Talvin Ramnah

Terrence Rohan view on pre-seed is so accurate. Investing in pre-seed is also the closest place investors get to being founders. Essentially they need to have so much conviction in the founders, their vision and their ability to build that they will give them capital. You can teach anyone to be a growth investor. But in order to be a good seed-investor you need: 1. To build a startup yourself or work in one. 2. To have a sense of almost religious faith in the founders you invest in. 3. Be so ok with uncertain future and the ability to imagine one. 4. Have a deep belief that you can be so valuable to the founder that will make him or her successful. These things you can hardly teach, but you can learn by working with founders and by being a founder yourself - another for of art. #VentureCapital #Founders #Startups

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16 Comments

Dear Technical Founders, stop building tech first and searching for problems later. Your brilliant solution is worthless without a real problem. This isn't 'if you build it, they will come' - it's 'if you build it, you'll fail.' The deadliest pattern I keep seeing: "We built amazing tech, now hunting for problems to solve" Here's why this kills startups: 1. The Technology Trap: • Built blockchain solution • Searching for industry to disrupt • Force-fitting into problems • Chasing imaginary markets = Recipe for failure 2. What Actually Happens: • No real customer pain • Weak problem-solution fit • High customer acquisition costs • Zero organic growth = Slow death 3. The Right Way: Start with: • Real customer pain • Existing market friction • Clear willingness to pay • Validated problems Then build solution Real Example: Stripe didn't start with "let's build payment tech" They started with "developers hate implementing payments" Remember: "If you have to convince people they have a problem, You're solving the wrong problem." 🧿 Stop building solutions searching for problems. Your future self will thank you. #startupadvice #foundertips #productmarket -------------------- Follow for more startup reality checks that nobody talks about https://lnkd.in/dvj3pkNC

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13 Comments

The most recurring regrets I hear from successful founders: Hiring too early Not taking holidays Raising investment too early Thinking competitions are validation Not killing failing projects quickly enough Not documenting the journey on social media Prioritising skills vs personal traits when hiring Building for customers they don't know or don't like Regardless of the size of the outcome of their startup journey, these regrets shape how these founders build the second or third time round. #founders #startup #vc #business

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20 Comments

Seedstrapping is the new VC for edtech founders 👇 In the last decade, we’ve measured startup success through $ raised and their TechCrunch funding announcements. It’s become the sugar of founders and investors. But everything changed when the music stopped for VCs in 2023. After interest rates rose, VCs struggled to raise capital, and startups STRUGGLED to raise $ from funds. Edtech founders in particular struggled to raise capital. According to Carta's data, our industry raises the least amount of seed capital of all sectors. Three years later, I'm excited by the new model that founders have defined: seedstrapping. What the heck is seedstrapping? In the past, founders had to decide early on whether to bootstrap (build without raising capital) or raise venture capital (VC). The VC route was initially exciting, but many found it wasn’t a fit for them. There is a standard model for VC-backed startups: raise capital every 18 months, follow the funding nomenclature(pre-seed, seed, Series A, B, C, etc), and ensure metrics move up and to the right to please your VCs. Seedstrapping emerged as an alternative for founders who didn’t want to enter the VC hamster wheel too early. They wanted the freedom to define their model later. In the seedstrapping model, you do a bit of seed and a bit of bootstrapping. Founders raise a pre-seed round from angels and strategic investors who understand the vision and problem they are solving, even if they don’t yet have strong revenue. After that, the founder can build the initial team, give themselves runway to experiment and find PMF, and aim to make the numbers work by year 1. From this point on, they must adopt a bootstrapper’s mentality. Founders can initially bootstrap or raise some early capital, then decide their destiny. If they want more capital, they can show strong traction for it. If they want to keep bootstrapping, they can do it as well. Founders like Daniel Jhin Yoo from Goalbook , Adrián Ridner from Study.com, and Edan Shahar from Test Innovators have written the playbook on building boostrapped or seedstrapped companies in the last decade, and now dozens of founders (particularly the more experienced founders) are using this hybrid approach! If you want to learn more about founders’ views on seedstrapping, comment on the post, and let me know what you’re interested in learning or which founders have done this well!

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54 Comments

The pressure to raise money for your startup is real, but it's bullshit. The raise-to-win narrative is peddled by people and institutions who are incentivised to make us feel ignorant, and in need of their money. And while we, as founders, may be blissfully ignorant—you don't need anyone's money to build, ship, sell and serve customers. For real, you don't. You building?

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102 Comments