Let's Start Up Issue 5 | Spicy Founder 🌶
POV: You're a founder building a startup
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.
A note on growth and careers
Exciting upcoming projects
Female founders spicing things up
Book of the week
What's On My Mind 💭
I’ve been thinking…
Ever since I can remember I've been a go-getter, an organizer, the one in charge. I had a big group of friends in grade school and I always organized the sleepovers. At these parties, I directed a dance show, explaining to my friends exactly how to move their hips to the beat, and occasionally I recorded our version of Spice World on my dad's VHS camcorder in which I was always Posh Spice because she was so cool. Being a boss has always been my M.O.
Fast forward to the year I quit my job as a paralegal to start building my legal tech app. I went away to a cabin with some friends for the weekend to take a break from building. While we were there, one of my friends said she was going back to grad school. I immediately asked why she didn't just want to start a company. "But you would be so good at running your own business. Why go back to school? You could just build something and be your own boss!" Here I was, 20 years after those sleepovers still doing the same thing.
Now, as a grown 34-year-old woman, I finally understand that not everyone needs to be or wants to be the one in charge, or the one taking big risks with the potential of big failures. Some people find the greatest joys in the steady. I finally understand that not everyone is a rocketship some people are the rocks holding everything together. And the world needs both.
As we near the end of the year, look back at how far you’ve come in just 1, 3, or 5 years ago...and smile. You have come a long way and your worth is not measured in numbers or titles. Be proud of the steady and the risks you didn’t take, especially this year. Growth is growth, no matter how small.
What I’ve Been Working On 💁🏻♀️
Things I care about that I want to share
Resources for Founders
If you're a first-time founder, you might have no idea where to begin or what to do next. With so many entrepreneurship books and the entire internet in front of you, it can be overwhelming. Well don't worry - I've been working on some templates, guides, and resources that helped me when I was building so I can help you! Stay tuned...
My Forthcoming Book
When I was starting my business, I journaled before and after every meeting and pitch. Full of heart and humor, my forthcoming book takes you behind the curtain of a startup to show you what it's like to build, grow, and sell a tech company when the odds are stacked against you. Make sure to join the waitlist.
Recently Hit the Stands 📰
Things in the news I think you should check out
The Digital Nomads Did Not Prepare for This
At the start of the pandemic, many individuals left the country with their laptops to work from an exotic location. The idea was to have a work-vacation hybrid, which meant traveling to a beautiful place, working during the day, and exploring on nights and weekends. But things didn't go as planned for everyone. Wi-fi connections were bad and covid guilt struck for these digital nomads, turning their paradise upside down.
Josh Pigford, the founder of Baremetrics, gave a REAL look into how acquisitions work in a blog post. Baremetrics is a service that provides analytics and insights for startups, which sold to Xenon Partners for 4,000,000 this month. In the company's "transparent fashion," Josh Pigford shares the details of the deal and what the entire process looked like for his company. This post gives a lot of great insight into what a deal could look like and why a founder might end up selling their business.
Meet The Fellows: 2020 BLCK VC NYC Path Program
BLCK VC partnered with Lerer Hippeau and Anthemis to create an 8-week program for Black professionals to discover jobs in venture capital. The number of Black VC's is astonishingly low, equaling just 3%. These 17 professionals will be exposed to the venture capital industry through education, networking, and community. Meet the cohort and learn more about the program in this article.
Founders’ tips for funding during Covid-19
Raising capital on its own is difficult, but when you add a pandemic into the mix, it gets even harder. Maren Bannon and June Angelides share advice for early-stage founders who are navigating the murky waters of fundraising online. January Ventures discovered that founders are feeling less supported during Covid-19, which has proven to be a challenge. With a community, extra fundraising preparation, and more patience, Maren and June believe founders can overcome this tough time and secure capital.
A Little Birdie Told Me 🐦
Tweet of the week.
Hot Take of the Week 🔥
Somebody had to say it
Walk the Walk 💰
Investors putting their money where their mouth is.
Cindy Bi invested nearly $500k of personal capital
Cindy Bi of CapitalX Ventures has invested in 10 startups, 7 VC funds, and 2 (partial) pro-rata in the last year and a half. She tracked each of her investments and the diversity stats. Take a look at who she invested in below.
Hustle Fund, a pre-seed firm, closes $30M
Hustle Fund filed paperwork for its second fund in May 2019 just raised $30 million. Founded by Elizabeth Yin and Eric Bahn, Hustle Fund invests in 50 pre-seed software startups each year.
Venture capital isn't one-size-fits-all. 100 rising-star venture capitalists abandoned their roles at traditional Silicon Valley funds to start their own firms. These VCs are focused on funding early-stage companies and are switching up the industry with rolling funds. Here are some of my favorite VCs from this article.
Chamath Palihapitiya launches SC Emerging Managers
Chamath Palihapitiya, CEO of Social Capital, launched SC Emerging Managers to help people who come from diverse, nontraditional backgrounds become investors. Breaking into VC is a challenge, and Chamath Palihapitiya is here to help get you started with money, training, and a community.
Founders You Should Follow 👀
Meet these founders who are making moves.
Jing Gao, Fly by Jing
Jing Gao founded Fly by Jing, a company that makes Sichuan pantry staples, in 2018. She was inspired by her hometown of Chengdu, which was filled with famous fly restaurants that served amazing flavorful dishes. The spices and flavors sold by Jing Gao don't conform to tradition, instead, they are unique and personal to her.
Fly by Jing just rebranded and OMG the site, the merch, the products - so amazing. Go over there and buy yourself something now. And watch Jing Gao's incredible founder story here.
Antoinette Prophy, 88 Business Collective Africa Accelerator
Founder of 88 Business Collective, Antoinette Prophy helps world-class African female founders scale their startup with a 12-week boot camp. The program prepares Female Founders to present their startup to investors and secure Series A funding. Based in Johannesburg, South Africa, Antoinette is a tech and blockchain enthusiast who is passionate about "plugging the leaky tech pipeline by supporting Female Founders."
What Founders Need to Know 🤔
While securing funding is a huge step, founders have a lot to do post-investment. Sahil Lavingia, the founder of Gumroad, created a comprehensive list of all the stuff every founder needs to accomplish after they raise money.
Yuliya Bel put together an amazing resource for underrepresented and under networked founders - a list of investors who are open to cold outreaches from founders. The public Notion page includes a link to a No-Warm-Intro-Required list with over 160 investors and tips for reaching out to these funders.
SmartAsset.com published an interactive infographic that will give you an idea of how certain funding events will affect your startup and its stakeholders. Test out different scenarios and see what the results are at a given time and at exit.
Unlocked Access to Capital and Education
Access this all-encompassing of accelerators, educational resources, fundraising opportunities, pitch competitions, and more for the startup community.
Shweta just announced the first speaker lineup of the new Due Diligence podcast. She created this podcast to help first-time founders learn more about investors and venture capital firms.
Startup Events You Can't Miss 📅
Skip the FOMO and get your pass.
Future Founders Conference | November 18, 2020
A one-day virtual event just for women who aspire to become startup founders, hosted by Y Combinator. Join for tactical advice from founders and YC Partners.
Startup Bookshelf 📚
What our community is reading this week.
Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up, is for business leaders, CEOs, and startup founders. Executive coach, Jerry Colonna says better humans make better leaders so, at the core, leadership lessons are lessons in humanity. I read a lot of business books but none quite like this. Through the book, Jerry invites you to ask yourself questions for self-actualization and reflection while sharing his own vulnerable stories of discovering himself.
Before you go 🚪
Check out what you might have missed
645 Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm is hiring for their engineering, success, investment, and research teams.
Prima Ballerina with Alzheimer’s listens to Swan Lake and the moves come back in this breathtaking video.
Jeopardy! producer Mike Richards pays tribute to Alex Trebek, and it was a hard goodbye.
Take a moment to read this incredible book review from Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche about President Barak Obama's upcoming memoir.
Thanks for reading! I’ll catch you next time. And don’t forget to share Let’s Start Up with your community!