Maia Iva’s Post

𝗔𝗡𝗚𝗘𝗟 𝗜𝗡𝗩𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗥 𝘃𝘀 𝗩𝗖—what is the difference? 🤔  While it's easy to lump up all investors as the same, if you're a founder, knowing the difference can save you a world of time and effort, especially when you start reaching out for funding. Thomas Abentung walks you through the high level basics between the two in this video, but watch out for the next installments where we also dive in the differences of other startup funding lingo!

Thanks Andy Irvine for successfully moderating last night's Startup Grind Scotland event about failure within business. A topic not spoken about enough. Huge thanks also the three founders, Tannya Gaxiola, Loral Quinn and Joe Tree, for sharing their experiences so candidly. Also thanks to Danae Shell for her contributions, even though she was unable to make the event. Some of the questions from the audience seemed to focus on what the failures taught the panellists that could help avoid such failure in future. Some said that if they had known earlier that the venture was doomed, they would have stopped sooner. However, I was struck by how all founders learn so much weekly or even daily when running the business. Had these founders stopped sooner, all these other learnings in the interim would also never have happened. The fact that they took time to fail has provided them with better tools, making them better founders, better mentors, and better contributors to the whole start-up ecosystem. Also, the party poppers and party blowers were a great touch, really helping to lighten-up the mood when talking about such painful failure events! Great idea. 🎉 Looking forward to the next event.

“We find that by the end, participants develop a tremendous sense of confidence.” The 2024 TIA Summer Accelerator, an eight-week program connecting experienced entrepreneurs to Colgate-community startups, propelled four ventures focused on sustainability, the media, and event promotion. Guided by alumni mentors, students and recent graduates transformed their ideas into viable businesses and nonprofits. https://bit.ly/4dLPO80

Years ago I was a junior, junior, junior, junior... junior reporter at a fantastic Colorado paper. I was once berated, publicly and a great length, by a senior editor because I had written, "so-and-so *sustained* damage to their right leg as a result of the crash." I still remember him yelling, "Buildings sustain damage. People suffer injuries!" I had to slink back to my tiny desk through a bullpen full of averted gazes. One (soon-to-be Noble Prize-winning) reporter just gave a sad whistle. The verbal flogging hurt. But, that editor was so deeply, incredibly right. I think a lot about the truth he shared. Things sustain damage, people suffer. I also think there’s a version of that truth present in entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs don’t run out of money. Enterprises do. Entrepreneurs run out of energy. As long as they have the energy, hard though it may be, entrepreneurs can find more money. So what helps entrepreneurs and changemakers keep the energy? Encouragement, not just from friends and family, but from peers who are on a similar journey. That means listening ears and accepting hearts. It means informed guidance for technical problems and patient solidarity and support for the emotional ones. It means long walks, late night texts, and goofy videos. (Like this one.) Energy can be a renewable resource. But when it’s gone, it’s gone. The dream dies. The motivation leaves. The startup folds. The community loses. What would it look like if we spent more time actually becoming invested in the health and well-being of individuals, instead of just investing in the growth of their enterprises?

We applied for InterTradeIreland Seedcorn last year and didn’t even make it past the first phase! Gigi Supplements hadn’t launched yet but we were sure we needed to raised money asap to make the impact we wanted - this couldn’t have been less true. Fast forward one year and we’re Regional Finalists!! And one of just three product based business amongst mostly tech companies, which myself & Lisa Hughes are very proud of because it’s stiff competition when it comes to competing against tech in the investment landscape! I’m a huge believer in everything happening for a reason and when I reflect on where we are now versus then, our application this year was worlds apart! Based on the incredible initial traction Gigi received on launch, we made a decision in January of this year not to raise money in 2024 and instead to reinvest everything to grow the brand and see how far we could get (with some invaluable support from Local Enterprise Office Fingal ) .. and it was the best decision we could have made for the company. Through the success of our first year (we’re only in month 10 post launch) we can now clearly demonstrate the opportunity and exciting trajectory we’re on which strengthens our pitch tenfold 🚀 We are incredibly grateful to have made it this far in what is arguably Ireland’s most competitive startup investor readiness competition and look forward to pitching at the Regional Finals on the 22nd of October! Rejection is redirection 💫 #irishstartups #femalefounders #femheath

Two cofounders started with the same dream. They had a vision, a plan, and a company to build together. But as time went on, something changed. One founder got buried in product development while the other was focused on fundraising. Soon, they were communicating only when necessary—quick updates, task assignments, nothing deeper. What used to be a partnership started to feel like two people running different companies. Sound familiar? It's easy to get lost in the grind, but the truth is, the strength of your startup relies on the strength of your partnership. In this week's newsletter, The Cofounders' Spotlight, we talk about how to bring back the "WE." From celebrating each other’s wins to inviting real input, we’re sharing ways to keep your cofounder bond rock solid. #CofounderStory #Teamwork #PowerOfWe #StartupLife #StrongerTogether #TheCoFoundersHub

If you’re a nonprofit leader who wants to become more efficient, grow your audience, and deepen trust in your organization long term, you should steal a few marketing strategies from startups! Check these out from Buffer 👉 https://buff.ly/3xoUnon

At the recent Founders N' Funders event, I got to see our founder Eduardo Henriques give a quick 30-second pitch for Ponder.ly - a really exciting glimpse into what we're building. For those interested in seeing the full pitch and learning more about our AI-powered consumer intelligence platform, Eduardo Henriques will be presenting at the upcoming Pitch Deck Review Session on May 20th. This is a great opportunity to observe his pitch to a panel of startup experts who will provide valuable feedback. As a co-founder, I'm really passionate about the problem we're solving - enabling brands to ethically collect customer data and generate deep insights, while empowering consumers to control and benefit from sharing their information. Our approach using interactive branded data communities, gamification, and AI is truly innovative. I'd encourage anyone interested in disruptive marketing/research technologies to sign up and check out Eduardo's pitch. It will give you a window into how Ponder.ly is pioneering the future of transparent data exchange between brands and customers. Looking forward to getting more exposure and feedback as we continue growing Ponder.ly into a game-changing platform! Thanks to Jeff Erickson with Founders N' Funders because without his support and unconditional belief in startups like ours, we wouldn't have opportunities like this. Supportive ecosystems play a vital role in nurturing entrepreneurship and innovation. Registration link: https://lnkd.in/guFgMib4 Tanner S. Zyanya Bejarano David Reyes Jose Octavio Carrillo

📣 It's that time again! THIS FRIDAY - Founders First Fridays 💪 I'll be hosting the Royal Oak meetup again at Bamboo - 220 S. Main St., Royal Oak, MI. 9-10am in the lower level cafe. REGISTER IN THE LINK IN COMMENTS 👍 🧐 What is this you ask? The first Friday of each month, founders get together to connect, share their challenges, and be resources for each other. This is a casual meetup with no set agenda, just Founders helping Founders. Founders First Fridays is held in multiple cities across the state so all founders have a place to connect with the other great folks building companies here in Michigan. Hope to see you there! 🧐 Who should come? - Active high-growth startup founders - Founders considering significantly scaling their companies - Experienced founders who have raised venture or high-growth capital 🧐 What to expect - Build relationships with fellow founders - Sharing challenges and discussing issues together in a judgment free zone - Sharing your own experience and expertise with other founders 💜 This event is specifically designed for founders to connect and support each other. We kindly ask that if you're not a founder, you allow this space to be dedicated to founders only. We also ask that this is a sales-free zone - no selling to other founders! #foundersfirstfridays Michigan Founders Fund #founderssupportingfounders #femalefounder #startuplife #humanconnections

Thursday night is our live event in Melbourne with Aussie Founders Club, and here's a look at how we will be unpacking MVP F*ckups... We've built a fun card deck called "MVP Killers" that shows examples of ways MVPs (and startups in general) can go off the rails, and we'll be premiering them at this event! The MVP Killers are a fun (and slightly silly!) way to look at the traps we can all fall into, with warning signs and steps to avoid each pitfall. If you've been working on startups for any length of time, you're sure to see yourself in one or more (maybe all?) of these archetypes, and tomorrow night we're going to use these to call ourselves out on mistakes we've made (or are making!) to have a laugh and learn from it all along the way. The event is free and filling up, but some spaces are still available - link in the comments!