Happy Friday Fam,

Welcome back to Napkin Notes: the only startup newsletter that genuinely sends gift ideas we think founders will love, with no affiliate link benefit for us in exchange. We’re like the Robin Hood of Startups. You can thank us later .

Since most of you are being blasted with 100s of Black Friday messages, we’re keeping today short and sweet.

• The short: a bunch of techy gifts

• The sweet: some memes to make you laugh

Let’s dive in amigo.

If we missed a gift idea you love, hit reply and let us know. Cuz we’re behind on Secret Santa gift ideas for the team and could use the help 😅 

🎁 Gift Ideas for Founders

📚 Book Reccos by Tiny Founder, Andrew Wilkinson:

• 1/ Amazon Unbound by Brad Stone

• 2/ Losing The Signal by Jacquire McNish

• 3/ Profit First by Mike Michalowicz

• 4/ Rework by Jason Fried

• 5/ The Power Law by Sebastian Mallaby

🎁 Gift Suggestions by Maven Cofounder, Wes Kao

• 6/ Bombas gripper socks

• 7/ Uni Jetstream Sport ballpoint pen, 0.7 mm

• 8/ Lemon juicer with an attached container

• 9/ LL Bean flannel sheets and flannel duvet cover

• 10/ Pottery Barn faux sheepskin rug

• 11/ YouTube Premium

🎄 Gadgets by Content Creator, Lenny Rachitsky

• 12/ Aarke stainless-steel hot water kettle: Plastic-free, beautiful, and fast. I love it.

• 13/ HOTO portable tire inflator: You’ll never want to inflate your bike tires, car tires, or balls any other way. HOTO has all kinds of other cool stuff too.

• 14/ Daylight: Kindle meets iPad meets laptop. Elegant and practical.

• 15/ Shure MV7 USB mic: A nice gift for that friend who’s thinking about starting a podcast—or is stuck on Zoom calls all-day

👀 Meet These Founders That Pitched

• Payaway

• Substream

• Evercopy

• XRAY

If you're interested in connecting with any of the startups that pitched, now is the time.

The deal portal will close soon, so reach out within the next couple of days. You can learn more about each startup and make contact here

Thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to making Happy Pitchgiving a success. We look forward to bringing you more events that inspire and connect our vibrant community.

📰 Meet Our Pals at Bubble 

BubbleCon’s behind us. But Bubble (the platform) is still here to stay.

If you missed it, look up “BubbleCon” on X or Linkedin to see people’s favourite moments.

And if you’re still curious about what the heck Bubble is, learn more by clicking below.

👀 BFCM Laughs

Have an amazing weekend.

P.S. Liked the deep-dive? Forward the newsletter to a startup bestie.

Happy Friday Fam,

Welcome back to Napkin Notes: the only startup newsletter you read that won’t bombard you with black Friday deals next week.

Yesterday, we hosted one heck of a Pitchgiving event. And if you missed it, we’ll only forgive you if you watch the recording and tell us your favourite part.

We had

• over 350 RSVPs,

• 4 killer startups

• 3 amazing VCs

• and an event host that puts SNL to shame

It was a virtual pitch event for the history books.

So let’s dig into more of the goodies, shall we?

🎉 Highlights from the Event:

• Payaway: This startup garnered the most funding interest, impressing attendees with its groundbreaking approach.

• Substream, Evercopy, and XRAY: Each delivered compelling pitches, showcasing unique solutions that left the audience eager to learn more.

• Haley Bryant: Our host was nothing short of exceptional, guiding the event with charisma and insight.

• VC Panelists: A special thank you to Rio Hodges from Antler, Ahmed Mirza from Techstars, and Ashley Balla from Haloggen Ventures. Their expertise and feedback were invaluable to both the startups and attendees.

👀 Meet the Founders Before It’s Too Late:

If you're interested in connecting with any of the startups that pitched, now is the time.

The deal portal will close soon, so reach out within the next couple of days. You can learn more about each startup and make contact here

Thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to making Happy Pitchgiving a success. We look forward to bringing you more events that inspire and connect our vibrant community.

📰 Meet Our Pals at Bubble 

BubbleCon’s behind us. But Bubble (the platform) is still here to stay.

If you missed it, look up “BubbleCon” on X or Linkedin to see people’s favourite moments.

And if you’re still curious about what the heck Bubble is, learn more by clicking below.

Have an amazing weekend.

P.S. Liked the deep-dive? Forward the newsletter to a startup bestie.

Happy Friday Fam,

Hope you’ve been enjoying Zuck’s latest Spotify drop as much as we have.

Welcome back to Napkin Notes: the only newsletter founders trust to give them the latest and greatest from the startup world of the last week.

On deck this week…

🍽 Today’s Menu

• 🍿 T-Pain and Zuck’s collab of the century

• 🍻 Tom Holland dropped a new non alc beer co (article)

• 👂 Capital Department founders are still raising money

• 👀 There’s a new president in the USA

• 🎨 Art Basel event going down

• 💸 RSVP to our Happy Pitchgiving event happening Nov 19th

• 🥁 RSVP to MARL Accelerator’s pitch event Nov 21st

• 🤣 Memes of the week

• 🎶 Listen of the week

T-Pain and Zuck’s Collab of the Century

In case you’ve been living under a rock this week, Zuck’s latest anniversary gift for his wife took the world by storm.

The gift was a collab with T-Pain to write and launch a cover of “Get Low” by Lil Jon on Spotify.

Some context from our pals at Rolling Stone: “Zuckerberg cut the cover in honor of his wife, Priscilla Chan since “‘Get Low’ was playing when Zuck first met Priscilla at a college party. Every year they listen to it on their dating anniversary.

So naturally we assume our Kernal readers are wondering, “How can I make my side projects go viral like Zuck’s? Here’s thoughts that come to our mind that Zuck has been quoted saying in the past:

• Keep It Simple – "The biggest mistake I made was not learning how to scale things earlier." (2010, Zuck). Focus on clear, easy-to-understand messages that resonate.

• Experiment Relentlessly – "Am I doing the most important thing I could be doing?" (2015, Zuck). Test, learn, and adapt your marketing strategy.

• Create Shareable Value – "Nothing influences people more than a recommendation from a trusted friend." (2016, Zuck). Make content that people want to share with their network.

So there you go. Give ‘em a try this next week.

Capital Department Founders Are Still Raising

We’re still getting emails from folks that missed the highly coveted Capital Department pitch event on Oct 24th. So to help out, here’s some TL;DR info:

• Event recording is here

• Total interest raised was $7.16M

• The Startups that pitched

  • Pirouette — Reimagining life-saving injections for the $750B market

  • Jupiter — Turning food inspiration into shopping action - an $846B market opportunity

  • Health Care Originals — AI-powered respiratory care for asthma & COPD patients - an $83B market

  • AptDeco — YC-backed resale-as-a-service platform for the $58B furniture market

Or request an intro by clicking any of the button below.

Heading to Miami for Art Basel? 

If so, join Plain Sight, The Players Company and a room full of former athletes for The Sports, Tech, and Venture Experience -  an unforgettable experience curated specifically for growth-stage founders, VCs, and sports figures.

Through company pitches, informative panels, and curated networking, this event gives guests the ability to gain new insights into markets, find deal flow opportunities, and make lasting connections.

Request a ticket here: www.sportstechandventure.com

📰 Meet Our Pals at Bubble 

BubbleCon’s behind us. But Bubble (the platform) is still here to stay.

If you missed it, look up “BubbleCon” on X or Linkedin to see people’s favourite moments.

And if you’re still curious about what the heck Bubble is, learn more by clicking below.

 🥁 Wanna Watch Our Next Event?

Have an amazing weekend.

P.S. Liked the deep-dive? Forward the newsletter to a startup bestie.

Happy Friday Founder Fam,

Hope you didn’t sneak too many Reese's Peanut Butter Cups last night 🍫

Welcome back to Napkin Notes: the only newsletter that instead of enjoying chocolate, researches the origin story of the #1 selling brand to try and convince the CEO to invest in our startup…

Some other things on our mind today…

• We just locked in Jesse Draper as a speaker for our next pitch event. But we’re still looking for a few more founders/VCs to speak.

  • Apply here if you’re a founder

  • Email us here if you’re a VC that wants to speak

• Our friend, Sharon from Health Care Originals has drummed up over $1M of investor interest. Here’s why we think she crushed it:

  • amazing video on her pitch page

  • 5+ media links to validate her credibility

  • compelling deck

  • super relevent founder background

  • alumni of Capital Department

Meet Jess Draper, founding partner of Halogen Ventures, is a leading early-stage investor in consumer tech and B2B software with female founders. A fourth-generation VC and Emmy-nominated host, she champions women's investment and innovation. Recognized as a top female investor, Draper actively supports diversity through various boards and initiatives.

🍽 Today’s Menu Items

• ☕️ Meet Jesse Draper, GP of Halogen Ventures (done)

• 👂 Why Sharon from Capital Department raised $1M (done)

• 🚩 5 founder red flags to avoid

• 💸 RSVP to our next pitch event

• 🤣 Memes of the week

P.S. One of our last pitch panellists, LJ, was just featured in TechCrunch 👀

📰 Meet Our Pals at Bubble 

BubbleCon’s behind us. But Bubble (the platform) is still here to stay.

If you missed it, look up “BubbleCon” on X or Linkedin to see people’s favourite moments.

And if you’re still curious about what the heck Bubble is, learn more by clicking below.

🚀 5 Red Flags to Avoid In Your Deck 🚩

Here’s a truth bomb for ya: VCs genuinely want to trust you with their money to build your startup.

The harder part to accept: it’s on you to ease their worries and show them they’ll get their cash back (plus some extra)…

Enter the pitch deck —your one-shot wonder that tells your entire business story.

With investors sifting through 100s of pitches / month, making yours stand out is crucial.

Instead of stressing about every detail, let’s focus on the red flags to dodge

🚩 Common Pitch Deck Pitfalls to Avoid:

1. Drowning in Detailed Projections: Investors are savvy; they know those numbers are more fiction than fact. Instead of a crystal ball, share a solid understanding of your business model and some rough market size calculations. They like honesty.

2. Ignoring the Competition: Counterintuitive but true—recently funded competitors signal a thriving market. Highlight how you stand out from the pack. What unique advantage do you have? Let them know why your strategy is the winning ticket.

3. Overthinking Your Deck: Spend your time building your startup, not obsessing over slide design. Simplicity rules. Some of the best decks are just plain black text on a white background. Unless your brand identity is your secret sauce, keep it straightforward.

4. Not Prepping Investors: Remember when Jeff Bezos made reading memos a must? Set your investors up for success by sending your deck beforehand. The more they know, the better the questions—and the more productive the meeting.

5. Overloading Each Slide: Clarity is key. Each slide should deliver one clear idea. Supporting evidence? Sure, but make that primary takeaway jump off the screen. Investors spend mere minutes on decks—make every second count.

6. Making It Lengthy: Your deck should be a sales tool, not a novel. Keep it short and snappy. If you can communicate an idea in a single slide, do it. And don’t forget to add a go-to-market strategy; it’s crucial.

📚 Homework:

• Review your deck

• Make sure all the red flags are out

• Request to pitch at our next event

 🥁 Wanna Watch Our Next Event?

Have an amazing weekend.

P.S. Liked the deep-dive? Forward the newsletter to a startup bestie.

Happy Friday Founder Fam,

So how ‘bout that pitch event yesterday? 😮‍💨

Let’s just say, we slept pretty damn good after seeing $6m of interest drummed up for those founders.

Welcome back to Napkin Notes: the only newsletter that scores free entry at the pumpkin patch because the person working the gate loves our content 🎃 #truestory

Since it’s Friday morning and you’ve worked your tail off all week, we’re gonna keep today light and fun. Which means:

• sharing the high-level wins of yesterday’s Capital Deptarment event

• dishing you some classy memes

• and reminding you to RSVP to our next event

Sound fair?

Let’s boogie.

📰 Meet Our Pals at Bubble 

BubbleCon’s behind us. But Bubble (the platform) is still here to stay.

If you missed it, look up “BubbleCon” on X or Linkedin to see people’s favourite moments.

And if you’re still curious about what the heck Bubble is, learn more by clicking below.

💸 Top Wins of Yesterday’s Pitch Event

Yesterday’s event with Capital Department was all the right kinda awsome:

• 700+ RSVPs

• 30+ Intros

• loads of comments

• and plentyyyyy of emails from VCs saying they were impressed with the pitches

What’s next?

Just for you to indicate if you’d like to meet the founder in case ou missed the live pitch.

But in all seriousness, huge thanks again to Capital Dept for co-hosting this one with us. If you don’t know who the

y are, add ‘em to your research list.

TL;DR: Capital Department’s a fundraising advisory firm that helps talented founders unlock capital from retail and institutional investors. With $150M raised to date, they’ve earned some serious street cred.

🎃 Memes of the Week

 🥁 Wanna Attend Our Next Event?

Have an amazing weekend.

P.S. Liked the deep-dive? Forward the newsletter to a startup bestie.

Save a Seat to Watch

Happy Friday party people,

Welcome back to Napkin Notes: the only newsletter that adds more memes to apologize to its readers for sending later in the day.

Since it’s Friday afternoon and you’ve had a hell of a week, we’re gonna keep today light and fun. Which means:

• showing you funny memes to make you laugh

• and reminding you to RSVP to our next pitch event

Sound fair?

Good. Then buckle up.

👀 Swipes To Make You Laugh or Think

Reply and tell us which one was your fav.

Now, moving on to more “corporate” topics.

 🥁 Wanna Hear Some YC Alumni Pitch?

What do you get when you mix together:

• 4 big-name startups

• a bunch of smart investors on a panel

• and 500 people that have already RSVP’d?

A kick-ass pitch event that you should be at.

That’s right.

The 4 startups pitching are:

• Pirouette 

• AptDeco

• Jupiter

• Healthcare Originals

And we’d be nothing without the help of our pals at Capital Department. So big kudos to them. They are a fundraising advisory firm which helps founders unlock capital). They’ve helped put this kick-ass pitch event together so we’re jazzed to co-host it with them

So, what’s it gonna be?

You RSVP’ing or what…

📰 Our pals at Bubble are kind of a BIG deal

BubbleCon’s behind us. But Bubble (the platform) is still here to stay.

If you missed it, look up “BubbleCon” on X or Linkedin to see people’s favourite moments.

And if you’re still curious about what the heck Bubble is, learn more by clicking below.

Have an amazing weekend.

P.S. Liked the deep-dive? Forward the newsletter to a bestie.

Happy Friday party people,

Welcome back to Napkin Notes: the only newsletter Sam Altman takes a break from his sauna and cold plunge cycle to read 📰

Since it’s Friday afternoon and you’ve had a hell of a week, we’re gonna keep today light and fun. Which means:

• showing you funny memes

• and reminding you to RSVP to our next pitch event

Sound fair?

Good.

😏 Swipes To Make You Smile or Think

Reply and tell us which one was your fav.

Now, moving onto more “corporate” topics.

 🥁 Wanna Hear Some YC Alumni Pitch?

What do you get when you mix together:

• 4 big-name startups

• a bunch of smart investors on a panel

• and 500 people that have already RSVP’d?

A kick-ass pitch event that you should be at.

That’s right.

The 4 startups pitching are:

• Pirouette 

• AptDeco

• Jupiter

• Healthcare Originals

And we’d be nothing without the help of our pals at Capital Department. So big kudos to them. They are a fundraising advisory firm which helps founders unlock capital). They’ve helped put this kick-ass pitch event together so we’re jazzed to co-host it with them

So, what’s it gonna be?

You coming to the event or what…

📰 Our pals at Bubble are kind of a BIG deal

BubbleCon’s behind us. But Bubble (the platform) is still here to stay.

If you missed it, look up “BubbleCon” on X or Linkedin to see people’s favourite moments.

And if you’re still curious about what the heck Bubble is, learn more by clicking below.

Have an amazing weekend.

P.S. Liked the deep-dive? Forward the newsletter to a bestie.

Happy Friday party people,

Welcome back to Napkin Notes: the only newsletter that dresses up for Halloween. You read that right This year, we’re going as a popcorn kernel. How original eh? 🍿 

If you’re trick or treatin’ in SF, slide into our DMs. We’ll see if we can make time for a selfie.

Today, we’re digging into the Capital Department’s upcoming pitchtoberfest event

If you’ve been feeling left out of our accredited-only events, this event is your prime time to break into VC.

You’re gonna wanna top up your coffee though. There’s a few cliffhangers today.

🗞 Menu for Today

• 💸 Watch the pitch event recap from last week

• 🗳 RSVP to our next pitch event happening October 24th

• 🎃 All 4 of the founders pitching are YC alumni

• 🧼 Bubble sneak peek from their big conference

• 👀 Swipes of the week

Meet AptDeco – the startup redefining the $702B furniture resale market

AptDeco is changing how people buy and sell furniture. With over $84M in furniture sold and 500K+ users, AptDeco is a leading platform in the $702B furniture market. AptDeco partners with major brands like West Elm and Pottery Barn, managing everything from listings to delivery with a fully integrated platform that’s easy and sustainable. Backed by YC, Comcast Ventures, HearstLab and more, their mission is resonating with over $1.3M raised in their latest round.

Invest in a sustainable future

 🥁 Wanna Invest in YC Alumni?

You know the logo but do you know their alumni raising money from angels/emerging VCs?

Didn’t think so.

That’s why we’re here to help.

4 YC alumni are taking the stage later this month and we’re encouraging all of our readers to RSVP and watch. Why? Because:

• this event is meant for new VCs

• the event is powered through WeFundr

• the event is virtual and free to attend

Don’t worry, we’ll announce who the founders are shortly. The more important thing is that you save your calendar to be there.

Okay okay, we’ll announce them now. Here they are:

So, what’s it gonna be?

You coming to the event to see these startups kick ass or what?

📰 Special Message from Bubble

BubbleCon was an event for the history books! We loved tuning in online to watch all the talks.

If you missed it, look up “BubbleCon” on X or Linkedin to see people’s favourite moments.

And if you’re still curious about what the heck Bubble is, learn more here

🎟 RSVP to Our Next Event

👀 Swipe of The Week

Can one of our readers please build this already?

Have an amazing weekend.

P.S. Liked the deep-dive? Forward the newsletter to a bestie.

Happy Friday,

Wow is all we can say after yesterday’s pitch-off. 

Welcome back to Napkin Notes: the only newsletter that’s able to pull together 4 insanely talented investors, 4 incredible founders and one heck of an MC for a pitch day.

Some big thanks again to:

• our lovely host, Rachele Smalls

• the 4 kick ass startups that stole the show

• and our insanely talented VCs (more on them below)

Today, we’re digging into how the heck the startups raised $7M from 500 viewers.

Buckle up. It’s a doozie and a half 😮‍💨

🗞 Menu for Today

• 💸 Watch the event recap from yesterday

• 🗳 RSVP to our next pitch event happening October 24th

• 👀 Swipes of the week

📰 Special Message from Bubble

Something big is going down next week…

Our friends at Bubble are bringing together thousands of developers and founders at BubbleCon Oct 1–2 in NYC. Join in person or virtually to learn more about how to build and launch applications without writing code.

Learn more about by registering to BubbleCon here.

 🥁 Recap of our Gaming Pitch Event

Yesterday’s event was jammmm packed:

• We had 622 RSVPs

• $7M in investor interest

• 100s of comments mid-event

• And tons of VC intros flow in

🍿 Meet the 4 Startups That Pitched

Congrats again to all the startups that pitched on stage:

• Kub Technology: Unified SDK Integration powered by AI.

• Overplay: Make videos into games instantly -- no code necessary

• AvatarOS: The best avatar generation technology in the world

• GameTree: The Best LFG Game App

And the VCs on stage:

• Dan Bunting who’s the Former Co-Head of Treyarch Studios & Call of Duty Game Director

• Dani Tran from Konvoy

• Jason Bailey from East Side Games Group (TSX)

• Stephen O’Brien from Mantis VC

• And our lovely host, Raechele Smalls

Wanna see the event recording? Click below.

🎟 RSVP to Our Next Event

👀 Swipes of The Week

Have an amazing weekend.

P.S. Liked the deep-dive? Forward the newsletter to a bestie.

Happy Friday,

Welcome back to Napkin Notes: the only newsletter that’s able to turn an insanely helpful tweet into a fully-fledged break-down article to your email inbox within 24 hours.

Today, we’re digging into how to raise a seed round in 2024. Why?

• b/c it’s on most of your bucket lists

• a person on Twitter just went ham on spilling all the hacks

• and the 4 startups pitching Sept 26th could use the extra “umph” to rock the stage next week

Time to toss your feet up, pour the peppermint tea and dive in.

Also, one little side idea to run your way before we hit the menu.

🗞 Menu for Today

• 💸 Request to invest in Kernal’s next round

• 🥁 How to actually raise a seed round in 2024

• 🗳 RSVP to our next pitch event (featuring call of duty founder)

• 👀 Swipe of the week

 🥁 How to actually raise a seed round in 2024

24 hours ago, Lenny posted a tweet on X that went viral in the founder world. At the time of writing this, it has over 1,000 bookmarks and 300,000 views. And it’s getting traction b/c it’s insanely helpful.

In the post, Lenny takes the advice of industry titans and breaks down their advice on:

• how much money founders should raise

• what founders need to prove investors before they raise

• and how to maximize the odds of raising a perfect seed round

We boiled the long essay down into 10 points, but if you wanna read the full version, you can find it here.

In Lenny’s words….

• Plan Your Raise: Dedicate 2-3 weeks to strategize your fundraising, connecting with multiple investors to create urgency and interest.

• Research Investors: Compile a target list and investigate each investor’s background, check sizes, and investment history before your pitch.

• Prepare Materials: Create a polished deck or memo highlighting the problem, market, and your unique solution, tailored for each investor.

• Get Warm Introductions: Leverage strong connections for introductions to investors, prioritizing influential referrals to enhance credibility and interest.

• Practice Your Pitch: Present as your best self. Prepare and rehearse your pitch, focusing on clear, confident communication and handling questions.

• Start Small for Proof: Open a SAFE with smaller angels to build capital and social proof before approaching larger investors.

• Follow Up Sparingly: Don’t chase investors; follow up occasionally with positive updates to maintain interest without appearing needy.

• Maintain Mystery: Keep discussions vague regarding other potential investors to maintain allure and intrigue around your fundraising efforts.

• Know Your Term Sheet: A verbal commitment isn’t binding; ensure you have a signed term sheet or SAFE to secure funds.

• Close the Round: Funds aren’t secured until wired. Set clear closing dates and keep all parties focused on those timelines.

Some helpful links to save:

• great spreadsheet of a seed fundraising model

• nice timeline of dates to plan for a seed fundraise

• a handy spreadsheet to manage your seed investor outreach 

• Sequoia’s template for a great pitch deck

• YC’s template for a great pitch deck

• Rippling’s template of a great memo

Wanna read Lenny’s full article? Click below

🍿 Meet the 4 Startups Pitching Next Week

Meet our startups on stage:

• Kub Technology: Unified SDK Integration powered by AI.

• Overplay: Make videos into games instantly -- no code necessary

• AvatarOS: The best avatar generation technology in the world

• GameTree: The Best LFG Game App

And the VCs on stage:

• Dan Bunting who’s the Former Co-Head of Treyarch Studios & Call of Duty Game Director

• Jason Bailey from East Side Games Group (TSX)

• Stephen O’Brien from Mantis VC

• And our host will be announced shortly…

Sound like your thing?

📰 Special Message from Bubble

Ever wanted a good reason to visit NYC in the fall? This is your chance.

Our friends at Bubble are bringing together thousands of developers and founders at BubbleCon Oct 1–2 in NYC. Join in person or virtually to learn more about how to build and launch applications without writing code.

Learn more about by registering to BubbleCon here.

👀 Swipe of The Week

Have an amazing weekend.

P.S. Liked the deep-dive? Forward the newsletter to a bestie.

Happy Friday,

Welcome back to Napkin Notes: the only newsletter that remembers it’s “back to school week” so we throw in an extra dose of memes to keep parents happy.

Today, we’re doing a deep dive into gaming VCs. Why?

• b/c it’s a really interesting category

• there are some big underground $$$ in the space

• and a bunch of you have hit us up to talk about this

• we have a big pitch event coming up in a few weeks

So today’s your lucky day.

Time to buckle up, pour the French press and toss on the slippers. ☕️

📰 Special Message from Bubble

Ever wanted a good reason to visit NYC in the fall? This is your chance.

Our friends at Bubble are bringing together thousands of developers and founders at BubbleCon Oct 1–2 in NYC. Join in person or virtually to learn more about how to build and launch applications without writing code.

Learn more about by registering to BubbleCon here.

🗞 Menu for Today

• 🎮 Top 10 VC in Gaming and how to get a hold of them

• 🗳 Apply to pitch on stage at our next gaming event

• 🍿 Next Gaming Event to speak at or RSVP to watch

• 💡 August 29 Event Recamp

• 👀 Memes of the week

🎮 Top Gaming VCs and How to Pitch Them

On the off chance you’ve been hustling away at your startup and haven’t heard, several prominent VC firms have launched substantial funds specifically focused on gaming.

• a16z secured $600 million for its 2nd gaming fund in April

• Bitkraft Ventures launched its 3rd major fund in the same month for $275m

• Griffin Gaming Partners is seeking $500 million for its 3rd flagship fund

• and more are popping up all over

Some more data that’s compelling is the fact that startups are raising big sums of money to go solve big issues:

• In June, k-ID, a startup focused on gaming safety and privacy for children, secured $45 million in Series A funding; their 3rd funding round in 9 months led by Andreessen Horowitz and Lightspeed.

• Earlier in the year, Build A Rocket Boy, a game development studio, raised $110 million in Series D funding.

• And Zentry, a specialist in Web3 gaming, raised $140 million in April.

The writing is on the wall. Gaming VCs have backed up their trucks with money and are looking to dump it on smart and capable startup founders. Is that you?

If so, today’s a gold mine for ya. We’re gonna share the top 10 VC names (according to our pals at Pitchbook), why they’re a big deal and how you can get a hold of them. Let’s jump to it.

1. Bitkraft Ventures

   • Context: Bitkraf’s backed big names like Fortnite-maker Epic Games and the developer of streaming and social platform Discord. The firm recently expanded into Asian gaming markets and is raising $275 million for its third flagship fund.

   • Investments: 118

   • Deal size: $6.8M

   • Portfolio companies include: Discord, Inworld, Epic Games

   • Website: www.bitkraft.vc

   • Founder of fund: Jens Hilgers

   • Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/jenshilgers

   • Email: pitch@bitkraft.vc 

2. Shima Capital

   • Context: Focused heavily on Web3 gaming and the metaverse, Shima Capital invests in startups across all stages.

   • Investments: 100

   • Deal size: $3.8M

   • Portfolio companies include: Gunzilla, Jambo, Community Gaming

   • Website: shima.capital

   • Founder of fund: Yida Gao

   • LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/yidagao

   • How to pitch them: fill out this form

3. Andreessen Horowitz

   • Context: Andreessen Horowitz, one of the largest VC firms in the world, most recently raised $600 million for its second gaming fund.

   • Investments: 98

   • Deal size: $15M

   • Portfolio companies include: Mountaintop, Kaedim, Carry1st

   • Website: a16z.com

   • Founder of a16z gaming fund: Jonathan Lai

   • LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jlai84

   • How to pitch them: a16z.com/games 

4. Bonus: Mantis VC

   • Context: Mantis VC, an early-stage venture fund in partnership with The Chainsmokers.

   • Investments: 100+

   • Deal size: $1M

   • Portfolio companies include: Superbloom, Mojo, Stardust

   • Website: www.mantisvc.com

   • Founder of fund: Milan Koch, Drew Taggart, Jeffrey Evans, and Alex Pall

   • LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-o-brien-04b171154

   • How to pitch them: email contact@mantisvc.com 

Wanna get front of them? We’re hosting a gaming pitch event Sept 26th. And we’re inventing everyone above and more.

Apply to pitch in front of ~1,000 investors here: kern.al/apply/pitch 

🍿 Meet 4 Startups That Raised $5M

🥁 RSVP to our Next Pitch Event Sept 26th

👀 Memes of The Week

Have an amazing weekend.

P.S. Liked the deep-dive? Forward the newsletter to a bestie.

Happy Friday to everyone in Founder Mode,

Welcome back to Napkin Notes: the only startup newsletter that feels like fun when you read it. We’re 50% shark tank, 30% netflix and 20% tik tok.

And if you were living under a rock last week, you may have missed the 4 talented founders who pitched their AI startups.

Click below to hear their pitches and read their pitch decks.

📰 Special Message from Bubble

Our friends at Bubble are bringing together thousands of developers and founders at BubbleCon Oct 1–2 in NYC. Join in person or virtually to learn more about how to build and launch applications without writing code.

If you’re wondering if you can trust them, just remember that everything you see on Kernal Dealroom is built on Bubble. So we’re kinda big fans of them.

Learn more about the hype around building on Bubble by registering for a free virtual ticket to BubbleCon here.

🗞 Menu for Today

• 🗞 WTF is Founder Mode?

• 🍿 Small Recap of our August 29th Event

• 💡 How to land a VC check from Andrew Chen at a16z

• 👀 Memes of the week

🗞 Founder Mode Explained

Over the last couple days, folks like Brian Chesky, Paul Graham, Naval and more big name founders have been stirring up the pot around the term “founder mode”.

And TBH, we’re pretty jazzed to see it.

We’re building a community for founders that wanna go all in on their idea. So for those curious about where the term stems from, we did some digging for you.

In Paul Graham’s (Father of YC) words, he explains founder mode this way:

• There’s 2 ways to run a company:

  • founder mode and manager mode

  • Manager mode is well-known, taught in business schools

  • Founder mode is less understood, potentially more effective

• Characteristics of manager mode:

  • treats parts of the org chart as black boxes

  • Avoids "micromanaging"

  • Often described as "hire good people and give them room to do their jobs"

  • Can lead to hiring "professional fakers" who may damage the company

• Characteristics of founder mode:

  • Breaks the principle of CEO engaging only with direct reports

  • May involve "skip-level" meetings as the norm

  • Allows for more direct involvement across the organization

  • Example: Steve Jobs' annual retreat with 100 most important people at Apple

• Observations:

  • Founders often feel "gaslit" when told to run companies like managers

  • C-suite’s without founding experience may not understand how founders should run companies

  • C-suite executives can be skilled at "managing up"

• Future of founder mode:

  • Currently not well-documented or understood

  • May vary from company to company and change over time

  • Could lead to better company performance

  • Some successful founders may already be practicing aspects of it

• Predictions:

  • Founder mode will become better understood and documented

  • It will be more complicated but more effective than manager mode

  • Some founders previously seen as eccentric may be vindicated

  • The concept may be misused by those unable to delegate or non-founders trying to act like founders

Enough of Paul though. What do you think?

Reply and let us know if you think the return of Founder Mode should be shouted from the rooftops or if it’s overkill and a waste of time.

🍿 Meet 4 Startups That Raised $5M

🎈 Congrats Again to SymbAI for Best Pitch

Some other stats about the event:

• 💰 $5,110,000 of investor interest from the audience

• 🎟 864 RSVPs

• 🎤 4 killer pitches

• 💰 4 Amazing VCs

• 🎤 1 kick-ass MC, Haley Bryant

• 💭 And plenty of good banter in the comments section

Let’s just say, the Kernal group chat was firing on all cylinders last night. And the fact that we already have the next event planned is proof of that:

💸 Want a Check from Andrew Chen?

Andrew from A16z has been on a tear this week.

And he’s hungry to meet more founders.

Sounds up your alley? Apply here.

🥁 RSVP to our Next Pitch Event Sept 26th

Short Message from our Pals at Fundify:

Startup investing made easy

Historically, startup returns have been reserved for the wealthy. Fundify is here to change that.

Begin building your portfolio today with just $1.

👀 Meme of the Week

Have an amazing weekend.

P.S. Liked the deep-dive? Forward the newsletter to a bestie.

Happy Friday,

Anybody else blasting this song on repeat after yesterday’s event? 🎶

Damn, that was a pitch battle and a half 😮‍💨

And it’s all thanks to our amazing sponsors who have been in our corner since day one:

• Bubble: our title sponsor

• Chopshop: our video sponsor

• Kirin Kalia: our pitch coach

If you want to get in touch with any of them, send us a note and we’d be happy to make an intro.

Now, Some Quick Stats to Recap The Event:

• 💰 $5,110,000 of investor interest from the audience

• 🎟 864 RSVPs

• 🎤 4 killer pitches

• 💰 4 Amazing VCs

• 🎤 1 kick-ass MC, Haley Bryant

• 💭 And plenty of good banter in the comments section

Let’s just say, the Kernal group chat was firing on all cylinders last night. And the fact that we already have the next event planned is proof of that:

Welcome back to Napkin Notes: the only startup newsletter hosting monthly shark tank events for founders and VCs to battle it out on TV instead of long and boring email threads 😴

📰 Special Message from Bubble

Our friends at Bubble are bringing together thousands of developers and founders at BubbleCon Oct 1–2 in NYC. Join in person or virtually to learn more about how to build and launch applications without writing code.

If you’re wondering if you can trust them, just remember that everything you see on Kernal Dealroom is built on Bubble. So we’re kinda big fans of them.

Learn more about the hype around building on Bubble by registering for a free virtual ticket to BubbleCon here.

🗞 Menu for Today

• 🍿 Recap on our AI pitch event August 29th 

• 🎉 Meet the founders who pitched

• 💡 Skim their decks/investment terms

• 🗞 Quotes from speakers

• 👀 Memes of the week

🍿 Meet the 4 Startups That Raised $5M

🎈 Congrats to SymbAI for Best Pitch

• 🎉 SymbAI, founded by Ashia Livaudais, took the win for best pitch of the day including 10 intros and almost ~$2M of VC dollars pledged

• 📌 Squeeze, founded by Billy Gaudreau, drummed up $1.25M of investor interest and 6 intros

• 📌 Buildnow AI, founded by Aditya Bahl, raked in $507,000 of investor interest

•  📌 Wrkdn, Inc, founded by Dmitry Karpov, scooped up $1.4M of investor interest and 6 VC intros

🎙Some Post Event Quotes from Speakers:

• From Allison Pickens —"I've been to many pitch events. The pitches at Kernal's event really surprised me to the upside - what a talented group! I get particularly excited about AI companies when there are early signals that the customer contract values will be high. That's the best indicator that genAI is living up to its promise: it can replace workflow and massively transform a business. I saw this and more among the startups that were pitching."

• "Kernal assembled a remarkable group of panellists. We're grateful for the opportunity to pitch to their audience, which has already led to valuable connections." - William Gaudreau

• “Very cool judges with their unique perspectives on AI startups, and great energy from the fellow founders" - Dmitry Karpov

• “The quality of companies pitching keeps getting better and better with each event. I'm excited to have a follow-up investing-related call with one of the companies from this pitch event (SymbyAI).” - Vivek Sodera

Feeling the FOMO? Check out the deal page below.

🥁 RSVP to our Next Pitch Event Sept 26th

Short Message from our Friends at GetPin:

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👀 Swipes of the Week

Have an amazing weekend.

P.S. Liked the deep-dive? Forward the newsletter to a bestie.

Happy 2nd last Friday of August to all who celebrate.

Welcome back to Napkin Notes: the only startup newsletter hosting monthly shark tank events where we can watch founders and VCs battle it out on TV instead of long and boring email threads.

Our next one is in 6 days if you wanna sit in 🍿

Latest things making news: Summer’s flying by. The DOJ may break up the Google mafia. Starbucks’ new CEO is getting roasted for his 1,000 mile jet commute. Foundation, a robotics startup, raised a $11 million pre-seed round. Waymo hits 100K paid rides per week. Stripe generated $600m+ in free cash flow last quarter. And you stillllll haven’t gone for a hike this summer. That’s unacceptable. Get it done this weekend.

Enough chit-chat. Let’s get to the goods.

Today’s issue is presented with Bubble

📰 Our Menu For Today

• 🍿 RSVP to our AI pitch event August 29th

• 🎉 Meet the founders pitching on stage

• 💸 Say hi to the investors on the panel

• 🎥 Watch our latest video drop on Kernal Dealroom

• 💡 How YC trains founders to launch ideas

• 👀 Memes of the week

👋 Meet Kirin Kalia, the Pitch Wizard

Kirin is a tech journalist turned B2B marketer who’s coached 1k+ founders globally to pitch investors and Fortune 500 companies.

She recently met a founder who was building an amazing product, but their pitch was as long and boring as they come.

Lucky for the founder, Kirin’s superpower is turning boring pitches into beautiful stories.

In that scenario, the founder wanted to win a pitch competition THAT NIGHT.

In one hour, Kirin:

• cut out the bleh,

• crafted a memorable message.

• re-arranged the stories

Batta bing, batta boom.

The re-working of the pitch boosted the founder’s confidence and they ended up beating out several other founders to WIN the pitch off 🤩 

The lesson here: if you want to connect investors so they fund you, book a time to talk with Kirin ASAP.

🍿 Startups Pitching Aug 29th

• symbl.ai: real-time voice AI: Generate actionable insights from unstructured live calls with our end-to-end real-time AI platform.

• Buildnow.ai: Democratizing Knowledge With Interactive AI Avatars

• Trysqueeze.io: Supercharge your employer brand with the data and insights needed to attract, hire, and retain the best talent.

• Wrkdn.com: project management for AI workforce

Feeling the FOMO? RSVP below ya band waggoner.

P.S. Speaking of raising from VCs, do you want access to a database of 400 angel investors? We thought so. Just tap below. We can’t take credit. Send a DM to Ben Lang who compiled the list.

🥁 RSVP to our Next Pitch Event Aug 29th

👀 Swipes of the Week

Have an amazing weekend.

P.S. Liked the deep-dive? Forward the newsletter to a bestie.

Happy Friday Friends,

Welcome back to Napkin Notes: the only startup newsletter that gets how annoying it is to be ghosted by VCs. So we built a platform that helps you rub your fundraising success in their face 💸

And if you haven’t already heard, our next event is coming up in 13 days. So,

• Save your seat to watch

• Apply to pitch if you’re a founder

• Or spread the word by sharing it here

Enough chit-chat. Let’s get to the goods.

📰 Our Menu For Today

• 🍿 RSVP to our AI pitch event August 29th

• 🎥 Watch our latest video drop on Kernal Dealroom

• 💡 8 Startup Ideas from Greg Isenberg

• ✏️ Apply to pitch at our AI Event

• 👀 Memes of the week

Side note: Know a wicked smart AI founder, sponsor, or investor panellist? We wanna meet them for our next event. Email blake@kern.al to make an intro 👋

🎥 Our Latest Video Drop

As a founder, it’s hard to spin up high-quality videos. But the truth is they help a ton. We team up with ChopShop for all our videos. Why? B/C they’re 100x better at video than we are.

If you need help with your videos like we did, email them and mention “KERNAL” to save 20% on your 1st project.

🍿 Speakers for Aug 29th Event

• Allison Pickens: solo GP investor in AI and SaaS companies, supporting founders as a COO thought partner on go-to-market, category creation, and any other topic related to scaling the business. She works with Jasper, DeepL, EvenUp, Hex, Hightouch, Tackle, and others, including 25% of the Forbes Rising Stars in 2021 and 2022.

• Darian Shirazi: Managing Partner of Gradient Ventures, a VC firm leading Seed, Series A, Series B investments focused on AI and data-rich companies

• Vivek Sodera: GP of a pre-seed fund called Supercharge VC and also responsible for founding Superhuman and LiveRamp (NYSE: RAMP). He invests in AI, productivity & devtools

• Nick Candito: Co-Founder and Managing Partner of ACOF (Angel Collective Opportunity Fund which has invested in Cart.com, Mercury, Array and more. 

• Haley Bryant: Investor at Hustle Fund where she focuses her time investing at the pre-seed level of B2B SaaS, digital consumer health, fintech and web3

Wanna RSVP to see these speakers on stage?

🌱 8 Startup Ideas From Greg Isenberg

Greg is a startup idea machine. Here’s 8 he shared in his latest startup idea jam.

• 02:05 Startup Idea 1: Product Spec Doc SaaS 

• ​04:04 Startup Idea 2: Developer Portfolio Site Builder

• ​08:20 Startup Idea 3: Blog + Newsletter in a Box 

• ​11:03 Startup Idea 4: Virtual Workspaces

• ​12:30 Startup Idea 5: Turntable FM 2.0

• ​13:31 Startup Idea 6: JSFiddle Meets Twitter 

• ​14:45 Startup Idea 7: Shopify for X 

• ​16:04 Startup Idea 8: HQ Trivia for Dating

P.S. Speaking of raising from VCs, do you want access to a database of 400 angel investors? We thought so. Just tap below. We can’t take credit. Send a DM to Ben Lang who compiled the list.

🥁 RSVP to our Next Pitch Event Aug 29th

👀 Swipes of the Week

Have an amazing weekend friends.

P.S. Liked the newsletter, Forward the newsletter to a bestie.

Happy Friday Friends,

Welcome back to Napkin Notes: the only startup newsletter Olympians check in between press conferences.

Since Kernal Research & Co told us 82% of you are on vacation this week, we’re keeping today’s info light and fun.

After all, there are only a few more weeks of August. So you should be over-indexing on getting more sunshine and less laptop.

Let’s get to the goods.

📰 Our Menu For Today

• 🎥 Watch our latest video drop on Kernal Dealroom

• 💡 Top productivity hacks from Marc Andreessen

• 🌎 RSVP to our upcoming AI pitch event happening Aug 29th

• ✏️ Apply to pitch at our AI Event

• 🎥 Recap highlights of our last pitch event

• 👀 Memes of the week

Side note: Know a good AI founder, sponsor, or investor panellist? We wanna meet them for our next event. Email blake@kern.al to make an intro 👋

🎥 Our Latest Video Drop

As a founder, it’s hard to spin up high-quality videos. But the truth is they help a ton.

For our Kernal videos, we team up with ChopShop. They’re an AI video technology startup that helps be a perfect blend of:

• brand strategist,

• content producer,

• editor and

• performance marketer

If you need help with your videos like we did, use code KERNAL to save 20% on your first project. Just hit the button below to chat with ChopShop.

🌱 Productivity Hacks From the King of VC

Marc Andreessen founded a VC firm called Andreessen Horowitz.

Wondering if you can trust his advice? Today his firm ranks as 1st on the list of venture capital firms by assets under management, with $42 billion. So he knows a thing or two.

Here’s some of the personal productivity systems he swears by

1. Don't keep a schedule: Avoid committing to future appointments, allowing you to work on what's most important or interesting at any time.

2. Use only three lists: To-do List, Watch List, and Later List. Categorize tasks accordingly.

3. Prepare a 3x5 index card each night with 3-5 important tasks for the next day.

4. Use an Anti-Todo List: Write down accomplishments throughout the day for motivation.

5. Practice Structured Procrastination: Use the tendency to procrastinate to complete other tasks.

6. Employ Strategic Incompetence: Avoid unwanted tasks by appearing incompetent at them.

7. Check email only twice a day: Reduce distractions and improve focus.

8. Process email efficiently: Empty your inbox, use action subfolders, and maintain only three main folders (Pending, Review, Vault).

9. Don't answer the phone: Let calls go to voicemail and batch return calls.

10. Use headphones to avoid interruptions: People are less likely to disturb you.

11. Start the day with a sit-down breakfast: Fuel your body and prepare mentally for the day.

12. Only commit to new tasks when both your head and heart say yes.

13. Do something you love: Focus on your core interests and dreams.

P.S. Speaking of raising from VCs, want access to a database of 400 angel investors? We thought so. Just tap below. We can’t take credit. Send a DM to Ben Lang who compiled the list.

🥁 Next Pitch Event: August 29th

👀 Swipes of the Week

Have an amazing weekend friends.

P.S. Liked the newsletter, Forward the newsletter to a bestie.

Happy Friday Friends,

Welcome back to Napkin Notes: the only founder newsletter that knows you’re skipping work and heading to the lake this morning — so we’re keeping today’s update short and sweet. 🚗

From Olympic memes to VC fights breaking out between David Sacks and Paul Graham, it’s been a full week of updates.

Let’s get to our goods for the day.

📰 Our Menu For Today

• 💡 7 Insights from OpenAI Cofounder Sam Altman

• 🌎 RSVP to our upcoming AI pitch event happening Aug 29th

• ✏️ Apply to pitch at our AI Event

• 🎥 Recap highlights of our pitch event 48 hrs ago

• 👀 Memes of the week

Side note: Know a good AI founder, sponsor, or investor panellist? We wanna meet them for our next event. Email blake@kern.al to make an intro 👋

🎥 Have You Met ChopShop Yet?

Need help with a quick

• Product video?

• Customer testimonial?

• Event recap?

You need to meet our friends at ChopShop. In fact, here’s their email if you wanna book a time with them. Mention the Napkin Notes newsletter sent you and something special may happen…

🌱 7 Frameworks Sam Altman Wish Someone Told Him Earlier

1. Getting an idea off the ground: “Optimism, obsession, self-belief, raw horsepower and personal connections are how things get started.”

2. Thinking long term: “Cohesive teams, the right combination of calmness and urgency, and unreasonable commitment are how things get finished. Long-term orientation is in short supply; try not to worry about what people think in the short term, which will get easier over time.”

3. Hiring: “Spend more time recruiting. Take risks on high-potential people with a fastrate of improvement. Look for evidence of getting stuff done in addition to intelligence.”

4. Coworkers: “Working with great people is one of the best parts of life.

5. Making bets: “Concentrate your resources on a small number of high-conviction bets; this is easy to say but evidently hard to do. You can delete more stuff than you think.”

6. Wasting time: “Fight b*llshit and bureaucracy every time you see it and get other people to fight it too. Do not let the org chart get in the way of people working productively together.”

7. Time: “Fast iteration can make up for a lot; it's usually ok to be wrong if you iterate quickly. Plans should be measured in decades, execution should be measured in weeks.”

🥁 Next Pitch Event: August 29th

👀 Swipes of the Week

Have an amazing weekend friends.

P.S. Liked the newsletter, Forward the newsletter to a bestie.

Happy Friday Friends,

The last couple days have been a doozie — but in the best way possible:

• Lady Gaga, Celine Dion, Snoop (& some v talented athletes) are chillin’ in Paris this week

• Legaltech unicorn, Clio, raised $900m

• USA’s Secret Service had a big boo-boo last weekend

• The founders from our June event successfully closed their rounds

• The Wolverine / Deadpool movie finally dropped

• Living in the city feels like summer camp at night

• Anddddd most importantly: we helped 4 high signal founders raise over $4M in less than an hour

Keep up with AI

How do you keep up with the insane pace of AI? Join The Rundown — the world’s largest AI newsletter that keeps you up-to-date with everything happening in AI, and why it actually matters in just a 5-minute read per day.

Sign up with one click

And if you need proof to see how in the loop The RunDown AI newsletter is — Rowan Cheung (the founder) literally just interviewed Mark Zuckerberg 48 hours ago. Check out their full interview here

Now, onto our goods for the day.

📰 Our Menu For Today

• 📰 The founders we hosted at our June pitch event successfully closed their rounds

• 🎥 Recap highlights of our pitch event 48 hrs ago

• 🌎 RSVP to our upcoming AI pitch event Aug 29th

• 📷 Swipes of the week

P.S. Know a good AI founder, sponsor, or investor panellist? We wanna meet them for our next event. Email blake@kern.al to make an intro 👋

💰Seed Fundraising is Alive and Well

A couple months ago, our team was debating whether or not to host demo days this summer.

• Techcrunch was writing about how funding levels were down

• Founder were complaining they could raise $$

• Europe selfies were on the rise

Fast forward to today: it’s the dead middle of summer and 48 hours ago we saw

• 800 of you RSVP to a pitch event where

• 4 founders raised over $4M of investor interest

• all in less than an hour

If that’s a “slow summer” we can’t wait for what a “normal September looks like.

Oh and if you missed the event and wanna get in on the action, click below to connect with the 4 founders.

The 4 B2B Founders that pitched:

• 🌱 Derek Hetzler from American Binary 

• 🌱 Valkyrie Holmes from Faura

• 🌱 Arshan Ahmad from Worksense AI

• 🌱 Mairano Apodaca from Prosperous AI

🥁 Next Pitch Event: August 29th

Turns out so many of you liked our B2B event that 100+ of you signed up on the spot to save a seat at our next one.

Well, it makes sense.

Cuz it’s gonna be a great one.

And which investor in the right mind doesn’t hear the word “AI” and immediately hit the “RSVP” button?

👀 Swipes of the Week

Have an amazing weekend friends.

P.S. Liked the newsletter, hit reply and tell us.

P.S.S. Loved it? Forward the newsletter to a bestie.

Happy Friday Friends,

ICYMI: Huberman recommends 3 weekly habits for founders to be successful:

• 45 min sauna and cold plunges x 3 times

• 2L of water every day

• and opening the Napkin Notes newsletter every Friday morning

If you’ve read this far, you’re off to a great start.

📰 Our Menu For Today

• 🎙 Meet our founders pitching on July 24th

• 🌎 Learn about 50 of the world’s highest-potential startups

• 📷 Swipes of the week

P.S. Know a good AI founder, sponsor, or investor panellist? We wanna meet them for our next event. Email blake@kern.al to make an intro 👋

🎙 Meet the 4 Startups Pitching in 5 Days

The 4 B2B Founders set to pitch next week are:

• 🌱 Derek Hetzler from American Binary 

• 🌱 Valkyrie Holmes from Faura

• 🌱 Arshan Ahmad from Worksense AI

• 🌱 Mairano Apodaca from Prosperous AI

And our investor panel eager to hear them is…

• 💸 a Kernal Dealroom Favourite, the Founder of Hootsuite and the LOI Venture, Ryan Holmes

• 💸 The Head of Google’s USA Startup Ecosystem, Matt Ridenour

• 💸 The Managing Director of Forum Ventures, Derek Bugley

• 💸 Haley Bryant from Hustle Fund

• 💸 Zach Johnston from 2084 Ventures

Haven’t saved your seat? What are you waiting for.

🌎 50 High-Potential Startups Under $200M in Value

A couple days ago, Mario from The Generalist launched “The Future 50” aka “a database of the world’s highest potential startups valued at or under $200 million.”

It took their team 6 months to put together. And in the report, they outline the entire:

• founder background,

• business model,

• cap table structure of investors

• why they believe it’s a winner etc.

We don’t get anything for promoting this but if you want to check it out, click below.

👀 Swipes of the Week

Happy Friday Friends,

The All-In Podcast calls us the euro championship of early-stage startup pitches. Charles the 3rd calls us the “Friday newspaper for unicorn founders”. But since we’re friends, you can just call us, Napkin Notes.

The patios are packed, the cold plunges are full and the windows are rolled all the way down — it’s summer. 

And our Kernal crew couldn’t be happier. But just because the sun’s shining doesn’t mean you founders can complain about VC allocations slowing down.

Hold our beer:

📰 Our Menu For Today

• 🎙 Meet our speakers for July 24th’s pitch event

• 🚀 Read how the top B2B startup ideas landed their big ideas

• 👑 Apply to pitch at our next b2b startup pitch event

• 📷 Laughs of the week

P.S. Huge thanks to ChopShop for spinning up another amazing hype video for the big pitch day. If you are a founder needing help from an AI video agency, give Billy and his team a shout. They’re first class and super quick at turning around video ideas. email billy@chopshop.co and mention that Napkin Notes newsletter sent ya 🎥

🎙 Meet Our July 24th Speakers

Meet our 3 founders secured to pitch in 2 weeks:

• 🌱 Derek Hetzler from American Binary 

• 🌱 Valkyrie Holmes from Faura

• 🌱 Arshan Ahmad from Worksense AI

Want to be the 4th and final pick of the line-up?

Apply here.

And if that doesn’t get you excited, take a look at who’s on this event’s B2B panel…

• 💸 a Kernal Dealroom Favourite, the Founder of Hootsuite and the LOI Venture, Ryan Holmes

• 💸 The Head of Google’s USA Startup Ecosystem, Matt Ridnour

• 💸 The Managing Director of Forum Ventures, Derek Bugley

• 💸 Hailey Bryant from Hustle Fund

• 💸 Zach Johnston from 2084 Ventures

Enough event talk. Let’s get to meeting the B2B royal family.

B2B Unicorn Founders Making Waves

A little while ago, a friend of the newsletter interviewed 20 of the most successful B2B unicorns. People like:

• Akshay Kothari (COO of Notion)

• Cameron Adams (co-founder of Canva)

• Shahed Khan (co-founder of Loom)

• Sho Kuwamoto (VP of Product of Figma)

• Tomer London (co-founder of Gusto)

• and more

His name? Lenny Rachitsky.

His mission? To learn how the most successful B2B startups came up with their big idea.

Across all of the origin stories, Lenny found 3 core themes

• 1. Past pain: Identify a large pain you experienced at a previous company — then build a solution.

• 2. Ponder and probe: Pick a space you’re interested in, then whiteboard and tinker while talking to dozens of potential customers —looking intently for pain and pull.

• 3. Present pull: Identify something you’ve built that’s showing signs of pull —and pivot fully to that.

Lenny even put this handy dandy graphic together to see how they split

Some other discoveries about these 20 heavy hitters:

• they each spoke to ~30 potential customers to validate their ideas before committing

• ~40% of them pivoted at least once before landing on their winning idea

• Cold outbound works—it’s the second most common way to get your early customers.

• Every prosumer product (e.g. Notion, Figma, Airtable, Miro, Slack, Coda) took two to four years of wandering in the dark before they found something that worked.

• The majority of founders had no special skill or background in the problem space they went after.

💡In Lenny’s words, if you’re trying to come up with a great B2B startup idea, do these 3 things:

1. Look for ideas that are (1) important, (2) underserved, and (3) you’re excited to solve.

2. Pick one of these routes and ask yourself these questions:

   1. Past pain - What did you or others build at previous jobs that proved to be incredibly valuable to the company or your teammates?

   2. Ponder and probe - What’s a trend that’s emerging but underserved (e.g. security, collaboration)?

   3. Present pull - Of all the things you’ve built, what one feature is showing the most pull?

Now that you know how to drum up the perfect startup idea, come pitch it on Kernal Dealroom when you have it ready.

Or just come and watch our B2B Bonanza going down next week.

🥁 Wanna Speak At Our Next Event?

We’ve got room for one more investor and one more founder to join the panel

If you’re a nerd about B2B startups, we wanna hear from you.

Reach out here 👇

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