VC Minute
Quick advice to help startup founders fundraise better. Founders, do you feel like you're fundraising on an uneven playing field? You are. The VC minute is here to help you level up. Venture capitalists navigate pitches and negotiate investments every day. They know the ins and outs and are up-to-date on the current funding environment. But as a founder, it may be your first foray into fundraising, and no matter how much success you've had in other areas nothing truly prepares you for the fundraising journey. The VC Minute was created to help founders close this gap. While it may seem like securing an investment at the seed stage is mostly driven by luck, there are steps founders can take to increase the odds of successfully raising a round. And that's what we're going to cover on the VC Minute through a series of short episodes. I'm going to share with you insights to help navigate the seed stage financing dynamics. I'm Rich Maloy, Managing Partner at SpringTime Ventures with 25 years business experience a dozen years in the startup ecosystem. I've applied my experience from sales, finance, and venture investing, to help startup founders fundraise better.
- Update frequency
- every day
- Average duration
- 2 minutes
- Episodes
- 275
- Years Active
- 2022 - 2024
052. Timeboxing
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Kicking off a focus on founder mental health, my first suggestion is Timebox. You'll hear me say this all the time: time is our most precious asset. Maybe a cor…
051. Kicking Off Season 2
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Kicking off VC Minute Season 2 with a quick update on the market (grab the market analysis report here) and ready to roll with advice from guests as well as yours…
Season 1 | Part 2 | Episodes 26-50
Text your thoughts directly to Rich.
VC Minute is quick advice to help startup founders fundraise better.
This is Part 2 of the Season 1 complication, covering Episodes 26-50.
With short episodes—1-2 …
Season 1 | Part 1 | Episodes 1-25
Text your thoughts directly to Rich.
VC Minute is quick advice to help startup founders fundraise better.
This is Part 1 of the Season 1 complication, covering Episodes 1-25.
With short episodes—1-2…
050. VC Validation
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If you're struggling to raise venture capital, take heart. It does not invalidate your business. If you truly want to build this business, then you must focus on …
049. Learn From Every Pitch
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The vast majority of investors you pitch will pass, so use the time to ask for input & feedback. Ironically, it reflects better on you to ask questions than just …
048. Building Investors' Confidence In You
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SpringTime's Allyson Plosko shares three things that erode investors' confidence in founders, and actionable steps that you can take for each to build, rather tha…
047. Pausing the Treadmill
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What happens when you miss your milestones? Can you pause the VC Treadmill? Of course. Here's how one company did it.
About SpringTime Ventures
SpringTime Ventures…
046. Sell The Vision
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My friend Eric Marcoullier, multiple-exit founder, coaches startup CEOs now, has a great post that I riff on today: A CEO Has Three Responsibilities. I'd argue t…
045. No Is the Second Best Answer
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As you come into the close of your round, a classic sales tactic and can be used effectively as you wrap up it up: the takeaway.
Thanks again to Startup of the Ye…
044. Dribs and Drabs
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Another fundraising red flag is the "dribs and drabs" round. With this, you don't know if you'll have enough capital to make those key hires or fully execute you…
043. TAM Defined
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The massive returns needed to succeed in venture capital is one of the key drivers of the TAM obsession. Bigger markets offer bigger opportunities for growth and …
042. Questions for Investors About Risk
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Building a business is extremely hard. There are risks all along the way. I dig in on this and offer some questions to ask investors to gauge their risk assessmen…
041. Too Risky
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We invest in risky businesses, which means that we feel we've got a good grasp on the odds of different types of outcomes, including a zero return outcome. When …
040. Series A in 6 Months
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I asked my teammates for their least favorite thing to hear from startups and it's, "six months after this seed round, we're going to raise a Series A."
About Sp…
039. FOMO - The Subtle Knife
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FOMO, in the VC Minute playbook, is a subtle knife that cuts through silence to elevate you in a fund's process.
Listen to me debate and dig in on FOMO with Mike L…
038. Conservative
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Don't say your pro forma financials are "conservative." They are complete fabrications! And that's OK.
About SpringTime Ventures
SpringTime Ventures seeds high-gro…
037. Bridge Round
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If you call your funding round a "Bridge Round" it puts you in a defensive position. Listen to today's #VCMinute for what you should say instead.
About SpringTime …
036. Talking About Exits
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This week I'm covering things NOT to say to investors, starting with... exits. Talking about an exit strategy at the seed stage is ridiculous.
About SpringTime Ven…
035. Back to the Pool Party
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It's a Friday in July, and do you know, what's the perfect thing for a hot summer day? A pool party! All the reasons investors say "no" can wash away when the po…