Hi there 👋 Welcome to the Let's Start Up newsletter, curated by me, Janine Sickmeyer, a tech founder turned angel investor. Follow me as I share startup tips, industry news, founders you should know, and investors putting their money where their mouth is. Let’s Start Up, is a community of its own with an emphasis on the overlooked and underrepresented.
What's In This Issue 🗞
A brief look into what you'll be reading about
How to create a personal mission statement
Virtual startup events you need to attend
Two women helping other women get ahead
Investors putting money where their mouth is
What's On My Mind 💭
I’ve been thinking…
It's easy to lose sight of your long-term goals during the day-to-day. Especially now in the monotonous routine of work, sleep, work sleep. Living with intention is easier said than done, and that's why mission statements are so powerful.
When we think of a mission statement, we often picture a vague corporate message that is never truly upheld. But the truth is, mission statements can be used to help guide you in all areas of your life. Recently I started taking classes with Tunde Oyeneyin on Peloton. 2021 is her Year of Yes, and her rides are more than just a good workout, they're like therapy on a bike.
“A mission statement keeps you on the path and in alignment with your WHY.” - Tunde
After my ride with Tunde, I got to thinking about unlocking my yes.
I began using mission statements with my startup. At our first team retreat, we welcomed our three Serbian team members to Columbus and all six of us spent the week solidifying our company mission and laying out a plan for the product roadmap. To come up with our mission statement, I wrote on the whiteboard "Define our Purpose - our WHY" and then we all took turns writing what we thought the company's "why" was. We kept the whiteboard up for the whole week and revisited it often. By the end of the retreat, we had our statement. "Helping people get to the next chapter of their lives." Now, 5 years later, my team can all say it, they have sweatshirts with the saying and they still reference our mission statement when setting goals and making business plans. It's something that has helped us find alignment on new product decisions or partnerships. It is our north star.
Creating a mission statement goes beyond business. When you're thinking about how you want to live your life, a mission statement acts as a lighthouse. So grab a pen and paper and start asking yourself the important questions like
What do I care most about?
How do I want to make a difference?
What in life is important to me?
What are my strengths?
What does "the best" look like to me?
How do I want people to describe me?
Who do I want to become or where do I want to go?
What you write will turn into your mission statement (after a bit of clean up of course). Keep it short so you can remember it and say it to yourself as an affirmation. In the Year of Yes ride, Tunde shared about how everyone always asks her HOW she lost 70 pounds during her weight loss journey but never WHY. And then she powerfully announced her missing statement as an affirmation. And with goosebumps, I felt it too. She said, "My name is Tunde Oyeneyin. I am the daughter of two immigrants. I am the gatekeeper of my own happiness. I want to live in a body that I love - that I treat with kindness and respect. I want to keep this body, this one body - strong."
Make your mission statement an affirmation and say it with intention. Use this method to help you create your mission for your startup, family, and personal life.
Setting core values is another way to keep yourself grounded, but they are not the same as your mission. When it comes to starting a business, values play a huge role. Your guiding values are who you are, and can even determine who you want to work with. Take this list of guiding values by Annette Miller. Her team uses these characteristics to determine if they want to pursue a relationship with an investor.
The concept of guiding values can be translated into other areas of your business as well (partnerships, team members, etc.) and your startup should have core values that drive your actions. Form your values, and post them where everyone can see them. And when actions begin to deviate from your company's values, remind yourself why you set those values in the first place. I'll let you in on a little secret - the best places to work share their values and actually follow them.
As a founder, it's important not to get fixated on the values or statements early on in your company but that doesn't mean you can't come up with a personal mission statement now to help you unlock your yes.
What I’ve Been Working On 💁🏻♀️
Things I care about that I want to share
My team just got bigger! Join me in welcoming four new team members to Let's Start Up. I'm working on something special to help overlooked founders start their businesses, and these new additions are making it happen. Let's Start Up is a team of technologists, entrepreneurs, and engineers passionate about making entrepreneurship more accessible. Meet Dhruv, Nagela, Miles, and Phillip in our recent Medium post.
💥 10 Days of Dealflow! 💥
On Monday, January 18th we're launching 10 Days of Dealflow! This special campaign started out as a newsletter and has since evolved into a 10-day event. We're featuring a new startup every hour on the hour for 10 Days on Twitter so that you can learn about the hottest companies who are actively raising. Follow along at @LetsStartUp and make sure to RT, share, and DM our account for more details so that we can connect you to an investment opportunity. I'll also be sending out a recap at the end of 10 Days of Dealflow.
Global Silicon Valley is hosting a FREE 7-week bootcamp for entrepreneurs. This online program starts on January 25th and goes through March 12th to help startup founders build confidence, connections, and capabilities. The speaker line-up features leaders across tech and VC like Jai Malik, Jaime Schmidt, Mac Conwell, Taj Ahmad Eldridge, and yours truly! I am so excited to lead a session in the software industry track and look forward to seeing you there.
Recently Hit the Stands 📰
Things in the news you should check out
Joseph Heller, the CEO of SuppliedShop, writes about his experience of a founder of Black-heritage. While Joseph was raising capital, he had a harder time than his white peers because of his race. Despite the difficulty, he bootstrapped his business. But when he decided to raise funding, Joseph pitched over 150 times over 18 months even though his startup already had $10 million in annual revenue. If you look at the numbers, " the fact remains that Silicon Valley does not reflect our nation’s diversity across race and gender."
From Microaggressions To Mansplaining: Busting Biases In Venture Capital
It's no secret that womxn have to deal with gender bias in the workplace. And as a result of the pandemic, womxn are leaving their careers at unprecedented rates. This and the lack of capital raised by womxn founders are putting womxn, especially womxn of color, at risk. Although womxn entrepreneurs outperform male counterparts, they're still experiencing mansplaining, microaggressions, and other biases.
Gen Z VCs and the Slack Movement
Gen Zs are entering VC, and they're outside of the traditional Silicon Valley network. When tech investor Kristen Green was searching for a new junior analyst, she was surprised by the hundreds of applications she received from Gen Zs. Young investors like Meagan Loyst are building a community, and now TikTok stars are joining in to bring a fresh perspective into VC. Some of the newest TikTok VCs are Bryce Hall and Charli D'Amelio.
Talkspace Near a Deal to Go Public Via Doug Braunstein’s SPAC
Online therapy app Talkspace is planning on going public as a result of a merger with Hudson Executive Investment Corp, a special purpose acquisition company. Talkspace's platform connects people with licensed therapists via video and texting so that a patient can get treatment from anywhere. The finalization of the deal is expected soon, but there's still a chance that it could fall through. After the acquisition, the company is expected to have a combined equity value of over $1.5 billion.
Venture capitalists react to Visa-Plaid deal meltdown
One of the hottest headlines in VC is the demise of the Visa and Plaid deal. Plaid, a company that helps other businesses connect their financial data to apps and services, and Visa went their separate ways after hitting a "regulatory wall." Although the deal fell through, Plaid is coming out on the other side with a lot of great potentials. According to top venture capitalists, Plaid has plenty of room to grow and can do so without Visa.
Hot Take of the Week 🔥
Somebody had to say it
A Little Birdie Told Me 🐦
Tweet of the week
Walk the Walk 💰
Investors putting their money where their mouth is
Apple just shared news of its projects and plans to "dismantle systemic barriers to opportunity and combat injustices faced by communities of color." The Racial Equity and Justice Initiative (REJI) is partnering with Propel Center, Apple Developer Academy, to make technology more equitable and give individuals an opportunity no matter their background or their zip code.
Loop Raises $3.25M Seed Round To Build More Inclusive Car Insurance
Loop is a B-corp automotive insurance company that gives drivers fair rates by using data that matters. Instead of looking at factors like credit scores and zip codes, Loop fights structural bias with AI. Loop makes prices more equitable by measuring road safety and driving behavior. This new-age insurance company closed a $3.5 million funding round, led by led by Freestyle VC.
In 2021, Indie.vc is breaking rules and starting new ones. In previous years, Indie.vc had a 24-hour application window. Now their application is open all year, and Indie.vc is offering two Standard Investment Options ($250k, $500K) and voting rights to founders
Open office hours for first-time founders
Steph Gaither, Angel Investor & Advisor, is opening her virtual doors this year to help ANY first-time entrepreneur get off the ground. Inspired by conversations with founders and VCs, Steph is giving founders an extra hand. Schedule a call soon! January and February are already fully booked.
How VC Mercedes Bent landed her job at Lightspeed
Mercedes Bent got her start in investing while at Stanford's Graduate School of Business, but before she started at Lightspeed, venture capital firms were a mystery. She broke into VC with a lot of meetings and over-preparation.
Founders You Should Follow 👀
Meet these founders who can help you find a new job in the new year
Latesha Byrd, Career Chasers Club
Latesha Byrd is the founder of Career Chasers Club, a membership club that offers virtual coaching for ambitious women of color. Members pay monthly and receive live coaching and tons of resources to help them achieve their goals. Latesha is also the CEO of Byrd Consulting, which provides career and talent development consulting to companies so that they can "build diverse, equitable and inclusive workplaces." She also recently released a Career Journal for women, and even though it's currently sold out, it's coming back soon! Keep an eye out so you can snag your copy.
Nagela Dales, Silver Lining Consultancy & Agency
Founder of creative strategy agency Silver Lining Consultancy & Agency (SLCo), Nagela Dales is based out of New York City. and works to make innovation more equitable. The agency serves businesses and brands with Consumer Research, Business Model Design, and Venture Design. Nagela Dales acts as the CEO and Creative Pilot, where she and her team make design, innovation, and brand strategy more accessible and fun! Nagela also recently joined the Let's Start Up team as a content writer and strategist. We love her energy and passion for startups and equality.
What Founders Need to Know 🤔
Advice and resources you didn't know you needed.
Working on a side project doesn't have to be expensive. You can build up your side hustle without spending a ton. Janel, a maker, and marketer, shares 5 tips for saving money without compromising quality.
Founders, specifically womxn founders, deserve to get paid for speaking engagements. According to this tweet from Tara Frank, womxn get paid much less than men to speak and often go into debt when they take these opportunities. Read her thread to see the going rates for speakers.
Marketing is an ever-changing field, and as an entrepreneur, you're often taking on much of the marketing tasks. Here's your complete marketer's tool-kit that features recommendations for design, education courses, email marketing, and so much more.
Cleared for Takeoff 🚀
Startups launching soon!
Build a customer-centric business, without even having to ask customers. Pliik is an app that helps you know what your customers want by gathering and analyzing feedback automatically. Increase retention (and profits) with better organized and readable customer feedback. And, Pliik integrates with many of your favorite tools. We've been using it at my company and love how we can see all of our user's feedback at-a-glance.
Get things done faster and easier with an automated to-do list. Bosa is a Chrome extension that scans your Google Docs to find tasks so that you can schedule meetings, send emails, and even research topics. Instead of spending time creating to-do lists, let Bosa do it for you. The Chrome extension is launching soon so go request early access to get on the waitlist. (Psst, they're also fundraising so look out for them in the 10 Days of Dealflow next week!)
Startup Bookshelf 📚
What our community is reading.
What Kind of Woman: Poems by Kate Baer
Written by Kate Bear, What Kind of Woman is a book of poems just for womxn. The book was an instant #1 New York Times Best Seller full of modern poetry. Beautiful poems like “Things My Girlfriends Teach Me” and “Nothing Tastes as Good as Skinny Feels” help womxn feel seen, no matter what challenges they're going through.
Upcoming Startups Events 📆
Events you won't want to miss.
All About Angels - January 22nd
AllRaise Boston is hosting a virtual workshop to introduce their community of women Angels. Attend to get answers to your questions like finding the right angels, what they're looking for, and how you can be prepared to work with them.
Emerging Managers: Navigating Different Fund Structures - January 26th
Are you an aspiring or new fundraiser? You have some options when you're building your first fund. AllRaise highlights your options so that you can understand the financial and legal commitments and make a decision on which path to take.
Enterprise Investing with Gen Z VC - January 17th
This Sunday Meagan Loyst, along with 7 other Gen Z VCs, is hosting a panel on Clubhouse where they'll be covering B2B trends you should look out for in 2021.
Before you go 🚪
Check out what you might have missed
Imagine losing $220M because you can't remember your password
A look back at 2020 on Women in Tech and VC by Femstreet
Building a strong personal brand doesn't depend on your following count
Here are the 10 things that the best startup founders do
Black founders Yonas Beshwared and James Norman created a list of venture backed Black founders
Thanks for reading! I’ll catch you next time. And don’t forget to share Let’s Start Up with your community!