Curie.Bio’s Post

Pre-seed is so vital for the whole ecosystem and in recent years we’ve seen a steep decline in funding at this stage. The emergence of soloGPs, sitting between angels and VC firms, is a great development and we see firsthand the positive impact on companies coming through to seed stage. I wanted to shine a light on this category of investor and celebrate some of the top ones we see emerging in Europe. Carmen Alfonso Rico 🍫 , Gloria Baeuerlein, Pietro Invernizzi, Finn Murphy, Annelie Ajami, Sam Cash, Felix Plapperer, Sarah Drinkwater, Anke Huiskes and Declan Kelly. Article here: https://lnkd.in/d69S8aBx

Had a fantastic brain date at SaaStr. We discussed the challenges and best practices in pre seed fundraising and had a few takeaways: - Nick Armstrong, rightly said that pre seed fundraising isn't about a pitch deck and a smile anymore 🙂 - Early traction at the pre seed stage should be your design partners who absolutely rave about your product and are referenceable - Founders, set expectations around your timelines with VCs, so you can get back to what you do best, which is a kickass company - Lastly, founders like to partner with VCs, that bring a strong GTM playbook, patient capital and a helpful attitude to the table Nick Armstrong Vinay C. Myra DSouza Zhiwei (Tony) Qin, PhD Karin Yassin Don Dillon thanks for the engaging conversation Raj Shekhar Singh Sudarshan Ravi Jha Shivam Bhotika Shachi Shah Anand Akela Ankit Bhangar

Thanks so much, Jyotika from z21 Ventures, for hosting this awesome Braindate at SaaStr Day 1, and a big shoutout to Myra for the invite! 🙌 The session was short, insightful, and straight to the point—just as we founders like it! 1️⃣ Pre-seed fundraising? Forget just the pitch deck and smile! 😅 It’s all about early traction with design partners who rave about your product. If they love it, you’re on the right track! 2️⃣ Set expectations with VCs: Get those timelines sorted so you can focus on what you do best—building a kickass company. ⏳🚀 Less stress, more action! 3️⃣ The best VCs? They bring more than money to the table. 💰 Founders want VCs with a solid GTM playbook, patience, and a helpful attitude. Oh, and maybe a little therapy on the side! 😂🧠 Loved the way Jyotika asked, “What do you look for in a VC?” and after hearing all the answers, she jokingly added, “And, of course, sometimes we double up as therapists!” 😂 Couldn’t agree more!

Ever wish you could give your younger self a heads-up? Here is what Carina N. would tell his 10-year younger VC self. 1/ Keep doing what you do. Seeing some of your peers getting quick wins from building apps and easy software is tough. While you struggle with #BioTech and #SciFi, All the effort will pay off in the end. 2/ Always stick to the highest standards of the people you work with. Don't make excuses for people. Working with A players is always worth it. However, putting up with a toxic culture is never worth it. Don't stand it for a minute longer than you have to. Carina is a Partner of Plural. A 400M EUR early-stage venture fund to back ambitious European founders. Watch our full conversation with Sten and Carina Namih on EUVC. 🔽 #venturecapital #angelinvesting #startupfunding #europe

Ever wish you could give your younger self a heads-up? Here is what Carina N. would tell his 10-year younger VC self. 1/ Keep doing what you do. Seeing some of your peers getting quick wins from building apps and easy software is tough. While you struggle with #BioTech and #SciFi, All the effort will pay off in the end. 2/ Always stick to the highest standards of the people you work with. Don't make excuses for people. Working with A players is always worth it. However, putting up with a toxic culture is never worth it. Don't stand it for a minute longer than you have to. Carina is a Partner of Plural. A 400M EUR early-stage venture fund to back ambitious European founders. Watch our full conversation with Sten and Carina Namih on EUVC. 🔽 #venturecapital #angelinvesting #startupfunding #europe

It’s next week!! Comment below if you are a founder or investor wanting to join the event 👍

I used to report on data interoperability, the plumbing that makes digital learning possible. Certainly not the sexiest or easiest topic to write about! But it’s such an important piece of the infrastructure that makes #edtech possible. Now I’m investing in it! Reach Capital is excited to back Mick Hewitt Doug Weber and the team at Ednition as they unlock data flows for every part of the learning experience: from rostering to attendance, assessment, scheduling, interventions and more. We’re also thrilled to be joined by our friends at GSV Ventures Avalanche VC Long Term Impact Seamless, secure data flow in the edtech ecosystem is a precondition for AI to move from experimental and theoretical to truly transformational, especially as data demands and volume only grow.

If you're building in #insuretech, you've likely heard of Galen Shaffer from Eos Venture Partners. Had a great time listening to her yesterday at a 360 investor round table in Santa Monica. Hot takes for founders: -- A Product-Market Fit indicator is having 3 to 5 contracts signed. -- Be clear about fundraising intentions. Vagueness or casualness can send the wrong signals. You either ARE raising, or not. -- Don't approach 100 investors at once. Take a measured, incremental approach. -- Know your path to breaking even.

Trimontium.io represents the 3 peaks any founder must face when going from MVP to Scale-up.   Traversing this path is no mean feat.   Which is why we developed Trimontium to allow founders to demonstrate their trajectory from both a quantitative and qualitative perspective.   Trimetrics, our platform listens to what founders have to say. It is supported by AI to create entirely objective, metricised scores for their scale ups.   This does two things…   It scores with no bias whatsoever.   It shares that information with both the founding teams and investors.   This allows founders to build a ‘Value Creation Plan’ or while enriching their investor decks.   9 tech exits and 2 IPO’s across our team ensures we’ve built this with critical insights in mind.   If you want to learn more about the platform and how it can aid your fundraise/investment roadmap, drop me a DM.   #MVP #PMF #ScaleUp

Great session James Newell and thanks for hosting Jon Prentice and SVB! In terms of the answers and perspective shared from Voyager Capital and James…. The Good (for Seattle investing and VCs) —— * the opportunity in Seattle (and the wider PNW / Cascadia region) that Voyager is still capitalizing on, is that there is a ton of potential in Seed to Series A investing that isn’t as accessible elsewhere. * SF and other markets are saturated and less engaged as investors at this stage. * talent pool here is massive, especially on the engineering and product side. What would be a “Game Changer” for Seattle —— * there is a talent shortage especially in terms of sales and marketers locally. * Few sales and marketers want to do $0 - $1M journey again if prior successful. * Angels are more private here, and may not feel the need to give back to the start up community if that isn’t how they made their wealth Outside of Seattle specific feedback: —— * Founders need to be doers, not “leaders of leaders” (an issue with those coming from big tech); talent need to meet the stage and act accordingly. * AI as a tool and business foundation is only important in terms of delivering business value. * AI powered firms need to show they have an ability to access proprietary data or be linked intimately to workflows or both to be a sound investment [this is established consensus among investors] * Investing, especially very early stage, should be run as a process. Be your own best BDR for fundraising. And finally …. The top 2 pieces of advice most often given to founders…. 1) Try to avoid VC capital to the degree you can [which means you have a capital efficient business]. 2) find a co-founder to complement your skills vs doing it all on your own.