KQ Labs’ Post

Happy Monday! I wanted to (finally) share my 2023 Summer Founders Demo Day Pitch. If you didn't know.. over last summer I had the privilege of participating in Summer Founders, a 12-week program that is designed for students with early stage startups to work on their ventures. Being a student entrepreneur, it can get quite frustrating when you have a vision and the passion to solve a problem but might not see the amount of progress on your startup that you want. If I have learned anything from Vince DiFelice & Summer Founders it is that.. 1) it is okay to put the start up down, 2) it is okay to pick it back up, and 3) it is okay to go back to the problem & restart from the beginning!!! Over the next semester, Relief Chronic Care will be going BACK to the problem and its' identified problem owners. The hope is to create customer journey maps to see the full journey of these women with chronic illness, and where Relief can provide the most unique value. Stay tuned!!! https://lnkd.in/eqHJ9g2w

“Pitch Perfect” Thank you Brachie Sprung of our partners at Amiti for joining our bi-weekly AION Labs Community Meeting with all portfolio startups to provide best practices on building a great investors pitch deck. Some key takeaways from an expert: - Be personal, tell your story - Know your audience - Keep it simple - Be vulnerable. Don’t be afraid to share your mistakes and what you’ve learned from them.

It's been a little while since I last posted here. I know. I know. It's not the way to build up a "thought leadership persona" or "LinkedIn Top Voice", but hey, I've been busy. Busy building after a pivot, speaking to customers, and having conversations for our first institutional fundraising round, which feels a lot different than the 'friends and family' angel raise that I got used to. I realized that as I prep, the most helpful and most honest feedback I've gotten about the actual pitch deck and presentation has been from other founders or *operational* folks in the tech ecosystem, like marcom leaders, sales geniuses, public speaking experts, etc. Of course there's all of these "share your pitch to a panel of investors" meetups here in Tel Aviv, but often, I realized as an audience member at lots of these events, we founders don't really walk away with 'tachlis' (the Hebrew version of 'get shit done') action items... But when I pitched to other founders or smart friends in general, I really got a lot of really good and super helpful critique – not just about how I am framing Folio itself, but about how fast/slow I spoke, how I stood, how wordy my slides were, how defensive I got when answering questions, etc. So, thanks to the amazing support of the Intel Ignite team, Alon Leibovich, Maya Zimerman, and Amit Gorin, where myself and my team are currently working from and where the event will be hosted, and to Nevo Network, a network that I'm part of for Olim in tech and are providing the snacks, I'm excited to invite Israel-based early-stage founders to a "Founders for Founders" practice pitch night in two weeks, on August 28th, that I'm co-hosting with two early-stage founder friends Matias Sigal and Joel Liurner. If you're a founder looking to get *real feedback* on your pitch without the stress of impressing investors or decision makers in the room or you're a founder that's pitched in the past, a marketer that knows words, a communicator that knows how to stand, or tech-lover that simply wants to meet others and support the founder ecosystem from the inside, please join us! For pitchers:  - 7 founders will be chosen to pitch - each one will have the option to have their pitch recorded on video and shared with them after - in addition to opening each pitch up to 3 public feedback responses, every audience member will get a "scorecard" to fill and space to give written feedback for each pitcher For audience members: - willing to give real feedback - not an investor - wanting to drink, snack, mingle, and learn The pitch-slots are going fast, so if you want to pitch, get in on it! See you there! ❤️🚀

Are you a startup founder in Tel Aviv? You won’t want to miss the exciting event happening on August 28th, organized by the incredible entrepreneurs Fay Goldstein and Joel Liurner. I’m happy to be helping them put this together! About the Event: Whether you’re a founder seeking genuine feedback on your pitch without the pressure of impressing investors or decision-makers, or you’ve pitched before, this event is for you. It’s also perfect for marketers with a way with words, communicators skilled in presentation, tech enthusiasts eager to connect, or anyone who wants to support the startup ecosystem from the inside. For Founders Who Want to Pitch: - 7 founders will be selected to pitch. - Each founder can opt to have their pitch recorded and shared with them afterward. - In addition to receiving up to 3 public feedback responses during the event, every audience member will complete a "scorecard" and provide written feedback for each pitch. For Audience Members: - Willing to provide honest feedback. - Not an investor. - Ready to enjoy drinks, snacks, mingling, and learning. Pitch slots are filling up fast, so if you want to participate, don’t wait! Register here:https://lu.ma/ln4gzyh6 Nevo Network

Can we transform your office too? 🤓 5 years after their first talk, Conradin Castell & Dr. Nicolaus Berlin are back for an interview with StartupValley Magazine. Looking back makes us proud but looking ahead make us excited! 🚀 Read the full interview in StartupValley Magazine, link in the first comment

"I’ve learnt more in the first 2 weeks here than I think I’ve learnt in the last 2 years!" - Ronan Mason 3 weeks into our 12th Antler Australia Residency! What have we been up to? A lot.... First, a quick snapshot of the cohort: From 2,100 applications, we selected 63 phenomenal founders to build their businesses with us. Of this group, 75% are former founders, 10% have raised VC money before, and 10% are exited founders. 🔥 Over the past few weeks, they’ve delved into: - Masterclasses by Antler on Market Validation, Pitching & Communication, Unit Economics, to name a few - Learning from our portfolio company founders on how they built their GTM strategy, MVP, and sold without a product - Running (some countless) design sprints to ideate and pitch their ideas in front of the cohort and Antler team for feedback - Heaps of networking, sparring, and learning from fellow founders in the cohort (the intellectual and network capital is honestly unmatched) This cohort is on the move to build their VC-backed businesses over the next couple of months! 👏 Watch. this. space. 👏 Want to hang with these legends and the wider Antler community? Join us at a community mixer supported by our friends at Airwallex Taylor Fox-Smith in a couple of weeks in both Sydney and Melbourne! Link in comments 💥

It’s hard to put into words what we do at Awake… And it’s not just me who struggles, even our members can find it hard to express their words to their partners or colleagues on their profound experiences. In essence, it is beyond words. It must be lived and experienced, but to those who have no idea, let me try… We’re an investor backed business, that works with startup entrepreneurs, huge corporate companies and million dollar founders to create impact that is beyond just one. We are a movement that believes in “we” over “I”. A world where we all remember the mind-blowing truth of who we really are. Where we go all-in on elevating ourselves, our organizations and innovating the way we build our society, in synergy, collectively. Together we co-create a brighter future. For ourselves, the people around us, and life on earth. Yes, we’re a business that believes in making a profit, but we are a business of purpose, and the community we are building is a testament to the beautiful breakthroughs and shifts we see every day. If you want to know more, send me a DM for an invite to our event: Decode Yourself.

This week has been nothing short of special! 🎉 As a founder, the journey can be filled with plenty of lows, but when the highs come, they really come in hot. 🔥 It’s more than just securing investment; it's about being in the right rooms, with the right people, and watching the opportunities expand in ways you couldn’t have imagined. Here are a few highlights from this unforgettable week: ✨ Demo Day at Northwestern Mutual's Black Founder Accelerator powered by gener8tor —with incredible views over Lake Michigan, it was an experience to remember. Even better? I made three red-hot connections that I’m excited to follow up on! ✨ Meanwhile, Chastiny Brown was out there pitching for CultureLancer at EDTECH WEEK in New York. Can't wait to see where these opportunities take us! ✨ And the best part? We’re not done yet! See you next week at our first sponsored conference, InsureTech Connect in Vegas —it’s about to be another game-changing moment. Huge shoutout to my amazing team for stepping up big time as we navigate these back-to-back opportunities. I couldn’t do it without you. 🙌🏽 Here’s to more wins, expanded opportunities, and exciting moments ahead. 🚀 #FounderLife #EntrepreneurJourney #HighsAndLows #BusinessGrowth #Teamwork #DemoDay #EdTech #ITCVegas #Entrepreneurship

A week later, and I'm still buzzing from TMV 's 2024 Annual General Meeting "LP x Founder Dinner". ✨ Ever notice how the right gathering of the right folks can take your passion to soaring new heights? Dreamers, builders, founders, investors - all in one room, united by a shared vision of what's possible. Each person had a personal story for why they're doing what they're doing, a personal reminder of what's at stake each day. It's moments like these that remind me why we do what we do at Novellia: empowering people to take control of their health, one medical record at a time. To the TMV team (Soraya, Emma, and crew): you created magic! This wasn't just an event - it was a collision of ideas, a celebration of grit, and a testament to the power of community. The NYC startup ecosystem never ceases to amaze me. It's not just about hustle (we've got that in spades!)- it's about heart. The way we challenge each other to think bigger, move faster, dream wilder. A week on, and I'm still carrying that energy. Because at the core, every founder is powered by the same obsession: the relentless pursuit of impact, of change, of a better world. The crazy, delusional belief that, yes, that wild idea *is* possible. At Novellia, we're more motivated than ever to help the world say goodbye to early goodbyes. The best is yet to come. 🚀

SUNDAY is election day...and it is also the deadline for the next batch of the Founders Program! The current batch is one of the most incredible batches we've had at STATION F - the companies include repeat entrepreneurs like Eliott Reilhac (building Formality) and Clémentine Lalande (building kelvin) - who secured €8m and €4m respectively. They also include deeptech founders like Cyril Véran (building Darween), or international founders like Francisco De Latour & Nicolò Magnante (building Bluco). And many other incredible teams, building companies like Steerlab, Lasqo AI, Adorno AI, Leadbay, Renalto, Televet, Enobase, EXXA, GoDraft, Bampa, Mago, Swaive, Landng & Sonaar. Certain companies in the Founders Program can also qualify for a small founder-friendly investment from STATION F. If you know a great early-stage team - whether they be a repeat founder, international founder, first-time founder, working on AI, deeptech, whathaveyou, please encourage them to apply :) Oh...AND PLEASE VOTE!!!!!