The Founder Initiative

Helping founders hit product-market fit, get funded & stay up-to-date. (Formerly TheTop.VC)

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Episodes

The Power of a .EDU email

Using your university's resources and your inexperience as leverage to stand out.

Aug 25, 2021•6 min•Ep. 69

Stacker's CEO, Michael Skelly: Blitzkrieg-Fundraising

Schedule all key meetings on Monday and Tuesday of the same week to siphon as much excitement as possible. Networking tips to get more pitches.

Aug 19, 2021•7 min•Ep. 68

Red Bike Capital's Partner, Rachel ten Brink: Benchmark-Your-TAM

If you're in a market that is less known, make sure to benchmark your TAM to something your investor understands. Check out Rachel and Red Bike Capital! https://redbikecapital.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-ten-brink-a08151/"

Aug 12, 2021•6 min•Ep. 67

Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator, Pariti's Global Programs Manager, Iynna Alitiana Halilou: Term-Sheet-101

How entrepreneurs can gain leverage in the fundraising process when they start to receive term sheets.

Aug 03, 2021•7 min•Ep. 66

Foundation Capital's Partner, Sid Trivedi: VC-Customer-Networks

Taking advantage of customer networks to better your product and find niches.

Jul 21, 2021•14 min•Ep. 65

$4.8M funding, Macro's Co-Founder & CEO Ankith Harathi: Even-The-Best-Get-Rejected

Writing 3 different decks, each of different lengths, will capture the right attention at each stage of contact while reaching out. Rejection isn't precedent. Just because a few top-tier firms are ignoring you at first, others may try and get on board.

Jul 20, 2021•11 min•Ep. 64

$107M in funding, Drift's Matt Bilotti's, Product Lead on their Growth Dashboard

Prioritizing tasks based on impact from real data like unit metrics can lead to greater returns for your company than sorting tasks without any quantitative inputs. Growth Table Template: https://airtable.com/tblAiUMTUAYX8UXuS/viwBKLpolAV1SWgow?blocks=hide

Jul 14, 2021•7 min•Ep. 63

Coyote Ventures's Co-Founding General Partner, Jessica Karr: Never-Too-Early

Creating lasting relationships with VCs no matter what stage you're at.

Jul 13, 2021•8 min•Ep. 62

Sierra Ventures's Principal, Vignesh Ravikumar: Revenue-as-Deodorant

Choosing the correct market segment and customers is vital to optimizing your revenue for the long run! Learn more about Sierra Ventures --> https://www.sierraventures.com/ Sierra Ventures - LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/sierra-ventures - Twitter - @Sierra_Ventures https://twitter.com/Sierra_Ventures Vignesh Ravikumar - LinkedIn - http://www.linkedin.com/pub/vignesh-ravikumar/28/6a8/b26/ - Twitter - @vravikumar627 https://twitter.com/vravikumar627

Jul 01, 2021•7 min•Ep. 61

$105M In Funding: CEO of Dooly, Kris Hartvigsen, shares his tactics

Evaluating a VC's "superpowers" and commitments (besides money) before closing a deal can lead to a more successful relationship down the road.

Jun 30, 2021•5 min•Ep. 60

TechStars - Dubai's Managing Director, Vijay Tirathrai: Authenticity Speaks

Playing hard to get will never give you an advantage. Being genuine and transparent will.

Jun 29, 2021•10 min•Ep. 59

Boast.AI's Co-Founder, Lloyed Lobo: Dating-Investor-Analogy

Focus on an authentic relationship and let the money take care of itself.

Jun 23, 2021•10 min•Ep. 57

M6:33 Capital's Managing Director, Erik Fast: Empower-Other's-Values

Valuing others higher and creating a mutually beneficial connection can help you stand out during outreach.

Jun 23, 2021•10 min•Ep. 58

Gig Wage's Chief Strategy Officer, Ethan Austin: Hyper-Targeting-Investors

Hyper-Targeting investors and increasing authenticity in outreach.

Jun 21, 2021•11 min•Ep. 56

Chingona Ventures's Founding Partner, Samara Hernandez: Traction-Trumps-All

How unconventional startups can succeed with limited access to traditional resources.

Jun 16, 2021•8 min•Ep. 55

Silicon Matter's Founder, Olga Orda: 3 funding necessities

3 things you need for raising money & getting media coverage: 1. super start team 2. story that makes you go wow 3. true market traction

Jun 15, 2021•7 min•Ep. 54

Google's Head of VC & Startup Partnerships, Mark Hall: building-in-public

How top startups are using a 'building-in-public' strategy to increase adoption.

Jun 09, 2021•7 min•Ep. 53

Brown Venture Group's Dr. Paul Campbell; the economic impact of racial bias

$13T = the cost of racial bias to the US economy according to Citi's recent study We must move from doing things "for" to "with"...

May 11, 2021•19 min•Ep. 52

Yamaha Ventures VC, Anish Patel: rising bar, $400k - $750k ARR minimum at seed stage

#SolidSeedStageTraction - $400k - $750k ARR minimum Focus on the #fundementals Increasing #valuations Wise with #capital

May 06, 2021•9 min•Ep. 51

Foundation Capital's GP, Joanne Chen: the rise of ops as a B2B buyer

Over the past 10 years, there has been a rise in operations as a B2B tech buyer

May 04, 2021•8 min•Ep. 50

'The 2% Rule' - Rob Ness

General Partner of Asymmetry Ventures, Rob Ness: the biggest contributors to success at the seed stage--> 'The 2% Rule' - obsess and improve the basics like #CX...

Apr 29, 2021•8 min•Ep. 49

Nate Williams, Founder & Managing Partner at UNION Labs: the rise of non-technical hires...sooner

Nate Williams, ex CRO of August Home, Inc., former EIR at Kleiner Perkins, and current Founder & Managing Partner at UNION Labs Ventures shares a trend of sales, BD, & HR hires happening sooner.

Apr 27, 2021•8 min•Ep. 48

CEO of BuildFire, Ian Blair: AI-powered copywriting - they average 250k views/mo.

Clearscope + Conversion.ai = Turbocharged SEO Ian and his team average 250k site view/mo...not bad for a B2B company

Apr 14, 2021•5 min•Ep. 46

G. Founder of lemist; turned down $30M in funding

G., Founder & CEO of @lemist ‎explains how he received & turned down an offer of $30M in funding at a $100M valuation

Apr 13, 2021•9 min•Ep. 45

ex Intel Capital MD, Hassan Miah: event growth strategies still work

ex Intel Capital Managing Director & Standford MBA, Hassan Miah discusses his event growth strategy for his neo bank Wicket... Check out his full episode here:

Apr 09, 2021•15 min•Ep. 44

David Weekly; Founder & CEO of Medcorder: stop "pitching" investors

Facebook acquired 1 of his 3 startups, he has done 100 angel investments and raised millions... My friend, David E. Weekly, CEO of Medcorder shares incredible advice on raising money.

Apr 09, 2021•14 min•Ep. 43