Kobie Fuller

When we asked CPG founders who they wanted at Founderland... Their answer was clear: People who can help them grow their business & achieve their goals. Specifically: - The top retailers - The most founder-friendly investors, and - Other founders they can learn from and share with This conversation that I'm hosting at Founderland is a perfect representation of this group, plus one BIG bonus. We're also including Joel Toledano and ChargeUp.ai which is one of my favorite tech companies that is supporting consumer brands today. They automate the retail deduction and chargeback process for brands, saving them an insane amount of time and money. Such a cool co. Excited to teach, share and connect...and get some deals done, while of course having lots of fun. Joel Toledano Jen Zeszut Kim Coffin Deb Conklin

89

41 Comments

DeepCast shipped a number of really cool new features recently in advance of a broad outreach push to podcast listeners. One new feature is our new Daily DeepDigest tool that sends you a concise daily email including any new episodes from the trailing 24 hours from any podcasts you Subscribe to (on DeepCast). Think daily podcast cliff notes or podcast news ticker tape, with a hint of Morning Brew various brews or PitchBook News—it's increasing information throughput when you're pressed for time. And this feature is rapidly evolving to distill other key extractions from shows you're already interested in, but also exposing you to other shows you might be unfamiliar with that also have nuggets to share—and thus increasing your aperture yet still conscious of your time. Want to go deeper on any given episode? Click the episode detail and you're off to an episode on DeepCast, where you can subsequently read a longer form distillation of that episode or go straight to the source and listen to the episode. (And podcaster friends, these pages are definitely increasing indexing and thus Google entry points to your shows!) I'm loving this feature as a user, personally. Can't wait to see what others think! #BuildingInPublic #Podcasts #AllTheWorldsInformation #HowYouWantIt

24

1 Comment

I enjoyed going on Nick Telson-Sillett’s podcast, Pitch Deck by Forward Pursuit. Nick is a serial founder and investor (founded and exited DesignMyNight) so knows both sides of the table which always makes for an enriching chat. Some things we discussed: - The perceived power dynamic between VCs and founders can hinder productive conversations. - A compelling product demo can significantly influence investor interest. - Founders must focus on solving real customer problems to succeed. - Hiring standards are crucial for building a successful startup team. - Behavioural roadblocks can prevent the adoption of new solutions. - Validation from potential customers is key for pre-revenue startups. - The early-stage funding landscape has become more efficient and selective. - Pace of execution is a critical factor in attracting investment.

18

1 Comment

TechCrunch broke news of an amazing #AI play with EGYM raising $200M at a $1.2B. What is amazing about this is that they are based in Europe, and they are actually generating meaningful revenue via their #AI play optimized for going to the gym as opposed to other plays that want you to work out at home. This will be a very interesting company to watch and should give #AI Investors pause for more generic plays that are 1) Raising more funds, 2) At higher valuations, 3) With less revenue. What do you think? #management #venturecapital #privateequity #capitalmarkets #ehealth

1

1 Comment

Hey folks, I think you might be aware that what we're building at DeepCast includes a podcast discovery and exploration platform for listeners at www.deepcast.fm. We also recently unveiled www.deepcast.pro -- a promotions, marketing, and monetization platform for podcasters (and folks like networks and agencies who support them). "You make the shows, let us help you with what comes after." Shows claimed and processed via DeepCast Pro are also published for listener consumption on DeepCast. High value all around! If you're a podcaster, claim your show at www.deepcast.pro to get started. Free speaker-labeled transcripts for all your episodes as well as generated insights for each (key takeaways, quotes, topic & keyword sets, summaries, and more) plus many more features—and growing daily! We're shipping fast over here! (Thanks to Rachel Perez Hosna Qasmei Kim Burgaard Benjamin Moon Rachel Magana Hari Ramachandran!)

17

2 Comments

I recently saw this metric from Carta’s 1Q24 VC Fund Report, which is very concerning. DPI... is nowhere to be found in earlier vintages that probably should start showing DPI. Funding early-stage projects is great, but ultimately, these venture dollars need to exit their investments and pay back their limited partners. That’s where the metric Distributed to Paid-In Capital (DPI) comes in. While managing a fund, we get interim measures during the life of the fund (e.g. IRR, MOIC), but ultimately, “you can’t eat IRR.” If you want to build a lasting venture capital organization, you need to start showing DPI for your fund. Keep in mind that this is traditional VC data from Carta, and is not strictly crypto venture. Crypto venture tends to get liquidity earlier (tokens) and things tend to go parabolic sooner (faster, more unicorns) - but I’d wager that the data here is somewhat similar for Crypto VCs… Not as much DPI as there should be from these earlier vintages. Read the full article, as well as a recap of all the crypto fundraising rounds for August, here: https://lnkd.in/g3eVJ-iF

25

2 Comments

AppLovin, Snap, and the new Walled Garden pathway A notable reversal took place in Q2 of this year: the market capitalization of AppLovin, the mobile gaming ad network, overtook that of Snap on a sustained basis. As of this writing, Snap’s market cap is $13.91BN to AppLovin’s $28.88BN. In looking at the divergent outcomes across AppLovin, Snap, and other advertising platforms, more important to consider than specific feature implementations is the imperative of expanded access to data that doesn’t adhere to the canonical conversion feedback loop. And in AppLovin’s case, this acquisition of data calls into question the popular definition of a Walled Garden.

73

1 Comment

Why we invested: Gratsi Wine 🍷💸 We led the seed round of Gratsi back in November of '22. At the time, they had zero distribution and their ecommerce revenue was modest. But we were blown away and ultimately decided to partner with the team for a few key reasons: 1. Metrics and efficiency: the underlying metrics of the business were unlike anything we've seen in the space. Gratsi's ability to acquire and retain customers (online and in retail) is unrivaled. 2. Potential for premium boxed wine: we remain convinced that premium boxed wine will continue to become one of the most important categories in the wine space. The volume, margin, and customer experience implications are massive. 3. Founder vision and execution: Stephen Vlahos has been executing relentlessly against his vision since day 1. As we met and got to know Stephen in the early days, it quickly became obvious to us that he would stop at nothing in his mission to build one of the most important wine companies in the world. It's been an amazing two years for Gratsi since we invested and I'm incredibly proud of what the team has accomplished. But I'm perhaps even more excited for the years to come. This team is truly just getting started. Exciting times ahead for Gratsi and the team! cc: Top Shelf Ventures Noah Slakter Jason Sherman

142

33 Comments

Congrats to Baller League on raising $25m Series A led by EQT Ventures and $8m Seed co-led by Dreamcraft Ventures. 💥 ⚽️ 🙌 Felix Starck founded Baller League in 2023 with an aspiration to lead a new era of #football with a fast-paced, six-a-side and 30 minute format. After two amazing seasons in Germany during 2024, the league is launching in UK and US during 2025, featuring hungry up-coming players in tandem with megastars like Ronaldinho, Usain Bolt, Luis Figo, John Terry, IShowSpeed and KSI. ✨ 🇬🇧 🇩🇪 🇺🇸 The #Dreamcrafters are proud to have co-led Baller League's Seed round in July 2024 with our friends from Oakvale Ventures, and we're excited to see the Baller Team secure a massive Series A led by our friends from EQT Ventures only six months later 🔥 📈 "Baller League’s rapid graduation from Seed to Series A is nothing short of remarkable. Raising their Seed round in July and securing their Series A in December highlights the team’s exceptional drive and focus. It’s great to be part of supporting an exceptional team and company that hits the sweet spot in our investment strategy with its #DigitalEntertainment focus and founded in #Germany. We’re especially proud to have brought in value-adding co-investors for their Series A round, ensuring the team is supported as they continue their great momentum." - Carsten Gjoertler Salling 🤗 Read more about Baller League and round in Financial Times and EU-Startups - find the links in the comments 👇 #Startups #VentureCapital

253

22 Comments

If you’re looking for a distraction from political content this week… look no further… allow me to introduce: VC podcast content :) I was so excited to finally be on Minnie Ingersoll and TenOneTen Ventures’ LA Venture Podcast. She grew this platform massively while I was on the operating side and it was such an honor to have this be my first interview since returning to VC. Minnie and I chatted poolside in her backyard in Pasadena and covered a lot of ground: - 🚀Why I think distribution and GTM is potentially a greater early moat than product in an AI-native world - 1️⃣ Is first mover advantage still a thing?! -🕵🏽‍♂️ How I think about channel vs integrated product partnership dynamics and why most of them dont work! -💰 What is (and isn’t) exciting to me and Fika Ventures in marketplaces, supply chain, commerce enablement, and more - 🧐 Why we love investing in subject matter and domain experts at Fika more than technology experts learning new domains - 🤝 What makes our partnership and team special at Fika Ventures and how we think about working with founders - 🪢 and finally, why Pejman Nozad and I have more in common than I do with most VCs! Shout outs to friends and colleagues like Tianxiang (TX) Zhuo, John Chen, Gabriella Brignardello, Route, Michael Tam, Troy Henikoff, and more in this one. And most importantly, thanks for having me, Minnie Ingersoll!

89

6 Comments

Insightful look into bioplatform strategy, and what it takes to raise a Series A from my partner, Omri Amirav-Drory: https://lnkd.in/dFv7GbF6

20

The #VentureStudio community is thriving and when two leaders from different studios get together it is always going to be a great conversation. This podcast is huge as two brilliant Venture Studio leaders Barry O'Reilly from Nobody Studios and Ben Yoskovitz from Highline Beta join to unpack the innovative world of venture studios and uncover the strategies that make startups thrive. In this episode, you will learn: 📈 The fundamentals of creating and scaling a venture studio 🛠️ Strategies for innovating with accelerators, incubators, and venture capital 💡 How to apply Lean Startup principles to build products people actually want 🤝 The importance of collaboration between founders, corporate partners, and investors 🔄 Insights into the specialization and future trends of venture studios Take a listen and learn from two masters.

11

3 Comments

I believe two of the big winners over the next 10 years in the SMB category will be PE who are rolling up the businesses and GenAI powered software that makes running these businesses significantly more turnkey and/or profitable. Thanks for having me on Jay Kapoor. If you want spicy takes fast forward to 25 min mark. If you want to get deep in market analysis buckle in for the whole thing. https://lnkd.in/d8M7Jyrx

131

12 Comments

Learn a bit more about our DNA and how we operate at Acurio Ventures from Kate Cornell

23

1 Comment

Eka Ventures enjoyed co-hosting a roundtable with Erevena on building brands for consumer and B2B companies We where fortunate to hear insights from scale up leaders Roxanne Nejad Iona Carter and Viktoria Tchoudakov. Thank you to Estia Ryan and Flo Bown for organising Key insights included: 1. Trust is the foundation of good brands: Viktoria Tchoudakov mentioned the value of Trustpilot to IWOCA's scale whilst Iona Carter focused on Plum Guide's "Michelin Star" inspired certification for properties 2. Organic is key: “When looking to drive organic growth through content, we focused on three themes: education for the user, demonstrating our values, and humour” – Roxanne 3. Tracking brand awareness is tough and can be expensive - but has a value to investors

50