Chris Tottman’s Post

TECH & HIGH GROWTH: Unrecognisable from 12 months ago - what a year! 💯 Some awesome highlights to remember... 💪💪 Hosting 10 x TechCFO Dinners connecting 100+.... now the undisputed king of venture backed CFO dinners in London 🔥🔥 Diving into Deep tech - curating the new series of early stage founder dinners covering all deep tech verticals 😎😂 Delivering TechCFO'23 - 6 weeks, 22 partners, rapid execution, 200+ attending - the only event outside Slush STILL talked about 6 months later? 👀👀 Building VentureCEO - in stealth - watch this space ⚡⚡ 24 partnership events through the year - ecosystem ftw 💥💥 Monthly scale-up focused webinars - always on point, all killer no filler 🎯🎯 Acquisition of Acclivity Advisors & iHorizon - creating our early stage team 👊👊 Team build 60 > 120 🚀🚀 Revenue growth 130% The contributors and partners involved in all of the above are just too many to list - you know who you are and we couldn't do it without you - thank you!🤩 Its not all plain sailing... we are constantly navigating the challenges of rapidly scaling in 3 years from nothing... but that's part of the learning and the growth. Sometimes in the trenches, sometimes on the clouds. We are focused, we know what we need to do, and importantly we have the leaders and the team to go again. Watch out 2024! 🔥 James Peck Asif Ahmed Andrew Holloway Jonny Brewster Tom Watts Cris Medori David Fotheringham Ben Hughes Evelina Panchal Emma Aish-Lyons Simon Richards Luke Farren Eve Drakard Kirsty Irvine Emily Phillips #team #growth #wegotthis

You have two choices as a CEO in a down market - you can hunker town, turtle up and play it safe OR you can make some bold bets, out innovating the competition in product and process. I'm choosing the latter for Peoplelogic. Building on the momentum of Plai joining us, today I want to welcome Mike Ciulla to the team as our new VP of Growth. Mike latched onto our future vision and has already started to run with it 2 days in. Welcome Mike! We aren't slowing down, we aren't playing it safe and we most certainly aren't staying still. Let's go! 🚀 🔥 #startuplife #hrtech #futureofwork #worktech

📈 'A healthy company culture is now as important to the success of an SME as your business’s tech stack or finance department.' 🤔 But how do you create one when you're starting from zero? 🌎 Our latest VentureVerse: VC RealTalk blog focuses on why creating a world-class culture matters and how early-stage businesses can do it well. 👉 Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/enfvbVmm #VC #VentureCapital #Founders #Culture #WorkplaceCulture

Have been picking up some nuggets at SXSW over the last few days, including yesterday's discussion between Seek founders Paul and Andrew Bassat on their experiences building a generational company, before transitioning to investors. A few key takeaways: 👉 SEEK was both disruptor and disrupted - having their own 'oh crap' moment where after dethroning print classifieds they quickly found LinkedIn and Indeed threatening them. 👉 Working out if you've reached product-market fit is more art than science. (Although Paul was unequivocal in saying "if you don't already have a bunch of people who won't shut up about your product to their friends and family - you don't have PMF yet") 👉 How often the two founders steered the conversation back to values and culture as the irreplaceable factor in SEEKs success. Andrew was particularly inspired by the famous Netflix culture deck - not because of what it said; but because its radical transparency allowed individuals to self-select in or out of the work culture. And a few more contentious points 👉 When it comes to raising, Andrew says the "worst error is not to win", even if that means giving away more of your company than you might have needed to 👉 Aggressiveness is winning trait; although Andrew sometimes needs to moderate founders where the market they're operating in isn't necessarily a winner takes all and growth can become inefficient. What we're left wondering 👉 How the brothers think about the differences between their roles as generalist and sector specific investors specifically. If you're at SXSW on the hunt for more nuggets swing by the Mythbusters: Aussie Startup Culture Edition today at 3pm; where I'll be speaking alongside Kirstin Hunter Chris Gillings and 🚀Gemma Clancy! #LinkedInSXSW #BigIdeas2024 #SXSWSydney #LinkedInNewsAustralia #LinkedInNewsAustralia

Shilling Founders' day 2024 Being a Limited Partner (LP) at Shilling in 🇵🇹 has its perks and advantages. Of course, as an investor, what I really want is for the team to succeed (aka, return the investment with some multiples; who isn't?) However, I do tend to invest mostly in people I like and get along, or at least, that I can learn from and have some sort of deeper conversation with. That was the case at this years' Shilling VC Founders's day. I got to spend time with people I don't normally have the chance to do as much as I would like, such as Xavier Jameson - and chat about #Cambridge, #Politics and some of our common interests; meet my friend Yang C. and chat #deeptech; talk about 🇵🇹 and the ecosystem with Stephan Morais; say hi to Cristina Almeida, even though (unfortunately) we rarely meet in-person , support Hélène Guillaume Pabis with her amazing project Wild.AI, and even arrange a breakfast in Berlin next week with David Cruz e Silva 🎙 and a lunch in Porto 🔵 🔵 with André Oliveira... Sometimes being an extrovert (not always good!) gives me the opportunity to meet new people that can improve my life as an #Investor like, Faustino Fernandes Thomaz Gama, Simão van Zeller Marcelo Sousa Luis Llorens Gonzalez and Jaime Martínez de Velasco Thanks to all of the Shilling team and a special thanks to Maria Frère and Maria Villas-Boas for organising; you ticked all boxes ⭐ The pic provides one of such moments ; photo credits https://lnkd.in/dzvkveze

It's that time in the batch! YC W24 CEOs are in full fundraising mode, with 40+ investor meetings scheduled over the next few weeks. As we chatted with our batchmates, we found that it’s the first time for many founders that their team will be focused on entirely different things. With all the hustle and bustle, many are seeing team communication start to break down. Trying to discuss everything in person wastes precious time, and pinging document links via Slack is asking for updates and notes to go unread. That's where Patchwork comes in. Here’s what founders are doing on Patchwork: ✅ Staying up to date by checking their feed whenever they have a break. They can easily keep tabs on everything from engineering decisions to investor pitches. ✅ Using AI tools to turn notes into easily consumable posts. ✅ Using chat only for urgent needs, allowing team members to stay in flow and avoid unnecessary context switching. We're thrilled to see how Patchwork is transforming workflows for YC companies and beyond. Give it a try and see how it can benefit your team! #startuplife #productivity #communication #workflow #teamwork

Thanks to the wonderful #founders who made last night's Ascend dinner so special. Nine of us gathered to celebrate Lunar New Year 🐲 and talk about how we learn. How a #startup learns is core to its success. When investors say they're backing the team, one of the key attributes they're looking for is the team's ability to assimilate information, find patterns, make decisions and master their business model. Some of the takeaways: 💡 Don't discount intuition. Learning isn't all about visible facts - there are often invisible patterns that, if noticed, can yield amazing results. 💡 Some lessons need to be learnt the hard way. As founders, we make a career out of being contrarian - and that means from time to time we're going to hit the ground hard when we fall. 💡Frameworks like the funnels (AARRR) and the business model canvas are great ways to focus learning and make it relevant to today's goals. Ascend Dinners bring together a diverse group of B2B founders to talk about issues we all face in an open, supportive environment. And there's always great food! DM if you'd like to join a future diner.

🌟💡 Unleashing the Untapped Potential of Going Public 💡🌟 Picture this: a company standing on the precipice of a new era, ready to leap into the public domain. It's not just about ringing the bell; it's about igniting a spark that electrifies every corner of the organization! 🎇⚡ 🧩 Piecing Together the Puzzle When a company embarks on the IPO journey, it's like handing out puzzle pieces to every employee. Suddenly, everyone sees how their role fits into the grand design, creating a mosaic of shared purpose and direction. 🎨🧩 🌉 Building Bridges of Transparency Imagine a workplace where the walls are made of glass, and everyone has a front-row seat to the IPO process. By sharing the journey, a company forges bonds of trust and engagement that span from the mailroom to the C-suite. 🤝🌉 🎡 The Thrill of the Ride Sure, opening up comes with its fair share of risks and responsibilities. But like any great adventure, the challenges make the triumph all the sweeter. It's a wild ride that shapes a company's character and creates stories that will be told for years to come. 🎢📚 🧲 Attracting the Trailblazers When a company dares to go public, it sends out a clarion call to the rebels, the innovators, the game-changers. It's like a secret handshake that says, "If you're ready to make history, this is where you belong." 🤝🚀 So, when you hear those three letters—IPO—think beyond the ticker symbol. It's a launchpad for unity, a catalyst for transparency, and a magnet for the visionaries who will shape the future. 🌌💫 #EmbracingTheIPO #UnlockingPotential #SharedPurpose #RadicalTransparency #ThrillOfTheJourney #GameChangerMagnet #LaunchpadForUnity #CatalystForChange #VisionsOfGreatness #RebelliousSpirit #InnovationIgnited #CharacterBuilding #SecretHandshake #HistoryInTheMaking #BeyondTheTicker

🌅Welcome to #NewHorizons! - words I will never forget (take a look at the video linked below to see why) 🌅 “Let’s make it about the ecosystem and let's make it big”, were the words of Thomas, during my first week at Vsquared Ventures, when him and I brainstormed on how we would shape an event, we had decided to put on the books. Which was fitting, since breaking down barriers, persistence and resilience, were the themes we pinned down for the event. Little did I know that around 5 months, countless brainstorming sessions with the best team, numerous debates on design, exchanges with our partners on seemingly all channels existing, being grateful for coding skills of team members (shoutout to Ferdinand), and more requests than I can count to send the invite to someone who should also really come (no tool seemed good enough), we arrived at what we coined #NewHorizons! Tommy’s words rang true. Over 200 people shaping the #deeptech ecosystem came together. The result: a day full of inspiring panels with pioneers discussing the sectors trajectory in the future, talks by founders re-defining their respective industries, and a dinner, turned party, turned overtime for the DJ. Inspiration and innovation laid in the air and it was unequivocally worth it. 𝘼 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙗𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙧𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙣 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣: 𝙈𝘾𝙞𝙣𝙜 (𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙯𝙞𝙣𝙜) 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙚. 𝘾𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨?𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠! Video: https://lnkd.in/e_3CUhtj For more pictures and insights, head over to the Vsquared Ventures page. CC: Herbert Mangesius, Lise Rechsteiner, PhD, Benedikt von Schoeler, Patrick Tucci, Jakob Lingg, Patrick Hümmer, Michael Jobst

Breaking News! Seven years ago, Emergence Capital decided to follow one of its core values of being the Most Important Partner by hiring me to help their early-stage investments navigate the murky waters of building and scaling a Go-to-Market engine. From my early days at Google, Box, & Salesforce, it was evident that many early-stage companies needed help understanding how to lay the GTM foundation to scale the business to become an iconic software company. Defining the proper GTM motion, codifying ICP and buyer personas, hiring the right leaders, aligning messaging, pressure testing pricing, and building capacity models were among the things Emergence felt could be codified and shared with the portfolio. Thus, the role of the GTM Operating Partner (Growth Partner) came to life (and the early days of 'vc platform' came alive (especially when Tammy Han joined in on the fun) ;) One of the many things I’ve learned about the world of VC is that we’re in the pattern recognition business. The pattern I see now, for myself, is that it’s time to take everything that I’ve learned, experienced and understand about how to build and scale early stage software companies and share it more broadly with the world. So what’s next for me … that you will see .... coming soon ;) In the meantime, I need to take a moment and share my gratitude with some of the greatest minds in Venture. People who I will forever call my friends (and family). Gordon Ritter Jason Green Brian Jacobs Joseph F. Jake Saper Santi Subotovsky Kevin Spain Carlotta "Lotti" Siniscalco Tammy Han Patricia “Patti” Mae Roldan Pardeep Johal Yazan "Yaz" El-Baba Camille Ricketts... Thank you! And to the rest of my Emergence family, thank you! My level of gratitude can never be expressed in enough words! I'm grateful for what we accomplished over the last 7 years. Y'all hired me to help share your focus, conviction, and passion for building billion-dollar companies. I'd say we did alright, alright, alright ;) #emergencecapital #growthparter #vcplatform