Bijal Shah

Some midweek wisdom from Y Combinator founder, Paul Graham, on why startups shouldn't stress over competitors. According to Graham, based on Y Combinator's extensive data set, few of their startups are actually killed by competitors. He compares the protection a startup has against competitors to the vastness of space, emphasising that the market is large enough for multiple players to thrive. Graham's analogy likens encountering a competitor to suddenly finding another runner in your race lane - the best course of action? “It’s sort of like if you’re running the hundred meters and suddenly a lane appears with another runner in it. What should you do? Run as fast as you can, just like you presumably were.” #Startups #Competition #Entrepreneurship #wearehiring

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💰 Women-Led VC Funds: Navigating 2024 Fundraising Landscape 💰 According to Venture Capital Journal, despite a strong start, women-led VC funds are feeling the impact of the industry-wide fundraising slowdown. As of November 30, 2024, women-led VC funds have raised $2.54 billion, which represents a 25% decrease from 2023's total of $3.43 billion. In comparison, global venture fundraising is down 13% YoY. While the numbers reflect challenges, there's still potential for growth: • Several funds typically file updates in December • These late submissions could help narrow the gap Let's continue supporting diversity in VC and monitor these trends as we approach year-end. #VentureCapital #WomenInVC #FundingTrends2024 La Creme de la STEM ™ - female founders support system Noshin Ahmed Lori Rodriguez Emilie Vallauri Craig Zapatka

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I first met Mike Maples, Jr in 2010, when Founders Network was just an idea. Over the years, Mike and his team at Floodgate (special shoutout to Arjun Chopra) have been great mentors, sharing their insights and guiding our founders. Most recently, their advice played a pivotal role in helping us launch Founders Network Fund. Today, Mike shared the key ideas with FN'ers from his new book Pattern Breakers (https://a.co/d/buKBd5O ), which explores the insights he’s gained from backing companies like Twitter, Twitch, and Okta -- and which put him on the Forbes Midas List 8x. This is the most important book on startups in the last ten years, according to Steve Blank. My notes on the key concepts of his talk: 1) Inflections – "not a trend but a change event that represents a turning point in our ability to provide empowerment." e.g. The GPS chip in iPhone 4s 2) Insights – "a non-consensus and right insight about the future that's powerful and non obvious and leverages inflections." e.g. Lyft = GPS + strangers driving you 3) Founder future fit – "Living in the future before other people live in the future and then try to build what's missing in the future." If you're a founder, check out the book. Grateful for the impact Mike and Arjun continue to have on both me and the Founders Network community!

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As we explore a seed round of VC funding for Avnir, a mentor has driven into me to "interview them as much as they'll do their due diligence on you!" When I consider professional etiquette important to me (and probably every serious founder), I am reminded of what I've coached hundreds of executives on over the past two decades: "Your culture is a culmination of behaviors you're willing to tolerate!" So, here is a Top 10 List of Professional Etiquette crucial to long-term strategic relationships between VCs and founders: 1️⃣ Respect for Time—Punctuality, Efficient Communication, and Timely Feedforward are demonstrated and genuinely felt. We would both rather me invest time in building the business. 2️⃣ Transparency—Clear Expectations, Honest Feedforward, and Disclosures on conflicts of interest or resource limitations save everyone unnecessarily wasted cycles! 3️⃣ Professionalism—Politeness, Confidentiality, and Objective Evaluation allow courteous interactions, respect for proprietary information, and avoiding bias in evaluating the founder's meritocracy. 4️⃣ Empathy—Understanding the Journey and Constructive Dialogue acknowledge the uphill battle founders face while avoiding unnecessary criticism and providing supportive guidance, demonstrating a genuine interest in their vision. 5️⃣ Integrity—Fair Terms, Follow Through, and Avoiding Overpromising honor commitments during discussions, and create realistic expectations from the relationship. 6️⃣ Co-Creation—Value-adding Mindset and Team Player Attitude accelerate the founder's ability to gain traction and position the VC relationship as transformational vs. simply transactional. 7️⃣ Humility—Avoiding Arrogance, Condescension, and Open-Mindedness acknowledges that both parties have unique expertise to add and enhance the receptivity to unconventional ideas, approaches, and perspectives. 8️⃣ Listening Louder—Present, Engaged, and Clarity of Intent eliminates distractions, brings out what's not being said, and jointly crafts better questions to help uncover the unknown and the undiscovered. 9️⃣ Encouraging—Supportive Communication, Positive Reinforcement, and Inspiration help celebrate small wins and key milestone achievements. It's ideal to light a fire within the relationship rather than under anyone, which seldom lasts! 🔟 Playing the Long Game—Relationship Nurturing and Post-Investment Care establishes the runway for a lasting partnership rather than simply pitching a deck and closing a deal. After the investment decision, sustaining the relationship will determine the partnership's long-term perspective. Jason M. Lemkin, Peter Bell, Cassie Young, and Ed Sim - you exemplify world-class in the relationships you build with your founders. Did I miss anything? #VCFounderRelationship #AlignedExpectations #RelationshipsMatterMoreThanEver

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Equity compensation is critical for aligning employees with a company’s long-term goals and fostering a culture of ownership. Yet, data on equity refresh design is scarce. Key questions on eligibility, timing, and grant size persist among founders and Boards. We are excited to share the results of General Catalyst's 2024 Equity Refresh Survey which compiles over 160 data points on key questions including eligibility, timing, and grant size. Huge shoutout to my teammates Guissu Baier and Grant Rivas for their hard work in leading this effort. The findings show that, in this era of capital efficiency, companies are judicious with equity dilution while still rewarding top performers. Highlights: - 87% of companies prioritize individual performance for refresh grants - 25% or fewer of employees receive refresh grants annually - Refresh grants are typically 25% or less of current new hire benchmarks - Nearly half of refresh grants have no vesting cliff Access the full report here → https://lnkd.in/gruPasKh

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Thoughtful Monday read from Kellogg Insight -- We're all familiar with the concept of the gender pay gap at this point since the 1990s. However, new research from Nicola Bianci, assistant professor of strategy at Kellogg suggests that the relationship between men's and women's average #wages did indeed change in past four decades. The average man in the U.S. used to make 80% more than the average woman in 1976, and past over four decades, that gap has fallen to a 33%. Interestingly, there was no stark drop but rather a steady decline that has remained active for the long-term. So what's going on here? Some theorize that #older workers are retiring and newer workers are taking their place, relinquishing some higher paid positions. The reason why the 33% remains stagnant though, is because there's still a disproportionate amount of women in more "traditionally feminine" job positions rather than "male" careers. What do you think about this? Do you have any personal theories about the way the pay gap minimized and then #stagnated?

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An interview process, by definition, can only cover so much content in a given time period. But decision-making is a topic that, when prioritized, can increase executive job satisfaction down the line. When we compare survey respondents who did have an interview conversation about decision making versus those who did not, we find that those who did are 1.4x more satisfied with their jobs overall. Kingsley Gate sheds light on this often-overlooked skill for HBR.

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We’re thrilled to unveil our 2024 State of Talent report! Thanks to Matt Schulman, CEO/founder of Pave, for partnering with us. Thanks also to the whole Pave team that helped (especially Frances Mitchell!) The last few years in talent have been, as I was quoted in Fortune this morning, "super weird" - we put together this report to offer a broad view of what's happening, what we expect to happen the second half of this year, and what founders & People teams can do to prepare. 📍 Managing Spend: In ‘23-24, more companies froze merit increases to manage budgets. Despite similar median merit cycle increases, average increases are lower YoY. 📍 Focus on Retention: Attention has shifted from hiring to retention of top performers, with expected attrition increases in H2. The rise in applications per role + the increase in job postings suggest a competitive rest of the year. 📍 Job Postings as Leading Indicators: Job postings can signal future salary changes. Data Science/ML saw a 56.4% increase in ‘23, with salaries rising. Sales, Marketing, and Product also saw significant growth in Q1. SF continued to see more competition than other US areas. 📍 Sales Talent: Top-quality sales talent is more competitive, especially for top percentile talent. Last year, 23% of companies grew their sales teams; 86% plan to expand this year, with 2/3 of those aiming to double their headcount (thank you for the data Bravado!) 📍 AI's Impact on Job Families: Ai disrupts roles like Customer Support, which has the highest apps per job posting and significant salary changes YoY. Though engineers aren’t being replaced by AI yet, the potential automation of roles like sales development raises questions about career ladders. 📍 Managing Equity Burn: To manage burn, companies are limiting equity to certain levels, reducing targets, and exploring new geographies. Equity burn is a major concern, especially for late stage privates and public companies. Companies are concentrating their equity comp towards great leadership and strong, autonomous ICs. 📍 Geography-Based Equity Adjustments: Surprisingly, geography-based adjustments aren't more common. Outside of the top few US tech metros, equity comp can be as low as 50-60% of Tier 1, and even lower internationally. 📍 New Equity Structures: Data shows that late stage private companies see a 60-70% increase in burn with refresh programs. Companies are experimenting with 1- and 3-year grants, backweighted vesting schedules, and other new structures, led by changes in public tech companies. For a deeper dive into these insights and more, check out the full 2024 State of Talent Report here: https://lnkd.in/g_yTTxFz

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#ObsessivelyEnthusiasticInvestor #UnreasonablyEnthusiasticInvestor #IrrationallyEnthusiasticInvestor at REFASHIOND Ventures: The Industrial Transformation Fund. We look for the people we believe are doing the best work in Industrial Transformation & Supply Chain Technology; Attempting the impossible. Then we go all-in on them. With obsessive, unreasonable, and irrational enthusiasm. We back them with evangelical zeal. Join us. #IndustrialTransformation #SupplyChain #Innovation #Technology #Startups #VentureCapital #DemandTheImpossible #UnreasonableEnthusiasm #ObsessiveEnthusiasm #IrrationalEnthusiasm

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Kicking off the new year writing for Fast Company Executive Board again. My article—The Growth Equation: Driving sustainably profitable growth for VC and PE-backed companies—was just published today. Happy New Year. Wishing you and your business success in 2025. https://lnkd.in/gd6BV_u2

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What Really Makes a Founder-Investor Relationship Work? 💡 Engaged Participation: The best investors don't just attend meetings; they immerse themselves in the startup journey. I recall working on our GTM strategy and facing three tough choices. One investor suggested, "Why not try all three and see what works?" That advice broke down mental barriers and led us to new opportunities. 🤝 Building Trust: Trust grows through genuine, agenda-free conversations, empathy, and a true interest in personal connections. I genuinely appreciate discovering the person behind the purpose. 🗣️ Authenticity and Transparency: Absolute openness is crucial. Discussing dealbreakers and having tough conversations early on leads to smoother sailing later. 🌐 Extending Networks: Aligned investors broaden a startup's reach, introducing key partners and customers, strengthening the network. At FEBE Ventures, we aim to be the first call founders make when challenges arise. We take pride in being trusted advisors to the entrepreneurs we work with. How do you think investors can make a meaningful difference in your journey? Would love to hear your thoughts.

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An incredible deep dive from Nathan M. into the cultural and structural issues that are plaguing Boeing and how they got to where they are today. This article should be turned into a business school case study it's that good. And many of these issues aren't unique to Boeing. The focus on financial engineering over actual engineering is an issue at play in many scaled aerospace and defense companies. A definite must-read! https://lnkd.in/gkdpF2tM

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#thisisnotadvice Day 384 Today's question: “What is the best way to give feedback?” Michelle Volberg is the founder and CEO of Twill, a venture backed technology platform that makes hiring easier by allowing talent to recommend their peers & friends for open roles. Previously, Michelle founded and ran a nationally recognized executive search firm recruiting talent for startups and public companies. She started her career in sales working at The Daily Beast, Digitas, NBC, etc. We're here on #thisisnotadvice to answer all your questions about how to thrive at work. If you have any questions you want us to answer next time, drop us a comment below or on X (formerly known as Twitter). For more, check out our community-edited, comprehensive reference guide on how to work: www.thisisnotadvice.work.

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As folks like to say, VC is a repeat game. Yet, in my time as a VC I've witnessed behaviors that run counter to that premise, oftentimes from the people who have the most leverage. So, I was interested/delighted to see that the Founder's Institute has created and is promoting an analog to the Hippocratic Oath for VCs and finance professionals - called the Mensarius Oath (https://lnkd.in/exmEuzUN). Count me in as a supporter of the Mensarius Oath for ethical investing. #MensariusOath

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It was wonderful to be in conversation with Madison Mills of Yahoo Finance at their annual Invest conference earlier this week. We covered everything from the venture outlook for 2025, impact of elections on women's health investing and innovation, and more. Full clip and summary below 👇 https://lnkd.in/gS67sc2Y

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Founder Fellowship applications are open at South Park Commons and due Feb 2nd. We support founders in -1 to 0. How early is that? Just look at the numbers. Fellowship companies so far were: >99% pre-revenue (there was 1) 85% pre-product (nothing built) 59% pre-idea (not sure what to build) We mean it about -1 to 0. The Founder Fellowship is the only program that invests this early with the kind of terms we offer: $400k for 7% and $600k in the next round. For overwhelmingly pre-revenue/product/idea founders. This is possible when you specialize in -1 to 0. Or in SPC's case, define it. We've spent nearly 10 years developing the -1 to 0 philosophy because we firmly believe it's when your company actually starts. Not with an idea, but when ambition takes hold. -1 to 0 requires patient capital. The Fellowship isn't a sprint to demo day. The right idea can take time. We spend a median of >7 months with teams before they raise their Seed and continue to partner long after. We're on your timeline, not ours. First idea doesn't work? No problem. We're used to it. You still have access to the SPC community, offices, programming, and staff. So on to the next, bigger, better idea. Our whole structure gives you the time and support to discard good for GREAT. The size of each fellowship is also key. We average 2 companies per member of the investing team. Every partner will work with every company. I will work with every company. We love O(N^2) connectivity. Why do we want people to take more time? So they can take more risk and build the kinds of companies that excite us. More technical risk, more market risk. It’s the only path that makes sense at venture scale. Sector is irrelevant. Scale of ambition is what matters. Recent fellowships had novel foundation model architectures, automated manufacturing, AI gaming, humanoid robotics, agentic drones, and software for everything from law enforcement to construction to AI advertising. We built the SPC Founder Fellowship to support you at the earliest stage, when it matters most. 💰 $1M in funding 🤝 Bespoke support, small cohort, open timeline  🚀 SPC community membership, offices & programming Don't miss the deadline!

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Participating in Cohort 14 of the VC Lab has been an energizing experience so far. I am learning so much about the ins and outs of being an emerging fund manager and how to succeed in this space. Today they hosted a panel for Women in VC that provided some real world advice from some fantastic panelists. The curriculum is rigorous for sure, but rewarding. If you are curious about why this is such an exciting area check out this article. #venturecapital #vc #investing https://lnkd.in/gMMM_mwp

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I’m excited to publicly share something that has been in the works for a few months at the 9point8 Collective. We’ve launched our Virtual Studio! This is a program for early-stage companies that provides the coaching, development and venture-building tools they need to find traction and scale. The program is modeled off of the venture-building processes found inside #VentureStudios, which have delivered 2X IRR and exit 45% faster than traditional #VC-backed #startups over the last 10 years. Some of the secret sauce to this is that studios have found a way to validate strategies early on, de-risk execution, preserve and extend limited runway, and create efficient business models very fast. We at 9point8 are seasoned studio builders and are on a mission to bring this value to founding teams as they navigate their startup journeys. What we’ve done with the Virtual Studio is distill these key processes and techniques, add in our own expertise and best practices, and package them into a program which meets start-ups where they are. We are now opening up our Summer 2024 Cohort, slated to begin in July. Space is limited, so I’m sharing the opportunity with my network before we fill the cohort. Here are the details: -It’s a 3-month program which takes the founder through the key phases of venture-building and de-risking (refining target market, product-market fit, economics and financials, planning, and fundraising). -Founders can expect to achieve greater focus, improved operations and increased marketability to customers and investors. -The end results include collaboratively-drafted operational plans, commercial / investment pitch decks, and elevated management practices within the founding team. These draft off frameworks from 9point8's proprietary venture-building process: Targets Over Everything. -It’s built for founders facing (or approaching) a critical inflection point, where fresh perspectives and strategic management levers are critical. These might include fundraising preparation, new product launch, market expansion, and post-MVP scaling efforts. Why did we build this program? Because building a new company is really hard. 90(!) percent of startups fail, and even moderate risk reduction can create a huge lift to survival rate and eventual returns. The studio model is proven to drive greater venture success; our virtual program is extending that success to more and more teams. The program is highly collaborative and hands-on, so we only take on a few companies at a time. This is a great opportunity for founders who are looking to level-up their abilities when it comes to unlocking traction, growth, and an express lane to superior returns. If interested, please reach out immediately as we expect the program to be fully enrolled very soon! Blair Merlino Evan Allen Neal Ghosh

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Today's post is about facilitating introductions. This can be in many contexts -- connecting someone for a potential partnership opportunity, a fundraising lead, a job opportunity, a reference, you name it. We make hundreds of intros a year at Bread and Butter Ventures. A few thoughts on how to make it the most effective use of everyone's time: -Always ensure a double opt-in, meaning you have pinged both people quickly (usually a quick email outreach) to ensure they both want to receive the intro. This is rule #1 to setting up a good intro and respecting everyone's time. Do not make intros that are not dual opt-in. We've all been there. :) -Have a very clear purpose of why you are making the intro, and make it super clear in your note. Provide a quick sentence summary for each person with some brief unique context from your point of view, and let them take it from there. Add any other info that would be helpful that they should know. -If you're the one asking someone to make an intro on your behalf (in my case for example, I might be asking a fellow fund manager for an introduction to a Limited Partner investor in their fund I would love to be connected with; I might be making an intro to a corporate partner of ours on behalf of a portfolio company looking for a commercial opportunity), always offer to send a forwardable email. This should include a brief description in your words with a short overview of you, your business, and why you'd like to connect with them specifically; personalize this point to show it's unique to them. Try to make it as easy as possible for the person who is offering to reach out on your behalf. -Close the loop. Go the extra mile to quickly let the person who made the intro know how it turned out with your thanks. What tips would you add?

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