EP31 - Matt Jonns - Founder + Lightning | Nothing Ventured Podcast

Matt Jonns is the founder & CEO of Founder and Lightning. Founder and Lightning have helped build over 30 companies in the last 8 years and have a portfolio valuation of £100m+

👂 Listen to the Primer / Main Episode here -

🕒 Time stamps -

0:00 - Intro - Who is Matt Jonns?
01:06 - Tell me about Founder + Lightning and what it does.
02:32 - What was Matt's first job?
03:04 - What was Matt doing before he got into the tech ecosystem?
04:29 - How did you get into building Founder + Lightning?
05:47 - What kind of founders does Matt work with, and what sectors does he focus on?
08:07 - Is Matt looking for venture-scale small businesses, or does he prefer smaller exits?
10:57 - What are some of the challenges and misconceptions founders face when chasing unicorn valuations?
13:31 - Are there any ventures that Matt is really excited about inside or outside your portfolio?
17:32 - What are the most common mistakes made by non-technical founders when building their startups?
19:08 - How do you address the challenge of founders spending too much money on MVPs and taking too long to launch?
21:03 - What advice does Matt give to founders about building successful products, especially when big corporates can create their own versions?
21:23 - What mistakes do many founders make when developing their solutions, and what should they focus on instead?
22:07 - What are some of the reasons why founders struggle to raise investment for their startups, as mentioned by the speaker?
22:45 - What advice does Matt give to founders regarding choosing the right co-founder and maintaining control of their startup?
35:20 - How would Matt describe himself - an accelerator, incubator, venture builder, or a fund?
36:02 - Is Matt looking for unicorns or zebras when investing in companies?
39:00 - With the explosion of generative AI and no-code tools, is software still a moat for startups, and how should founders approach this?

🔗 Matt's links -

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-jonns/
Web - https://www.founderandlightning.com/