Episode description

On this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Jason Lemkin, Founder at SaaStr, and Justin Kan, Co-Founder at Fractal.is.

Justin co-founded Kiko Software, a Web 2.0 calendar that pre-dated Google Calendar by four years; Justin.tv, a lifecasting platform; Twitch, a live streaming platform for esports, music, and other creatives that was acquired by Amazon for almost $1 billion. More recent roles include Partner and GM at Y Combinator and CEO of Atrium, a software-powered law firm for startups. He is now a general partner at Goat Capital as well as his work at Fractal.

Jason co-founded NanoGram Devices: nanotechnology to dramatically enhance the performance of power sources for implantable medical devices, which was acquired for $50 million just 13 months after founding; EchoSign, the web's most popular electronic signature service which was acquired by Adobe; and now SaaStr, the world's largest SaaS community and $70+ million SaaS venture fund.

In this session, they'll share “sage advice” that VCs give startups and deconstruct the biases.

Specifically, they discuss:

2:10 - A warm intro to investors - what if you don't have one?

3:37 - The type of cold emails to write

5:20 - Why now is the best time ever to raise money 

8:45 - Giving up control of a company

10:59 - The biggest issue that founders face

13:09 - The consequence of having no accountability

14:55 - How many investors till it's considered to be too many

19:38 - Big funds writing small checks

23:37 - Why you should update your investors regularly


Learn more at https://tractionconf.io

Connect with Jason Lemkin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonmlemkin/

Learn more about SaaStr at https://www.saastr.com/

Connect with Justin Kan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinkan/

Learn more about Fractal.is at https://www.fractal.is/

This episode is brought to you by:

Each year the U.S. and Canadian governments provide more than $20 billion in R&D tax credits and innovation incentives to fund businesses, but the application process is cumbersome, prone to costly audits, and receiving the money can take as long as 16 months. Boast automates this process enabling companies to get more money faster without the paperwork and audit risk. We don’t get paid until you do! Find out if you qualify today at https://Boast.AI.

Launch Academy is one of the top global tech hubs for international entrepreneurs and a designated organization for Canada's Startup Visa. Since 2012, Launch has worked with more than 6000 entrepreneurs from over 100 countries, of which 300 have grown their startups to Seed and Series A stage and raised over $2 Billion in funding. To learn more about Launch's programs or the Canadian Startup Visa visit https://LaunchAcademy.ca

Content Allies helps B2B companies build revenue-generating podcasts. We recommend them to any B2B company that is looking to launch or streamline their podcast production. Learn more at ContentAllies.com