During her time as a media executive, Hauser built a rich network of founders and VCs alike. She also discovered a pain point. There were so many women ready to launch new businesses, but very few women investors to not only fund those companies, but also to mentor and advise. With two young children, Hauser was looking for more flexibility in her career and began investing on the side. Realizing how much she loved it, it soon became a full-time pursuit.

“I want to see that a founder is adaptable, that they're open to different ideas, and that they have a curiosity mindset.” - @fran_hauser
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In the eight years since she began investing, Hauser has built a portfolio of 30 companies, 28 of which are led by female founders. For female founders struggling to land that first check, she emphasizes the importance of network building. While it is critical to have a great pitch deck, she explains that it’s getting the pitch in front of the right people that counts. This means developing an inner circle, and tapping them for who they know. Perhaps you don’t have direct relationships with VCs, but can you build an advisory board of people who can create those intros?  

There are a few common mistakes which Hauser sees founders are making. One is that they sometimes get too stuck in their vision for the product, and don’t process feedback well. “I want to see that a founder is adaptable, that they’re open to different ideas, and that they have a curiosity mindset.” It’s important that founders engage in active listening with investors. Being open to new ideas and capable of adapting is critical. “When you’re starting a new business, a big part of it is being able to adapt, and being able to adjust because stuff happens.”

“When you're starting a new business, a big part of it is being able to adapt, and being able to adjust because stuff happens.” - @fran_hauser
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Another mistake is focusing too much on the product and not talking enough about the other aspects. “At the end of the day, you’re investing in the founder, because the product might change. It’s really about whether this person has what it takes to launch a successful business . . . being really clear and confident about why you’re the right person to be tackling this opportunity is really important.” Too often, Hauser sees a dynamic founder present an entire pitch deck, and not really begin to introduce themselves until the final slide. Additionally, Hauser likes to see context to go along with the product. What is the pain point the product solves or what market trend is it responding to? Painting a broader picture around your company’s purpose can go a long way.

“At the end of the day, you're investing in the founder, because the product might change. It's really about whether this person has what it takes to launch a successful business.” - @fran_hauser
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What Hauser does like to see in a potential investment is market opportunity. Being able to clearly articulate the consumer value proposition is so important, as is knowing one’s own weaknesses. No founder is perfect at everything, so how do they fill in the gaps when it comes to their own shortcomings. If they are the visionary, is there someone on the team that is great with day-to-day operations? Another thing Hauser loves to see in future investments is traction. Knowing there is already a lead investor who has done their due diligence goes a long way in convincing her. But traction comes in many different forms. For a company that has not launched, 10 clients that have given verbal agreements is a big mitigation of risk, as is a few hundred people who have filled out surveys for a direct-to-consumer product.

Healthcare is a fast-growing market, but entrepreneurs looking to enter the fray should be aware that there is more to it than supply meeting demand, says Midori Uehara, VP and Head of Business Development at Cedar, a healthcare fintech platform.

“Healthcare is not a typical good or service. Unlike in most businesses, the buyers are different from the decision makers, who are different from the people who are benefiting. Market forces are often distorted or not applicable at all,” she says. 

Uehara, who will be delivering a Founders Network global keynote on November 17,  co-founded OODA Health, which was recently acquired by Cedar for $425M. She provided insights on how entrepreneurs can succeed in the healthcare market. 

To learn more about insights on how entrepreneurs can succeed in the healthcare market, see if you qualify for membership and check out the webinar from November 17.

Long passionate about the topic, Uehara studied public health policy and human biology at Stanford and then ran strategic implementations at Castlight Health, following a few years in management consulting at Bain & Co. After earning an MBA and MPP from Harvard University, she co-founded OODA, which brings cutting-edge fintech to the healthcare industry.  While she’s a staunch believer that adequate medical care is a human right, she is also a realist, who is aware that change often follows financial incentive.

“Healthcare is not a typical good or service. The buyers are different from the decision makers, who are different from the people who are benefiting. Market forces are often distorted or not applicable at all.” - @CedarNY
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Follow the money and mind the product-market fit

“If you want to have an impact in healthcare, you have to follow the money. This means identifying where money is being spent (or wasted), and recognizing solutions must deliver financial value to get traction – you can’t appeal just to the goodwill of an organization,” she explains. Uehara says that although they are often nonprofits, healthcare players are incentivized to maximize their bottom lines, so tech solutions must deliver financial value if they are to be widely adopted.

For example, OODA’s digital patient payment platform focused on tackling the disconnect between “payers,” usually insurance companies, and the “providers” who bill for services, ranging from hospitals to physician offices to labs processing samples. These two groups often battle over administrative and billing issues, leaving the patient caught in the middle. OODA’s solution pioneered a ground-breaking business model and novel technology to bring the two sides together on behalf of the patient, partnering with multiple large payers and providers across the country.

As OODA grew, however, it became clear that the new business model as designed wouldn’t scale in the absence of broader policy or regulatory change. “While OODA had achieved significant traction and strong relationships with innovative enterprise partners, our initial solution was too reliant on bringing payers and providers together at the same time,” Uehara explains. “We needed a foundation of a scalable product with strong product-market fit as a springboard for the systems innovation we had demonstrated was possible.”

“If you want to have an impact in healthcare, you have to follow the money. This means identifying where money is being spent (or wasted), and recognizing solutions must deliver financial value to get traction.” - @CedarNY
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Enter Cedar, a later-stage startup that was already successfully addressing pain points in the patient financial experience for the provider market. When it acquired OODA, Cedar gained the ability to bring payer data and engagement into the patient billing process, as well as expand into addressing administrative pain points in the payer market – a win for both companies. 

Uehara’s own journey as a co-founder influences her advice to other entrepreneurs: “When you’re trying to get to initial product-market fit, start narrow. Don’t try to do too much. Don’t spread yourself too thin across too many stakeholders in the enterprise healthcare ecosystem.”

Raise enough money to withstand long sales cycles

She adds that providers and payers are infamous for being hard to sell to, so entrepreneurs should raise enough money to withstand long sales cycles. That means getting plenty of investment in your company and a strong team in place, even before you have any customers. 

“You need a bench that’s deep enough to support you when organizations are pushing on your capabilities and technical sophistication,” she says.

“When you're trying to get to the initial product-market fit, start narrow. Don't try to do too much. Don't spread yourself too thin across too many stakeholders in the enterprise healthcare ecosystem.” - @CedarNY
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Learn the policies that dictate healthcare tech 

Even with adequate investment and a tight product-market fit, many well-meaning technologists fail when it comes to introducing new tech tools for the industry. According to Uehara, that’s because they don’t understand the underlying system incentives and policies that dictate the use of seemingly outdated tools.

“Pure tech people come in and say some variation of: ‘Wow, fax machines! It’s obvious, all we need is an email system for healthcare. Why don’t we have that?’ But that fails to consider that the fax machine may be the optimal solution given the existing system,” she says, adding that the “graveyard” of tech solutions rejected by the industry include those created by Microsoft and Google. More viable solutions come from those who understand the underlying incentives of the industry and the policies that drive them.

Uehara has devoted her career to this kind of in-depth knowledge, something she speaks about with noticeable passion. “There’s nothing more important than your health and the health of your loved ones. And when you don’t have it, nothing else really matters. I’m continuously struck by the significance of healthcare in our lives,” she says. 

To learn more about insights on how entrepreneurs can succeed in the healthcare market, see if you qualify for membership and check out the webinar from November 17.

Bondi attributes her ability to quickly learn different technologies and envision their potential value in the marketplace to a sense of curiosity born from early work as a reporter. She considers asking good follow-up questions and her obsession with details key components of her big-picture analysis. “I think curiosity about how other companies work, of the learnings they’ve had, is really important for a founder. As a leader, I don’t just think of our company, but of how we fit into the ecosystem,” she says.

Her prior experience as a CMO who was brought in repeatedly to get companies to acquisition, the next round of funding, or IPO, has also endowed her with special expertise in GTM (go-to-market) strategy, a topic she’ll be discussing at fnSummit. 

“You can’t design your go-to-market strategy in a silo. You don’t want to just go forward and then, at some point, the product person turns around and says: Why are you doing this?” - @kbondi
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Use thorough analysis to know your customer 

Before creating any B2B go-to-marketing plan, Bondi says companies should determine to whom they are selling their product or service. She cautions that this sounds simpler than it is since thorough analysis is required to determine who makes the purchasing decisions within a company and who and what are influencing them.

She tells of a company that offered a freemium model for a dev tool and assumed sales would follow. She notes this is often an assumption with freemium models, but more is needed than simply making a product available with a free tier. To this point, when Bondi analyzed the company’s highest-value customers, it became clear that the users were not the buyers. While the tool was used mostly by developers, those who made the decision were focused on an architecture shift. Their title didn’t matter as much as what the buyer cared about most. While the developers liked the tool, they didn’t make large purchasing decisions. As a result of this finding, Bondi changed the GTM strategy to focus on adoption at the user level, while emphasizing architectural benefits to address the needs of prospective buyers. 

She explains: “If my product can help save time, but that isn’t one of the buyer’s top concerns, it’s a nice to have, but not a must have. Without the urgency of addressing a perceived immediate need, this misalignment leads to a sale being put off to a later date.” 

“One of the challenges is that VCs often have a certain idea of how go-to-market should work. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. As you grow, the market may change, and your strategy may need to change too.” - @kbondi
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Align your GTM strategy with all parts of the company 

Although the right sales pitch is crucial, Bondi believes an effective GTM strategy goes beyond sales and marketing, touching many areas including company vision, product design, and finance. For example, before creating a strategy, there must be communication between the product managers and marketing teams.

“You can’t design your go-to-market strategy in a silo. You don’t want to just go forward and then, at some point, the product person turns around and says: ‘Why are you doing this?’” Bondi recommends transparency, so that all departments are aligned and working toward the company’s larger vision.

Neura: Successful GTM strategy in action

When Bondi was brought in as marketing CMO at Neura, an Israel-based AI company, it had less than 5,000 active users. Because implementing Neura began with an SDK, the company initially thought targeting small organizations through hackathons would be a faster path to implementation. However, once implemented, they saw usage fall off and projects abandoned as there was little need behind them. 

“I think curiosity about how other companies work is really important for a founder. As a leader, I don’t just think of our company, but of how we fit into the ecosystem.” - @kbondi
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Bondi took a different approach, which included integrating third-party data showing the number of downloads apps had per month. She then set a minimum of 50,000 downloads a month as a baseline criteria for beginning sales talks with a potential customer. Within nine months, this approach led Neura to have over a million active users. Four months after that, they added an additional 500,000. 

“We succeeded because I changed the go-to-market to match what we needed, instead of staying with what seemed easy and not really thinking about the motivation on the user side,” she explains.

Don’t be afraid of change

Bondi has found that to get GTM right, ongoing measurement and change is often necessary. “One of the challenges is that VCs have a certain idea of how go-to-market should work. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. As you grow, the market may change, and your strategy may need to change too.” 

So how does she get others on board to implement change? “It’s not such a challenge when you can back up what you are suggesting with facts. You bring people into the process, rather than dictating to them,” she says.

fnSummit, taking place from October 13-15, 2021, is an annual event where founders, investors and partners come together to explore the theme of growth. Located in a beautiful resort in California’s Carmel Valley, the event will offer participants a chance to network, share ideas and enjoy a variety of recreational and team-building activities. 

Originally brought up in India, Vinita Rathi later moved to London and began working at Goldman Sachs. For five years – with initially, no financial knowledge – she worked her way up in the fast paced environment, eventually becoming VP of the interest rate product teams. When her time with Goldman Sachs came to an end, she then started her own company Systango, an end-to-end IT service provider called Systango, which now has 300+ employees and works with names such as Grindr, Dialpad, ResearchNow, Deloitte, Oracle and Porsche. 

Not only does Rathi have 5.5 years in a tier 1 investment bank specializing in trading technology and 14+ years as a CEO of Systango, she is also the founder of Studio Fintech, a company that specializes in dealing with Fintech and blockchain ventures with a focus on blockchain-centric projects. Studio Fintech is arm of Systango focussing specifically on Fintech and blockchain. 

Additionally, Rathi is the founder of WomenHackForNonProfits currently made up of 1200 women in tech who are building open source projects for non-profits and individuals with a cause. She is also the founding director of Women Who Code (London Chapter), aimed to inspire women to excel in technology careers. To top it all off she is a Google Women Techmakers Lead, focusing on helping bolster the cause of feminism in Tech.

All of the above when put together indicate she has been playing this game for a long time.

“You start looking for analytics when you are solving a specific user behaviour problem. Thinking about it as part of product build enables you to solve the initial teething problems faster, quicker and efficiently.” - @VinitaKRathi
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During the early years, Rathi’s experiences at Goldman Sachs and now, working with a wide range of entrepreneurs under Systango and more, have given her some valuable insights about the role data science plays in building product strategy and how startups and scaleups can leverage it not only for increasing the efficiency of their businesses but also deciding the future course. Here are just a few of the takeaways Vinita will be speaking about.

• Planning your Data Strategy
• Data Mining
• Data Visualization
• Leveraging Visualization Techniques
• Other aspects of Data Engineering
  

“Often data during product build is an after thought. You start looking for analytics when you are solving a specific user behaviour problem. Thinking about it as part of product build enables you to solve the initial teething problems faster, quicker and efficiently.” Rathi says.

“Having right data strategy and appropriate tools in place early on enables you to learn more about your product and its usage than you can imagine.” - @VinitaKRathi
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This can be integrated into building your team early. Systango approaches its client’s problems with a human-centered and data-focussed methodology. They believe that there are no silver bullets in their space, and that the best solutions come from involving the right people in every step of the process, establishing KPIs for your teams and then tracking them with data you collect. 

Vinita says “When you are a CEO, you need to be able to see Sales, marketing, logistics, product analytics all in one place and be able to connect the dots.” Different departments/teams end up using their own tools, they end up collecting huge set of data but miss out on the holistic view. This has an impact on ability to see trends and spot patterns. You have to make sure that not only you define and collect but also aggregate and analyse the data points to optimise the effort/ROI across each channel. 

“When you are a CEO, you need to be able to see Sales, marketing, logistics, product analytics all in one place and be able to connect the dots.” - @VinitaKRathi
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Data science is slowly becoming essential for a lot of businesses, startups and enterprises alike. It helps organizations with crucial decision-making and helps companies gain a competitive edge in the market by leveraging any insight to increase efficiency and productivity by making the right decisions. It is important to ensure that you have an infrastructure in place that will allow you to monitor and analyze the data you collect.

To learn more about leveraging product strategy, see if you qualify for membership and check out the webinar from August 9.

The first thing to do is to define the data collection of which is going to be helpful to the business. Then collect and aggregate this data in one place.  Data mining (the practice of analyzing large databases in order to generate new information) aids you in learning how to improve your product or service and how to create a better marketing and sales strategy, while predictive models help to monitor customer behavior. In order to keep up with the competition and trends, you must know the activity of the customers. Setting up data strategy right from start allows you to monitor your business KPIs and build on them. 

“Only when you have KPI for your business and teams, you will be able to measure them.” - @VinitaKRathi
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Data visualization gives you the ability to interpret, convert, and eventually summarize data to a comprehensive language that you can also present to stakeholders. 

To learn more about leveraging product strategy, see if you qualify for membership and check out the webinar from August 9.

According to experts, about 90% of startups end in failure. In many cases, entrepreneurs simply run out of money and are forced to quit. However, according to consultant and coach Holly Woods, there is a deeper reason for insolvency: Founders lack clarity about what matters to them and what they want to achieve. For several decades, Woods has been helping them find their purpose, which, in turn, leads to profit and success. “When you are focused on why you got into a product or niche, you can make decisions that result in more optimized strategies,” says Woods.

Having spent 35 years in human and organizational development as well as 30 years building and scaling businesses, Holly Woods, Phd is well poised to help clients discern their business intentions. She is the founder of The Emergence Institute, which guides visionaries, innovators and changemakers to get deep clarity about purpose and build products and business rooted in it. An Integral Master Coach, Purpose Guide, Professional Mediator and Facilitator, Master Energy Practitioner, and a Stages of Consciousness developmental practitioner, she is also the author of The Golden Thread: Where to Find Purpose in the Stages of Your Life (2020).

“When you are focused on why you got into a product or niche, you can make decisions that result in more optimized strategies.” - @hollykwoods
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At an upcoming Founders Network event, Woods will demonstrate how more precise clarity about purpose helps you create products that represent the true talents you bring to the world, enables you to stay inspired for the long-haul and more easily course correct, all while guiding your next steps toward profit.

To learn more about persevering through challenges, see if you qualify for membership and check out the webinar from August 12.

Register at Founders Network and check if you qualify for full membership to: 

• Explore the Golden Thread that led you to your product/ innovation and business
• Become newly inspired about the WHY behind your product/ innovation
• Gain clarity, focus and flow to guide your next steps
• Reap the benefits of your precise purpose for yourself, your business and the world

For those doubting their ability to make a success of their current projects, Woods initiates a process of rediscovery. “Once founders reclaim their purpose and get reenergized, they can truly commit to their startup and persevere through any challenges that come up,” she explains. 

“Once founders reclaim their purpose and get reenergized, they can truly commit to their startup and persevere through any challenges that come up.” - @hollykwoods
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Using your Origin Story to Explore the Golden Thread of Purpose

Many of us live unintentional lives and are unaware that our impulses and the things that excite us are rooted in our origin stories. Woods helps people “unpack who they are” and look through their personal history to find the common themes and motivations. “The golden thread is really the thread of purpose as it weaves itself through your life and helps create clarity and focus about what would be your next best step.” Many people set out on a path because it seems like the most viable alternative for them, but don’t know why. Woods believes that becoming conscious about one’s deeper intentions will help refine efforts. For entrepreneurs, this knowledge helps them to best market their product or service and to become aware of the next step to take for the company’s growth.

Staying in Positive Motion with the Purpose Flywheel

Coined in the book Good to Great by Jim Collins, the term ‘flywheel effect’ refers to the concept that successful enterprises are characterized by a process that resembles pushing a flywheel, a mechanism once used in large machinery to keep them going. Companies operate successfully by creating systems that enhance stability, resilience and momentum, even in volatile growth phases.

“The golden thread is really the thread of purpose as it weaves itself through your life and helps create clarity and focus about what would be your next best step.” - @hollykwoods
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According to Woods, the “perpetual motion” mechanism suggested by a flywheel also mimics the notion of the evolutionary impulse to improve as a means of filling the ever-expanding universe. That requires iteration, which requires feedback. In our own lives, we must continuously experiment, fail and receive feedback from the system in order to learn – a process that Woods knows well from working with clients.

Inspired by her experiences setting up “virtuous cycles” for her clients, she created the Purpose Flywheel, “a continuous series of learning loops” that enable startup founders and others to find clarity about their direction and keep experimenting toward success.   

Taking the Next Big Step Amid Doubt

When you have created something successful, the next step can feel daunting. Woods recalls working with a serial entrepreneur who had successfully built a $500M environmental cleanup company. He was about to exit and had no idea what to do next. During his work with Woods, he became aware of his next desired direction, an area in which he had been volunteering his services, but he had a crisis of confidence about his right to turn a passion project into a business. After working through those doubts and getting precise clarity about his purpose, he immediately started building his new venture, this time in an arena that reflected his purpose. 

“It is difficult to move forward in things that matter most, to reveal ourselves to the world, so we choose something that feels easier.” - @hollykwoods
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According to Woods, “It is difficult to move forward in things that matter most, to reveal ourselves to the world, so we choose something that feels easier.”  But, she adds, it is only when we are in alignment with our purpose that true innovation can happen.

In that spirit, she has created the Purpose LaunchLab Incubator for innovators and founders who want to get more clarity about their purpose and product.  By approaching new initiatives this way, many entrepreneurs are finding they can improve efficiency and profit, leading to more startup success stories.

To learn more about persevering through challenges, see if you qualify for membership and check out the webinar from August 12.

The origin of Telesign was serendipitous. Stubblefield and her co-founders had an acquaintance running an online backgammon gambling website, who was dealing with the problem of players using stolen credit cards. The team built a system for verifying the cards, and “we knew we had to turn it into a business,” she says.

At a Founders Network keynote, Stubblefield shares her key learnings from founding and selling a security startup. Register at Founders Network for a complimentary pass, or check to see if you qualify for full membership and get insights on how to:

• • • Gain credibility as an early-stage startup
    • Leverage your first big client for long-term gains
    • Know when to pivot or spin off new products
    • Balance growth with maintaining high-quality relationships
    • Use common sense to make strong strategic choices

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One of the early hurdles was acquiring customers. It was grunt work in the beginning, involving a lot of cold emails to decision-makers at various large companies. But that work paid off when Telesign landed two name-brand clients. 

“Getting a large company to use you when you have no real clients is a challenge, and so is getting them to take you seriously.” - @TeleSign
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“The first account was small, initially involving just one team at a tech giant,” she says. “But it lended major credibility to the bootstrapped startup,” Stubblefield adds. 

“The first challenge was reputational: Getting a large company to use you when you have no real clients is a challenge, and so is getting them to take you seriously and not see you as a huge risk,” she says. 

One major client wound up acting “almost as a VC” for Telesign for some time, funding much of its operation as the startup landed more clients, grew and began gaining a reputation within the growing niche of identity solutions for web and mobile brands. Startup founders can benefit from brand-name clients, but ones that, unlike in certain compliance-heavy industries, are open to testing out new technology. 

“A strong team is very important: Make sure your co-founders are people you can rely on and say anything to.” - @TeleSign
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“In establishing that first major client, you’re looking for a company with a good reputation that’s willing to take risks,” she adds. 

Scaling was one of the next challenges. Telesign’s co-founders discovered that their customers were asking for more and more transaction volume, and that was a difficult challenge for the then-small team, even taking them offline at one point. But after solving that scale problem, “it made the service very strong and reliable,” Stubblefield recalls. Along the way, they learned the ins and out of telecommunications and what various industries need in terms of software. 

“We were growing the company while maintaining a high quality of relationships with clients, and keeping a pulse on what’s going on on the ground,” she adds. 

“So much of business is common sense; a lot of people overthink things and make bad choices because they’re not using their own common sense.” - @TeleSign
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Stubblefield’s words of advice for founders include making sure that, from the get go, you have great working relationships with your co-founders and early team: “A strong team is very important: Make sure your co-founders are people you can rely on and say anything to,” she says. 

Being flexible and willing to pivot, spinning up new features and products when you see organic demand developing, is also very important to software startups. “It’s okay to make mistakes,” she says, “but it helps to be good at correcting them and learning from there.” In the case of Telesign, the company managed to remain nimble, responsive to clients’ concerns, and in touch with employees as it grew. Eventually, it was acquired by a Belgian telecoms giant for $230 million. 

“So much of business is common sense; a lot of people overthink things and make bad choices because they’re not using their own common sense,” she says. 

That company, a woman-led, health-focused firm in West Virginia, eventually grew to hundreds of employees and gave Lewis a glimpse into how entrepreneurship could change communities. Today, as a partner at Rogue investing in early-stage companies, that experience still informs her focus. 

“That was an eye-opening experience for me to realize that if you invest in people who then grow companies, and grow jobs, you can fundamentally change the communities in which you live. That is what I hold fast and true,” Lewis said. 

Portland-based Rogue invests in undercapitalized founders spanning SaaS, enterprise tech and consumer health tech, and generally looks at companies with between $500,000 and $1 million in revenue. At a Founders Network session, Lewis — who also runs the Rogue’s women’s fund, called Rogue Women — shares her advice for young companies looking for funding.

Register at Founders Network for a complimentary pass, or find out if you qualify for full membership here and get Caroline’s insights and feedback on: 

• Knowing your numbers and the assumptions behind them
• Understanding your competition and market positioning
• Recognizing Your Investor’s Motives
• Conveying the Right Team Dynamics
• Avoiding too Much Dilution Early On

“We like to pride ourselves on being that first-round or second-round institutional partner that comes in and really helps at the stage when you have maybe five people, and a year later you have 30 people,” she said. 

“Know your numbers: Surprisingly, sometimes CEOs don't. I care less about your exact financial projections than the assumptions going into them.” - @carolinejlewis
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That need is particularly acute for women founders, who are disproportionately undercapitalized. The majority of venture capitalists are men, as are the majority of venture capital recipients. An estimated 97% of all venture capital dollars go to male founders, despite evidence that women-led companies deliver superior returns and operating results over the long term.

Whether a woman-led startup or not, the standard traits that investors look for are passion, resolve and a unique solution to a problem that doesn’t yet exist in the marketplace. It’s okay to have competitors, Lewis says: What matters is that you have a pathway to growth in a very large market. Founders should also have a good understanding of how venture capital works; namely, that those investors are accountable to their limited partners and must deliver certain returns. 

“It shouldn't be about how much you raise -- it's how well your company is performing.” - @carolinejlewis
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“Know your numbers: Surprisingly, sometimes CEOs don’t. I care less about your exact financial projections than the assumptions going into them,” she added. “I appreciate when founders say: Here is my competition. Here’s where we’re similar, here’s why we’re different, and here’s how we think we can beat them.”

For founders making a pitch with a co-founder or teammates, consider in advance what dynamics you convey. Investors want to see a team that is well-balanced, and that works well together with complementary skills and strengths. Your pitch should reflect that, and communicate that your partnership can go the distance. 

There are other potential pitfalls when pitching to venture capitalists as well. 

“I don't care if you've raised a billion dollars, or if your company is valued at a billion dollars. I care about whether you have good, fundamental operating principles that warrant the value it has.” - @carolinejlewis
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“For early stage founders, a common early mistake — whether through over-stacking convertible notes or by teaming up with the wrong investors — is giving away too much equity in the interest of getting money in the door quickly. There’s value in having deals be relatively simple and straightforward,” said Lewis. 

Another is getting overly caught up in your valuation, or how much you raise in a particular round. Neither are indicative of your startup’s potential for long-term success. 

“It shouldn’t be about how much you raise — it’s how well your company is performing,” Lewis added. “I don’t care if you’ve raised a billion dollars, or if your company is ‘valued’ at a billion dollars. I care about whether you have good, fundamental operating principles that warrant the value it has.”

Diversity and inclusion may be an outcome that every startup aspires to, but they also aren’t easy topics to tackle. Discussions of diversity and inclusions can trigger difficult emotions, particularly in the workplace, and necessitate a methodical approach to ensure everyone is heard, respected and valued. 

“For the people that are feeling underrepresented and marginalized, it’s a super triggering topic,” explains Janine Yancey, founder and CEO of the workplace culture platform Emtrain and a former employment attorney. “But then on the opposite side, It’s triggering for the folks that are well-represented, because they often feel that they’re getting blamed. So net-net, it’s a maelstrom.” 

The key is to create a safe space for discussing D&I, says Yancey, alongside a framework for identifying, measuring and reporting the social indicators that contribute to an inclusive culture — or lack thereof. At a Founders Network leadership curriculum, Yancey shares the indicators that drive inclusion, and how to take action at your startup.

Register at Founders Network for a complimentary pass, and check if you qualify for full membership.

• A breakdown of specific social indicators that drive inclusion
• Ways to measure, report and improve upon workplace social indicators
• How to incorporate inclusion and allyship into your startup culture

“You can map inclusion back to specific organizational behaviors. If you figure out what the behaviors are, you can start to measure them.” - @JYancey
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“You can map inclusion back to specific organizational behaviors. If you figure out what the behaviors are, you can start to measure them,” she explains. “Just like any other business function, like marketing, sales, or product, there are KPIs to getting to the outcome.”

On the organizational level, the markers of an inclusive culture are valuing differences, allyship and decision-making that reflects those things. On an individual basis, inclusivity can be tied back to demographic experiences — do individuals come from a diversity of backgrounds? — as well as curiosity, empathy and authenticity. 

“A lot of employee conflict stems from people in authority not understanding the implications of their decisions; they forget the people subordinate to them may process their words in a way they may not intend.” - @JYancey
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Although those characteristics might seem subjective at face value, having an anonymized system in place for measuring and reporting social indicators, such as power dynamics, social intelligence and unconscious bias, makes it possible for founders and CEOs to get a handle on what can otherwise feel like a minefield. 

“A lot of employee conflict and friction stems from people in authority not understanding the implications of their decisions; they forget the people subordinate to them may process their words in a way they may not intend,” says Yancey. “You see it a lot in harassment issues; it’s often completely unintentional, but it’s a miss in terms of message given versus message received.”

“Think about these indicators as culture KPIs. Once you have visibility and it's transparent, then you can start to press on the levers.” - @JYancey
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In recent years, many organizations have launching D&I initiatives as a reaction, either to external events, such as the #Metoo movement, or to a cultural problem internally. Part of the advantage of a measurement system like Emtrain’s is that it provides leading, rather than trailing, indicators. Founders and CEOs can see where they stack up versus peer companies, and make adjustments before social cues — in the most extreme scenarios — boil over into a harassment problem, a public relations issue or worse. 

“When all you’re dealing with are trailing indicators, you don’t ever have an opportunity to sit back, blue sky something, and figure out how to get proactive and manage it,” Yancey adds. “Think about these indicators as culture KPIs. Once you have visibility and it’s transparent, then you can start to press on the levers.” 

This year has placed a national spotlight on the Black experience, and it’s more important than ever for successful Black founders to share their insight and advice. Oppti founder Khiry Kemp is joined by Tiffany Dufu, CEO of The Cru and author of Drop the Ball, to discuss overcoming adversity, facing your respective challenges, and what founders and investors alike should know about Black entrepreneurship.

The past few months have placed a national spotlight on the Black experience, and it’s more important than ever for successful Black founders to share their insight, and advice.

There are lessons for founders and investors alike, according to Khiry Kemp, chair of the Black Founders Initiative at Founders Network and founder of Oppti, a fast-growing job recruitment platform for high school students. In a fireside chat, Khiry joins Tiffany Dufu, CEO of The Cru, bestselling author of Drop the Ball: Achieving More by Doing Less and board member of Girls Who Code, to discuss overcoming adversity, facing internal and external challenges, and what people should know about Black entrepreneurship. 

Join Khiry and Tiffany in their full webinar and see if you qualify for membership to Founders Network and get unique insights on:

• Leveraging peer support 
• Early growth mentorship
• Connecting with successful founders
• Raising awareness 
• Focusing on your mission

“When you look at the numbers, you see the underrepresentation right away,” says Khiry. 

Only 1% of venture capital-backed startup founders are Black, according to data compiled by Transparent Collective. Representation on the investor side is similarly unequal: An estimated 70% of venture capitalists are white, while only 3% are Black, according to a survey by the investor Richard Kerby. 

“That reality contributes to a host of unique obstacles for Black founders. And rather than blatant racism, the challenges and biases that Black founders face are more often implicit, ranging from subtle cues in meetings to double standards in how investors size up your business,” Khiry explains. 

“It’s less blatant most of the time, which can make it hard to pinpoint,” he says. “It may be that the burden of proof is higher for Black founders, or to get buy-in.”

On top of that, “there isn’t necessarily a deep support group,” says Khiry. All of the benefits that peer networks bring — sharing experiences, advice and resources — are all the more scarce for underrepresented founders. 

“We’re in an unprecedented time, and there’s a lot of curiosity from people who just want to better understand what’s going on.” - @GetOppti
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Communities like Founders Network have a role to play in connecting successful Black founders with those eager to learn and to overcome similar challenges in building their businesses. Those networks can cultivate mentor relationships, as well as partnerships and other valuable business development opportunities for underrepresented founders. 

“It’s also a unique point in time for raising awareness among non-Black founders as well as  investors,” says Khiry. Among investors in particular, elevating awareness of Black experiences in entrepreneurship could help investors better understand their biases, call themselves out, and evaluate founders on their merits instead of narrowly defined stereotypes of what successful founders look like. 

“We’re in an unprecedented time, and there’s a lot of curiosity from people who just want to better understand what’s going on,” Khiry adds. “For those on the investor side, it’s also understanding that there are a lot of good black businesses, and maybe some of them cater to markets that you don’t necessarily understand yet. Be open-minded.” 

“You can’t psych yourself out and let the numbers discourage you...you have to give it your all and overcome as many critical challenges as possible.” - @GetOppti
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For Black founders, there are internal hurdles that can arise from believing that the statistics are stacked against you in entrepreneurship. Khiry emphasizes, “If you don’t believe that you can succeed, how is anyone else supposed to believe in you?”

“You can’t psych yourself out and let the numbers discourage you,” Khiry explains. “Even if you do have to try harder from an individual perspective, you have to give it your all and overcome as many critical challenges as possible.”

To learn more about black founder hurdles, see if you qualify for membership and check out the webinar from October 29.

As a founder in Mexico City, Deborah Dana has worn many different hats. She runs Canasta Rosa, a growing marketplace startup for unique, local  and handmade products in Latin America. In 2009, she founded Kiwilimon, a social recipe platform that became the largest digital cooking platform in Mexico with over 20 million monthly visits. And in between, she was managing partner at the venture firm Soldiers Field Angels, and one of the co-founders of the Asociación de Emprendedores de México (ASEM).

Mexico’s startup market is booming — notably in areas like ecommerce, fintech, blockchain, and more. It’s also the largest Spanish-speaking country in the world, and the second-largest market in Latin America behind Brazil. That makes Mexico a critical market to master if you’re a founder seeking to build, grow or expand a startup in the region as a whole. 

“I think the most untapped ecommerce market in the world is Mexico. Especially right now with COVID-19, current data shows that Mexico’s e-commerce market has had 900% revenue growth since confinement.”
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“I think the most untapped ecommerce market in the world is Mexico,” Dana says. “Especially right now with the COVID-19 situation, current data shows that Mexico e-commerce market has had a 900% revenue growth since confinement.”

Understand the opportunities and unique challenges

Founders must also understand both the opportunities and unique challenges of growing a startup in Mexico. In e-commerce for example, delivery and logistics infrastructure is less developed than it is in the United States. Historically, government postal service has been poor; Dana said: “the whole logistics chain was not reliable,” and fraud was not uncommon. 

That’s changed over the past couple of years, she adds — but founders who launched e-commerce startups a decade ago largely “just couldn’t succeed because of the environment,” Dana adds. “And I think it’s similar in a couple of other countries in Latin America, but I’ve heard that Mexico was the worst.”

Don’t rush into an investment

Some Mexico-based investors have pulled back on new investments in the COVID-19 environment. But there is still money to be raised in Mexico, particularly if your startup isn’t particularly negatively impacted by the pandemic. 

“Talk with international funds, or with angel investors or family offices, because many of the VC funds in Mexico right now are reviewing their investment strategies to make sure that their portfolio companies stay afloat.”
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“There are a couple of funds that must continue to invest their portfolios, but many are on hold, Dana says. “So another recommendation would be to talk with international funds, or with angel investors or family businesses, because many of the VC funds in Mexico right now are reviewing their investment strategies to make sure that their portfolio companies stay afloat.” 

And don’t rush into an investment just because the money is green: Founders must closely examine terms and understand if the relationship makes sense. 

“You really have to understand if there’s a fit, because it’s not, in the future that could cause issues,” Dana adds. 

Dare to innovate

The current environment has amplified many existing challenges in a market — not just in Mexico, but everywhere. But in a crisis or a difficult moment, don’t be afraid to innovate and take the opportunity to drive your startup forward. 

“A lot of entrepreneurs are kind of waiting to see what happens before they venture out, or maybe they're being more cautious with their startup. But there are so many great stories of startups that boom during a crisis.”
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“I think a lot of entrepreneurs are kind of waiting to see what happens before they venture out, or maybe they’re being more cautious with their startup. But there are so many great stories of startups that boom during a crisis,” she said. Cornershop, the Latin American grocery delivery startup, is a good example: Instead of pulling back in an uncertain environment, they are expanding their product to select U.S. cities. 

“Many times, the crisis makes you think of new ways of approaching problems,” she adds. 

Be part of a network

Finally, don’t go it alone. Being part of a network — one with extensive ties not just in Mexico, but internationally — is also very important to successfully growing a startup Mexico and Latin America at large. 

“Founders Network has been a good space, particularly for asking recruiting or talent-seeking questions. For example, we’re looking for more international talent for our tech team,” Dana says. “For fundraising, I’ve also talked with a couple of founders who are helping to introduce me to funds in the States. This is a great way to tap into that.”

Request an invite to learn more about managing startups from Deborah Dana and 600+ fellow tech founders through interactive webinars and forum conversations featuring over 9 years of archived knowledge.