View from Seed

JANUARY 5, 2021

I’ve had the privilege to work with many great entrepreneurs, both in my operating days at the start of my career and over the last decade plus on the VC investing side. And if we’re investing in the company, it then impacts how I might be most helpful as a thought partner to the entrepreneur depending on their archetype.

Detroit 367

Detroit SEC Founder Affiliate 367

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FEBRUARY 23, 2016

For the Mattermark Daily, the total list generally features five to seven posts from VCs and a similar number from entrepreneurs and operators. They limit one image per email
 as a rule. Third, Finalize the Curated List Using Consistent Limitations. Internally, Mattermark has established that this number is entirely up to the curator.

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Curation RSS Term Sheet Technical Review 120

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JANUARY 11, 2021

With the onset of COVID-19, we, along with the broader ecosystem of venture capitalists and entrepreneurs, have been pushed to rapidly adapt, forge connections, and do our jobs remotely. You can realize fast if there’s not a fit, to avoid wasting both your and the entrepreneurs time. You can meet more teams and hear more ideas.”.

Venture Capital 350

Venture Capital Cofounder Early Stage Seed Stage 350

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MARCH 31, 2015

But if an entrepreneur is entirely flat-footed without any media connections or huge numbers just yet, how should they approach a journalist with their story? I know that sounds a bit odd, but the first question I always ask people — entrepreneurs, especially — is, “Why?” Lauren Landry: Like a human.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage PR North Dakota Startup 120

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 5, 2019

Lastly, a note on advisors: Entrepreneurs often spend way too much slide real estate and pitch time detailing the startup’s advisors. Subscribe to our email list to get the posts delivered straight to your inbox, and have the final version waiting for you at the end of the month. in Mechanical Engineering at MIT, etc. (If

Seed Stage 218

Seed Stage Engineer Restful Founder 218

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SEPTEMBER 30, 2014

With plenty of resources available for entrepreneurs about how to craft an effective pitch deck for raising seed-stage capital from VCs, often what’s left out are some of the tactical components of an initial meeting. Entrepreneurs should know their audience, and most importantly, how savvy it is about the company’s particular market segment.

Technical Review 308

Technical Review Entrepreneur Due Diligence Seed Stage 308

View from Seed

APRIL 11, 2016

Editor’s note: The NextView team periodically holds internal “shootarounds,” where we discuss a startup topic or trend and try to make sense of it for everyone involved: entrepreneurs, investors, and consumers. ” Email, same thing, you can dictate, and there are already programs that do this. There’s a ton you can do with speech.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Technology Audio Startup 120

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OCTOBER 22, 2015

We want to create the go-to hub for entrepreneurs and startup teams going from zero to one in absolutely anything important. You can also subscribe via email here — we send one email per week at most. – Original Research: Should we take Harvard MBA entrepreneurs seriously? . – NextView blog.

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Seed Stage Seed Capital Syndicate Syndication 120

View from Seed

MARCH 26, 2015

This conversation is about optimizing fundraising “optics,” which shouldn’t be a primary focus for entrepreneurs. But given the popular dialogue and related confusion, it was no surprise when I found the following email from an entrepreneur friend in my inbox on Monday morning: Can I ask your opinion on something?

Seed Capital 120

Seed Capital Institutional Investors Venture Capital Partner 120

View from Seed

JULY 9, 2015

As an operator, not an investor, I’m amazed at how many casual, throwaway comments that happen inside a VC’s office would be genuinely useful to entrepreneurs building their businesses. This particular company, as a B2B SaaS business, would definitely benefit from driving traffic to convert into subscribers or leads on their email list.

Startup 120

Startup PR Cofounder Stealth 120

View from Seed

JULY 22, 2015

The NextView podcast Traction shares the incredible stories of the creative and unusual things entrepreneurs did to make initial progress in an important area of their businesses. It’s always amazing to hear people’s founding stories, but few have struck me as just plain necessary for entrepreneurs to hear today than this one.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Cofounder Viral Audience 120

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JULY 28, 2016

It’s a common tactic, the use of landing pages, all thanks to the power of building an email list. Your email list can be used to get real-world feedback as you validate the market. Oli says that testimonials as you commonly see them are abused by entrepreneurs. That makes testimonials poweful, if used correctly.

Startup 136

Startup Seed Stage Cofounder Aggregator 136

View from Seed

MARCH 1, 2016

She became a prolific writer—12 books, while you and I struggle with one email or one blog post! Then, also in the 1880s, some clever American entrepreneurs decided to market a “fast growing, shade generating” plant to the overly warm citizens living the waltz-dancing climate of the south-eastern United States. She became a lecturer.

Founder 120

Founder Technical Review Cofounder Non-Compete 120

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JANUARY 8, 2015

Some entrepreneurs rationalize these types of posts as investor relations or recruitment tactics instead of marketing, which is totally reasonable. Grow an email list. I’ll explain the email part first, since it’s much simpler. Why Email Matters, Early and Always. Build an inventory of helpful content.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Startup Audience Leadership 120

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APRIL 21, 2016

I think the answer is tricky, depending on who you are as an entrepreneur. You might start by drawing a box labeled “User,” and in that box you write, “First Name, Last Name, Email.” The post Hiring Your First Engineer: A Technical Entrepreneur’s Take appeared first on NextView Ventures.

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Engineer Hiring Non-Compete Dividend 149

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MARCH 22, 2016

This is for the early-stage companies — the entrepreneurs with great ideas and tireless work ethics who feel like they’ve emailed half of the country’s news outlets with nothing but the rare “thanks, but not interested” reply to show for it. If you email the same boilerplate pitch to 60 publications, believe me, journalists can tell.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage San Francisco Startup CTO Hire 120

View from Seed

DECEMBER 11, 2019

These are literal quotes from social media and email announcements over the past six months from VC Partners moving on to other competitive firms, and, well, just moving on. What does this mean for entrepreneurs? I am pursuing an idea that I’m excited about and and happy to be back on the entrepreneurial path.”.

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Venture Capital Cap Table Partner LP 204

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OCTOBER 22, 2015

Conventional VC wisdom says entrepreneurs should raise 18 months of runway. There are numerous dimensions which can affect the capacity of an entrepreneur to fundraise: experience, amount of traction in the business to date, industry category, geography, accelerator involvement, etc. This rule of thumb is directionally correct.

Seed Capital 120

Seed Capital Seed Stage Demand Finance 120

View from Seed

APRIL 16, 2015

What an investor (and I think an entrepreneur) really wants to know is: Is this something people want? I just invested in a company recently that gathered amazing data from a test that replicated what the app would do using only email interactions. These are not bad things to shoot for. Can this team do it? Does it matter?

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Cofounder Early Stage Startup 120

View from Seed

APRIL 7, 2015

Recently, I’ve been mentally noting a few things that I observe VCs doing regularly that many entrepreneurs may not readily understand. The third reason VC feedback is often bad is because entrepreneurs are asking the wrong question. Entrepreneurs always need to communicate heat and momentum when they’re raising capital.

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Early Stage Founder Later Stage Engineer 120

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JANUARY 28, 2016

But let’s make this more concrete in the context of an entrepreneur raising a round: How NextView Approaches Pre-Seed Rounds. You can also subscribe to our weekly email sharing insights, resources, and stories about startups gaining initial traction. At NextView, we pride ourselves as being a “one-product company.”

Cofounder 120

Cofounder Finance Founder Syndicate 120

View from Seed

MARCH 15, 2016

It doesn’t matter if it’s an email we’re sending, copy on a landing page, or text in a tool inside of our product, everything that we write has to be written in a way that our customers will understand and care about. Plain Text Emails. At the end of the day, we as entrepreneurs are consumers, too, and we hate that.

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Customer Startup Email Channel 174

View from Seed

NOVEMBER 19, 2015

The following is a real (but anonymized) email to us at NextView where a founder debates the timing of his seed raise: I met with someone today who said I should push to close a seed round before I launch the product. To the founder who emailed us: I hope this helps address your question. To raise or not to raise, that is the question.

Seed Capital 120

Seed Capital Seed Stage Dilution Networking 120

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 1, 2018

Leveraging the underused channel of SMS text messaging, retailers can grow their subscriber audiences and experience higher engagement rates than other digital channels like email marketing. Soon innovative retailers like Cratejoy, Boll & Branch, and Boxed were using the product and seeing fantastic results.

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Cofounder SMS Channel Mobile 136

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 5, 2015

On Tuesday, we put out two different sample pitch decks that we think can guide entrepreneurs as they try to communicate the information behind their companies. For example: Email. Often, first interactions begin via email. This just allows for a natural and appropriate level of information sharing via email.

Cofounder 120

Cofounder Startup Seed Stage Warrant 120

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 9, 2015

How should an entrepreneur approach the full set of meetings and emails during a fundraise? And regardless of how an entrepreneur leads this discussion, the purpose is not to ask for a commitment immediately. For the entrepreneur, she should just plan to use the same conversation/pitch format as the first meeting.

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Partner Audience Founder 120

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 9, 2015

How should an entrepreneur approach the full set of meetings and emails during a fundraise? And regardless of how an entrepreneur leads this discussion, the purpose is not to ask for a commitment immediately. For the entrepreneur, she should just plan to use the same conversation/pitch format as the first meeting.

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Partner Audience Founder 120