founders like some of
  • 00:30:40
    the some of the groups really care about
  • 00:30:41
    the work that we're doing here in Las
  • 00:30:43
    Vegas to build up the Vegas Venture
  • 00:30:45
    ecosystem um maybe they're Italian and
  • 00:30:47
    they want to see Italian Founders I just
  • 00:30:49
    got back from Italy and Greece right
  • 00:30:51
    maybe they want to see Italian Founders
  • 00:30:52
    get a chance it could be anything that
  • 00:30:54
    they resonate with that is that they're
  • 00:30:56
    partial to because they have that kind
  • 00:30:58
    of money right so back to your question
  • 00:31:01
    on IP look most of the time pitching you
  • 00:31:03
    don't need to give away the secret sauce
  • 00:31:06
    most of the time when you're sharing to
  • 00:31:08
    get feedback you don't have to give that
  • 00:31:09
    away either so if you're waiting to do
  • 00:31:12
    that you're making a huge mistake
  • 00:31:14
    because what's more valuable than
  • 00:31:15
    protecting the IP is the iterative
  • 00:31:17
    process of it got better and better it
  • 00:31:19
    started as an ugly baby and now it's
  • 00:31:22
    actually maturing into a really gorgeous
  • 00:31:24
    child because we've done that process
  • 00:31:27
    right ises that make sense is that
  • 00:31:28
    helpful yes it is okay great so yeah
  • 00:31:31
    don't be afraid to jump in the ring and
  • 00:31:34
    this is the reason guys why we do pitch
  • 00:31:36
    Kung Fu this is the reason why we have a
  • 00:31:38
    place for Founders to get real-time
  • 00:31:40
    feedback on what they're building and
  • 00:31:41
    then to come back and this is even more
  • 00:31:43
    importantly since that's only really
  • 00:31:45
    once a week in Europe and once a week
  • 00:31:47
    here in the United States is the danger
  • 00:31:49
    room we have an entire place where
  • 00:31:51
    Founders and funders can give advice
  • 00:31:53
    back and forth to the founders as
  • 00:31:54
    they're set setting up their pitches and
  • 00:31:57
    I can't tell you how valuable that is
  • 00:31:58
    this isn't just so that you're ready to
  • 00:32:00
    raise this is maybe you're not even
  • 00:32:01
    describing the problem you're trying to
  • 00:32:03
    solve accurately we've had a bunch of
  • 00:32:05
    Founders recently that think that
  • 00:32:07
    they're describ like one guy shouldn't
  • 00:32:08
    say too much he'll know who it is uh
  • 00:32:11
    thought he was
  • 00:32:13
    basically building a a retreat it's what
  • 00:32:16
    it sounded like to everybody in another
  • 00:32:18
    country but it wasn't even that at all
  • 00:32:20
    it was a whole theraputic thing and just
  • 00:32:23
    that's how bad the messaging was and so
  • 00:32:25
    these are the kinds of things where
  • 00:32:27
    unless you you have an opportunity to
  • 00:32:29
    have a lot of at
  • 00:32:31
    bats to pitch in a safe environment
  • 00:32:34
    where people care that your Venture gets
  • 00:32:36
    to move forward you know you're going to
  • 00:32:38
    you're going to waste that opportunity
  • 00:32:40
    in front of a a f a funer that might
  • 00:32:42
    actually move the ball forward with you
  • 00:32:44
    because you're not prepared and I think
  • 00:32:46
    that the preparation thing is the thing
  • 00:32:48
    I just can't say enough Founders are not
  • 00:32:50
    and I am sympathetic and empathetic
  • 00:32:53
    because fundraising is uh well as Yuri
  • 00:32:56
    likes to say in the book it's like
  • 00:32:57
    writing a roller coaster in the dark and
  • 00:33:00
    we we all know how much fun that is okay
  • 00:33:01
    next
  • 00:33:02
    question all right you want to come up
  • 00:33:05
    okay this is Miss Alicia Alicia Alicia I
  • 00:33:09
    I screw it up all the time I apologize
  • 00:33:12
    every time it's okay it's like we're
  • 00:33:13
    like 10 times in now it's it's all right
  • 00:33:15
    it's all right so my name's Alicia and I
  • 00:33:18
    am building up are you sure it's not
  • 00:33:19
    Alicia I know right my name is Alicia I
  • 00:33:22
    know right my name's Alicia and I am
  • 00:33:24
    building a platform that offers
  • 00:33:25
    Community goods and services for the
  • 00:33:27
    romantically brokenhearted and our
  • 00:33:29
    Northstar is that we're on a mission to
  • 00:33:31
    raise the vibration of Love on the
  • 00:33:33
    planet before I get into my actual one
  • 00:33:35
    thing I'll say is whether you like what
  • 00:33:37
    she's up to whether you understand it or
  • 00:33:39
    not and I don't know if you kind of
  • 00:33:40
    stole this from me it's probably not
  • 00:33:42
    because nothing's original these days
  • 00:33:43
    but it's important to describe your
  • 00:33:45
    Northstar to everybody there's a lot of
  • 00:33:47
    stuff that we're doing over at Fusion
  • 00:33:50
    there's a lot of things that we're up to
  • 00:33:51
    we got community we have accelerator we
  • 00:33:53
    have our fast which is fundraising as a
  • 00:33:55
    service program which this is a
  • 00:33:56
    FastTrack program you can come and do it
  • 00:33:58
    yourself with us or you can have us kind
  • 00:34:01
    of do it with you alongside of you and
  • 00:34:02
    then we've got the whole machine
  • 00:34:04
    learning backend pairing and matching
  • 00:34:06
    thing that's quite complicated to build
  • 00:34:09
    all of that doesn't matter at the end of
  • 00:34:10
    the day I explain to people our
  • 00:34:12
    Northstar is creating more Founders that
  • 00:34:15
    become funders than anybody else and
  • 00:34:17
    that gets a lot of attention and it gets
  • 00:34:19
    supporters how many of you guys liked
  • 00:34:21
    when you heard her say this is our
  • 00:34:23
    Northstar this is our flag in the ground
  • 00:34:26
    was that was that powerful for you guys
  • 00:34:27
    awesome a continue awesome
  • 00:34:29
    thanks okay cool so not so Shameless
  • 00:34:31
    plug uh for Fusion 42 before I get to my
  • 00:34:34
    question seriously though is that I
  • 00:34:35
    found out about that group this group in
  • 00:34:37
    I want to say February it was around the
  • 00:34:38
    Super Bowl and I'll tell you it's been a
  • 00:34:41
    slingshot in my opinion for like things
  • 00:34:43
    that I've learned and things that when
  • 00:34:45
    he was talking before about like making
  • 00:34:47
    mistakes like it's better to get your
  • 00:34:49
    reps in like offline before you actually
  • 00:34:51
    screw things up in front of people that
  • 00:34:53
    have the ability to write you a check
  • 00:34:54
    not that you don't but to to have the
  • 00:34:58
    support and see other people like even
  • 00:35:00
    um T just now I he came up here and I
  • 00:35:03
    was like oh you gave your description
  • 00:35:05
    and I've seen you in our groups before
  • 00:35:07
    and I actually just on the Fly shortened
  • 00:35:09
    mine even more cuz I was like there's
  • 00:35:12
    there's just opportunity building
  • 00:35:13
    something quite Technical and we all
  • 00:35:15
    know that when he first started
  • 00:35:16
    explaining it it is because it's very
  • 00:35:18
    exciting because it's changing lives
  • 00:35:20
    totally it's too much right and the the
  • 00:35:22
    rest of us that aren't medical experts
  • 00:35:24
    don't always get it and you see how
  • 00:35:26
    succiny is oh so much so that I was like
  • 00:35:28
    I'm mine's still too long so yeah thanks
  • 00:35:30
    for that and I and I just want to
  • 00:35:31
    highlight like it's because T put in the
  • 00:35:33
    work yeah really what we're providing is
  • 00:35:35
    the gym environment for you guys to come
  • 00:35:37
    you guys are going to do the work or not
  • 00:35:38
    do the work that's going to determine by
  • 00:35:40
    Design whether or not you're successful
  • 00:35:43
    I can only do so much you know like a
  • 00:35:45
    platform is not going to solve all your
  • 00:35:46
    problems neither is a community neither
  • 00:35:47
    is an accelerator isn't it interesting
  • 00:35:50
    how the same founder can go through
  • 00:35:51
    through the same experience and get
  • 00:35:52
    funded and other Founders don't well
  • 00:35:56
    what's the variable there if it's the
  • 00:35:57
    same
  • 00:35:58
    program which is awesome and I feel like
  • 00:36:00
    you uh just read my question because uh
  • 00:36:02
    we talk a lot that's okay we talk a lot
  • 00:36:04
    about um what needs to like how we need
  • 00:36:08
    to who we need to be to be the people
  • 00:36:10
    that will be funded or that investors
  • 00:36:12
    Will Will Believe in Us and I'm
  • 00:36:14
    wondering if in fiveish sentence or less
  • 00:36:17
    uh how would you how do you personally
  • 00:36:20
    know when a Founder is ready and I have
  • 00:36:22
    a followup question great um this is the
  • 00:36:25
    thing that doesn't get addressed enough
  • 00:36:27
    Founders don't spend enough time really
  • 00:36:30
    asking themselves who do I get to be who
  • 00:36:32
    am I
  • 00:36:33
    becoming um and when you say was the
  • 00:36:36
    question why is this how do you know how
  • 00:36:39
    do I know
  • 00:36:42
    um okay I'll give the gut answer and
  • 00:36:44
    then I'll give the technical answer the
  • 00:36:46
    gut answer is I always know uh there was
  • 00:36:48
    a Founder that pitched two days ago it
  • 00:36:50
    was not her best pitch we we called it
  • 00:36:52
    out the first time she pitched it was
  • 00:36:55
    awesome um and then I got messages from
  • 00:36:58
    other investors in the room she doesn't
  • 00:36:59
    even know this yet and they said that
  • 00:37:01
    that g is going to make it there's just
  • 00:37:02
    something in the Charisma there's
  • 00:37:04
    something in the preparedness there's
  • 00:37:05
    something in the between the first time
  • 00:37:06
    she pitched and 90 days ago she's built
  • 00:37:08
    a bunch of crap she was able to show up
  • 00:37:10
    and Report hey we did this she she asked
  • 00:37:13
    for feedback and we were not nice or
  • 00:37:15
    we're unkind but not unkind she chook it
  • 00:37:18
    on the chin and she was just like I I'm
  • 00:37:20
    I'm going to work on those because she
  • 00:37:21
    knows it's coming from a place of For
  • 00:37:23
    the Love of startups right so that's the
  • 00:37:25
    non-technical answer can I pop in on
  • 00:37:27
    that one one of the other things that I
  • 00:37:28
    feel like really helps when we're in
  • 00:37:30
    these groups and in Fusion 42 and we're
  • 00:37:32
    getting this feedback it's because we
  • 00:37:34
    can identify with their Northstar that
  • 00:37:36
    it makes it easier for us to take the
  • 00:37:38
    feedback I feel like because we go oh
  • 00:37:40
    the only reason you're telling that us
  • 00:37:42
    that is because you care because you
  • 00:37:43
    want us to succeed because we want to
  • 00:37:45
    come back and be the the people who end
  • 00:37:47
    up being the funders after we've
  • 00:37:49
    successfully see Founders are crazy and
  • 00:37:51
    I want I want the crazy innovators of
  • 00:37:53
    the world the producers of the world
  • 00:37:54
    that produce more than they consume I
  • 00:37:56
    want I want them to be a successful as
  • 00:37:58
    possible the things you guys are
  • 00:37:59
    building matter and I don't want easy
  • 00:38:03
    things to address which is your way of
  • 00:38:05
    being which you completely control to
  • 00:38:07
    get in the way of you getting where you
  • 00:38:08
    need to go so the technical answer is we
  • 00:38:11
    do two minute pitches at pitch Kung Fu
  • 00:38:13
    we do them at our you know pitch uh
  • 00:38:15
    poolside pitches that we do at Venture
  • 00:38:16
    House all of our pitch events no matter
  • 00:38:18
    where we do them investment week La etc
  • 00:38:20
    etc and even online with the pitch Kung
  • 00:38:22
    Fu sessions it's all based around a
  • 00:38:24
    two-minute pitch that is by Design
  • 00:38:28
    I've seen more pitches in my life than
  • 00:38:30
    all of you guys in this room
  • 00:38:32
    combined and then some so I know what
  • 00:38:35
    works to make sure that other investors
  • 00:38:37
    are like I want to hear more let's do
  • 00:38:39
    this and I know what bores us to death
  • 00:38:42
    and I know what gets other Founders
  • 00:38:43
    excited if it's too much information
  • 00:38:45
    other Founders can't even say hey I'm
  • 00:38:47
    going to connect you to someone I know
  • 00:38:49
    how to explain it because you were so
  • 00:38:50
    elegent in your pitch so the two-minute
  • 00:38:52
    pitch shows me almost everything I need
  • 00:38:53
    to know their excitement their energy do
  • 00:38:56
    they have the eye of the tiger you know
  • 00:38:57
    those kinds of things and then just the
  • 00:38:59
    last thing is like is there is there
  • 00:39:02
    like a a studiousness there is there
  • 00:39:04
    like a high learner I'm interested in
  • 00:39:06
    learning I'll give an example Mr James
  • 00:39:07
    here sitting in the front row he's been
  • 00:39:10
    to a lot of freaking sessions with us a
  • 00:39:12
    lot of it is repeat he learned it he got
  • 00:39:14
    it the first time he used to be a
  • 00:39:15
    consultant used to do turnarounds for
  • 00:39:17
    companies I'm quite sure that the first
  • 00:39:20
    time I said certain things he got it and
  • 00:39:22
    then the second time he heard it if it
  • 00:39:23
    was different from you know what most
  • 00:39:25
    other people talk about when it comes to
  • 00:39:26
    where's all Capital hiding out some of
  • 00:39:28
    that was new but he's now heard it for
  • 00:39:30
    like 15 different
  • 00:39:32
    times he still shows up we have Founders
  • 00:39:36
    that have come to these sessions that
  • 00:39:37
    have had $300 million exits they've done
  • 00:39:39
    it three times and they still show up
  • 00:39:42
    you know so I think that that is very
  • 00:39:44
    very very interesting because most
  • 00:39:45
    Founders that have had exits they can't
  • 00:39:47
    describe how they did it and they
  • 00:39:49
    certainly could not describe and reverse
  • 00:39:50
    engineer their funding process you know
  • 00:39:52
    and so to me like that is what shows me
  • 00:39:55
    somebody's really going to make it is
  • 00:39:57
    because it's iteration they understand
  • 00:40:00
    that there are certain things they're
  • 00:40:01
    great at and there's other things that
  • 00:40:02
    they're not and that iterative process
  • 00:40:04
    of showing up and learning and hey I
  • 00:40:06
    didn't quite get this or hey how did you
  • 00:40:09
    describe that or how do I interface with
  • 00:40:10
    this funer in this way should I hit them
  • 00:40:12
    up for Capital right now should I wait
  • 00:40:14
    you know all of those kinds of things
  • 00:40:16
    they keep coming back and what do you do
  • 00:40:18
    about a Founder that just keeps coming
  • 00:40:20
    back you can't stop them you can't stop
  • 00:40:22
    them it's so dope to me it's like uh
  • 00:40:24
    repeatable luck by Design right like you
  • 00:40:26
    just go I I want to be able to describe
  • 00:40:28
    to other people how I let me tell you I
  • 00:40:30
    just came back from
  • 00:40:32
    Europe as many as you guys think as it's
  • 00:40:34
    challenging here in the United States if
  • 00:40:36
    you don't live in Silicon Valley New
  • 00:40:37
    York and Boston woo there is an energy
  • 00:40:40
    in the United States that everybody else
  • 00:40:41
    recognizes this country was built on
  • 00:40:43
    small business Enterprise you like it or
  • 00:40:45
    don't like it if you don't like it you
  • 00:40:46
    should leave first of all but just
  • 00:40:49
    understand this country was built on a
  • 00:40:50
    meritocracy of if you want to create it
  • 00:40:52
    and you want to innovate it you can do
  • 00:40:53
    it and that energy is just not the same
  • 00:40:56
    in all other different part part of the
  • 00:40:57
    world I'm I'm rooting for Founders
  • 00:40:59
    everywhere for sure but I'm also
  • 00:41:01
    grateful that we get to build here I
  • 00:41:03
    just want to say that I don't care if
  • 00:41:04
    people think that I shouldn't be
  • 00:41:06
    patriotic or whatever there's a lot of
  • 00:41:07
    challenges here in this country being an
  • 00:41:09
    entrepreneur is not freaking one of them
  • 00:41:11
    because we're here to solve problems
  • 00:41:13
    make things happen make the world a
  • 00:41:14
    better place and that's the reason why
  • 00:41:16
    we get huge amounts of money in return
  • 00:41:18
    and as some of my other big funders like
  • 00:41:20
    to say being a Founder is a privilege
  • 00:41:24
    you know being a Founder is a privilege
  • 00:41:25
    like what place do we live in and time
  • 00:41:27
    in history where we can go raise a bunch
  • 00:41:29
    of money and we can lose it all and we
  • 00:41:30
    can fail and they're like good you did
  • 00:41:32
    it let's go see if we can go do it again
  • 00:41:34
    when you're pitching and you haven't
  • 00:41:35
    explained that you've had other startups
  • 00:41:37
    whether they're successful or not you're
  • 00:41:38
    missing out on an opportunity to say I
  • 00:41:40
    have Battle Scars I have War wounds yeah
  • 00:41:42
    there's I've been in the trenches I know
  • 00:41:44
    what it's like to have bullets come
  • 00:41:45
    flying by and I'm trying to raise and
  • 00:41:47
    I'm trying to recruit and I'm trying to
  • 00:41:48
    balance all this stuff and my
  • 00:41:50
    significant others is upset and you know
  • 00:41:53
    for sometimes for valid reasons right
  • 00:41:55
    cuz the business is the new mistress or
  • 00:41:57
    or mis and you know those kinds of
  • 00:41:59
    things okay what's your follow on uh so
  • 00:42:00
    my follow-up question has to do with you
  • 00:42:02
    talk a lot about uh Market Readiness and
  • 00:42:04
    if you could just talk about I don't
  • 00:42:05
    know like I would imagine it's a little
  • 00:42:07
    bit different for everyone but like
  • 00:42:08
    three or five points that you look for
  • 00:42:10
    that indicate that a Founder is Market
  • 00:42:13
    ready uh so we were on a Latin American
  • 00:42:16
    Venture Capital call bunch of VCS from
  • 00:42:18
    Latin America and I'm very Pro Latin
  • 00:42:20
    America um I look at like Latin America
  • 00:42:24
    has so much opportunity because it's
  • 00:42:25
    like what if what if they
  • 00:42:27
    did actually operate a little bit more
  • 00:42:30
    free market what if they did operate
  • 00:42:31
    with a little bit more Republic uh
  • 00:42:33
    Democratic principles whether you like
  • 00:42:35
    the United States or not it has been the
  • 00:42:37
    standard and the example for the entire
  • 00:42:40
    world when it comes to entrepreneurship
  • 00:42:41
    and how well it can work and lift people
  • 00:42:43
    out of poverty I'm not saying it's
  • 00:42:45
    perfect but South America is very very
  • 00:42:48
    behind in that way and so I'm very
  • 00:42:49
    excited to do something about it so
  • 00:42:51
    somebody was on the call and they said
  • 00:42:53
    oh uh you've been attending the sessions
  • 00:42:55
    you know like know what do you think and
  • 00:42:57
    they're like well Kurt's really firm
  • 00:43:00
    he's really direct and I'm like yeah my
  • 00:43:02
    job is to save you guys time I don't
  • 00:43:04
    want you to have to go through the
  • 00:43:05
    experiences that I've gone through as a
  • 00:43:06
    founder and as a fun um so to me that's
  • 00:43:10
    really the biggest thing that we're
  • 00:43:12
    helping you guys with in general a great
  • 00:43:14
    funer is going to look out for the
  • 00:43:16
    founders and help try to build ecosystem
  • 00:43:18
    and help to save them time because
  • 00:43:19
    Founders don't have time and they really
  • 00:43:20
    don't have money and so if you can
  • 00:43:22
    appreciably guide them in the right
  • 00:43:24
    direction I think that puts you in uh
  • 00:43:27
    rarified air because Founders don't get
  • 00:43:29
    that opportunity very few Founders get
  • 00:43:31
    somebody that'll rig the game for their
  • 00:43:32
    success and it's not happening it
  • 00:43:34
    happens a lot more in the United States
  • 00:43:36
    than it does in South America the the
  • 00:43:38
    level of Education of the startup
  • 00:43:40
    Founders is not nowhere close to where
  • 00:43:42
    it is uh like we have Colombia Tech week
  • 00:43:45
    next next week I love Colombia I'm super
  • 00:43:47
    excited to serve the Colombian people um
  • 00:43:50
    and to help them in any way I can um but
  • 00:43:52
    there's Basics that we take for granted
  • 00:43:54
    here just in our standard of living and
  • 00:43:57
    everything else and the liquidity we
  • 00:43:58
    have access to that that they don't even
  • 00:44:00
    have you know like we're having a you
  • 00:44:04
    may not feel like this is a very
  • 00:44:05
    Advanced conversation for you guys um
  • 00:44:08
    but this would be Japanese to most of
  • 00:44:10
    them because they don't even have access
  • 00:44:12
    to like even basic knowledge from
  • 00:44:15
    startup land because it's never been
  • 00:44:16
    converted to Spanish which is crazy
  • 00:44:19
    because there's 600 million Spanish
  • 00:44:20
    speakers that's well so uh can you
  • 00:44:22
    reiterate your question again yeah sure
  • 00:44:24
    so three to five uh points that you look
  • 00:44:26
    for that signal that a Founder is is
  • 00:44:29
    Market ready okay yeah that's where I
  • 00:44:30
    was going with this um one of the things
  • 00:44:32
    I love about the Latin American Founders
  • 00:44:34
    is they're not afraid to freaking
  • 00:44:38
    sell back to the example we're going to
  • 00:44:41
    sell
  • 00:44:42
    computers then we're going to build
  • 00:44:45
    them I see way too many Founders that
  • 00:44:49
    don't want to sell oh I don't know how
  • 00:44:51
    to recruit or oh I don't want to I'm
  • 00:44:53
    scared to pitch I'm scared to put my
  • 00:44:55
    pitch up what are people going to say
  • 00:44:57
    what if people kick the crap out of your
  • 00:44:59
    pitch and it gets better right oh I
  • 00:45:03
    don't have client conversations because
  • 00:45:05
    you're afraid to sell everything that a
  • 00:45:08
    Founder needs to do comes down to
  • 00:45:10
    selling marketing is what gets the leads
  • 00:45:12
    there it gets the interest in the
  • 00:45:14
    attraction there but selling is where
  • 00:45:15
    the rubber meets the road and so that
  • 00:45:18
    for me is what I look for in a founder
  • 00:45:20
    and we've broken down in the uh fundable
  • 00:45:23
    versus bable versus bankable sessions
  • 00:45:25
    that we've done the difference between a
  • 00:45:28
    Founder that's willing to sell and not
  • 00:45:30
    it's literally I think one of the
  • 00:45:32
    biggest you know determins of your
  • 00:45:33
    success and don't tell me you're an
  • 00:45:35
    entrepreneur or that you're introverted
  • 00:45:37
    and you don't sell okay fine don't be a
  • 00:45:39
    founder and in the case of building
  • 00:45:41
    platforms what is selling look like to
  • 00:45:43
    you does that include like building
  • 00:45:45
    weight lless until the platform's ready
  • 00:45:47
    yeah so any way okay couple things so
  • 00:45:50
    GTM does not mean you come up with the
  • 00:45:52
    plan and you're done GTM means you're
  • 00:45:54
    always planning you're always adjusting
  • 00:45:56
    you're always taking feedback you got Mr
  • 00:45:58
    Ben here is a marketer he'll tell you
  • 00:45:59
    you're always a testing you're taking a
  • 00:46:02
    and you're testing it against B and you
  • 00:46:03
    always need to have different strategies
  • 00:46:05
    of how you're going to get new clients
  • 00:46:06
    how you're going to get new customers
  • 00:46:07
    this is before you go raise people you
  • 00:46:10
    need to be having as many conversations
  • 00:46:12
    as possible so another example from the
  • 00:46:14
    session the other day was hey even if
  • 00:46:16
    you can say to a funer hey I don't have
  • 00:46:18
    any Revenue you want to know what I do
  • 00:46:20
    have I have 5,000 conversations I've
  • 00:46:22
    tracked all of them here's all the data
  • 00:46:24
    this is what they're saying and this is
  • 00:46:26
    the B sized chunk that is true about 75%
  • 00:46:29
    of them they're all saying this and this
  • 00:46:31
    is the reason why I believe I found the
  • 00:46:33
    niche and I found what it is that I know
  • 00:46:35
    is the is the solution yeah because
  • 00:46:37
    they're telling me their problem they're
  • 00:46:39
    telling me their pain and so that's
  • 00:46:41
    something else that I would just really
  • 00:46:42
    emphasize is get early early early early
  • 00:46:44
    early feedback so to put it in the uh
  • 00:46:47
    the words of the individual that just
  • 00:46:49
    raised a couple million bucks from
  • 00:46:50
    sponsor capital is he never build
  • 00:46:52
    something he hasn't sold first got to be
  • 00:46:54
    able to sell it first got to be able to
  • 00:46:55
    sell it first even when you got easy
  • 00:46:58
    Capital like we went through this time
  • 00:47:00
    period guys where people thought that
  • 00:47:02
    they didn't need to sell because they
  • 00:47:03
    could just get capital and how wrong
  • 00:47:05
    they were and look at what's happened to
  • 00:47:06
    their valuations they're doing down
  • 00:47:08
    rounds which means their valuations like
  • 00:47:10
    flat or lower than the one before that's
  • 00:47:12
    super not good for anybody it sucks for
  • 00:47:14
    the founder usually sucks for the
  • 00:47:16
    funders and it's because people weren't
  • 00:47:19
    selling early enough so I know you know
  • 00:47:22
    we talk about Revenue all the time but
  • 00:47:24
    Revenue solves a lot of problems and
  • 00:47:27
    signals to the market and to funders
  • 00:47:29
    that you're something that's worth
  • 00:47:30
    investing in and making sure that you
  • 00:47:32
    continue to grow so I didn't give you
  • 00:47:33
    five because I think that is the five
  • 00:47:36
    it's like it's it's that critical that's
  • 00:47:38
    awesome okay thanks uh last thing and I
  • 00:47:40
    will uh say a disclaimer on this Kurt
  • 00:47:42
    didn't ask me to get up here and say any
  • 00:47:43
    of this um but I believe that when you
  • 00:47:46
    do well that people will naturally like
  • 00:47:48
    be an evangelist like on your behalf and
  • 00:47:50
    so one of the unique things about Fusion
  • 00:47:52
    42 is that I think bernee Brown talks a
  • 00:47:54
    lot about like only get advice from
  • 00:47:56
    people who have earned the right to give
  • 00:47:57
    it to you and I feel like one of the
  • 00:47:58
    most important things about being in
  • 00:48:00
    Fusion 42 is that it's not just funders
  • 00:48:02
    it's not just Founders there's framers
  • 00:48:03
    like the people that have the services
  • 00:48:06
    the experts in the middle that help all
  • 00:48:08
    of us show up better for each other and
  • 00:48:10
    and as a community and so I just think
  • 00:48:13
    uh L train of thought with that but
  • 00:48:14
    there are all these people in this
  • 00:48:16
    community and it's just a a really
  • 00:48:18
    unique perspective and a unique place to
  • 00:48:20
    uh be so I can't encourage people enough
  • 00:48:22
    to come in there and just like let's
  • 00:48:25
    effing do this yeah thank you so much
  • 00:48:27
    appreciate that I'm glad it's working
  • 00:48:28
    for you thanks awesome awesome who's
  • 00:48:31
    next Who's Next she's got a question you
  • 00:48:33
    going to come down or is it short uh you
  • 00:48:36
    you first then you then you okay let's
  • 00:48:39
    do it how's it going my name is Enrique
  • 00:48:41
    uh my partner I started desert Moon
  • 00:48:43
    mushrooms a mushroom farm okay um here
  • 00:48:45
    in Vegas uh we want to raise money for
  • 00:48:48
    the next step we are currently
  • 00:48:51
    profitable um should we what's the
  • 00:48:53
    profit margin you don't mind uh around
  • 00:48:55
    20% okay
  • 00:48:57
    um we need a lot of money to go to the
  • 00:49:00
    next step is there any anything that
  • 00:49:02
    you've identified or two or three things
  • 00:49:03
    you've identified that that if
  • 00:49:05
    implemented could immediately take that
  • 00:49:07
    to like a 40 45% profit margin
  • 00:49:11
    um uh produce more okay produce more
  • 00:49:15
    product yeah more product like raw or
  • 00:49:17
    finished uh I know that they're kind of
  • 00:49:19
    raw but yeah they're pretty raw just
  • 00:49:22
    packaging ready to go out the door we
  • 00:49:23
    just need a a larger economies of scale
  • 00:49:25
    okay and the the current acquisition
  • 00:49:27
    strategy for the profitable you know
  • 00:49:30
    clients that are buying how did you
  • 00:49:32
    acquire those clients uh just by showing
  • 00:49:34
    them our product it's really unique okay
  • 00:49:36
    uh is there a more nuanced strategy that
  • 00:49:38
    you have for that GTM than we're just
  • 00:49:40
    showing them product um currently we
  • 00:49:43
    always sell out so there's a lot of
  • 00:49:44
    demand for it you know where I'm going
  • 00:49:46
    with this okay keep going okay so my
  • 00:49:48
    question is if we ask for money um would
  • 00:49:53
    it be wrong like should we be raising
  • 00:49:55
    money for like we want to own land to
  • 00:49:58
    build it or is it is there interest in
  • 00:50:00
    funders for that or is it typically
  • 00:50:02
    they're going to only fund renting uh
  • 00:50:04
    okay uh situational so two things first
  • 00:50:07
    of all you need to find somebody that's
  • 00:50:10
    a really evangelist about what you're
  • 00:50:12
    doing there's people out there that love
  • 00:50:13
    cocy and love mushrooms even for raw
  • 00:50:15
    even like whatever it is I understand
  • 00:50:17
    they're all gourmet mushrooms great
  • 00:50:19
    great great um I I'd find somebody
  • 00:50:21
    that's really into food I'm a foodie um
  • 00:50:23
    but I'd find individuals that really
  • 00:50:25
    care about that that love that movement
  • 00:50:27
    and understand why that's really
  • 00:50:29
    important especially in a Food City like
  • 00:50:31
    Vegas right do you have any contracts in
  • 00:50:33
    place any major chefs that are all over
  • 00:50:36
    this from the city we sell to all the
  • 00:50:37
    major casinos okay um
  • 00:50:41
    what's is there a way to increase those
  • 00:50:43
    contracts or is it literally the
  • 00:50:44
    bottleneck is you don't have enough
  • 00:50:45
    product the bottleneck we don't have
  • 00:50:47
    enough product okay and you believe in
  • 00:50:49
    your heart that's completely true yes
  • 00:50:51
    okay so literally you had 500 Grand
  • 00:50:53
    tomorrow You' You' immediately increase
  • 00:50:55
    sales we need quite a a lot we need like
  • 00:50:57
    maybe 5 million for the next Farm it
  • 00:51:00
    includes like
  • 00:51:02
    automation stair step into that next do
  • 00:51:04
    you guys see what I'm doing here okay uh
  • 00:51:07
    there no stair step like you're screwed
  • 00:51:09
    if you don't get 5 million you're never
  • 00:51:10
    going to get the next next
  • 00:51:12
    step it is just much more efficient at
  • 00:51:16
    that size I would challenge you guys to
  • 00:51:18
    think about what the next stage is in
  • 00:51:20
    inside of that so two things um real
  • 00:51:23
    estate's complicated um like for example
  • 00:51:27
    we've done 500 founder and funer events
  • 00:51:29
    The Last 5 Years um 300 of those were
  • 00:51:32
    done or more than 300 of those were done
  • 00:51:35
    with no venue we didn't own the spaces
  • 00:51:37
    that we did them in and all the cities
  • 00:51:39
    we did them in as you guys know you guys
  • 00:51:41
    come out to Venture House the the
  • 00:51:42
    properties are 10 and 20 bedroom houses
  • 00:51:44
    uh we also have a Content Studio on the
  • 00:51:46
    Las Vegas Strip all that kind of stuff
  • 00:51:48
    we do own the properties the level of
  • 00:51:50
    complexity that that creates is as cool
  • 00:51:52
    as it is it's a lot of overhead uh now
  • 00:51:55
    your business depends on it ours doesn't
  • 00:51:57
    necessarily because we're basically
  • 00:51:58
    ecosystem building and we eat the cost
  • 00:52:00
    because we believe in fostering Venture
  • 00:52:02
    but I can just tell you the level of
  • 00:52:03
    complexity even with what we're doing to
  • 00:52:05
    expand it because there's so much real
  • 00:52:07
    estate involved in real estate's very
  • 00:52:09
    expensive uh is it's a significant jump
  • 00:52:13
    I would think that the intersection of
  • 00:52:15
    someone that really loves food or
  • 00:52:16
    believes that our food is poisoned or
  • 00:52:18
    whatever um and also knows real estate
  • 00:52:21
    might be a good type of archetype of
  • 00:52:25
    investor to attempt to talk talk to
  • 00:52:26
    about this um the difficult challeng is
  • 00:52:29
    is that Real Estate Investors do not
  • 00:52:31
    think at all like Venture investors they
  • 00:52:34
    think completely differently because
  • 00:52:36
    they're data driven because does the
  • 00:52:37
    appraisal match or not kind of a thing
  • 00:52:40
    right uh whereas Venture is a lot more
  • 00:52:42
    on like the story of the founders and
  • 00:52:45
    whether or not you can enroll them into
  • 00:52:47
    the vision of where you're going to take
  • 00:52:49
    the future of this company and their
  • 00:52:51
    money is going to come along with right
  • 00:52:52
    as part of that Journey um so I would
  • 00:52:55
    recommend strongly that you come hang
  • 00:52:57
    out and in in the telegram chats and
  • 00:53:00
    start asking and seeing what some of the
  • 00:53:01
    Nuance feedback is on it the other thing
  • 00:53:04
    I was going to say to you is I don't see
  • 00:53:05
    in here a very developed GTM go-to
  • 00:53:08
    Market strategy with
  • 00:53:10
    this um and it makes me concerned about
  • 00:53:12
    if you're going to be able to get the
  • 00:53:13
    scale if you don't have a more developed
  • 00:53:15
    sales plan and channel partner plan so
  • 00:53:19
    that's something we're literally
  • 00:53:20
    covering that on Tuesday next Tuesday
  • 00:53:22
    and it's free all this is free so I'd
  • 00:53:24
    recommend that you come and do that and
  • 00:53:25
    I would really get
  • 00:53:27
    really clear cuz here's the thing
  • 00:53:29
    anytime a really experienced fun hears
  • 00:53:31
    you're going to use their money to get
  • 00:53:33
    to Market as far as marketing unless you
  • 00:53:35
    can show them that you already have the
  • 00:53:37
    math because you've already done the
  • 00:53:38
    exercise and you've already broken down
  • 00:53:41
    what your cost of acquisition is per
  • 00:53:43
    restaurant per contract per Chef per
  • 00:53:46
    whatever you're going to find it A Hard
  • 00:53:48
    Sell because we know how easy it is to
  • 00:53:51
    burn money on
  • 00:53:53
    marketing um Joe Rogan was talking about
  • 00:53:57
    CNN or somebody else whatever you care
  • 00:53:59
    about or believe CNN spent I don't know
  • 00:54:02
    how much freaking money to get 10,000
  • 00:54:04
    users it was millions millions and
  • 00:54:07
    millions and millions of
  • 00:54:09
    money
  • 00:54:11
    and they demonstrated that they don't
  • 00:54:13
    have a very good understanding of Their
  • 00:54:14
    audience they burned a ton of cash it
  • 00:54:17
    was not a very efficient thing whereas
  • 00:54:20
    Joe Rogan spends zero I'll give you
  • 00:54:22
    another example how many of you guys
  • 00:54:24
    seen The Wolverine uh Deadpool movie um
  • 00:54:28
    all those viral videos you saw that uh
  • 00:54:32
    were put together that Ryan Reynolds
  • 00:54:34
    did they didn't put they didn't put any
  • 00:54:38
    money they put money into marketing for
  • 00:54:40
    sure but they did not put any money
  • 00:54:42
    behind those organic videos now there
  • 00:54:44
    was unique advantages that he has as a
  • 00:54:46
    marketing genius and he has a marketing
  • 00:54:48
    company and he's an actor and his type
  • 00:54:51
    of humor and the whole Deadpool being
  • 00:54:53
    able to break the fourth wall which is
  • 00:54:55
    different than other superheroes they
  • 00:54:56
    played on all of that including the
  • 00:54:58
    wokeness of Disney and making fun of
  • 00:55:00
    Disney which I cannot believe they got
  • 00:55:01
    away with and they were able to leverage
  • 00:55:03
    that that's a nuanced marketing plan and
  • 00:55:05
    a nuanced GTM it was part of their GTM
  • 00:55:08
    to do these little vignettes with
  • 00:55:10
    Deadpool right and Wolverine and him
  • 00:55:12
    being at each other's throats and all
  • 00:55:13
    this kind of stuff so I think that you
  • 00:55:15
    guys need to do the same thing I do not
  • 00:55:17
    hear Founders often enough in their
  • 00:55:19
    pitch and this is again is is about to
  • 00:55:21
    happen like if you go do a pitch and I
  • 00:55:23
    didn't tell you to do this I'm almost
  • 00:55:24
    certain that you wouldn't have put your
  • 00:55:25
    GTM plan and with some clarity it only
  • 00:55:28
    needs to be a few sentences in a
  • 00:55:29
    two-minute pitch but you need to be able
  • 00:55:31
    to describe it okay so since we're
  • 00:55:32
    already like in markets and there is
  • 00:55:34
    demand yeah is that not enough do we
  • 00:55:36
    need to no GTM is something you're
  • 00:55:38
    always doing so every time you open up
  • 00:55:40
    new markets what's the GTM plan for that
  • 00:55:43
    what worked last time what could be
  • 00:55:44
    better what could give us a better
  • 00:55:45
    profit margin I'm not an expert in your
  • 00:55:48
    industry or in Foods in general but I do
  • 00:55:50
    know 20% profit margin is probably not
  • 00:55:53
    going to get you to some of the scale
  • 00:55:55
    that you want gotcha because your next
  • 00:55:57
    leap is just it's 5 million bucks I mean
  • 00:55:58
    that's a huge leap so something
  • 00:56:01
    something we can continue to discuss
  • 00:56:02
    let's move on some more questions but by
  • 00:56:04
    all means like this is a conversation
  • 00:56:06
    I'm not trying to say you know this that
  • 00:56:07
    be all end all another question is how
  • 00:56:09
    would we value our ourselves yeah uh
  • 00:56:13
    talking enough uh value yourself that
  • 00:56:16
    something we probably have time to
  • 00:56:17
    handle right this second but we have a
  • 00:56:19
    whole Channel devoted to that with
  • 00:56:20
    content it's all free with an expert
  • 00:56:22
    that's literally walking you through how
  • 00:56:24
    to wait create the valuation and all
  • 00:56:26
    that but it's a factor of is there any
  • 00:56:28
    technology in the company is the
  • 00:56:30
    business model set up in a way where
  • 00:56:31
    it's got margins and I don't just mean
  • 00:56:33
    the margin you currently have is there
  • 00:56:35
    something about it that makes it more of
  • 00:56:37
    a startup and a venture versus a small
  • 00:56:39
    business right now I'm hearing it's more
  • 00:56:41
    of a small business that's okay there's
  • 00:56:43
    pros and cons to both Ventures and
  • 00:56:44
    startups sorry and small businesses uh
  • 00:56:47
    startups usually move at a much faster
  • 00:56:49
    Pace they're much more cash hungry they
  • 00:56:51
    need to have Innovation they have to
  • 00:56:52
    have a moat which means you can easily
  • 00:56:54
    protect the The Venture from other
  • 00:56:55
    compan that are like it some markets
  • 00:56:57
    tend to be win or take all this is not
  • 00:56:59
    one of them but there is a finite amount
  • 00:57:01
    of restaurants that want mushrooms in
  • 00:57:03
    the city and Beyond and so these are
  • 00:57:05
    things that you got to think about and
  • 00:57:06
    again this is the reason why the GTM is
  • 00:57:08
    something that's ever
  • 00:57:09
    evolving and so the valuation part of it
  • 00:57:12
    we need to have more Nuance conversation
  • 00:57:14
    kind of break that down but awesome AES
  • 00:57:16
    keep coming hang all right who else do
  • 00:57:17
    we
  • 00:57:19
    have quickly
  • 00:57:22
    quickly and thanks for not taking
  • 00:57:25
    anything personally that I say guys I'm
  • 00:57:27
    not trying to be the person that says
  • 00:57:29
    your baby's ugly sometimes it is um but
  • 00:57:32
    it's because we really want to see your
  • 00:57:34
    guys' Ventures be more successful and
  • 00:57:36
    frankly funders are just not as direct
  • 00:57:38
    and honest sometimes as I think that
  • 00:57:39
    they need to be for people to get the
  • 00:57:41
    message and just know hey go go fix this
  • 00:57:43
    it's it's all a conversation of Just
  • 00:57:45
    Dial this in Just Dial this in just hey
  • 00:57:47
    let's move this or hey I don't know
  • 00:57:48
    about this and guess you want to know
  • 00:57:49
    who knows more than I do the market the
  • 00:57:53
    market always knows more than I do in
  • 00:57:54
    the aggregate and so that's something
  • 00:57:57
    why that's my default answer is what is
  • 00:57:59
    the market saying and you're like they
  • 00:58:00
    love our product we're selling out okay
  • 00:58:02
    great how do you do more of that and how
  • 00:58:04
    do you how are you in control of doing
  • 00:58:06
    more of that versus what reactively
  • 00:58:08
    happens coming back to that whole design
  • 00:58:11
    theme we have today what's up buddy
  • 00:58:12
    what's up I'm JJ by the way first time
  • 00:58:14
    here at Tech alley just long time caller
  • 00:58:17
    first time Mountain I love that joke I
  • 00:58:19
    do that whole time I do that all the
  • 00:58:21
    time so tell us what you're building
  • 00:58:23
    yeah um so we're basically building it's
  • 00:58:25
    called check it don't ever say we're
  • 00:58:27
    basically okay okay we are building uh
  • 00:58:30
    um better a mobile application that uses
  • 00:58:33
    AI computer vision technology to help
  • 00:58:35
    bring Synergy to this amateur sports
  • 00:58:38
    ecosystem and increase the value of the
  • 00:58:39
    data so what I would do if you were
  • 00:58:41
    pitching this is I would take the the
  • 00:58:43
    actual thing you're doing I put that
  • 00:58:45
    first and then I'd say we use AI to do
  • 00:58:47
    that don't put AI in the front row seat
  • 00:58:49
    put the put the problem in the solution
  • 00:58:51
    in the AIC it's a little tweak but it
  • 00:58:53
    makes it different okay what's your
  • 00:58:55
    question um um currently we're building
  • 00:58:58
    it right now um and are you doing it
  • 00:59:00
    from chat GPT or are you building your
  • 00:59:02
    own llm from the ground we're going to
  • 00:59:04
    build our own L and we're uh
  • 00:59:08
    basically um trying to just our nordstar
  • 00:59:13
    are for me I'm an anime fan so I use one
  • 00:59:16
    piece for our culture uh to go after
  • 00:59:18
    just trying to make the world the better
  • 00:59:20
    place through Sports because I
  • 00:59:22
    personally grew up in there yeah um what
  • 00:59:26
    advice would you have for myself where I
  • 00:59:29
    know my strategy and every bit of advice
  • 00:59:31
    that I've gotten is hey try to get the
  • 00:59:33
    data um to show that there is something
  • 00:59:36
    truly there which we're trying to build
  • 00:59:39
    what can I do right now as the
  • 00:59:42
    CEO to prepare ourselves for the next
  • 00:59:44
    step of potentially getting fundraising
  • 00:59:47
    okay so uh I'm not a big Sports person I
  • 00:59:50
    didn't grow up around Sports I don't
  • 00:59:51
    actually care about them that much but a
  • 00:59:54
    here's what I do care about I care about
  • 00:59:56
    that everybody else cares about them and
  • 00:59:58
    I know how powerful sports are and this
  • 01:00:01
    is a sport City I believe it's one of
  • 01:00:03
    the five verticals that Vegas is going
  • 01:00:05
    to absolutely be able to crush it and
  • 01:00:06
    from a venture perspective I love that
  • 01:00:09
    Sports brings people together I love
  • 01:00:10
    that people have become so passionate
  • 01:00:12
    about sports uh to me I'm too practical
  • 01:00:15
    I'm like I don't want to live or die
  • 01:00:17
    based on what the Raiders do right I I
  • 01:00:19
    like the Raiders now cuz I'm a Vegas guy
  • 01:00:21
    through and through so team Raiders you
  • 01:00:23
    know but um that's that's been my
  • 01:00:26
    disconnect from it but here's what I
  • 01:00:27
    know I know that people spend a whole
  • 01:00:30
    lot of freaking time that I don't think
  • 01:00:31
    they have on a sport that probably isn't
  • 01:00:33
    going to impact their life I know this
  • 01:00:35
    is pissing all sorts of people off uh
  • 01:00:37
    and and they do fantasy sports so what
  • 01:00:39
    does this tell me this tells me as a
  • 01:00:41
    Founder you should be building some
  • 01:00:42
    Community around what you're doing your
  • 01:00:44
    go-to community strategy and we can talk
  • 01:00:46
    about this more in the in the channels
  • 01:00:48
    in more depth anybody that has more
  • 01:00:49
    questions that wants to whatever can
  • 01:00:51
    just tag me in one of the channels and
  • 01:00:52
    we'll get to you you know in Fairly real
  • 01:00:54
    time um start thinking about the
  • 01:00:57
    smallest simplest
  • 01:00:59
    version of a micro Community 10 people
  • 01:01:03
    20 people 30 people that you can own the
  • 01:01:05
    conversation around that would care
  • 01:01:07
    about the problem that you're solving
  • 01:01:08
    and will give you feedback and all of
  • 01:01:10
    that and and be involved in that that's
  • 01:01:11
    what I would do whether you're hosting
  • 01:01:12
    it in person and you're doing backyard
  • 01:01:15
    barbecues and it's super lowkey or
  • 01:01:17
    whether it's online and it's a place
  • 01:01:19
    where they get to come talk about the
  • 01:01:21
    their their excitement around Sports and
  • 01:01:23
    how it's connected to that that's one
  • 01:01:25
    strategy we call this GTC goto Community
  • 01:01:28
    um also the skills implicit in you being
  • 01:01:31
    a host and you being a great leader and
  • 01:01:32
    you being enrolling which is all
  • 01:01:34
    connected to your ability to pitch and
  • 01:01:35
    raise you learn it from Community
  • 01:01:37
    Building mhm right yep nobody like said
  • 01:01:41
    here Kurt you should start building a
  • 01:01:42
    bunch of communities across the country
  • 01:01:44
    in different cities and doing events I
  • 01:01:46
    just did it I just decided it's needed
  • 01:01:50
    and I built what I would want to be a
  • 01:01:51
    part of yeah being around purpose and
  • 01:01:53
    contribution driven entrepreneurs that
  • 01:01:55
    care about impact and that's the reason
  • 01:01:56
    we built this spice thing that we ran
  • 01:01:58
    for many years and then now we have you
  • 01:02:00
    know Fusion 42 which is much more
  • 01:02:02
    focused on Founders that want to
  • 01:02:03
    fundraise and then we have Angel X which
  • 01:02:06
    is for Angel Investors that want to
  • 01:02:07
    really learn and then Co invest together
  • 01:02:09
    yeah right so I would think about that
  • 01:02:11
    let's and let's have more conversation
  • 01:02:13
    about it yeah no I mean um for me this
  • 01:02:16
    idea came to me like a long time ago
  • 01:02:18
    when you know I actually was a baseball
  • 01:02:19
    instructor and you know I played Sports
  • 01:02:23
    particularly baseball my whole life you
  • 01:02:25
    know and and um I think Atomic network
  • 01:02:28
    is kind of like what you're talking
  • 01:02:29
    about so we've kind of figured uh you
  • 01:02:31
    know with Community it's again that's
  • 01:02:34
    how why all this is coming to be and
  • 01:02:36
    start seeing who's willing to part with
  • 01:02:37
    some dollars you know for the solution
  • 01:02:38
    You're Building start seeing who's like
  • 01:02:40
    Avid find The Advocates that are willing
  • 01:02:42
    to go get other individuals to be a part
  • 01:02:44
    of what you're doing and and test it
  • 01:02:47
    we're doing the same thing at Fusion
  • 01:02:48
    we're always testing different things
  • 01:02:49
    we're seeing what worked for that
  • 01:02:50
    founder what produced Clarity you know
  • 01:02:52
    what was the messaging you know how how
  • 01:02:54
    was it you know what percent percentage
  • 01:02:56
    of people that come to the events or
  • 01:02:57
    that come to the whatevers you know end
  • 01:02:58
    up having uh you know Founders that say
  • 01:03:00
    funders that say Hey I'm interested in
  • 01:03:02
    this you know or I'd actually like to
  • 01:03:04
    back this person Kurt what do you think
  • 01:03:06
    you know uh those kinds of things so
  • 01:03:08
    that's where I'd start cool no I
  • 01:03:09
    appreciate that man hang out in the
  • 01:03:10
    sessions too yeah all right buddy you
  • 01:03:12
    ready thank sweet okay we probably have
  • 01:03:15
    time for one or two more after this
  • 01:03:19
    maybe all right good to see you again
  • 01:03:21
    buddy as well good day everyone my name
  • 01:03:24
    is Martin and I'm Bill building a mobile
  • 01:03:27
    app that's designed for contribut
  • 01:03:28
    contributors to be able to create and
  • 01:03:31
    share short personalized introduction
  • 01:03:33
    videos that help facilitate meaningful
  • 01:03:36
    connections and knowledge exchange that
  • 01:03:38
    was a lot of words but do you understand
  • 01:03:40
    it yeah great good job so my question is
  • 01:03:44
    earlier you talked about uh Dell's model
  • 01:03:46
    sell now build later right well what
  • 01:03:49
    would you say about my product which is
  • 01:03:51
    more of a network product well where my
  • 01:03:54
    where I have to build the community and
  • 01:03:56
    the community is the value and I have to
  • 01:03:58
    show that to to to the community to be
  • 01:04:01
    able to sell a subscription so what
  • 01:04:04
    would you say as so I love behavioral
  • 01:04:05
    economics which is the science of
  • 01:04:07
    psychology why people do things in
  • 01:04:09
    economics why do people do things in the
  • 01:04:11
    long term right mashed together and
  • 01:04:14
    inside of that you have another
  • 01:04:16
    economics term is called a network
  • 01:04:18
    effect how many of you guys know what a
  • 01:04:19
    network effect is this is the reason why
  • 01:04:20
    Silicon Valley kicks so much ass for 60
  • 01:04:23
    70 years they've had a bunch of freaking
  • 01:04:24
    talent coming together solving problems
  • 01:04:27
    and it's created so much success it just
  • 01:04:28
    keeps building so Network effect
  • 01:04:30
    basically is the more participants that
  • 01:04:33
    join a network or the more Talent OR
  • 01:04:36
    output it joins a network the more
  • 01:04:38
    valuable it becomes and this is the this
  • 01:04:40
    is the community effect at work so when
  • 01:04:43
    you're building a Marketplace which is
  • 01:04:45
    what you're doing where you have people
  • 01:04:47
    on one end and on the other hand and and
  • 01:04:49
    you want them to participate together or
  • 01:04:50
    interact together or transact together
  • 01:04:53
    you really have to have an even more
  • 01:04:54
    developed G M goto market and you need
  • 01:04:58
    to be continually looking at the
  • 01:05:00
    feedback and the data that you're
  • 01:05:01
    pulling in to see what's working um this
  • 01:05:04
    book that I mentioned at the beginning
  • 01:05:06
    is going to be really good for you
  • 01:05:07
    because he says the only metric that
  • 01:05:09
    really matters is retention are people
  • 01:05:11
    coming back and are they telling other
  • 01:05:12
    people about it right and why are they
  • 01:05:15
    coming back so that's something that I
  • 01:05:17
    would really really really really really
  • 01:05:18
    start to focus in on is is who are the
  • 01:05:20
    power users and why are they there and
  • 01:05:22
    what's their reason for coming back and
  • 01:05:24
    then I would also recognize but if
  • 01:05:26
    you're going to talk about Community you
  • 01:05:27
    should also have a very intentional
  • 01:05:30
    Community design for what you're
  • 01:05:32
    building most people say I have a
  • 01:05:34
    community what they have is a group
  • 01:05:36
    there wasn't intelligent architecture or
  • 01:05:38
    design put behind their Community now I
  • 01:05:41
    might nerd out about this a little bit
  • 01:05:42
    more than most because I've spent so
  • 01:05:44
    much time in the community building
  • 01:05:46
    space and then ecosystem building which
  • 01:05:48
    is the the space even above that where
  • 01:05:50
    you get multiple communities interacting
  • 01:05:52
    with each other so if you don't have a
  • 01:05:53
    really really well defined intentionally
  • 01:05:56
    well thought out what's the experience
  • 01:05:58
    from the minute for example with spice
  • 01:06:01
    from the minute that they got the invite
  • 01:06:02
    to the minute that they showed up at the
  • 01:06:03
    front door they walked in to live music
  • 01:06:05
    to they were handed wine to they were
  • 01:06:07
    seated at the table for an intentional
  • 01:06:09
    Mastermind dinner to the experiences and
  • 01:06:11
    everything Beyond and then when they
  • 01:06:12
    left that entire experience because we
  • 01:06:15
    thought about it more and we were
  • 01:06:16
    intentional about it every step there
  • 01:06:19
    was a feeling that people wouldn't there
  • 01:06:20
    it's not like they went home and said
  • 01:06:22
    that was a super intentional event bro
  • 01:06:24
    you know but they know how they felt and
  • 01:06:27
    they kept coming back and and the energy
  • 01:06:29
    of the room with the individuals that we
  • 01:06:31
    brought in and who we allowed to come
  • 01:06:34
    that were purpose and contribution
  • 01:06:35
    driven created an energy that people
  • 01:06:37
    absolutely recognized and then the
  • 01:06:39
    container of the room which is the
  • 01:06:41
    leadership the city captains that were
  • 01:06:43
    running the event even though these were
  • 01:06:45
    not necessarily always fancy is what
  • 01:06:48
    maintained and created that experience
  • 01:06:49
    and that's why it was spice versus hey
  • 01:06:52
    we do Mastermind dinners not like we do
  • 01:06:54
    right so I would really really really
  • 01:06:56
    strongly recommend is is your GTM and
  • 01:06:58
    your GTC are tied together and I usually
  • 01:07:01
    put them in this order your 100 client
  • 01:07:03
    conversations or thousand client
  • 01:07:05
    conversations your GTM which is always
  • 01:07:07
    evolving you build it we're doing
  • 01:07:09
    sessions the next couple weeks on it
  • 01:07:11
    then it's your GTC like how do we start
  • 01:07:13
    thinking about building a Branded
  • 01:07:15
    Network or even if it's a water cooler
  • 01:07:17
    conversation that we maintain and then
  • 01:07:19
    your gtf which is our go-to fund raise
  • 01:07:21
    which is informed by all the feedback
  • 01:07:23
    all the iteration all all the clients
  • 01:07:26
    telling us exactly what the problem
  • 01:07:28
    really is how painful it is for them and
  • 01:07:30
    what the solution is based on their
  • 01:07:32
    feedback the market telling us not me
  • 01:07:34
    deciding what I think is best is that
  • 01:07:37
    clear okay do you have a follow on
  • 01:07:39
    question uh what other metrics would you
  • 01:07:42
    say so I'm uh there's a you can use a
  • 01:07:45
    bunch of surveys you could use Google
  • 01:07:47
    forms you don't have to have it be
  • 01:07:48
    pretty you don't have to have it super
  • 01:07:49
    simple um but you just really again
  • 01:07:52
    retention is the main thing how many
  • 01:07:53
    people come that decide to come back and
  • 01:07:56
    how many people decide to refer other
  • 01:07:57
    individuals into the network and the
  • 01:07:59
    more of that you have going on the
  • 01:08:01
    better we have a goal inside of uh
  • 01:08:03
    Fusion of of an 8% per week growth
  • 01:08:07
    that's not easy we do it sometimes we
  • 01:08:09
    don't do it other times but that knowing
  • 01:08:11
    what that is and knowing how to track it
  • 01:08:13
    is really important so we're really data
  • 01:08:15
    driven on the funding platform side
  • 01:08:17
    because we need to understand not just
  • 01:08:19
    what the funders are saying but what
  • 01:08:20
    they're actually doing not what the
  • 01:08:21
    funders are saying but what they're
  • 01:08:23
    actually doing and what's the
  • 01:08:24
    interaction they're having and then
  • 01:08:25
    framers which are the experts in the
  • 01:08:26
    middle help the startup stand up you
  • 01:08:29
    know what's their experience as well
  • 01:08:31
    okay I guess one more any um
  • 01:08:33
    non-dilutive uh strategies you have to
  • 01:08:35
    share for any anybody here non-dilutive
  • 01:08:38
    we talk about that all all the time you
  • 01:08:42
    guys can go to my featured articles on
  • 01:08:44
    my LinkedIn I've got the little Chili
  • 01:08:45
    Pepper there and I have a bunch of
  • 01:08:47
    conversations around the different
  • 01:08:49
    Capital macros the capital categories
  • 01:08:51
    Capital types and this topic of
  • 01:08:54
    sponsored capital I will say this there
  • 01:08:56
    is no perfect Capital type do not think
  • 01:08:59
    that giving away equity in your business
  • 01:09:00
    is a bad thing it's not if you choose
  • 01:09:03
    the right Partners if you choose the
  • 01:09:04
    right funders and when you get funded
  • 01:09:07
    almost never is it one investor it's
  • 01:09:10
    going to be and this goes back to
  • 01:09:11
    fundraising fluency it's going to be a
  • 01:09:13
    stack of capital in your rounds
  • 01:09:15
    typically and then we call that Capital
  • 01:09:18
    stack what is the different investors
  • 01:09:19
    that are in there and what's the
  • 01:09:20
    different types of capital and then
  • 01:09:22
    Capital sequences what's the sequence of
  • 01:09:24
    capital the daisy ch of relationships
  • 01:09:26
    and resources that come into your
  • 01:09:28
    Venture for most Founders this is
  • 01:09:29
    halfhazard it's not intentional there's
  • 01:09:31
    no design it's all
  • 01:09:33
    default but it can be a pattern and you
  • 01:09:36
    absolutely can do it and you can rig the
  • 01:09:37
    game for your own Venture it just comes
  • 01:09:39
    down to are you willing to show up and
  • 01:09:40
    actually learn this stuff and I will say
  • 01:09:42
    we are pretty much the only group out
  • 01:09:43
    there that teaches it and it's not
  • 01:09:45
    because I have a funer background it's
  • 01:09:47
    because when you learn to build a
  • 01:09:48
    funding platform and you have to start
  • 01:09:49
    teaching this stuff to people you learn
  • 01:09:51
    it really really really really really
  • 01:09:54
    well I thought I really knew capital I
  • 01:09:56
    knew nothing before I started building a
  • 01:09:58
    funding platform relative to what I've
  • 01:10:00
    had to learn and I'm learning every
  • 01:10:01
    single day every single day most funders
  • 01:10:04
    could not tell you 10 different types of
  • 01:10:07
    capital so they don't even know it
  • 01:10:09
    exists so how can they help you find it
  • 01:10:11
    and understand this no funer wants to be
  • 01:10:13
    the last check into a deal right so this
  • 01:10:16
    is the reason why we're tackling this
  • 01:10:18
    problem I would come and hang out in the
  • 01:10:19
    sessions particularly the ones that are
  • 01:10:22
    around uh deep topics on fundraising
  • 01:10:24
    fluen we usually start with marketing
  • 01:10:27
    and sales driven stuff because you have
  • 01:10:29
    to start there you have nothing to sell
  • 01:10:30
    you have nothing to Market you have
  • 01:10:31
    nothing to pitch if you don't get that
  • 01:10:33
    part right um and then we get into
  • 01:10:36
    what's the mechanics of fundraising
  • 01:10:38
    what's the details that you need to know
  • 01:10:39
    how do you look for it how do you do
  • 01:10:41
    Capital Discovery how do you talk to
  • 01:10:43
    different groups how do you pitch
  • 01:10:44
    different groups right there's people
  • 01:10:46
    that you pitch where you're you're
  • 01:10:47
    pitching a professional investor this is
  • 01:10:49
    what they do full-time and what you're
  • 01:10:51
    going to get in return is someone that
  • 01:10:52
    wants terms and wants equity in your
  • 01:10:54
    company if you try to pitch somebody
  • 01:10:56
    that way for sponsor Capital you might
  • 01:11:00
    just turn on their Reptilian Brain where
  • 01:11:01
    it goes from I was going to write you a
  • 01:11:03
    check no interest or equity in your
  • 01:11:04
    business to okay now they boot up and
  • 01:11:07
    they're like okay I want Equity from the
  • 01:11:09
    same person if you don't approach him
  • 01:11:11
    the right way so I have a funer where
  • 01:11:15
    he'll write a couple $100,000 checks if
  • 01:11:17
    he really likes the deal and he doesn't
  • 01:11:19
    care but the minute you start having
  • 01:11:21
    like a a real conversation about bigger
  • 01:11:23
    money or if you talk to them like you're
  • 01:11:24
    talking to a see it it switches
  • 01:11:26
    something on in him because he's got
  • 01:11:28
    that killer instinct right and so it all
  • 01:11:31
    depends on what you want he could be a
  • 01:11:32
    great partner or in some cases maybe
  • 01:11:35
    that particular project needs some
  • 01:11:37
    sponsored capital and this is where I I
  • 01:11:40
    think again understanding the spectrum
  • 01:11:42
    of available Capital that's out there I
  • 01:11:43
    haven't said it during this session most
  • 01:11:45
    of you guys are chasing after VC's
  • 01:11:46
    that's 3% of the capital that's out
  • 01:11:48
    there
  • 01:11:50
    3% and most VC's are glorified Brokers
  • 01:11:53
    that's okay I was too to a degree a lot
  • 01:11:56
    of the money that we did was our own
  • 01:11:57
    money but most VCS are basically running
  • 01:12:01
    somebody else's Capital so if you want
  • 01:12:03
    non-dilutive which usually means debt in
  • 01:12:06
    most circles when I say non-dilutive it
  • 01:12:08
    does not mean debt debt is debt I mean
  • 01:12:10
    you have you have to pay it back I love
  • 01:12:12
    it when people act like oh our funding
  • 01:12:13
    is non-dilutive yeah it's because it's a
  • 01:12:15
    loan cool that's great debt is awesome
  • 01:12:19
    sometimes if you have a marketing
  • 01:12:21
    multiple meaning that you figured out
  • 01:12:23
    the math equation of when I spend this I
  • 01:12:25
    get this debt can be amazing because it
  • 01:12:28
    can be fueled to grow the company and
  • 01:12:29
    this is how a lot of private Equity
  • 01:12:30
    companies grow because they've got their
  • 01:12:32
    processes and their systems and their
  • 01:12:33
    sales Cycles all dialed in debts way
  • 01:12:36
    better than Equity capital for that
  • 01:12:38
    however there are other options and the
  • 01:12:42
    it's it's a really big conversation so
  • 01:12:44
    all right awesome appreciate we probably
  • 01:12:46
    have time for one more thank you so much
  • 01:12:47
    buddy time for one
  • 01:12:49
    more how many of you guys are enjoying
  • 01:12:52
    this okay great we have this 247
  • 01:12:55
    in the telegram group come and ask
  • 01:12:57
    whatever you want you going to come
  • 01:12:59
    down you is this short question or a big
  • 01:13:02
    one come down come tell us what you're
  • 01:13:04
    working
  • 01:13:06
    on don't let me forget to get a group
  • 01:13:08
    picture after this I'm brand new as of
  • 01:13:11
    like half hour ago so I had she didn't
  • 01:13:13
    know she was Raising until 30 minutes
  • 01:13:15
    ago no I didn't my name my name's Cary
  • 01:13:18
    okay um I
  • 01:13:21
    am solving the solution of a having
  • 01:13:26
    to hide our pill box okay so what I've
  • 01:13:30
    developed and designed is a beautiful
  • 01:13:32
    pill box and it's paired with an app so
  • 01:13:35
    a pill tracking app and regiment that
  • 01:13:36
    you can share with a caretaker and so if
  • 01:13:39
    your caretakers across the country or if
  • 01:13:41
    you're um I don't know visit visiting
  • 01:13:44
    Italy for a couple months you're
  • 01:13:45
    caretaker instead of having like a crazy
  • 01:13:48
    conversation like Mom did you take your
  • 01:13:49
    pills she can just check the app and
  • 01:13:51
    she's like okay my mom took the pills
  • 01:13:53
    you know so anyway but um
  • 01:13:56
    I just kind of going through covid um my
  • 01:13:59
    mom's like you got to take all these
  • 01:14:01
    vitamins and stuff every single day and
  • 01:14:02
    she had one of those Monday through
  • 01:14:03
    Friday you know pill boxes and I was
  • 01:14:06
    like we're not doing this so I made a
  • 01:14:07
    luxury product I want to position um out
  • 01:14:10
    there as a luxury product so I was able
  • 01:14:12
    to trademark the name it's Pula and that
  • 01:14:15
    means pill in Latin and I've gone
  • 01:14:18
    through like five different designers we
  • 01:14:20
    uh finally have an industrial designer
  • 01:14:22
    that really came through for me um I
  • 01:14:24
    have uh the Prototype that I'm using and
  • 01:14:27
    it's gorgeous so the app's done the app
  • 01:14:29
    is not done no okay and the the product
  • 01:14:31
    is done the product how many of you guys
  • 01:14:33
    know what I'm thinking already okay tell
  • 01:14:36
    me I know for different reason Rick Rick
  • 01:14:38
    Rick knows me very well but yes Rick
  • 01:14:41
    what do you think I'm thinking so
  • 01:14:42
    far it's okay just be direct yeah uh I I
  • 01:14:46
    know there's a question you want to ask
  • 01:14:47
    too well probably two things but one I
  • 01:14:50
    think you're thinking about the pitch
  • 01:14:52
    itself and it's been a little little
  • 01:14:54
    lengthy
  • 01:14:56
    yeah I asked her a direct question she's
  • 01:14:57
    telling us a story literally my first
  • 01:14:59
    time okay it's it's we're here to help
  • 01:15:01
    we're here to help it's okay what else
  • 01:15:03
    what else that okay oh how many of you
  • 01:15:06
    guys go ahead app yes 100 client
  • 01:15:09
    conversations about the product yeah I
  • 01:15:10
    have had I have a survey that I took
  • 01:15:12
    probably this is two and a half years
  • 01:15:14
    I've been working on this so I've done
  • 01:15:15
    surveys and I did focus group on the app
  • 01:15:18
    actually um the app um features so did
  • 01:15:21
    the focus group on the Pula pod is what
  • 01:15:24
    it's called so I've done I've done how
  • 01:15:26
    do you how do you great yeah what's your
  • 01:15:29
    question real quick before I my question
  • 01:15:31
    is I don't know anything about
  • 01:15:32
    fundraising and I need you're in the
  • 01:15:34
    right room in the right room so I'm
  • 01:15:36
    actually um I actually put together a
  • 01:15:38
    Kickstarter I know I have how many of
  • 01:15:39
    you guys think it's the wrong time to
  • 01:15:41
    raise when you need money it is that's
  • 01:15:44
    the wrong time M the the right time was
  • 01:15:47
    n months ago 12 months ago it's okay
  • 01:15:49
    you're in the right place we we'll get
  • 01:15:51
    you situated um but you need to raise
  • 01:15:54
    when you're not desperate
  • 01:15:55
    need to raise when you you you can
  • 01:15:57
    actually take in options and you can
  • 01:16:00
    have a choice between six or seven or 10
  • 01:16:03
    or 12 different investors and choose the
  • 01:16:04
    one that's most aligned with your
  • 01:16:05
    project how many of you guys believe
  • 01:16:07
    that the company you're building is
  • 01:16:08
    worth 50 million 100 million could
  • 01:16:11
    potentially have a100 million plus exit
  • 01:16:13
    a lot of raised hands okay treat that
  • 01:16:16
    company like it's that asset are you
  • 01:16:19
    going to allow your lack of fundraising
  • 01:16:21
    knowledge your lack of personal way of
  • 01:16:22
    being not getting feedback on that that
  • 01:16:25
    from those that know and love and care
  • 01:16:26
    from you or even your clients and
  • 01:16:27
    customers are you going to let the the
  • 01:16:29
    not understanding marketing very well
  • 01:16:31
    get in your way I'm not making pointed
  • 01:16:32
    comments to you I don't know you very
  • 01:16:33
    well are you going to allow that to
  • 01:16:36
    happen a real founder is going to say no
  • 01:16:39
    I will not I will learn whatever I have
  • 01:16:41
    to I will build whatever relationship I
  • 01:16:43
    will go however far in order to serve
  • 01:16:45
    the needs of the customer what I'm
  • 01:16:47
    hearing is a very big focus on product
  • 01:16:50
    right and not enough focus on do you
  • 01:16:52
    already have the market mhm
  • 01:16:55
    and this is so common I can smell it I
  • 01:16:57
    can hear it very very quickly it's it's
  • 01:17:00
    okay that this is the situation right um
  • 01:17:03
    but it is better to have the market than
  • 01:17:05
    to have the product Let me Give an
  • 01:17:07
    example how many of you guys have been
  • 01:17:09
    watching Ryan Reynolds the rock or
  • 01:17:11
    George Clooney and their exits lately
  • 01:17:13
    I'm not talking about any of the acting
  • 01:17:15
    crap they've done I'm talking about the
  • 01:17:17
    exits they've had from tequila all that
  • 01:17:19
    how many of you guys are watching how
  • 01:17:20
    fast these exits are happening they're
  • 01:17:22
    happening at record Pace why CU they
  • 01:17:24
    have the audience before they even built
  • 01:17:26
    the product and this is how Founders
  • 01:17:29
    they get this backwards they get this
  • 01:17:31
    backwards they build the product and
  • 01:17:32
    then they try to go out and find the
  • 01:17:34
    market so my concern is is that you need
  • 01:17:37
    to be a lot more focused on GTM and then
  • 01:17:39
    that will help you to understand how to
  • 01:17:40
    do the raise right so so do you have so
  • 01:17:44
    you've been building this for two and a
  • 01:17:45
    half years well yes okay do do you have
  • 01:17:49
    a a wait list you have a bunch of people
  • 01:17:51
    that have signed said hey I I want this
  • 01:17:52
    the minute you're done with it well no
  • 01:17:54
    so I'm getting getting ready to launch a
  • 01:17:56
    Kickstarter so I don't know anything
  • 01:17:57
    that's kind of why it's I I was a
  • 01:17:59
    rhetorical question I'm I'm beating it
  • 01:18:01
    up a little bit I already I already knew
  • 01:18:02
    the answer would be no so yeah so I
  • 01:18:04
    would I'm assuming a Kickstarter is kind
  • 01:18:06
    of like that so once I I've have not put
  • 01:18:09
    this out there all here here's what's
  • 01:18:10
    here's what's wrong about your approach
  • 01:18:11
    I'm going to save you a lot of time
  • 01:18:13
    okay Kickstarter is crowdfunding
  • 01:18:16
    crowdfunding is not some Magic Carpet
  • 01:18:18
    Ride into Nirvana you still have to have
  • 01:18:21
    a market you still have to have a list
  • 01:18:23
    you still have so the dirty secret of
  • 01:18:25
    crowdfunding is you got to have a crowd
  • 01:18:27
    which you don't have now you can create
  • 01:18:28
    it and I'm not saying you can't I'm I'm
  • 01:18:30
    all for it let's do it GTC your your
  • 01:18:34
    ability to create a community and your
  • 01:18:36
    ability to create a marketing video
  • 01:18:38
    which is essentially your message that
  • 01:18:40
    inspires them to your Northstar right is
  • 01:18:43
    what dictates the success you'll have
  • 01:18:45
    with crowdfunding crowdfunding is a
  • 01:18:46
    marketing exercise so is fundraising it
  • 01:18:49
    is no different crowdfunding is
  • 01:18:50
    different though because what you're
  • 01:18:52
    what you have happening is you got a
  • 01:18:53
    bunch of little people that are writing
  • 01:18:55
    you checks Little People meaning small
  • 01:18:56
    amounts of money that're effectively
  • 01:18:58
    deciding to back your project CU they
  • 01:18:59
    want to see it come into reality what's
  • 01:19:01
    the difference between a VC it's just
  • 01:19:03
    they're writing a really big check and
  • 01:19:04
    they're hoping that you can bring it to
  • 01:19:05
    market the the the thing that
  • 01:19:07
    crowdfunders don't understand is the
  • 01:19:09
    reason why crowdfunding cost about1 150
  • 01:19:11
    Grand is because you need to develop a
  • 01:19:12
    list you have to have one and then
  • 01:19:14
    you're going to Market AB test different
  • 01:19:18
    messages to that list to see what
  • 01:19:19
    they're willing to buy and I I I fund
  • 01:19:21
    stuff all the time off a Kickstarter you
  • 01:19:23
    know for travel or whatever I bought
  • 01:19:25
    a pillow that makes sure your head
  • 01:19:27
    doesn't Bob while you're while you're
  • 01:19:28
    traveling it's pretty awesome actually
  • 01:19:29
    cuz none of the travel pillows actually
  • 01:19:31
    do anything to keep your head from
  • 01:19:32
    bobbing when you're on the plane right
  • 01:19:33
    so this keeps your head from sinking
  • 01:19:35
    down I was like cool and what got me
  • 01:19:37
    wasn't even the product what got me was
  • 01:19:40
    the husband and wife and the way they
  • 01:19:42
    did their marketing I was like you know
  • 01:19:43
    what hell yeah let's do this so the
  • 01:19:46
    story is what matters and so the story
  • 01:19:47
    is what matters when you're fundraising
  • 01:19:49
    right so you're in the right place um
  • 01:19:51
    and go ahead with more questions a but
  • 01:19:54
    this is a marke exercise and that was
  • 01:19:55
    the part I could sense wasn't wasn't
  • 01:19:57
    developed GTM so would would you
  • 01:20:00
    consider like my first my first approach
  • 01:20:03
    would be to approach pharmaceutical
  • 01:20:05
    companies to buy these for their doctors
  • 01:20:08
    as a novelty gift okay so GTM and
  • 01:20:11
    marketing are not the same thing okay
  • 01:20:13
    it's okay it's okay so so marketing is
  • 01:20:14
    how are you going to get leads that you
  • 01:20:15
    can then sell okay that deserves its own
  • 01:20:18
    set of attention inside your startup
  • 01:20:20
    goto Market is how are we bringing this
  • 01:20:22
    entire company to Market in a world of
  • 01:20:24
    infinite possibilities and infinite
  • 01:20:26
    options I have limited resources limited
  • 01:20:28
    time limited relationships how can I use
  • 01:20:31
    my unique whatevers to get this thing to
  • 01:20:34
    Market and then as you move through
  • 01:20:36
    building this thing you will continually
  • 01:20:38
    refine that that's the reason why go-to
  • 01:20:40
    Market doesn't have a beginning and an
  • 01:20:41
    end you're always going to market right
  • 01:20:43
    especially when you're launching new
  • 01:20:43
    products okay crowdfunding is completely
  • 01:20:46
    a different audience than you going and
  • 01:20:48
    selling to corporates you can do both
  • 01:20:51
    usually not with the same product maybe
  • 01:20:54
    it happens sometimes you did say it's
  • 01:20:56
    luxury so it's higher end um I think
  • 01:21:00
    that you need to spend some more time
  • 01:21:01
    really getting clear on the niches and
  • 01:21:03
    then each Niche has its own way of being
  • 01:21:06
    spoken to MH so if you're speaking to a
  • 01:21:08
    British person about tea and their thing
  • 01:21:11
    is tea which I don't know anything about
  • 01:21:14
    they I've been speaking to a lot of
  • 01:21:16
    British uh uh um folks lately so that's
  • 01:21:19
    the reason it came in my mind you need
  • 01:21:21
    to understand like that everything about
  • 01:21:24
    that in order have a real conversation
  • 01:21:25
    and sell them on something that's
  • 01:21:26
    related to that so that's what I'm
  • 01:21:28
    saying is is you need to have a nuan
  • 01:21:29
    strategy for that okay um sometimes the
  • 01:21:32
    corporates that might be interested in
  • 01:21:34
    this are the ones that are willing to
  • 01:21:36
    write you a check M to fund it from a
  • 01:21:39
    sponsored perspective right um but this
  • 01:21:42
    is again a topic that we would need to
  • 01:21:44
    get into a lot more depth so my concern
  • 01:21:47
    is this uh are you happy that it took
  • 01:21:49
    you two and a half years to get to where
  • 01:21:50
    you are now um yeah because I just
  • 01:21:52
    resigned from teaching I'm a high I was
  • 01:21:54
    High School teacher so I resigned on in
  • 01:21:57
    May so now I'm finally working on a
  • 01:21:59
    full-time so I'm actually I'm actually
  • 01:22:01
    fine with it okay great would you be
  • 01:22:03
    happy with another two and a half years
  • 01:22:04
    passing by before you get to Market no
  • 01:22:07
    okay so what kind of time frame are you
  • 01:22:09
    giving yourself now um well I'd like to
  • 01:22:12
    do this in the next year do you know
  • 01:22:14
    what Parkinson's lies no I you do
  • 01:22:18
    right what is it elisia oh
  • 01:22:21
    wow don't get used to it I'm just
  • 01:22:24
    kidding just okay what what's
  • 01:22:25
    Parkinson's law a job will expand to the
  • 01:22:27
    time allowed it a a a project a task a
  • 01:22:30
    job will expand to the amount of time
  • 01:22:32
    that we give it right I think you need
  • 01:22:34
    to have more expediency around what
  • 01:22:36
    you're building okay um a year is great
  • 01:22:39
    if that's what it truly takes it I don't
  • 01:22:41
    it's not going to take it year if you
  • 01:22:42
    get really really serious on this you
  • 01:22:44
    should be thinking in terms of like I'm
  • 01:22:45
    already talking to manufacturers I would
  • 01:22:47
    love to have these in my hands by
  • 01:22:50
    October November sure so yeah so again I
  • 01:22:53
    see a classic Focus product instead of
  • 01:22:55
    on the market so here's what's cool
  • 01:22:58
    let's say uh let's say uh the mushroom
  • 01:23:00
    kids are influencers okay and let's say
  • 01:23:04
    that they do a bunch of farmtable
  • 01:23:06
    content how much easier do you think
  • 01:23:08
    that they'd have opening markets testing
  • 01:23:10
    products you name it if they had a large
  • 01:23:15
    audience well they they could start
  • 01:23:17
    tomorrow and be in business tomorrow
  • 01:23:19
    right going back to the we sell
  • 01:23:21
    computers then we build them most
  • 01:23:23
    Founders bu stuff and then try to sell
  • 01:23:25
    it without actually
  • 01:23:27
    knowing sell to corporate and and like
  • 01:23:29
    sell them pre-sell them okay right but
  • 01:23:32
    have did you talk to corporates when you
  • 01:23:34
    design the product literally this is
  • 01:23:35
    where problem you see the problem I'm
  • 01:23:37
    not saying it's not fixable but don't
  • 01:23:39
    ever do that again sell it first sell it
  • 01:23:42
    first it doesn't mean it scale sell it
  • 01:23:45
    first okay so sell the idea first yes
  • 01:23:49
    that's what entrepreneurship is isn't it
  • 01:23:50
    beautiful okay right okay yeah um what
  • 01:23:55
    do you show them just like some drawing
  • 01:23:57
    nothing nothing that's what I'm trying
  • 01:23:59
    to figure out that's where I'm like Rick
  • 01:24:02
    is in the software business software
  • 01:24:04
    doesn't exist not really it's zeros and
  • 01:24:07
    ones and yet it's eaten the world cloud
  • 01:24:11
    computing all this stuff it doesn't
  • 01:24:13
    exist right it's an idea it's a concept
  • 01:24:16
    it's the same thing here if a Founder is
  • 01:24:18
    not able to gain traction it shows that
  • 01:24:20
    they don't have enrollment I'm not
  • 01:24:21
    saying you don't I don't know you but
  • 01:24:24
    this is the job of a Founder is to
  • 01:24:26
    enroll uh recruit recruits into a
  • 01:24:28
    company that doesn't exist yet okay it
  • 01:24:30
    exists to a certain degree now but not
  • 01:24:32
    what it's going to become enroll an
  • 01:24:33
    investor into a world that doesn't exist
  • 01:24:35
    yet where this product creates this
  • 01:24:37
    service for everybody enroll customers
  • 01:24:39
    into a service that isn't as good as
  • 01:24:41
    it's going to be do you think Mark Benny
  • 01:24:42
    off when he started Salesforce was able
  • 01:24:44
    to show them the monstrosity that
  • 01:24:46
    Salesforce would become and then change
  • 01:24:48
    the world with he put SAS on the map
  • 01:24:50
    which is software as a service which is
  • 01:24:51
    the business that Mr Rick is in it's
  • 01:24:54
    okay it's okay it's okay no but we're
  • 01:24:55
    going to do this and by the way okay how
  • 01:24:57
    many you guys think it's cool to hear
  • 01:24:58
    founder stories and get the background
  • 01:25:01
    yes yes I do okay not only is it
  • 01:25:03
    inspiring but it Le success leaves Clues
  • 01:25:07
    how did I figure out all this extra
  • 01:25:08
    stuff around
  • 01:25:10
    fundraising I studied
  • 01:25:12
    history I looked at how all the biggest
  • 01:25:14
    companies in the world and more
  • 01:25:16
    specifically verticals and industries in
  • 01:25:18
    the world got created and I looked at
  • 01:25:20
    the daisy chain of relationships and
  • 01:25:23
    resources in the flow of goods and
  • 01:25:24
    services and the evolution and I'm like
  • 01:25:27
    that's the pattern mhm and it's true in
  • 01:25:30
    every industry one thing we didn't get
  • 01:25:32
    time to cover today I intended to cover
  • 01:25:34
    was the importance of understanding the
  • 01:25:36
    key stakeholders in a venture ecosystem
  • 01:25:38
    and how you can align yourself to them
  • 01:25:40
    to where you're the person in line that
  • 01:25:41
    they will hand resources to when they
  • 01:25:43
    have an opportunity to because the
  • 01:25:44
    government doesn't produce anything they
  • 01:25:46
    just take our tax money and they largely
  • 01:25:48
    waste it they're not very efficient with
  • 01:25:50
    capital because they don't have any
  • 01:25:52
    accountability founders are very
  • 01:25:54
    accountable because the market says
  • 01:25:56
    sorry you ran out of capital you're done
  • 01:25:58
    that's accountability right we have a
  • 01:26:00
    timeline that we're on always we're up
  • 01:26:01
    against it the government doesn't have
  • 01:26:03
    that so the government hands resources
  • 01:26:06
    to Founders locally at the county level
  • 01:26:09
    at the mayor level at the state level at
  • 01:26:11
    the regional level and at the national
  • 01:26:13
    level so if you understand how to put
  • 01:26:15
    yourself in the right position to
  • 01:26:16
    receive those resources and
  • 01:26:17
    relationships which is a whole other
  • 01:26:19
    conversation how did I learn this I
  • 01:26:21
    studied the founders that have built
  • 01:26:22
    multi hundred billion companies and I
  • 01:26:25
    say wow it's true in China it's true in
  • 01:26:28
    South Korea it's true here it's true
  • 01:26:30
    here it was true then and here it is and
  • 01:26:32
    these are the kinds of things that
  • 01:26:33
    Founders don't know and this the reason
  • 01:26:34
    we call it fundraising fluency I love it
  • 01:26:38
    awesome well welcome to who's got my
  • 01:26:39
    money and let's get you into the
  • 01:26:43
    sessions all right guys I invite you
  • 01:26:45
    guys all to join me uh in the fusion 42
  • 01:26:49
    Community uh to come and ask us anything
  • 01:26:51
    you want come and bring your problems
  • 01:26:53
    lay us at yeah at your feet at our feet
  • 01:26:55
    as long as you guys are willing to do
  • 01:26:56
    the work and want to receive that
  • 01:26:58
    real-time feedback we offer really two
  • 01:27:00
    major things in general we're building
  • 01:27:02
    our own ecosystem and that ecosystem is
  • 01:27:05
    you can get real-time feedback today on
  • 01:27:07
    whatever your questions and comments are
  • 01:27:08
    and then over time we have tracks of
  • 01:27:10
    content from experts that help you to
  • 01:27:13
    understand guys why would somebody that
  • 01:27:14
    wants to build funding do more funding
  • 01:27:17
    be helping you guys with all this stuff
  • 01:27:18
    why because you're not fundable until
  • 01:27:21
    you do I'm more concerned about the
  • 01:27:23
    market Readiness that you guys have
  • 01:27:26
    because if you become Market ready
  • 01:27:27
    you'll either cash flow your way out of
  • 01:27:29
    it or you'll find funders great projects
  • 01:27:31
    great Founders always get funded but
  • 01:27:34
    before we can address whether or not
  • 01:27:35
    you're fundable we have to be more
  • 01:27:37
    concerned about whether or not you're
  • 01:27:38
    Market ready and most Founders are not
  • 01:27:42
    and that's okay it's a process I say
  • 01:27:44
    iterate again and again nobody got to be
  • 01:27:47
    the best at what they do everybody knows
  • 01:27:48
    I loved a mountain bike I did not get to
  • 01:27:50
    the point where I could do some of the
  • 01:27:51
    things I do on a bike unless I was
  • 01:27:53
    willing to fall and I've fallen a lot
  • 01:27:54
    off of mountains all the time doesn't
  • 01:27:57
    happen much anymore because I now know
  • 01:28:00
    what I'm doing I don't expect any of you
  • 01:28:02
    guys to understand fundraising or all of
  • 01:28:04
    this gobbly G but I do expect you guys
  • 01:28:06
    to show up so if you guys can do that
  • 01:28:09
    our commitment to you whether it's in
  • 01:28:10
    this Vegas Venture ecosystem Community
  • 01:28:13
    or whether it's online at Fusion 42 is
  • 01:28:15
    that we're here to serve you I mentioned
  • 01:28:16
    an audiobook if you guys want that come
  • 01:28:18
    hang out in the telegram Channel with us
  • 01:28:20
    and we'll get you guys set up and it's
  • 01:28:22
    all free
  • 01:28:25
    I'll get you set up come down here for a
  • 01:28:27
    a picture real quick guys
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