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Checkout our founders video! Learn more about how our founders Jackson Scheen and Carter Kuo got themselves into the start-up scene!

Ready to set the nightlife scene ablaze? 🔥 Dive into the guide and learn how to start up a nightclub. From licensing to atmosphere, get expert insights to launch your dream nightlife venture. Read more 👉 https://ow.ly/PpeZ50QH5NA #NightclubStartup #StartupDreams

"Will Zepto/ Blinkit become a feature or standalone product? And why it feels like quick grocery delivery is working?" - A VC shares insights on 2 things that have helped quick commerce companies grow, for now 👇 In this episode of GrowthX® Inner Circle, we sat with Aviral Bhatnagar (co-founder of A Junior VC). He digs deep into why Quick commerce might be better positioning as feature of a larger product. The full video on YT is in the first comment ✨

Ready to set the nightlife scene ablaze? 🔥 Dive into the guide and learn how to start up a nightclub. From licensing to atmosphere, get expert insights to launch your dream nightlife venture. Read more 👉 https://ow.ly/PpeZ50QH5NA #NightclubStartup #StartupDreams

~I’m sharing a series of notes from our first year making Rodeo. If you think what we’re doing is calling your name, let us know @ app.letsrodeo.co and we’ll arrange for some early access.~ About a year ago, my now co-founder (previous Hinge CPO) Tim and I decided to brainstorm a new venture… I came ready with a list of (questionable) ideas… ✖ A way to predict where a golf ball will land so you don’t lose your ball ✖ A platform to make meetings that didn’t suck ✖ A locksmith rollup play ✖ The IMDB for real estate [what does that even mean!?] ✖ [the list went on] Then Tim pitched a mission…. ✔ What if we helped friends be better friends with their friends? We spent the remainder of our time in passionate debate (or at least as passionate as two monotone guys get)…. ▶ Why does this ubiquitous human desire to strengthen relationships seem to get consistently ignored (and often undermined) by technology? ▶ Is there any social product incentivized to truly care about the quality of my relationships? We quickly concluded it was a space in which we could happily spend more than a decade and make an impact. Prioritizing Founder-Mission-Fit (what I believe to be a variant of Founder-Market Fit) worked well for us coming from a mission-driven company like Hinge. We had lived what it’s like when you’re 4 years into your journey and still don’t have the right solution. This is the moment when founders without fit quit and understandably pursue the right fit. Founders *with* fit maintain or grow their passion and curiosity as they pursuit their mission. This, in turn, authentically attracts and motivates talented people for the length of time it takes to build something great. The time it takes to achieve PMF is usually longer than you think, but optimism is a good thing! If anyone wants to run with that IMDB for real estate idea, DM me for the full pitch. 🤠 🤠 🤠 ~More to come on topics such as what fundraising was like ‘in this economic climate!?’ and other things people have asked me recently...~

How does one leap from business school to becoming a candy connoisseur? Discover how a partnership forged in business school and a shared vision led to the acquisition of Maxfield Candy and Kencraft Candy, and the iconic Peppermint Place. Listen to the full tale on Retail War Games, available on Apple and Spotify! Taz Murray🎧 #ConfectioneryChronicles #RetailEntrepreneurship #RetailWarGames 🍭🏔️

So how's your bracket doing? The Final Fours are set. On the men's side, there are two #1's, a four seed and an eleven seed. The women's side also has two #1's but you might argue lacks a true "Cinderella" with two fairly prominent three seeds also left standing. I was reflecting this morning on the spectacle of March Madness and how I can connect it to our journey here at Mobile Locker. Certainly not a layup, but watching Cailtin Cark from Iowa last night has inspired me to launch a three-ball from just inside the logo. Is filling out our bracket a bit like betting on the "bootstrapped" startup in a software vendor selection? Sure, the #1 seeds always look like good bets. They have track records, star power and national recognition that comes from TV exposure etc. Sort of like the bigger, more visible software companies. But here's the thing about March Madness. Every team in the field...belongs. In some form, they have all earned their inclusion in the discussion. As a result, often it's the scrappy, inspired, energized team that is peaking, that captures the hearts and minds of the audience. They just seem to do everything right. Sometimes watching those teams makes us recognize that often, it is the team that works the hardest, that wants it more, that may be under-resourced, that somehow finds a way to WIN and deliver in the end. For that reason, I have become a big NC State fan over the past couple of weeks. A team that was on the outside looking in as brackets were being debated. They were the bootstrapped startup. Then, all they did was win five games in five days to win their conference tourney (including a victory over the #1 seed) to earn their spot and now find themselves one of the last four teams standing in the big dance. When you play and execute with unrivaled passion, teamwork, confidence, desire to win, and focus on the objective...there is nothing you cannot accomplish. That goes for every team, player and coach in this field, favorite or underdog. So here is the thing... When every team in the field belongs... Sometimes betting on the underdog results in a big reward. Enjoy the Madness...it really is something special.

Announced officially at Your First Million LIVE 2024😍 …3 years in the making, and something that was born from my sobriety, my pivot from diet sodas, and my entrepreneurial spirit. Bootstrapped for the first few months and now opening up investment to almost anyone seeing this for just a $100 minimum. Be part of the experience in launching a new brand from scratch. We’ll have quarterly investor calls and there are perks listed on the campaign page. The education, camaraderie, and influence you’ll have are priceless. And to be clear, my goal is to create at least a $100M water brand over the next decade 👊🏾💜 *note that if you are a Backstage investor in our management entity (2021 crowd equity campaign, GP, former Studio, former Crew, etc) because Backstage has a 20% stake (before dilution), you have *nominal* exposure automatically! But feel free to invest more for more exposure.

What is an experiment you are running to allocate capital to mission-aligned founders with a long-term view? If this resonates, email me for access to a small group conversation among mission-driven investors this Friday in Austin at Black Future House SxSW: https://lnkd.in/gn5j2FMm We are convening investors who are exploring new models to fill the capital opportunity that is hiding in plain sight. This is not a panel. This is a closed-door roundtable discussion where we can be open and honest about how we're pursuing the opportunity in front of us. Our team at Cinematica Labs is convening this conversation in partnership with Black Future House as well as Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership (IFEL) and New Media Ventures (NMV). I have talked for years with Lauren Washington, Jill Johnson, and Jessica Salinas about the experiments we're running to innovate on the capital stack to build sustainable, futurist entrepreneurial ecosystems that support intersectional founders. We as investors have the opportunity to build new structures and strategies to realize the future that is within our grasp. I have led an AI-powered venture fund, an angel syndicate, an angel network, and most recently a mentorship program with Black Ambition supporting 600+ founders. The common pain point I am experiencing, along with many asset managers I talk to, is that we need to collaborate with other investors while we develop capital stack. After Marcia Chong Rosado, Trivia Edwards and I joined forces with Jennifer S. Roberts of Building Utopia to convene the Cultivating Capital Investor Roundtable at Afrotech bringing together Ansley Carlisle, Monica Dean, Evan Boswell Hamilton, Dominick J. Ard'is, I Nasir C. Qadree and others, we knew we had to run it back. Check out more on Building Utopia's Afrofuturist Toolkit here: https://lnkd.in/gMmb3rqk

I want to give a shout out to Jennie Moser at Stagetime for winning the pitch competition last night at Utah Tech Week. Her pitch has valuable lessons for any founder. Here are three things she did right 1) Numbers that demonstrate traction Traction is the name of the game. It always has been... we just went through a weird period where people seemed to forget that. Get traction, and show the numbers to prove it. Her user count and engagement metrics were phenomenal measures for success. 2) Clear use of funds If you're at a pitch competition, you darn better make sure you're showing your use of funds for the prize money at that competition. Otherwise, it kind of seems like the judges are just throwing their money to the wind. 3) Clear subject matter expertise Jennie clearly understands the problem she's solving, which is fantastic to share with investors. If I could offer one suggestion to improve the pitch, the forecasted future revenue was a bit underwhelming. I see this often where the best founders undersell their company by showing ultra-conservative projections over a short time horizon that doesn't inspire an exciting financial future. Agree? Disagree? Comment below! Also, it was really fun sitting next to Colton Anderson at the competition (total rock star).