Boost VC

🚀 Reminder: Apply Now for the Boost VC Founder Start Program! 🚀 We’re excited to continue our Founder Start Program and support visionary founders in building the next wave of groundbreaking Deep Tech companies. Each month, we invest $50K into one outstanding team to help turn their startup idea into reality. If you’re ready to make an impact in AI, robotics, space, or any deep tech field, we want to hear from you! 👉 Apply here for $50K: https://lnkd.in/eSBtAYQp 🌱 For those raising a full Pre-Seed round, please apply here: https://lnkd.in/gJZ7QUgp

Congratulations to Maddie Callander on 10 years with Boost VC! 🎉🎊 From investing in groundbreaking deep tech startups to supporting founders on their wild journeys, Maddie has been an invaluable part of our team. Her dedication, sharp instincts, and passion for pushing the boundaries of what’s possible have helped shape Boost VC into what it is today. We’re incredibly grateful for the last decade of impact and can’t wait to see what the future holds. Here’s to many more! 🚀🔥

It was so awesome hosting a panel with Surbhi Sarna (former Founder of nVision which she sold to Boston Scientific, and current GP at Y Combinator / Founder of Collate). She's been an absolute force in the startup ecosystem for a long time now! There were so many great nuggets from the chat, but my favorite: "life is too short to waste on leisure, spend your time building something special." I've said this, and I'll stand by it: There is nothing more important that a person can do than build a deep tech company. The scale of impact is unlike anything else. Cheers to all the Boost VC / deep tech founders changing the world!

We're excited to deepen our commitment to accelerating scientific research with ResearchHub! Proud to support their mission to make science more accessible and collaborative. 🚀

That's a wrap! Last week, we brought together over 60 deep tech founders from around the world for our Boost VC Founder Summit—and what a week it was! From insightful talks by top VCs to incredible networking and breakout sessions, it was inspiring to see this group building the future. Huge thank you to our founders and everyone who made this week so special, including our amazing guest speakers Tim Draper, Steve Jurvetson, Sam Cole, Surbhi Sarna, Arielle Zuckerberg, Brandon F. Goldman, & Brian Blumenfeld. We’re proud to support this community of world-changing innovators and can't wait to gather together again. 🚀

This past week, we brought together over 60 Deep Tech founders from 36 startups (all over the world) across our recent core investments and Founder Start $50k program! 🌊🧬☢️ 🤖⚡🌳 Boost VC hosts our Founders Summit twice a year, and it’s absolutely our favorite time of the year! Highlights from the week: 1️⃣ Adam Draper ⏻ Welcome Talk. Adam shared the core tenets of successful entrepreneurship: Default to movement, Value creation & capture, and the “nothing -> nothing -> something” trajectory, among other insights. 2️⃣ Fireside Chat with Sam Cole, Co-founder & CEO of FitXR. Sam traced FitXR’s evolution from a side project to raising $20 million while reshaping the team from 120 to 45 employees. His journey shows how balancing experimentation with disciplined product-market fit, strategic pivots, strong customer relationships, and agile scaling can fuel sustainable growth in any startup. 3️⃣ Fireside Chat with Steve Jurvetson, Founder of Future Ventures. An early investor in SpaceX, Tesla, and Planet Labs, Steve emphasized how deep tech investing thrives on unique, underinvested ideas, emphasizing founder passion, adaptability, and cognitive diversity. He also stressed a long-term vision—especially in emergent fields like AI and biology—and shared his obsession with lifelong learning. 4️⃣ Fireside Chat with Surbhi Sarna, General Partner at Y Combinator & CEO/Founder of Collate. Surbhi stressed the importance of deeply understanding regulatory requirements, fostering a culture of excellence and mentorship, and maintaining an obsessive drive and open communication—particularly when transitioning from a successful exit to launching an AI-driven life sciences venture in challenging fields like ovarian cancer detection. 5️⃣ Panel with Arielle Zuckerberg (Long Journey) and Tim Draper (Draper Associates). The panelists advised founders to uphold a unique vision, act on inspiration, stay authentic, delight customers, and keep burn rates low—while navigating the interplay of competition and rapid technological advancement. 6️⃣ Founders at Dinner! Because great companies are built while having fun. :D Most importantly, our founders left with strong connections, camaraderie, and a commitment to collaborating over the next seven weeks of the program—building relationships that can last a lifetime. 💪 Want to join our next cohort? 👉 Apply to our core investment: https://lnkd.in/ejXB9xZj 👉 Apply to our Founder Start $50K Program: https://lnkd.in/eBYc2jzN The future is being built right in front of us. Let’s make it happen together! 🚀 Brayton Williams ⏻ Maddie Callander Gus Domel, PhD Mark Beylin Claire K ⏻ Derek B. Danielle Sosnick

🚀 Today, over 60 Deep Tech founders recently backed by Boost VC are flying in from all over the world for our 2025 Founder Summit! Our week will be packed with incredible events—networking, learning from each other, hearing from top VCs in the industry, and, of course, plenty of fun. These founders are building the future with breakthrough innovations like: 🌊 Robotics for underwater ecosystems 🩹 10x faster wound healing ☢️ Material science for radiation 🤖 AI pilots for drone swarms ⚡ AI-powered electronics design The future is being built right now, and we're pumped to be here for it! 🚀

❌ How do you handle rejection and failure in sales? It’s part of the journey, but how you respond makes all the difference. Here’s how to turn rejection into growth: 1️⃣ Learn From It – Rejection is feedback. Use it to refine your approach and understand what resonates (or doesn’t) with prospects. 2️⃣ Stay Positive and Persistent – Sales is a numbers game. Keep your mindset strong and focus on the next opportunity. 3️⃣ Prepare Strong Objection Responses in Advance – Identify common objections and create clear, compelling responses to address them with confidence. 4️⃣ Be Proactive – If you know an objection is likely to come up, bring it up first. Show prospects how their concern can be overcome and why your solution is worth it. Rejection isn’t failure—it’s a step toward improving your process and closing your next deal. Keep going! 🚀

Today is an awesome Monday for Boost VC LPs. We returned another 0.73x of cash back to LPs in Fund 1. Fund 1 ($38m & 2016 vintage) now sits at 3.93x DPI. And many more multiples to go! Few learnings: 1. When you are deploying a really great early stage fund, it won't feel that way at the time. 2. When you have high conviction, break your rules. Largest returns have been non core checks. 3. Investments that won were not competitive. 4. Founders first. Don't overthink the details. 5. Deciding to take liquidity is tougher than making the initial investment. LFG! Bonus: 6. Always buy Bitcoin.

⚡Speaking at the Military Veteran Startup 2025 (MVS25) Conference⚡ Adam Draper ⏻ will be on a panel with his Pops Bill Draper - both are looking forward to sharing insights and experiences with military veteran founders, spouses, venture capitalists, institutional LPs, early-stage employees, and civilian allies at MVS25.