Tolga Önal

A free, curated list of 500 seed VCs + a playbook on how to use it effectively We put together a list of 500 VCs (US, UK, EU) investing in seed-stage startups, and 25 first check investors. We're giving it for free: https://lnkd.in/dEYuAQsY But first, here’s how to use it: Do not: X Reach out to everyone on the list. X X Contact all the partners in a VC at the same time. X X Reach out cold to VC partners (not as your first option). X X Use the contact form or the generic contact email on the website (before you've tried everything else). X Instead: 1. Research - check their websites and other online resources to make sure the VC firm is a real fit (domain focus, investment thesis, stage, location). 2. Go to their LinkedIn page and identify the general partners in the firm. 3. Check to see if you have any mutual contacts who can introduce you to one of the partners. 4. If you can't find a way to connect via an intro or in person: focus on one of the partners who is (ideally) already your second-level contact on LinkedIn and an active LinkedIn user. If possible, engage lightly with their content and then reach out with a connection request on LinkedIn. 5. If you get no response after a day or two, contact the next general partner in that VC. The list we are sharing has been hand-checked by the Meet.Capital team and includes all you need to get started: Website. Location. Investment thesis/description. Preferred domains. Preferred stage. Linkedin company page. Contact email. Get the list here: https://lnkd.in/dEYuAQsY ❤️ Comment on this post, if: 1. You want to introduce your VC to founders viewing this post. 2. You know someone who can benefit from this list - tag them. 3. You want to help this reach more founders ❤️ (reposts help a lot too!) Thanks! * Join over 6,000 startup founders and investors subscribed to get our startup tips and more.

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🚀 UVC Partners: Driving Europe's Leading Deeptech Startup Ecosystem 🌍 Munich’s UnternehmerTUM stands out as a powerhouse in Europe’s startup scene, largely thanks to UVC Partners, a key player providing vital early-stage funding for B2B deeptech, climate tech, software, and mobility startups. 🚗 A Hub for Innovation and Growth📈 Founded within UnternehmerTUM in 2011, UVC Partners has grown significantly, helping to transform the funding landscape for European startups. 💰Initially starting with a modest €25 million fund, UVC Partners now manages around €400 million in assets and is currently raising its fourth fund, targeting €200-250 million. This impressive growth reflects the firm’s success in identifying and nurturing startups with the potential for world-changing innovations, such as space technology platforms and flying taxis. A Changing Funding Landscape💰 The shift in funding dynamics is stark. In 2012, deeptech companies across Europe received a mere €400 million. Fast forward to 2023, and German deeptech startups alone secured €1.6 billion, with the German government announcing a €1 billion fund for deeptech and climate tech growth-stage companies. UVC Partners has been at the forefront of this evolution, closing its third fund generation in 2021 with €260 million raised across two funds. Strategic Connections and Deep Expertise🤝 UVC Partners benefits from its close ties to UnternehmerTUM, leveraging a vast network of corporates, Mittelstand companies, universities, and government figures. This network provides startups with unparalleled access to industry leaders and policymakers, a significant advantage highlighted by many portfolio companies. “We have a unit called Value Creation that focuses on customer creation and knowledge,” explains UVC partner Benjamin Erhart. This unit taps into UnternehmerTUM’s business relations, offering startups tailored introductions to industry heavyweights when needed. Success Stories and Flagship Investments UVC Partners has a strong track record of successful investments and exits. Notable investments include: Flix, Isar Aerospace, Vimcar, FAZUA, Aleph Alpha, Reel The Future of European Deeptech🤖 UVC Partners' commitment to fostering innovation and connecting startups with essential resources has solidified its role in Europe’s leading startup ecosystem as an early-stage backer of B2B deeptech, climate tech, software, and mobility startups that are working on potentially world-changing innovations, reported Sifted. ✅ Looking to raise capital for your #fund and increase the international pool of your LP #investors?   🤝 Need warm #LP introductions?   📝 Selling #secondaries to increase liquidity?   🧐 Looking for co-investments?   ▶ G+QUANT's link for inquiries and fund decks: https://lnkd.in/gjC_EuTE 🌟 #VentureCapital #Startups #Deeptech #Innovation #Entrepreneurship #UVCPartners #TechFunding #MunichTech #ClimateTech #EuropeanStartups

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From 12-18 to 24+ months: Raising between two rounds is getting longer, but is it really bad for founders? •In the past couple of weeks several data points showed that the time between two successive financing rounds is getting significantly longer. •Pre-2022, most VC backed startups raised money every 12 to 18 months until the Series B. •It concretely means that startups had to hit specific milestones every 12 to 18 months to be able to raise again. •And these milestones depended on the “VC zeitgeist”. It could be growth rate, revenue level, product milestones etc… •Fast forward today it’s around 24 to 32 months between two rounds. While it shows that access to funding is getting tougher, is it really a bad thing? First of all, what does it fundamentally change for founders? ----------------------------------------------------------- •Obviously founders need to adjust their burn rate so that they can survive longer than 12/18 months with what they have raised. •They need to focus on sustainable growth. The current “VC zeitgeist” is not about “growth at all costs” milestones anymore but about “sustainable growth” oriented ones. To raise the next round you need to have healthy unit economics. •Board meetings have often dramatically changed. It’s sometimes an almost schizophrenic experience to go from a board that asks you to be super aggressive with growth to a board that asks you to build a sustainable business. •It’s better to have VCs that can support you through bridge rounds over a longer period of time. I know a couple of early stage founders that have raised €1-1.5M with syndicates and small VC firms and are now stuck because they cannot do bridge rounds. So, all in all is it a bad thing? ---------------------------- •If you make the correct adjustments (and most early stage founders have probably done it) I do not think that it’s such a bad thing for founders. •I know many founders that were uncomfortable with the pre-2022 VC Zeitgeist and didn’t feel good when they were pushed by VCs to hire aggressively or spend more money to grow faster. •And many prefer the current situation where the emphasis is on building a real business from day one and accelerate only when it makes sense. And not the other way. The real problem for most SaaS founders is not the longer time between two rounds, but rather to get the very first checks with VCs that are ready to support them over a longer period of time (through bridge rounds).

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The SaaS industry is still growing. But much more slowly. Last month I shared an Aleph statistic. Over the last 3 years we have invested in 17 companies. Only 1 out 17 was a classic horizontal SaaS company. SaaS was the single best business model of the last cycle (2008-2021), but the category has since entered a maturity stage (see graph below). This new report from the wonderful software team at Avenir clearly illustrates it. Growth rates for the combined SaaS industry are quickly declining as we are entering the later stages of maturity. In other words, there’s already an established software company in most sectors - and there’s very little room for entirely new software categories. At Aleph we still believe there’s an opportunity to build successful SaaS companies, but new entrants would have to carve out market share in existing industries and displace existing vendors. Vertical software is one area where lesser competition makes it more attractive, but entrepreneurs in crowded horizontal markets would have to work harder than ever before. Another key takeaway from the report - there are only 72 publicly traded companies (with market cap > $5Bn) with a combined market cap of $5.8Tr. However, 56% of this value is attributed to Microsoft alone, followed by a very long tail of lesser performing companies. Moreover, only 2 of the largest 11 companies were funded after the year 2000 (ServiceNow, CrowdStrike). If you are building or investing in SaaS, you should definitely read the full report by Jared Sleeper, Hannah Bao and David Prilutsky (link in the first comment).

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📣 Free founders-only event below! I often see founders get a lot of early traction in signing customers and then hit a wall when trying to scale that repeatedly. Why?? Maybe it's because: 1️⃣ that 1st group of customers came through warm intros from your accelerator batch 2️⃣ you've already combed through industry connections from your previous career 3️⃣ you're just good at brute-force selling but you're only one person 4️⃣ you are still narrowing in on product market fit Next week I'm hosting a free, founders-only candid discussion with two people who have had to break through this wall out of necessity and now coach countless founders on this. More on our speakers: 📈 Ian Illig took his 1st job out of college at a friend's startup (employee #1). He quickly found himself trying to sell a product that was still finding its market fit. Fast forward years later and Ian had completely built out the sales team and revenue, allowing the company to get acquired. And then he turned around and did the same thing again with the same founding team. 👀 Sonia Baschez was one of the 1st employees at Atmos, a consumer & builder-facing product for homebuilding. She developed early marketing channels & helped the company grow from Pre-seed to Series A. Sonia optimized product launches to reach the right customers, a challenging feat given their core customers are actively NOT in the tech bubble (aka Techcrunch and a thread on X are not going to do the trick). Whether they know it or not, both Ian and Sonia have been secret superpowers for me as I've grown The Council Fund and supported portfolio companies. I'm excited to share their playbooks & expertise with founders for FREE next Wednesday. Join us 12-1pm Pacific! Link to RSVP in comments below ;)

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Why it takes 1,000 no's to get 1 yes, or why does Venture type investing only go to 1% of the field? The answer (partly) might just be in your outreach. I've seen a 5,200% increase of inbound angel investment requests YTD. I am not a fund or a known investor so imagine this amplified by 1,000 in those inboxes. There seems to be 3 general types I have noticed: 1) Spray and Pray into the air - clearly generic en masse outreach which tries to hint at a connection to the subject but actually there isn't. // These just need to stop - feels like it's doing yourself and AI an injustice. 2) Spray and Pray closing rounds and filler ends - a la "Seeking high quality investors for our captable, we've raised everything but the last 60K. You'd be ideal, you in?" // If you are that close to closing a round surely more personal and connected is better than suddenly going wide...assuming the other 160K wasn't raised by small donations (crypto projects aside). 3) Semi personal soft requests - "I've seen you're an investor on your LinkedIn, here's my project. Want to see the deck?" // Quite often these lack the real personality needed in understanding what connects that investor to the project potentially. There is a fourth type - the research lead " I saw you did 'x' and I am building 'y' (insert thought on how it's connected or why relevant)." These have been 0.25% of the approaches. So not a trend just outliers. Goes some way to answering why it takes 1,000 no's to get 1 yes, or that Venture type investing only goes to 1%. Because the severe lack in ability to connect quality over quantity; and quite often married to a disconnect on what constitutes a VC backable business. Thoughts? #investing #vc #angel #founder #approaches #investorrelations #crm

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STARTUP BLURB TEMPLATE FOR INTRO 👇 OpenAI [link to your website], an AI language model designed to understand and generate human-like text based on the input it receives. A few insights about us: - Key metrics: $2bln ARR, 10x YoY, 85% gross margin, 10x LTV/CAC ratio. - We raised $11.3bln from A16Z, Sequoia Capital, Microsoft, and other 20 investors. - CEO [link to LinkedIn] was a president at YC for 5 years, raised $30mln for his startup Loopt, and founded Hydrazine Capital. - CTO [link to LinkedIn] worked on Model X in Tesla and was a CTO at Leap Motion. You can find more details in our Pitch Deck [link to your Pitch Deck]. Now we are raising a $1bln equity round to achieve $10bln ARR by Dec’25. We already have $500mln hard committed from existing investors and more than $1.5bln soft committed, we are looking for a strong partner to close the round fast. If you are using a different template, share in the comments. #startups #investments #founders #blurb #template #fundraising

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Want to exit as an early-stage founder? Yes, it is possible. But it requires a different approach to typical M&A dealmaking. A bit of context… I get 5-10 messages per week from relatively early-stage founders (traction, but not massively profitable yet) who are looking to exit. There are many reasons why - one of several projects, need more stable finances, tapped out and unsure what to do next. Etc. This also applies to relatively small businesses (sub-£5M revenue), owner-operated with a good team where the motivation may be a life-style change or retirement. Now. To be blunt and honest, in 90% of cases there isn’t an exit path - usually because of mis-match in expectations. (Eg: “We’re just one small investment away from building a $BN+ company”) But. Most of the time you can salvage a £1-10M outcome over a 12-36 month period. How? By treating it as an investment case to deliver an outcome for a specific target company. For example: You have a software product that helps insurance companies manage supply-chain risk. Let’s say the business does £500k revenue and covers costs. Your average M&A Advisory would try to sell the company based on the revenue/EBITDA and (after many months of false hope) fail to do so. They will get offers - but rarely ones you want to accept. My advice - and what I always recommend founders / owners do below 1M EBITDA - is to approach specific targets with an investment case to deliver outcomes. For example: Making / saving a target insurance company Z benefits over an agreed timescale with milestone payments. Becuase taking supply chain risk. This is a multi-million, even billion, sized problem that all wrestle with - and invest significant CapEx and OpEx into annually. If you can solve that - or deliver X saving … you get Y. Sounds fair, no? This is a very standard deal in enterprise consulting land. And beats shutting the venture down and feeling like you’ve failed. No. It’s not the all-cash deal from Google. Yes. It will require work to implement. Yes. It is a viable path for most owners / founders to realise a good return for creating value in a relatively de-risked way. See. What many founders / owners overlook is that the most valuable thing they have created isn’t IP … software … their service offering … etc … It’s actually their understanding of the problem, how to solve it, and a team who can solve it. So. If you are in this situation and looking for an exit. But aren’t really acquirable yet, why not give this a go? First step is putting together a short-list of targets who you might approach and are already investing in the problem (bigger is better). Hope useful. I wish someone had given me this advice on the dozens of early-stage ideas I walked away from over the years! #exitstrategy #founder #openequity

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Y-Combinator Strategy To Build A Successful Minimal Viable Product (MVP) "The types of founders who think they know exactly what the customer needs even before building a product. We call them fake Steve." Y-Combinator Partner. "In their minds, Steve Jobs built the iPhone and iPod, such amazing products in one go. The mistake they're making is that’s not true. Many of them remember the 3rd or 4th iteration of these products. The first iPhone had 2G internet, no app store, etc. 📲 You don’t know what the customer needs. The customer alone knows what they need. If you ask them, they will tell you. How you ask them is by showing them your MVP." So follow this Y-Combinator strategy to build your MVP.... What it includes 👇 - Real Meaning of Building Minimal Viable Product (MVP) - How did Airbnb, Twitch, and Stripe build their MVPs? - How did these startups use the Y-Combinator MVP building strategy? - How can you use this strategy to build your startup MVP? If you find this helpful - please like, comment & share so that it reaches founders. 👉 Check out my free newsletter for more insights: https://lnkd.in/dKZQKHg2 . #startup #venturecapital #funding #founders #entrepreneurship #startups #founderstories #startuptips #fundraising #mvp #founderlife #entrepreneur #ycombinator #startuptips #ycombinator #YC #SaaS

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𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞-𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐩𝐩 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐥? Shatter that wall with No-code x AI! The NoCode UK Conference speaker lineup is LIT 🔥 and you don't need a CS degree to join (or launch your next unicorn!). This is your chance to learn from the MVPs (pun intended) who are shipping million-dollar products with no-code! 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞'𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐍𝐄𝐄𝐃 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞: 👇 Key topics and themes of the talks include: - The landscape of no-code tools and solutions from internal business operations to web and mobile apps - Combining AI and no-code tools to build exceptional software products - Building, fundraising, scaling, valuing, and selling no-code software products - Insights from replacing a custom code stack with a no-code software stack - Best practices for designing apps with Bubble - Using ChatGPT to code an entire app - Lessons learned on building minimum viable products from 30+ hackathons - Insights from running a remote, no-code product agency - The future of no-code and AI 𝐈𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮? 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 & 𝐄𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐫𝐬: Go from idea to product in WEEKS, not months. Hear how 👾 Chad Sakonchick built a multi-million dollar empire on no-code, and Milly Barker who built and sold a SaaS app...all from an airport lounge, seriously wow! ✈️ 𝐕𝐂𝐬 & 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 Your portfolio companies need a superpower? ‍♀️ No-code compresses your path to building, launching, and achieving massive outcomes. Since speed / time to market are your determinants of success, The efficiency is unmatched: Ship > Validate PMF > Pivot or Go Big > Exit. Take notes from Hazel Lim, the ex-investor, no-code whisperer who finds killer business ideas and exits them like a boss. (ps: generously shares such juicy biz ideas, breakdowns in her newsletter) 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐬 & 𝐀𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐬:  Go from no-code newbie to six-figure earner with insights and learnings from the industry trailblazers like Youssef Elkhayami & Mike Wiendels and the top 1% freelancers like Dominic Norton. 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭 & 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡: Lawyer by day, no-code superhero by night? See how Vensy Krishna built an award-winning COVID relief app in HOURS (no coding skills required!) and scaled a volunteer network to help thousands. Built a career in tech, founded multiple companies, and helped thousands to break into tech using no-code! Plus, you'll join a global no-code fam! This conference is by no-coders, for no-coders. Level the playing field, unlock endless possibilities, and ship anything you dream of - all without a single line of code. See you there! P.S. Spots are filling up faster than a one-click no-code deployment! Don't miss your chance to be part of the no-code gang. Link in the comments! #NoCode #AI #Entrepreneurship #Conference

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How to catch (the right) angel investors: The best way is not to ask for money, but to ask for help. Why is that? because (most) angel investors are looking to be valuable, so if there are no insights for them to give, no people to connect to, and no founder-investor rapport, they will simply not invest. Carefully narrow down the type of angel investors that will help develop your business in the long term, with their involvement bringing a lot more than just financial resources. Make sure they have enough 'skin in the game' and that they are incentivized properly, but remember that the right angel investors will be the ones who are truly passionate about the company you are building and want to be an essential part of your journey. Follow & Connect 🤝

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How Do You Tell A Compelling Story About Your Company To Investors? Every founder believes they have an awesome team and technology; the question is, what will investors think? In fundraising, most founders are tempted to jump straight into PowerPoint to get started. Don’t do it! Remember "It’s not about the slides; it’s about the story." So how do you tell a compelling story? - First, figure out which type of story you should be telling and make that narrative into a sandwich, emphasizing the key point at the beginning and again at the end. Next, use your problem and solution statements to emotionally and intellectually engage your audience, and be sure to adequately address all the expected areas in the deck. With all that in mind, you’ll be ready to follow three simple steps to craft your winning deck. - Choose The Right Story To Tell The first and most important thing to decide about your pitch is which story you should be telling. Fiction may have seven plot archetypes, but pitches tend to fall into one of four narratives, listed here in order of strength: Traction. This is the story you want to be telling. Maybe your revenue or user base is growing really fast (> 20% month-over-month), or you’ve closed deals with major customers or partners. If you have traction that will impress investors, then tell a traction story. Team. Maybe you don’t have wow-factor traction yet, but you and your cofounders are successful second-time founders or have a management team with impressive pedigree. In that case, tell a people story. Technology. Or perhaps you don’t have strong traction but have created a technological breakthrough in an important field. Then you could tell a technology story. Vision. This is the story of last resort. If you don’t have impressive traction, a highly regarded team, or a technological breakthrough, then you have to fall back on a vision story of how you want to change the world. Be realistic in your self-analysis of what qualifies as “impressive.” Every founder thinks they have an awesome team and technology; the question is, what will investors think? If you’re not sure which story you should tell, then get some feedback from investors or other founders. - Make A Sandwich To capture investors’ attention and help them remember you, open the pitch with your company’s single most impressive achievement to date, and then highlight that achievement again at the very end. "Open the pitch with your company’s highest achievement." We have covered this topic in detail in the attached document.👇 🚀 Check out my free newsletter for more insights: https://lnkd.in/dKZQKHg2 . #startup #venturecapital #funding #fundraising #vc #startup #venturecapital #funding #founders #entrepreneurship #startups #founderstories #startuptips #fundraising #mvp #founderlife #entrepreneur #ycombinator #startuptips #founder

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Fintech mittelstand I became an entrepreneur in 2015 when I fell in love with blockchain and broke the shackles forever impeding my creativity. My calling was to democratise finance. I have failed to make any dent, but the game is not over yet. One thing I wanted to replicate was a mittelstand, the family-owned backbone of Germany’s manufacturing prowess and much of its GDP: the best quality possible known from devoted aficionados. Picture meeting for a coffee and whilst talking, your fingers run spontaneously appreciating the grain of that tabletop. You look under it and spot a brand you have never heard of; an online search finds it is behind the best coffee tables in the world…You are hooked and have become an ambassador. It’s a story of unbending, uncompromising quality, and care in everything you do: you aim to provide the best service and build the best product ever. In that quest, you have to be forever disappointed because it is an antidote to complacency.   Whilst the term “mittelstand” describes SMEs under 500 employees, I take the following attributes in everything I want to build (in no particular order): ✅ Quality – Respect the vision, the brand…treat everything you do as an opportunity to show your craft, as an opportunity to excel. Be proud of your output as good work done, not to build your ego. ✅ People – Without your team, you can’t build anything let alone get clients. Whilst you may not be able to pay market rate at the beginning, pay over it once you can because your teammates are your soul, your sales, your brand. ✅ Clients – Be of service with unparalleled customer service. There is always a human at the end of your tech stack so not only build your products for them but also with them (in mind but critically in flesh through user testing). Solve a customer’s problem without creating any in the process. ✅ Pride – Whilst you treat everyone with respect, you have a mindset where your product is the best in class, the Hermes of your aspirations which means you can say no to anyone that doesn't share your vision...prospect, client, or investor. ✅ Cashflow mission control – Easier said than done. Setting up a business is stressful enough hence having the right focus on the right numbers is important: low operating costs, decent margins, recurring revenues and therefore positive cashflow. ✅ Independence – it’s key to have control of your future to be free to research and develop new products, let alone pivot when the headwinds are too strong. Innovativeness is priceless. ✅ Strong connections – Size matters when it comes to making meaningful connections, knowing each other, and driving towards a shared goal. Your brand is an ambassador of the place it emanates from. It represents the best of the people building it. Be proud, be you...keep building! #motivation #leadership #learning #entrepreneurship #fintech #mindset #success #brand #startuplife #growth #mentalhealth #bankingindustry

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Co-founders vs. sole founders A founding team that doesn't work is one of the top 10 reasons why startups fail. Nevertheless, I would not want to build hypt without Roger Ellenberger and Tobias Wegmüller. Here is why: 1. Building a startup can be tough, so it is important to be able to share the challenges and pressure with others. 2. Everyone has their strengths. Having complementary skills in the founding team increases the value of your startup immensely. 3. I know I'm not always right. That is why it is important to have people around you with whom you can discuss ideas. 4. And the most important thing: While you are working hard and long, it is important to have fun. And let me tell you, we have a lot of fun at hypt, as you can see on the picture. What is your opinion? Co-founders or sole founders? #startup #team #founder

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Hey fellow founders! Need #VC investor contacts? No need to follow or subscribe – just check out the list of 1500 contacts in the comments. Feel free to connect if you want to stay in touch and share experiences! ❤️ We all know that cold outreach to investors is one of the toughest parts of being a founder. It's draining, demotivating, and boring. You want to focus on building your startup, but end up sending endless emails and rarely hearing back. I used to dread this too, but I've learned a lot and gotten better at it. Here are three things to remember for the sake of your mental health: 1. You're offering investors an opportunity, not begging for money. 2. Don’t take rejections or silence PERSONALLY. It's tough, but true. The worst is actually getting a meeting with someone who's just using you for practice or to learn about the industry. 3. Be mindful and avoid spamming investors. Nobody likes that. #startup #founderlife #sharing #VC #investors #tech #Founder

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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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🚀 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗥𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗮𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹: "𝗪𝗲'𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱." 🚀 Most founders launching a raise overlook this crucial point—𝟴𝟬% 𝗼𝗳 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗺𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗮 𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱; they prefer to co-invest. Spending all your time on meetings with potential lead investors, not just co-investors, is key. Imagine taking 30 calls, expecting leads, and realizing only 5 were actual potentials. It feels like a fundraising failure, but it's really a strategy misstep. 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗰𝗼-𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀? At our firm, we leverage millions of data points from the last 12 months to track who's leading which rounds. If you don't have that luxury, LinkedIn is a goldmine with hundreds of relevant posts weekly. Network with non-competitive founders in your niche for insights. 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝘂𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀? Craft your outreach list meticulously—ask directly, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘧 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨. "When X firm has conviction on a bet, do you typically lead or co-invest?" Be proactive, secure that lead, and watch your fundraising strategy soar. 𝗥𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿, 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗮𝗿, 𝗶𝘁'𝘀 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹. Securing a lead investor follows the classic 80/20 rule. Once you have them (and they're strong in your niche), bringing in co-investors—even for the same amount of capital—is 20% of the work. When launching a raise - go get that lead, then everything else falls into place.

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More VCs should operate as business angels with their portfolio companies. 🔥 Make your companies a priority over new investments, ⬇️ Be there when your CEOs are down, 📞 Be the one they want to call when metrics are not looking good, ✌️ Show up when they need a sparring partner to brainstorm on their roadmap. Remember, being a CEO is the loneliest job in the world, really, so if you're the one who surrounds them during the full roller coaster ride 🎢, you'll be the one-in-a-million kind of investor everyone is looking for.

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