Kishan Bhoopalam

This hard reset is required for all AI founders from India building global B2B products: Product Innovation > GTM muscle Product innovation is happening at a rapid pace in each of your categories, valley competitors are building thought through features that can help them win customers mid-long term, GTM muscle alone without product differentiation wont help you win in the first half of this AI decade. We are doing this hard reset within BoldCap on what we are looking for in AI founders. Ping us if you are tinkering in global AI B2B products. Shiv Tayal Pratham Chadha Aditi Gera

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I've invested in over 300 startups over the last 5 years, and there is one common trait that nearly all failed early stage startups share - they don't run a proper customer discovery process. You can read about the importance of customer discovery all over the internet, but that practical application of it among first time founders is still extremely low. We look at over 10,000 deals each year Forum Ventures and I see firsthand just how few founders actually excel in this process. One subset of founders simply doesn't do it at all. It's a classic archetype - build product in a vacuum without running any validation cycles. Typically the founder profile here skews more technical/product where founder-led sales feels out of character and not an area they enjoy spending time. Often founders think they can "product their way" to initial customers, but more often than not that new feature set they are excited about fails to generate user demand, simply because they never asked anybody if they care about what they were building. There is a classic startup'ism - first time founders focus on product, second time founders focus on distribution - and it rings very true within this subset. The second group of founders actually understands the importance of running discovery and leans into it early in their build process. While they have the best intentions, ultimately they come up short because in practice they don't actually know how to run an unbiased process. Discovery that focuses around a feature/solution set will skew toward lukewarm positive responses from potential customers, "sounds interesting, let me know when the beta is ready". The reality is no one is going to tell you that your baby, in this case your product, is ugly when it's far easier to just smile and nod. Founders often take this false signal as validation and race to ship a product that ultimately falls flat on its face. There is an art to soliciting feedback from a potential customer. The process emphasizes questions on their existing workflows, bottlenecks they experience in their day to day, understanding what motivates them and how they measure success in their role. This is a critical area we emphasize when evaluating investment opportunities, and a process we are very hands on in assisting our portfolio companies. Having a strong network is a massive advantage when launching a startup but close network relationships have the potential to give false signals across a customer discovery process. There are ways to combat this by being very deliberate when once solicits feedback from their network, but there are definitely bonus points for net-new out of network customer validation.

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Why do 99% of YC founders fail post-demo day? Ever notice how startups in Y Combinator operate? They work backward over 3 months, go full throttle, and by the end, many land major funding.  But what happens after the big launch? This initial momentum tends to wear off, and most companies get trapped in a slump, almost like quicksand - slowly and steadily but not realizing you're unable to get out. At Oliv, we fell into the same trap—a massive build-up, then a dip in energy, followed by another scramble to get things going again. It wasn’t sustainable. That’s when we decided to convert YC training into a process. We decided to do a launch every 8 weeks. Why 8 weeks? And why not the standard 3 to 6 months? For a start-up at our stage, we need to ideate fast and execute even faster. This sweet spot gives us just the right amount of time to plan, ideate, and execute—all with a laser focus on our next big goal. No more long lulls or lost momentum. Here’s our approach: - OKRs: After each launch, the team sets clear OKRs for the next launch. It’s all about aligning with the big picture while keeping it actionable. - Tailored sprints: Marketing thrives on weekly sprints for agility, while engineering goes bi-weekly to dive deep into complex tasks. And this is why it works,  - Complete visibility: We see everything in motion at a glance—team objectives, progress, and any bottlenecks. Decisions get made faster, and issues get resolved quicker. - Velocity, not speed: While we want to execute faster, launches help us tweak and realign in the direction the market needs us. - Accountability becomes habit: With structured sprints, everyone stays aligned, transparent, and accountable. No one’s coasting—ownership is built into the process. Switching to 8-week sprints wasn’t easy, but it’s been a game-changer for us at Oliv.  We’re no longer just launching products—we’re consistently delivering results, staying energized, and reaching the potential we knew was there.

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Startup decks vs Business plans. It's accepted that a startup needs a deck. Dax Dasilva of Lightspeed Commerce made an important point on 20VC. Writing a business plan - including financial projections - is an important step. It requires discipline. It provides a rigorous framework for thinking deeply about the problem you're trying to solve. Harry Stebbings countered that he doesn't even want to see a deck since it's all dreams. We spent a lot of time and energy on our business plan with the expectation that we would show it to no one ever. The business plan was part of our roadmap for the company. We researched customers - including having 50+ conversations. We wanted to understand them: their background, their interests, their presence on social media. We also wanted to understand how they were evaluated by leadership and how integrated they were with the business of the company they were protecting. We researched pricing both with potential customers and other products in our industry to find out if OpEx or CapEx was a better fit. How did they buy today? How would they like to buy? We did market research to understand the verticals and map the right entry point - we were wrong but that doesn't reduce the value of the research. We looked at competitors in depth to understand what they were seeing that we weren't. Dax is right. This is an invaluable document that should be updated every year - the company is changing, the market is changing, there's more feedback about price and ICP. It's not for sharing with the outside world. It's a map for driving forward. Decks won't get you investment - VCs invest in people. We make decks but we know they don't tell our story. The deck is a calling card. Dax and Harry are both right. https://lnkd.in/e25M82xY

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Bold prediction for 2025: Investors will pay founders to access their venture data. Founders own their data and grant access to investors for a fee. This shift promotes transparency, trust, and efficiency in fundraising, while giving startups a new revenue stream.

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been rethinking how to model startup success and conjured the vector sum framework. startups are dynamic vector sums. each component — team, product, market, traction, capital efficiency, moat, etc. — has a magnitude (impact) and direction (alignment) across multiple dimensions. the vector sum model deconstructs and reconstructs a startup by dynamically modeling success and accountability down to the atomic unit of value drivers. it can be implemented at t=0, no matter the stage. more to follow…

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Proud milestone: Over the past 2 years, we've worked closely with 250 venture-backed startups @ Verbatim. Here’s what the best teams have in common: 1. Faster shipping = better results When you ship content fast, your time delta (and learnings) between cycles compresses. If you can learn and iterate on content assets faster, you'll get closer and closer to the style/format/distribution channels that drive results. The best teams we work with want to ship fast, learn quickly, and then deploy those learnings to produce better and better content in a short period of time. 2. Find what works, then ramp volume Once you've found something that works (i.e. specific case study format for a unique customer segment), lean in and double down on volume. Keep pushing volume until ROI starts to plateau, then start testing new formats in parallel. 3. Focus on product + customers first Build a killer product and make your customers happy. For the best teams that we work with, this is their number one priority. Once you've built a v1 product that customers love, then pour fuel on content and other growth functions. 4. Align your content with GTM teams The best content engines are perfectly in sync with sales, revenue, marketing, and growth functions. Ex: when sales needs a new outbound asset, the speed of deployment is significantly faster when every team is communicating well. Lesson here: don't silo your content function from adjacent GTM teams. 5. Build real relationships with partners Across every company we've worked with at Verbatim, the best results have been with the teams that we have a real, deep relationship with. We're friends with each other and hold a mutual respect for our shared work product. This leads to better communication, faster deployment, and better results.

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“There are few growth levers that could allow a single person to grow a startup from $0 to $1M ARR in a matter of months. There are even fewer that could be done with nothing but an internet connection and a laptop—and virtually no budget. Cold outbound is one such lever.” Outstanding primer here on cold email outreach. Everyone should have a sales gig early in their professional life. You’re going to have to sell one thing or another throughout your life. Get used to it. https://lnkd.in/e2nA_iMF

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Can you talk to someone and empathize with them? Do you have a sense of humor? Do you have friends? Do you have a partner? Have you raised kids? Do you care about people? Can you read a room? Then you can sell!! Sales is just relationships; it’s not as hard as you think If you can sell you can bootstrap with hardly anything!! #sales #founders #bootstrapping #startups

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Great post Santosh Sharan 1. If I am reading this correctly, you were in line with what Peter Drucker repeatedly said in classes I was blessed to have taken "Focus on market share and revenue (margins) will follow". 2. I always encourage Startup Clients from Concept through Seed phases: 1. Solid Data Supported Market Analysis (Total Market, SWOT Analysis) 2. Methodical, Low Cost, Essential Features and Fast MVP 3. Traction & Market Share Naturally, I encourage building the business plan immediately and continuously strengthening it. Thanks again for this great launch testimonial!

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The Ultimate Guide for Scaling, Sales & Raising Capital: Here are just a few reasons why this guide is a must-read: 1) Real-world expertise: Straight from the trenches of SaaS entrepreneurship, offering actionable advice that's been tested in the battlefields of startup growth. 2) Comprehensive coverage: From startup infancy to scaling heights, every phase of your journey is addressed, providing you with the knowledge to navigate the tricky waters of SaaS business. 3) Community wisdom: Leveraging the collective wisdom of the vibrant SaaStr community, the guide encapsulates diverse perspectives and solutions. PS. check out 🔔 for a winning pitch deck the template created by Silicon Valley legend, Peter Thiel https://lnkd.in/ejp-Bhnu

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Imagine you’re meeting a VC today and pitching your company. Now, also imagine the VC goes home tonight and tells his or her spouse about the meeting with you. How do you think the VC would (or should) describe your product to the spouse? Remember, this is for someone who doesn’t have any context, and probably doesn’t have time to listen the whole story. If you can think of a story version that's plain and simple -- how you want the VC to describe your product to the spouse -- perhaps that version should be your pitch in the first place?

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New VCs aren't joining the game. First time VC investments are at an all time low. While this is not ideal for some startups who will have less access to capital it's a long term positive for the entire industry. Things got way too hot a few years ago and too many new VCs piled in, raising valuations to a point where ROI was near impossible on some deals. I feel like every celebrity had their own fund. Now we're probably over-correcting on the other side, but hopefully will find market equilibrium soon. We're seeing consistent demand increase for our portfolio companies deals since the nadir. To learn more about our early stage tech portfolio in South and Southeast Asia as well as our fund go here: https://lnkd.in/gfxsVB4A

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Testing Business Ideas: The Ultimate Validation Experiments Library 📌 Here's your ultimate validation experiments library: 1. Validation Experiments ↳ Test assumptions before you build ↳ Save time, money, and heartache 2. Market Engagement ↳ Get real feedback from real people ↳ Understand your audience before launch 3. Minimal Products ↳ Build just enough to test your concept ↳ Iterate based on user feedback 4. Feasibility Prototypes ↳ Prove it can be done ↳ Technical validation is crucial 5. User Prototypes ↳ Put it in front of potential customers ↳ Watch how they interact with your idea 6. Experiments in Production ↳ Test in the real world ↳ Gather data from actual usage 7. Recommended Tools ↳ Leverage the right tech for testing ↳ Work smarter, not harder Remember: Ideas are cheap. Execution is everything. But smart execution starts with validation. 💡 Don't waste months building something nobody wants. Test, learn, adapt. Rinse and repeat. That's how you build a business that lasts. Credit: Paweł Huryn , Founder @ The Product Compass (https://buff.ly/4cPChef) Totally Follow Him 🌟 #BrainDumps | BrainDump #90

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Yes, early stage startups must go super narrow and deep, and solve one problem only. Absolutely true. But sometimes I see founders misunderstanding this as skimping on critical features, without which the product cannot deliver its proper value. Consider Uber v1. It was a narrow service - all it did was hailing limousines in SF. But in order to make that one thing work, the app had to have all stacks ready. If one stack was missing, the whole thing wasn't going to work. Imagine every stack of Uber working except for the payment stack or the driver dispatching stack. Startups are not just solving one problem, they need to solve one problem really, really well. Think about the minimum stacks and components required to deliver a magical, 10x experience to your users, when it comes to that one problem you're tackling. You should focus, which means defining what not to do - but at the same time you don't want to skimp on the minimum stacks and components needed to deliver a 10x experience.

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YC Startup Playbook by Sam Altman. 🔑 Key Takeaways: User Love: Focus on creating a product that your users love. Early adopters who are passionate about your product will be your biggest advocates. Great Team: Building a formidable team is crucial. Look for co-founders who complement your skills and share your vision. Execution: Consistent and intense effort over a long period is essential. There are no shortcuts to success. Adaptability: Be ready to evolve based on user feedback. Flexibility can be a game-changer. Persistence: The journey is tough, but resilience is key. Never give up too quickly. 📈 Top Advice: Communicate Clearly: Your idea should be clear and exciting from the get-go. Start Small: It’s better to have a small group of users who love your product than a large group who just like it. Stay Frugal: Be generous with equity but frugal with everything else. Compensate great people with ownership in the company. Ignore Competitors: Focus on your internal growth and product quality rather than what others are doing. 🔥 Pro Tip: "Do things that don't scale" in the early days. Offer exceptional customer service and gather insights to continuously improve your product. #StartupSuccess #YCombinator #Entrepreneurship #GrowthMindset #Innovation 🔔 Follow me for insightful and entertaining posts about #Startups #VentureCapital #Entrepreneurship. ------ 🎁 Get investor lists, free resources, and services for your fundraising:  https://lnkd.in/g4ygxG6i ------ 🤝 Find your co-founder: https://lnkd.in/e9DyVmkE 

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Don't Be Fooled By DAU/MAU - It Hides Your Real User Activity! When founders want to see how engaged their users are, they look at the (Daily Active Users) / (Monthly Active Users) ratio metric. While it only gives a single, blended average. It doesn't show where users fall across the activity spectrum. So instead of relying solely on this ratio, what should founders analyze? Analyze the Power User Curve. It's a 30-day histogram which graph the number of days per month users were active, provides a more detailed breakdown of user engagement to identify and understand power users. 1️⃣ When The Curve Smiles A curve that looks like a smile - with high bars on the left and right - it shows that users are highly engaged and returning to the app daily. As the product can create more power users, the curve will shift further towards the right side of the smile. Facebook has a very right-leaning smile curve, with more than 60% of its MAUs coming back daily. 2️⃣ A Left-weighted Curve When the curve is left-weighted, most users only have activity one day a month. By this activity metric, the product has very few power users. That's okay, not every product is built on daily returning users. An investing product like a professional network like LinkedIn is bound to have a more left-weighted Curve. Low engagement simply means the company must extract more value from each engagement and create revenue with a business model that isn't tied to daily usage. 3️⃣ Trends & Cohorts Seeing how the curve changes over time will show if a product getting more engaging and why. A positive shift towards the right means a cohort of users is finding value in the product. This can illustrate how a new release or feature is bringing users back more often. Likewise, products like Uber or Thumbtack would want to look at cohort trends by geographic location to see how their product is developing in different areas and building network effects. 4️⃣ Customizing Your Curve To get the most from your curve, customize it to your business. It doesn't need to be viewed on the 30-day scale. A SaaS/productivity product focused on the workweek and weekly active users might want to look at their power users on a 7-day histogram, and the activity doesn't need to be app opens or logins. The curve can look beyond visits by using a deeper action that is more likely to show users getting or creating value. A publishing platform might want to look at “posted content” activity to identify its small contingent of power users. This is how YouTube could look at its creators, or eBay at its sellers. There's no silver bullet for how to look at user engagement, However, the Power User Curve visualizes user activity distribution, helping identify power users and understand how to monetize the product around them, rather than relying solely on blended average metrics. . Source: Andrew Chen (Partner at a16z) #startups #metrics #users #activity #MAU #DAU #fund #funding

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Founders planning to raise, here are Carta's Q3 2024 benchmarks to help you negotiate more effectively: Pre-seed, median raises of $900K typically come with 12.4% dilution. Translation: you can probably maintain 87%+ ownership while getting enough runway to prove key assumptions. For seed rounds, there's an interesting split: > SAFE notes: $3M median raise at $20M valuation (18.3% dilution) > Priced rounds: $3.8M median raise at $18.7M valuation (20% dilution) The trade-off: Lower dilution with SAFEs vs. more capital with priced rounds. Series A is where preparation really pays off. The data shows $11M median raises at $58M valuations. But here's what matters: the spread between 25th and 75th percentile valuations ($38.6M—$90M) shows the impact strong execution can have on your terms. Most encouraging for founders? Series C dilution averages 10.7% despite significant check sizes ($44M median). This suggests strong growth metrics gives you significant leverage in negotiations, even at scale. Use these benchmarks to set realistic expectations, know your leverage points, and strategically time your raise. Founders who've raised: Do these numbers match your experience? Credit: Peter Walker and Carta #StartupFunding #VentureCapital #FounderAdvice 🔔 Need to fundraise? Try Foundersuite - A better way to raise capital.

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If this is true, it’s going to have massive implications on VC investments flowing into consumer facing health startups. Meta is still the most reliable and efficient GTM channel for an early stage consumer facing startup and this would disrupt unit economics majorly. Source: Cory Dobbin on X/Twitter

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