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.

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VC Minute

173. Season 4 Kick Off

February 05, 2024 • Rich Maloy • Season 4 • Episode 173

0:00 | 2:59

Text your thoughts directly to Rich.

Welcome back to another season of VC Minute! We are pleased to introduce our sponsor for, AVL Growth Partners. And I talk (briefly) about the #1 thing you should be asking Seed phase investors right now.

About AVL Growth Partners
AVL Growth Partners, founded in 2009, is the leading fractional Finance and Accounting firm supporting organizations in pivoting from growth to scale. AVL brings an experienced team of CFOs, Controllers, and Accountants to your organization, delivering transparent, strategic actions for short and long-term success. Transform your financial approach affordably with AVL, supporting companies coast to coast - get to know AVL Growth Partners at avlgrowth.com. (Sponsored)

About SpringTime Ventures
SpringTime Ventures seeds high-growth startups in healthcare, fintech & insurtech, and logistics & supply chain. We look for founders with domain expertise, forging a path with a truly transformative technology. We only invest in software-based businesses in the USA. We bring a people-focused approach, work quickly, and reach conviction independently. Our initial check size is $600k. You can learn more about us and our approach.

Rich 0:01

This is Rich Maloy with SpringTime Ventures, bringing you the VC Minute, quick advice to help startup founders fundraise better. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another year and another season of VC Minute. I want to start out by acknowledging that season three was a little scattershot, and I will do better with season four. I have a lot of great content lined up. A number of amazing people who I recorded last year that were going to release their episodes this year. And I have some commentary on the market after three years of absolute turbulence. I definitely want to get back to sharing my advice and my insights to help you navigate this startup market. But first, one change for this season is the addition of a sponsor. When I decided it was time to bring a sponsor on, I had a very short list of organizations that I wanted to work with. And thankfully, my first choice agreed to support the work we're doing here at the VC Minute. I can confidently say that our sponsor is a financial game changer. They've been a trusted financial ally providing invaluable insights to several of our portfolio companies. I've known them through the startup community for over a decade and they have a stellar reputation. So who is our game-changer, helping growth companies with their success? AVL Growth Partners. AVL provides fractional finance and accounting services to companies pivoting from growth to scale. Outsourcing your finance and accounting function is a no brainer for startups. And you need to work with a firm that specializes in high growth companies. Founded in 2009. AVL has fueled the success of over 1200 early stage companies. Specializing in raising capital, M&A, financial modeling, scaling, and bringing financial transparency and a disciplined approach to the companies they work with. AVL works seamlessly as a member of your team and has the experience to support both VC-backed and bootstrapped companies. At AVL Growth, they have a mindful growth approach and a proven methodology that are pivotal in making the right moves at the right time. Ready to elevate your financial game? Ready to elevate your company? Ready to move from growth to scale? Visit AVL Growth Partners today. Head to AVLgrowth.com and explore how they can be pivotal to your growth. AVL Growth Partners. Your success. Their expertise. Real quick before I wrapped for today. I do want to impress one thing upon you right now and I'm going to do it very quickly and then we'll come back to it later in the season. The single most important thing that you should be asking investors right now is about follow-ons. How do they follow on? Who have they followed on with? What's their follow on allocation? What's their follow on strategy? This is the most important thing in the seed phase right now. You need to add that to your investor questions immediately. More on that to come.

Rich Maloy

Host