Newsletter #3 - Founder Frenzy
Spotlighting the Innovative Minds Behind the Next Big Thing with relevant market insights, actionables, learnings, and stories
Week Highlights
New funds / Launched Funds / Pitching Competition / Investor Events / VCs callout for a specific industry startups (ex - they focus on specific sector at a specific time to invest)
100x.vc is accepting applications for Class 09
Investment - 1.25 Cr per selected startup
Fill the application form on this Link
Applications deadline on 14th February 2023.
U-30 Founders Challenge - TiE Angels Bangalore & LetsVenture
Investment - Upto 2 Cr + Mentorship + Influential Connections
Apply on this Link
Applications deadline on 15th February 2023.
Leap To Unicorn - IDFC FIRST Bank in association with moneycontrol.com & CNBC-TV18
Pitch on national television (CNBC TV-18)
Get top VC's and Super angels to hear your pitch (25+ investment Partners)
Apply on this Link
Notable Funding News
Industry - AgTech
Innovation - Agri focused CleanTech
Fund Raised - USD 25 Mn
Round - Series C
Investors - Nuveen, a TIAA company, Dare Ventures, Omnivore, Caspian
Industry - Data Security
Innovation - Data Privacy Risk Assessment, Mitigation and Data Collaboration
Fund Raised - USD 1 Mn
Round - Seed
Investors - Omidyar Network India
Industry - Gaming
Innovation - Mid-core games for mobile and PC, focusing on the Indian market.
Fund Raised - USD 2.6 Mn
Round - Pre-Series A
Investors - Kalaari Capital and Lumikai
Industry - Creators and Influencers
Innovation - Allows users (creators and influencers) to create both paid and free WhatsApp and Telegram groups and sell courses and host secure webinars with only authenticated attendees
Fund Raised - USD 12.3 Mn
Round - Series A
Investors - Elevation Capital, Stellaris Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, Accel India
Industry - PropTech
Innovation - Simplifies the multiple search methods and collects all the data that is required by a land owner or buyer to ensure everything is in order with a particular property.
Fund Raised - USD 8.3 Mn
Round - Seed Round
Investors - Draper Associates, Y Combinator, and Bayhouse Capital
Industry - Fuel Delivery
Innovation - App based door-step fuel delivery
Fund Raised - USD 20 Mn
Investors - Naveen Jindal Group, Ravi Jaipuria Group (RJ Corp), and Nilesh Ved (Apparel Group, UAE)
Book of the Week
Peak by Chip Conley
Takeaways by Blas Moros:
Peak companies create the most loyal relationship with consumers, employees, shareholders and other key stakeholders
By properly applying Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, you and your company can reach its full potential
Most companies are organised based on a certain premise of human nature but most companies aren’t even aware of this
Companies have a habitual tendency to focus on the tangible and focus on financial results over relationships but more companies are starting to focus on the more intangible
Karmic Capitalism – Good businesses create good karma because they properly deal with key stakeholders, act in good faith and think about second and third order consequences
Must see all relationships as a type of account where you deposit and withdraw favours, goodwill, trust, emotions and more
Both profits and highest personal development are best reached when not aiming directly for them. Rather, they come as a result of a collection of other activities which you can guide and inspire but not control
Relationships truly do create the greatest wealth in life. Today, the only sustainable competitive advantage in the new age economy is loyalty from customers, employees, investors and all other stakeholders
Employee pyramid – Companies often don’t understand what motivates their employees. Money is the base motivation but recognition and finding meaning in one’s work are the higher and more sustainable motivators
Customer pyramid – customer satisfaction is at the base of the pyramid but by tapping into customer’s desires and unknown desires companies can engender great loyalty and trust
Investor pyramid – A strong rate of return is the base of the pyramid but above that are aligned relationships and at the top collaborative ones. The relationship is the core of interactions rather than solely making money
Conley survived a very difficult period after the bursting of the tech bubble and 9/11. To make it through this difficult time, he took a different approach and cut his salary to zero, got top management to agree to a two-year 10% decrease in salary and all salaried employees agreed to a two-year pay freeze. Unusual in business but makes a lot of sense if you think about it – in the hotel industry, bellmen and other salaried employees often have the most direct contact to customers but are almost always the least motivated and secure in their jobs. They often aren’t as friendly to guests as they can be since they are worried about paying bills or being fired
One of the largest differentiators between a good company and a great company is the motivation of the employees
One of the important and impactful perks Conley gives his employees is a one month paid sabbatical for every three years of service. The employees love this because they get to travel and learn and come back refreshed, renewed, with extra motivation and are more loyal to the company than ever. They also offer a $200 per month subsidy for fitness classes such as yoga or a gym memberships or for any other hobbies that the employees want to do
Customizable employee benefits and perks are increasingly important and can go along way in making employees feel valued and recognized
Employee turnover and satisfaction is correlated more highly than nearly anything else to their relationship with their direct supervisor
Great institutions set up rewards programs and incentives to help them achieve their goals and objectives. You get what you reward for
Employee recognition should be given in person and feedback should be direct and immediate. Praise should be given in front of others, in person and should be immediately available so that there is instant gratification
Creating non-monetary, fun incentives to reach a goal, such as the CEO shaving his head in front of everyone, is a great way to reward and motivate people. This is especially true during difficult times
Moving from a one-size-fits-all culture to a one-size-fits-one
Can best understand a customer’s desires from memory, editorial inferences based on memory and customer’s behaviour and patterns and comparison with other customers (like Netflix and Amazon)
Help customers meet their highest goals, give customers the ability to truly express themselves, make customers feel like they’re part of a bigger cause, offer customers something of real value they hadn’t even imagined
Top 3 Articles of the Week
Improving your MQL CVR to 20% and beyond
Checkout 1000 Founders published framework to improve MQL CVRs through 4Cs Growth Strategy and Super Customer Funnel
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Great summary and insightful list