Will Sisson

📣 FEMALE FOUNDERS - RECORD MONTH ALERT 📣   We at DSW Ventures have just received a record volume of decks from female founders in May. Time to celebrate? Maybe not when we dig a little deeper…   This was still only 18% of the 225+ applicants we receive per month – that has averaged 11% since January 2022 (counting female-only founders). 7% of applications in May were mixed-gender, which means that 75% were from male-only teams – in our best ever month for gender diversity! We tend to see most female founders at pitch events, but a big chunk of our applicants approach us direct. So what do we think is causing the friction to stop female founders applying for VC investment directly?   I’ve spent time discussing this with Lifted Ventures recently and we know that female-founded businesses generate twice as much revenue per £ invested and are quicker to exit – so women can, and do, successfully lead start-ups. We know that female founders exist in the regions and we want to invest in their businesses! This graphic shows the proportion of female founded companies we receive each month – which doesn’t show an improving picture. We want this to get better!   At DSW Ventures, we would love to speak to more female founders, so if anyone in my network would like to introduce us to female founders looking for investment – especially from the under-invested UK regions – then please share or get in contact. We also know that there’s lots of great organisations in the ecosystem supporting female-led businesses through accelerators, pitch events and networking events – please also get in touch.   #femalefounders #vc #investment

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🙊 looking forward to a big announcement from Oxford Seed Fund next week had me looking back at the 200+ pitch decks the team has reviewed this year → where did we build conviction & what worked for founders? - I've been learning that venture is a mix of art + science, but there are some common risks that popped out in the retrospective on our investments: 🔍 are you a solution searching for a problem? (need tech + commercial) 🛑 how will you overcome resistance to change? (GTM, partnerships) 🔙 who do you depend on & how much? (supplier depenency risks) 🙈 is your team the right founding team for you (and this problem)? Similarly, there are also some common things we liked (even as a generalist fund that saw everything from AI-enabled veterinarians to quantum lazers): 📈 how does this get seriously massive? (scalability + first mover + traction) 🔬 why is your tech defensible or really hard to reproduce? (not just IP) 🚴‍♀️ does regulation help you ride up hill? (tailwinds not uncertainty) 🐙 are you the octopus? ("crazy smart", "gravitational", "bet on her") can't wait to see which founders the team backs next year from University of Oxford's venture ecosystem (signposting here to budding entrepreneurs!): 📢 Entrepreneurship Centre at Saïd Business School, Oxford Entrepreneurs, Oxford Artificial Intelligence Society, Oxford University Bioengineering Society, Oxford Blockchain Society, OX1 Incubator, BioEscalator, ZERO Founders Network - University of Oxford, Oxford Angel Fund, Founders & Funders, EnSpire Oxford, Ahmed Adel Saad, Callum Usher-Dodd, Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford, Department of Biology, University of Oxford, University of Oxford, Department of Engineering Science → 🤝 and hopefully also from independents working to support entrepreneurs Conception X, Nucleate UK, Planet Positive Lab, Wilbe | Home for Scientist Leaders

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#MondayObservation: Product-market fit is misused in most pitch decks, VC conversations, and even inside founders' heads. I see "PMF" being a condition for funding in many decks. So founders come up with all sorts of bs to cover that point and get funded, and this becomes probably one of the most misused terms in the tech entrepreneurship and product world. PMF - what does it mean? 1 paying customer? 10 paying customers? 1st loyal customer? None of the above. It is a super-sensitive mix of product growth, customer loyalty and retention, value-price dependencies, maintenance of the team, and tech and market percentage. Everything else is traction. Many companies have paying customers even before the PMF, some companies can even pivot and try out different directions and be successful in both - so what is PMF for them and when is it considered „found“? One of the best practices for PM working on early-stage products is to define the PMF with a set of metrics and keep an eye on that. PMF is "calculated" through stable (sometimes it starts as even explosive at first) growth, high levels of retention, upsells and loyalty, pricing changes that don't cut your customer base in half, the teams being able to support all of that with their time and expertise, adequate marketing budgets and more. PMF is what you are paying your CPOs and CTOs for - the discovery and support of the PMF via building structures, culture, and team and helping your product stay on the market that is ever-changing and competitive for a long period. I keep saying - your PMF is hidden in the shortcomings of your competitors, and getting to the actual PMF will take you way longer than just some months of playing around with your MVP. So can we keep PMF out of the pre-seed VC decks, please? If you want to know more and learn how to get to your actual PMF - let's talk! At Tech Unicorn Builders we are offering support for founders and teams in this product space as well 🦄 #productbuilding #techfounders #pmf #productmanagement #firsttimefounder

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Couple of weeks ago had the pleasure of sharing my story to Alexander Benkendorf about starting CastPrint and later moving on to join Verge HealthTech Fund and the learning along the way. Some topics we discussed: 💡What does it take to bring innvation in healthcare 💡How did my startup background help me better prepare for VC work 💡How founders can better engage with VCs and what are the tips and tricks from the "other side" Thanks Alexander for having me!

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Excited to share that Incubate Fund Asia has partnered with INCLUD which is focused on creating a major brand in the $22B kidswear apparel market by providing affordable clothing with a safety and quality-first positioning. As more millennials become parents, the modern consumer persona is changing. We're noticing a digital-first approach to shopping in this category, accompanied by quicker decision-making processes. Moreover, as single-child families become more common, there's a trend of spending more on one child. Children, being easily influenced, often emulate their millennial parents who tend to be brand-conscious and prefer high-quality products. Lastly, with the westernisation of this category, there's an increasing demand for a variety of options suitable for different occasions, from friends' birthday celebrations to outdoor activities. Thrilled to work with Ashwin Rastogi and his team, who are on their way to building a truly transformative company. NAO MURAKAMI Rajeev Ranka Dave K. Rohit Sar Surbhi Bhatia Jasmin Yee Darren Jawara https://lnkd.in/gwZDgy-G

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‘When you’re raising a round, try to raise your next 2 rounds at the same time.’ ^Smart advice I heard last week 💡 VCs often say ‘no’ in the early stages because there’s not enough traction. (Also, many funds say they do preseed/seed, seed/A, etc, but lean toward the later stage of the two). When it’s a ‘you’re too early,’ try to understand what traction and metrics you need to hit that would get an investor to a YES the next time you raise $. Add them to your investor updates and keep charging til you hit those metrics. Ideally, if you build the relationships now, it’ll make it easier to raise the next round instead of starting from a cold stop. Also, it can make sure you right-size the amount you’re raising now, so you have enough cash to reach the metrics.

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Our Series A announcement was a smash hit. If you’re a founder gearing up to go public with a raise, here’s a few pointers I gathered: 1) Intensely Coordinate We had every minute down to a science to ensure our rollout was a hit. From when I posted, to when staff reshared, to when investors interacted was all methodically planned out. This garnered tons of momentum and got in front of people who were predisposed to root for us. Remember: nothing happens magically… 2) Prepare The Customers You Are Highlighting We coordinated with certain customers ahead of time to include them in the announcement, but we ran into an unexpected challenge (and by no means was it bad): These customers started to receive inbound pings asking about their experience with FERMÀT. Going forward, we’ll be sure to prep our customers beforehand with talking points so they can share the most relevant information from the client experience. Not to mention, you want prospects to be reaching out to customers with whom your relationship is very strong. Question for founders who have gone through this process before: What else would you share as advice? 👇

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The quality of consumer founders out fundraising right now is really impressive. Very smart folks coming out of big companies offering less-than-great consumer experiences are seeking to build better solutions, in everything from fintech to consumer social to digital health. If there's one thing I've learned since joining Bullish it's that there are plenty of opportunities to do better by consumers and met their needs with new or reimagined solutions. It's exciting to see this generation of builders take what's worked from previous-wave consumer companies and develop fixes for what was broken and build more sustainably. Very cool things ahead! #consumer

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B2B founders in SEA, stop being polite. It's time to be shameless. Here's how investors are your secret weapon for early sales. ⤵ Most VC-backed startups in SEA quickly discover that most customers don’t even know what VCs are. Just having brand-name VCs on your cap table doesn’t help close deals here. In SEA, trust and relationships close deals. You need warm introductions to customers. Founders often overlook investors’ networks, which are goldmines for warm intros – if you mine them. Most investors want to help but don’t always know how. Make it easy for them. Every month, send them a few customers you want to close. Check LinkedIn for mutual connections. Target their portfolio companies, co-investors’ portfolios, or executives they know. Don’t be afraid to be persistent. Investors, whether angel or VC, want to see you succeed. When you succeed, their investment grows too. Takeaways for founders: → Leverage your local investors’ networks more. → Be more annoying (in a good way). Here are some tips to make the most of your investor connections: 1. Make clear requests: Provide actual names and LinkedIn profiles instead of general intro requests. 2. Give investors easy-to-copy blurbs and teaser decks: Make introductions friction-free. 3. Don’t be afraid to double-message and send chasers: Your investors might have just missed your message. 4. Try creative methods: Host private dinners or small events. Your investor can help invite your target leads. What's the most creative way you've gotten a warm intro? Or are you a founder who needs intros? Share below!

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Pre-seed/seed founders: When pitching investors, don't shoot yourselves in the foot by trying to hide what isn't pretty. A good early stage investor accounts for there being things that aren't figured out, or just plainly look bad. When I can't get a straight answer to a fact-based question from a founder, it is likely that my main takeaways will be: 1. #Fundraising will be hard for you. This is a gut and trust business. Obfuscation drops a bomb on that for many investors who index on founder honesty and ethics. "I don't know", "I can get back to you", "It's not great" or "I don't think that's the right question" are better than a cryptic misdirecting answer. 2. #Hiring and #retaining top talent will be hard for you. Great talent won't stick around at the early stage if you can't provide clarity and transparency in your leadership of teams & targets. 3. #Sales will be hard for you. Customers want clarity on value add, and how it solves their problem. I'm less inclined to believe that you provide that when I am not experiencing it myself. Any combo of the above makes a bigger dent on your funding prospects than the ugly truthful answer to the question I asked.

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Attention all ambitious founders seeking investment opportunities! Get ready for Pitch&Drink with P2S.vc — a night in London where founders and investors meet under one roof 🚀 This event will feature a speed dating format of pitch-session. Startups will have 2–3 minutes to present their elevator pitch directly to investors, followed by a 6-7 minute Q&A session. Why You Should Join: 👉 Benefit from live pitch reviews and align your startup with investor expectations. 👉 Don't miss this opportunity to make valuable connections and explore funding possibilities! 👉 Connect with a community of like-minded individuals and VCs and gain insights into your next fundraising venture in a relaxed and fun environment. The speed dating part of Pitch&Drink with P2S.vc exclusively for investors and approved startups will start at 6:00 PM. After 8:00 PM, the event will continue with music, drinks, lots of networking, and discussions of the hottest vc news 🍸 Join us on June 3rd! Secure your spot now: https://bit.ly/4alEgpC Pre-seed to Succeed (P2S) is an investment program launched by AltaIR Capital, Yellow Rocks, Smart Partnership Capital and I2BF Global Ventures. The P2S is designed for early-stage startups with MVP and first traction and focuses on the following industries: B2B / SaaS, FinTech, AI, Future of Work, Productivity Tools, Digital Health, and HR Tech. The program offers initial funding from participating venture companies, ongoing support from seasoned experts and mentors, and 50% of the next round for proven startups.

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Interesting opportunity for people looking to get their foot in the door in VC or content, community(events) Just realised I have a valuable VC newsletter - Which has been sitting dormant for the last few months 1. Recommended by Mike Gelb of The Consumer VC 2. Read by people in VC Newsletter is called Dive into VC Looking to bring someone on board who can contribute to growing and building out the content for the newsletter Don’t have enough bandwidth to focus on this myself DM me if this sound interesting to you - Looking for people in the VC space already, or looking to get their foot in the door - Will involve some kind of podcasting + newsletter + community(events) + sponsorship outreach - It would a plus if you are good at writing or have some proof of work in creating newsletters or events Don’t have a budget for hiring, adding to the newsletter team at the moment

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A day in the life of a founder hustling and being creative in efforts to raise capital to fund their business weeks out from launch... Here's what yesterday looked like: 1. Confirmation of pitch to Bayer for their €100k incubator fund Posted as a funding Challenge at the HLTH conference this week, I DM'd three members of their R&D team last week to see if I could pitch virtually to save myself the cost of travel to Amsterdam. I got a hit and will be pitching tomorrow at 8am 🙌 2. 3 more investors joined our friends & family syndicate... after the 2nd closing date We extended the syndicate closing date through the weekend to scoop up 2 stragglers, and again into this week to convert another 3 with excellent chasing up from co-founder Wizz 👏 Huge heartfelt thanks to the 17 new investors that join us in the syndicate for believing in us 🧡 We really will close the syndicate this Friday - last call for any final final stragglers 👀 3. New leads taken away from the sequel networking event last night Fantastic evening amongst passionate founders innovating in health & wellness, and importantly, networking and soft pitching investors. I'm already in your inboxes for follow ups 👋 4. Listened to Grace Beverley's podcast with guest Trinny Woodall on cycle home from the event I immediately shared the inspirational episode with Wizz when I got home, alongside what I guess I'd call some sort of manifestation to the universe that I'd love to be given the chance to pitch to these two incredible entrepreneurs 🙏 5. Which brings us to the final play of my day. Writing and scheduling this post to publish Wednesday morning ✍ Something I've never tried before. New tactic. Publicly sharing our WhatsApp chat to see if LinkedIn can work its magic and somehow open a door to a conversation with one, if not both, of these passionate, successful, rebellious, innovators, that match our core brand values at Valerie to a T. If you see this, we would LOVE to share our vision. You're my idea of the perfect investors and advisors, who we could learn so much from! -- Point is, the strategy has pivoted throughout this fundraising campaign, trying many tactics, pitch deck versions, and channels to get in front of the right people. What hasn't changed is consistency and tenacity in showing up. The compounding effect of saying yes to going to an event, making new connections, sending that DM on LinkedIn, etc is profound. And we are gaining incredible momentum. Days like yesterday give us huge confidence that we'll close our pre-seed round very soon. Message to all the early-stage founders out there - keep plugging away ✊ And to Grace and Trinny; I mean it, please give Wizz and I the opportunity to pitch Valerie to you. We think you'll love it 🧡 #founder #fundraising #hustle

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👩‍🔬 Ayble Health is building an end-to-end care platform for digestive health, utilizing technology like predictive AI to help more than 70M Americans who live with gut discomfort. 👨‍🔬 It's W6 / Q2 / 2024 & this week in our MGMT Boston startup series we’ve got Ayble Health, a Seed stage healthtech startup building a platform for digestive health, increasing access to nutrition and behavioral therapy for millions who live with gut discomfort to make care better, faster, and more personalized. Sam Jactel had a problem. He had lived with IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease) for 10 years. It even runs in his family. Lucky enough to have the privilege of incredible access to care, he was treated at Harvard training hospitals like Brigham & Women’s. But Sam never got the help he needed to use nutrition and psychology as tools to tackle his condition. He would go to the doctor, take drugs, and was still sick. In and out of the hospital with flare ups frustrated by this Grand Canyon wide gap in care. Who was treating the whole patient? And where? There are not enough GI dieticians or psychologists to treat patients. Up to 40% of Americans' daily lives are being disrupted by digestive troubles and some 70M Americans suffer from GI diseases. There are 150 licensed GI psychologists nationwide... By comparison, it would be harder to get into ANY Ivy League university than see a GI psychologist. Like, 1000x harder to see a GI psychologist than get into Harvard statistically speaking. Are you starting to see the problem? What started as an Excel spreadsheet has now been transformed into an end-to-end care platform built to scale access to specialized nutrition and psychology therapy and make GI therapy better, faster, and more personalized. Using advanced nutrition techniques, powered by AI, their team helps patients find and remove trigger foods to live better lives. Their core differentiator? This stuff works. After years doing research backed by 14 clinical studies, they’re going commercial. The proof is in the 💩 , I mean pudding. 2023 was a critical year of validation as their first year “out in the wild”. They’re already working with multiple large state based health plans, 75% of the Top 10 academic medical centers in the country, and several F500 type employers. Next year they hope to widen access to 10s of millions. Sam & the team are hiring across the board, investing in core platform differentiators and wanting to be in every conversation related to GI with the patient at the center. Operators to Know: -Susan Aman, Director of Engineering -Lance Laughlin, Senior Software Engineer -Stefania Patinella, M.A., NBC-HWC, Founding Health Coach -Jessica Russo, Director of Customer Success & Partnerships If you're interested in learning more, including the key roles Ayble is hiring for, the full post is linked in the comments! And sign up for the newsletter to see who we bring you next week, will you?? #bostontech #startups #healthtech

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Most DTC founders second-guess their decisions because they don’t know how those decisions will impact their cash position. “If I double down on this campaign, will I be able to buy inventory next month?” “Can I afford to hire someone to help me with website design?” Very reasonable questions, but the answers are hard to find when you rely on spreadsheets and have 100 other things to do. Using Viable, founders can easily forecast cash flow and understand what investments they can make without risking the business. #cashflow #dtc #ecommerce

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Day 1 of 30 — Publicly scaling an agency to $1M/yr in revenue 👇 Startup life has been moving in the fast lane this year. I’ve been heads down growing DesignBake for the past 3 months, and while we’re now seeing results of this work, I haven't been able to keep up with my writing habit. To balance this, I'm committing to write every day for the next 30 days to share more behind-the-scenes on what we're doing to scale DesignBake to a $1M/yr service and the momentum we have. 💪 Over the past 90 days, here are some highs & lows of company-building that I’ve been navigating as a founder. 🔥 1. Revenue: We’re close to crossing $400K in revenue since inception as a company. With each revenue milestone, the path to scaling over $1M/yr in revenue seems to be becoming more and more clear. I’m feeling inspired to continue pushing the limits and providing value to founders building top 1% teams. 🔥 2. Expansion: We’re expanding beyond just design hiring. We’ve now been helping funded startups with design, engineering, and growth hiring. Stoked to launch our new brand in the coming days. 🔥 3. Network: In the past few months, I’ve talked to 200+ talented engineers, designers, and growth marketers keen to work on ambitious startups. We’re growing this to a talent network of 1K+ people asap, that founders can tap into on-demand based on their hiring needs. 🔥 4. Legal: We finally incorporated. Small win but worth celebrating as we make things official. 💭 5. Idea Maze: In this journey, I’m reminded that the ‘idea maze’ is an ongoing puzzle, not a one-time challenge to be solved. It’s something that I navigate as a founder every single day. I’m always asking myself if we’re moving in the best possible direction, staying sharp as we look for customer/market feedback, and course-correcting along the way. This isn’t easy, but also isn’t optional — we always have to question the direction we’re moving in and challenge our own assumptions. 💭 6. Building paradox: As a founder, I’m both building conviction on new ideas while also questioning + challenging the underlying assumptions along the way. It's a constant of both happening at the same time. It can feel daunting, but it's been helpful to focus on the momentum/impact so far and talking openly with other builders. I've found that all founders are navigating this, and exchanging support through this shared experience has been invaluable — a form of support that I keep close to my heart as we build. --- If this post was helpful or valuable to read, please let me know. I’ll be writing every day for the next 30 days as I work towards growing DesignBake to $1M+/yr in revenue. Feel free to follow along or ask questions — the support is always appreciated. Let’s do this. 💪

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🎧 A Canva Deep Dive - Sandy Kory, (Partner, HorizonVC) - How Canva grew to $2B ARR w/ 50%+ YoY growth - AI helping to reaccelerate growth at this scale - Canva's thoughtful M&A strategy - Simple pricing & product bundling driving user value In the below clip, Sandy describes how Canva made a concentrated bet on AI early To listen to full episode, link is in comments

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Over the past few weeks, I've had multiple founders ask if fundraising slows or stops in the summer months. So, I wanted to share my thoughts and some data (thanks Peter Walker & Carta!) for other founders wondering the same thing. Here are a few highlights from the data: - Timeline Insight: Note the subtitle: deals by month SIGNED. It typically takes a few weeks to a few months from the first meeting to close a deal. - December Activity: Despite December often being slow for new investor meetings, it consistently shows a high percentage of deals being signed. This is due to conversations that were initiated prior to December. - Summer Months: Contrary to common belief, summer months like June, July, and August don't see a significant drop in deal activity. Understanding these trends can help you better strategize your fundraising efforts throughout the year. My experience: Over the past year with FTFC, I haven't noticed any slowdown in investor conversations during the summer months. I've had productive discussions with many investors throughout the summer, and they've all been open to exploring aligned deal flow. Investors, what do you think?

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Summary: The article discusses the lack of innovation in the pet category specifically for cats, compared to the numerous services and products available for dogs. The founder of cat-sitting app Meowtel, Sonya Petcavich, recognized this need and created a marketplace for cat owners to find experienced, trustworthy sitters for their feline companions. Key takeaways: Despite there being 46.5 million households with cats in the US, majority of the focus in the pet category has been on dogs, leaving cat owners with fewer options. Meowtel, a cat-sitting app, provides a much-needed service for cat owners by offering sitters with experience in caring for cats' unique needs such as chronic illnesses and special needs. The success and steady growth of Meowtel indicate a market and demand for a cat-specific service. Counter arguments: Some may argue that cats do not require as much care and attention as dogs, therefore a cat-sitting app may not be necessary. The venture capital community has been more focused on dog-centric startups, making it difficult for companies like Meowtel to secure funding. #venturecapital #startups #tech #dealflow

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