Amplifi Solutions’ Post

Check out the new podcast with JCal on startup fundraising and the overall market. More to come soon!

A challenge every new VC faces: proving you have good taste. How can you show LPs you know how to spot great startups when it takes 10+ years for a company to go from seed to exit? As part of our "How to Raise Your First Fund" guide, we pulled together this handy matrix. Lots more in the piece: https://lnkd.in/eF_MzGGf

As reported in Forbes Australia, (the highlighting is my own) it seems I've done OK at picking good Startmate startups to invest in after Demo Day - here's a table of the most valuable Startmate companies since 2012. Edrolo, Morse Micro and Sitemate were all startups I was unable to invest in because I didn't have the available capital. But now we have the M8 Ventures Syndicate on Aussie Angels, maybe we'll miss out on fewer of the big uplifts! https://lnkd.in/gDNU_q79

The best part of serving on the board of Chicago Booth Angels Network is sitting in on a pitch and marveling at the insights of entrepreneurs and my fellow angel investors. Too many founders shy away from fundraising, but if you have built a compelling business, the process truly is a time to shine. #startups

If you are a founder wanting to learn how to craft a great pitch deck, then please tune it! #forecastr #startup #pitchdeck

🎶 “Be prepared!” 🎶 You don’t have to conquer the startup jungle alone. Just like in The Lion King, being prepared makes all the difference. At Prepare 4 VC, we help founders get ready to pitch, raise funds and succeed. Let’s roar together! 🦁 #BePrepared4VC #Preparedness

Here is two good list I use when we co invest in Australian start ups. 1. Airtree - 180+ angels and syndicates that invest in Australia https://lnkd.in/gafZDP6X Airtree Ventures offers a list of angel investors and angel syndicates for Asutralia-based startups. 2.Airtree - 160+ VC firms that invest in Australia https://lnkd.in/gFQJ4haj Airtree Ventures is a VC firm that invests in early-stage startups in Australian and New Zealand. They maintain a free list of 160+ VC firms in Australia.

When I talked to Julia Gudish Krieger recently, she said one of the recent trends in VC that had jumped out to her the most was the rise in seed extensions—and, in particular, seed extensions raised by companies with impressive metrics and lofty valuations. “There’s a little bit of a shift there,” Julia told me. “Companies that had significant growth in the last 12 months but had raised at those heightened valuations (in 2021 and early 2022) are not doing down rounds. They’re doing seed extensions.” Here's some more data to support that trend, from my colleague Peter Walker and his look at Carta's initial startup fundraising data from Q1: For now, the median valuation for seed-stage companies raising a bridge round in Q1 was $20.7 million, the highest it's been so far this decade. Like Julia said: Even for seed startups with "heightened valuations," raising an extension instead a new priced round is an increasingly popular option.

Worked on 2 cos. in the last 2 years that raised $100M+. One big, often overlooked thing stands out: *Founder-market fit like you wouldn’t believe.* Everyone talks product-market fit, but this one’s just as important: How uniquely qualified is the founder to solve the problem and blow the competition away? In both cases, there were founder “unfair advantages” like I hadn’t ever seen. When looking to join or invest in a startup, don’t sleep on founder-market fit.

Worked on 2 cos. in the last 2 years that raised $100M+.   One big, often overlooked thing stands out:   *Founder-market fit like you wouldn’t believe.*   Everyone talks product-market fit, but this one’s just as important:   How uniquely qualified is the founder to solve the problem and blow the competition away?   In both cases, there were founder “unfair advantages” like I hadn’t ever seen.   When looking to join or invest in a startup, don’t sleep on founder-market fit.