Jenny Fielding’s Post

To model or not to model, that is the question! Whatever your perspective is on the utility of a financial model, we've teamed up with Eric Friedman at Graph Advisors to help early stage founders create a simple yet effective model. If nothing else, it's one more tool to add to your toolbox 🔨 Check out the explainer video: https://lnkd.in/eY-xvrTR Model template: https://lnkd.in/emRfxTXR?

What a difference a few months can make when you're building a startup! Back in January, I met the new batch of founders going thru the Startup Leadership Program NYC and yesterday I got to speak with them again. In just a few months, I saw a few prototypes, heard about a government contract secured and a substantial VC round that came together. Wow! Startup Leadership Program NYC is a no-equity fellowship designed for first time founders who want to learn how to build lasting companies. To-date, the NYC chapter has an alumni network of 375+ fellows who have raised more than $1B in capital. Huge thank you to Dmitry Koltunov, William Glass, Andrew Holliday, Evelyn Sprigg, Harsh Sinha and all the fellows for having me 🙌🏽

How do you find, close and retain your first customers? It's the first question I ask any founder when I hear about their business. The answer is funnels and magic moments! Huge thank you to 🧬 🤖 ⚙️ Alex Iskold from 2048 Ventures for visiting the Cornell Tech startup studio and digging into GTM and customer funnel methodologies. The feedback from our students on the session was awesome. Personally, I enjoyed grilling Alex about his founder journey - thankfully he's such a good sport 😺

If you're not doing your taxes tonight... join Sherveen Mashayekhi and I for The Feedback Loop, a weekly live event in #NYC dedicated to helping early stage founders find the essence of their pitch. Each week 12 founders will have 1 minute to pitch their hearts out! We will provide plenty of feedback, tips on storytelling and of course, an audience choice award. No slides, No script and lots of fun - I promise. Here’s what some of the participating founders had to say: 🙌🏽 “There's no better opportunity that I have seen where you are given such a great opportunity to put your idea out there.” 🙌🏽 “The Feedback Loop was incredibly valuable! We walked out more confident in our idea through the process of crafting our pitch.” 🙌🏽 “This was a brilliant event. I can definitely recommend others get out there and pitch – go for it!” Tonight April 15th at 6:30pm ET - sign up to pitch or join the audience: https://lu.ma/ab55jdw8

How bad are things at Seed stage for founders? Yes the whole capital stack is backed up but the reality is that the market is opening up and deals are getting done. There’s a lot to be optimistic about 💪🏼 Loved joining this lively discussion with Nate Williams, Kirby Winfield and Samir Kaji who shared their unique perspectives on the Venture Unlocked pod. https://lnkd.in/ef9Dwh8f?

Good news for founders, venture capitalists are actively deploying according to the new Kauffman Fellows Sentiment Survey. In fact, 53% of the VCs surveyed expect to deploy more capital this year than they did in 2023, which is great news for the ecosystem. A few others highlights: ✔ 55% feel that the macro economic climate will improve ✔ 40% expect longer fundraising timelines ✔ 62% believe that Sovereigns will invest more into the asset class My own hot take is that this is a long long game, especially as a pre-seed investor, so stay steady and keep deploying in good times and in bad 💪🏽 🔗 Download the Full Report: https://bit.ly/3U6SbLa

The best way to improve your startup pitch is to practice. Seems obvious but I'd estimate that half of the pitches I hear suffer from these simple omissions: ✔ lack of a crisp message that is not overly complicated ✔ no clear narrative or story arc, jumps around randomly ✔ no clear vision / mission expressed - doesn't feel inspirational ✔ vitamin product not a pain killer - what's really different? ✔ lack of founder / market fit Lots of other stuff is important of course (like the substance of the pitch) but these are table-stakes in any great pitch. So, on Monday April 8th in NYC, join me and Sherveen Mashayekhi (one the best pitchers that I know) to practice your pitch and receive real time feedback. I can guarantee a lively and fun spirited event 🙌🏽 Sign up ➡ https://lnkd.in/ed8ctj9t

Should you create a financial model if you’re a pre-seed company? Turns out that this is a highly controversial topic where smart and passionate people disagree (especially on Twitter!) Some feel that a model is useful to help understand the drivers of the business, while others think that the inputs are random and founders should instead focus on finding PMF. I never went to business school and I’m no Excel wiz but I do think that building a model, even a basic one, helps accomplishes a few things: ✔ Stress-test the assumptions behind the business. ✔ Understand the concurrent growth trajectory and associated costs ✔ Provides a basic sense of unit economics  ✔ Establishes a goal-setting framework for the team to rally around   ✔ Give confidence to potential investors Do I think that a pre-seed company really needs to build out complex 5 year projections? Nah. This is not meant as a math exercise, this is about business objectives and strategy.

Inspiring is the word I'd use to describe the Supermomos Women’s Leadership Summit at the NYSE yesterday. The talks touched on brand building and leadership with a real eye towards optimism and future personal growth. And of course, my panel was all about fundraising and the current tech environment💰 But the highlight for me was hearing and meeting Pauline Brown renowned leader in the luxury goods industry. Her book, Aesthetic Intelligence, talks about her experiences at LVMH, Neiman Marcus Group and The Carlyle Group - and it's a page turner. One surprising insight she shared was that she'd rather back a messy company with a super strong brand than a strong company with a meh brand. That was new to me as someone who doesn't invest in many consumer focused companies. Edwina Yeo 杨时恩 is building a unique community that I'm grateful to be a small part of, can't wait for next year! 🙌🏽 Always amazing to see some of my favorites builders: Christine Schindler, Claire Coder, Sheila Lirio Marcelo, Jennifer Tegan, Agatha Kluk, Robin Li, Suneera Madhani, Allison Schneider and Aissata M.B. Camara #womensleadership #everywhereventures #femalefounders

On a snowy day in NYC, I sat down with Rachel Johnson to talk all things venture capital and fundraising. Perhaps my most controversial perspective is around using VC for rocket fuel rather than initial startup capital, but you can let me know...