You need to be better than good to get VC dollars (issue no. 27)

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Founder Education 

This section is meant to help you grow as a leader, manager, or entrepreneur.

Sevens Don’t Get Funded 

In this article, NY-based VC Charlie O’Donnell discusses how to get the attention of a venture capitalist, you must be better than good. 

As the title states, you can be an impressive company, successful in your own right, but still not get funded. It is ironic that it speaks as to why the world needs a startup ecosystem development agency like KnowCap. If a good company can’t get funding then how do they grow exponentially? What if that one, expensive engineering project is the difference between 10% QoQ revenue growth or 10% MoM growth? 

This article is the perfect example to frame how hard it is to build a startup, and how it’s even harder to raise money for it. 

Business Strategy 

This section is designed to help you improve your skills as a strategist and tactician.

9 Ways to Build Virality Into Your Product (or Service)

I won’t go into every single piece of this article. What is interesting is the portability of each of the 9 ways. It starts out by the author writing with a focus on consumer startups, but I believe that some of these strategies work for all companies if designed with empathy. 

For example: The second level is to “appeal with vanity”. This is also known a gamification of a service or product. Consumers want to see that their time invested into a product is worth some sort of badge of honor. If you are running a financial services company, you can start in your review meetings by letting clients know that they’ve accomplished their goals 50% faster than normal. Or that compared to the national average they are in the 5th percentile when it comes to saving money.

These simple tips can have a lasting effect and will add to the customer experience of your company. In the end, the better the customer experience, the more that you will receive word of mouth referrals (which is viral in and of itself).

Mental Snacks

This section was created to introduce ideas that may not related to starting a company, yet is important to your success as a founder.

You probably won’t make it to the top

I’ve never really agreed with the anti-hustle culture, I also don’t believe in the hustle culture either. I believe that everyone should have their own aspirations and their own dreams, and therefore should chase them accordingly. 

My definition of success is different from probably 100% of the people out there. That’s the rub, it is exactly that…my definition of success. No one else’s. And it’s why no one should work the way I work. Maybe there’s an opportunity for a blueprint or inspiration, but never the same. 

Throughout this article David comes back to the idea of the process of becoming the best founder you can be is what’s important. This deeply resonates with my idea of success (my new year’s resolution for the last three years has been to get 1% better each day). It’s about being the best you can be. 

You hear athletes talk about this frequently. Phrases like “I just need to know I left it all on the court” are what drives the best of the best. All they are concerned with is tapping into their ultimate potential and letting the rest fall as it may.

Around The Startup Ecosystem

This section was built to update you on important events, opinions, or pieces happening in the world of startups.

KnowCap Atlanta - A guide for social impact investors

We had to put our own announcement in here. Since writing the first thesis of KnowCap in July 2018, not much has changed. 

We still believe in creating an inclusive environment for entrepreneurs that helps them increase their startup’s velocity. We still want to have an impact at the community level where we are able to educate residents in marketable skills and then introduce them to the startups in our ecosystem. 

Now, with our waitlists growing in each of our programs, we are looking to start fundraising. If you’re interested in impact investing, you may want to read this piece about how we want to generate incredible returns, all while improving the quality of life within the community.