I'm heading into week 4 of my habit stacking New Year's challenge, adding a new habit each week. Starting week 1, I set my alarm 1 minute earlier each day of the year so far. Since week 2 I've been scheduling workouts every Sunday for the week ahead. I'm heading into the second week of tracking meals on the MyFitness Pal app and my new habit I'm adding this weekis creating a piece of video content on social media every day. What are some of your personal and business goals for the year ahead? Comment on the post above or in the blog post here, Thanks, Jason Kraus CEO of Prepare 4 VC
Upcoming Events and Opportunities
Fireside chat event moderated by Startup Grind Boston Chapter Director Jason Kraus at Silicon Valley Bank in Boston:
About the speaker: Vishal Sunak is founder and CEO of LinkSquares, the company behind the fastest-growing AI-powered contracting platform for legal teams. LinkSquares is trusted by more than 800 legal teams at mid-to-large companies, including Commvault, Fitbit, and Wayfair, to move their businesses forward faster.
Vishal is widely recognized as a thought leader in the legal technology space, where he has worked tirelessly to improve outcomes for legal teams, while elevating their visibility within the enterprise.
In 2021, Vishal was named an EY Entrepreneur Of The Year, one of the most competitive business awards for ambitious leaders who are building and sustaining successful, dynamic companies. Vishal was named to Boston Business Journal’s 2022 40 Under 40 list, honoring the Boston area’s young professionals who are achieving the most in their careers and giving back to the community. LinkSquares’ rapid growth ranks #10 in Massachusetts and #379 overall on the 2022 Inc. 5000 list of America's fastest-growing companies, landing a top spot for the second year in a row. The company also ranked #90 on the 2021 Deloitte Technology Fast 500™ awards, recognizing the most innovative, fastest-growing technology companies in North America.
Outside of LinkSquares, Vishal mentors local Boston-based startup founders, plays covers and the blues on his guitar, and spends time adventuring with his wife and two young daughters.
Vishal has a B.S. in Engineering from Northeastern University and an M.S. from Worcester Polytechnic Institute
This interactive workshop ( inspired by Liz Wiseman’s book “Multipliers”) led by Xavier Lederer of Ambrose Growth aims at helping CEOs become better leaders. It explains the difference between Diminishers, who drain their team’s intelligence and energy (and only get 50%-60% of their team’s intelligence), and Multipliers, who amplify their team’s intelligence (and get 90%-100% of their intelligence). Most leaders are between these 2 extremes: they want to be Multipliers, but act from time to time as Accidental Diminishers. By the end of this workshop you will: Have identified your blind spots – ie your Accidental Diminishing tendencies. Have tools to address your Accidental Diminishing tendencies – so that you can become a better Multiplier. Have understood the behavior differences between Multipliers and Diminishers.
Raising capital is hard. As an early-stage #founder, #investors are evaluating whether they believe you are the right person to build a team and execute on the plan you are presenting to them. The more confidence you can instill in your investors, the more likely it may be that they write you a check. And, your confidence as a founder will be evident to your investors, if you are prepared.
Join Jeff Erickson from Forecastr and Will Buckstaff from Carta, for a workshop about key things you need to do to prepare to raise a funding round with confidence.
In this workshop we cover the following:
❖ Researching your potential investors
❖ The importance of a financial model and knowing your numbers
❖ What investors learn about you and your company from your cap table
❖ Preparing to pitch like a pro
❖ Putting it all together to impress your investors
Forecastr provides a software platform to help early-stage startups easily create, track and manage their financial projections in preparation for raising capital. Using Forecastr, founders are able to confidently forecast their cash flow, helping determine how much capital they should raise and when. Forecastr makes it easy to conduct, manage and modify financial forecasts all with the click of a button and gives founders confidence when talking with investors without having to incur the deep financial cost of a CFO.
To sign up for a brief demo of Forecastr go to www.forecastr.co. (Mention that you were referred by Prepare 4 VC for a discounted offer)
Carta is the leading provider of cap table management software and 409A valuations for startups. Carta makes it easy for founders to issue, track and manage the equity for their companies. They work with 50% of VC-backed companies and are now helping startups & employees manage their compensation, tax, cap table vehicle creation, and more.
Through Prepare 4 VC & Carta Partnership, you can redeem a 20% first-year discount + waived implementation fees towards your Carta subscription (new signups only) using this link. Companies with fewer than 25 stakeholders and less than $1M raised can sign up for the free Carta Launch plan using the same link: https://carta.com/partners/referral/?utm_medium=ChannelReferral&utm_source=prepare4vc&PID=prepare4vc
Aspiring and fledgling startup founders — don’t let an uncertain economy derail your dream. Knowledge is power, right? Step into your power and learn at TechCrunch Early Stage on April 20 in Boston.Top founders, VCs and startup ecosystem experts lead workshops and roundtable discussions on topics like funding, product-market fit, pitch decks and growth marketing.
Get strategies and advice you can use right now
Learn next steps to move your dream forward
Expand your network and connect with a supportive community
Prepare4VC, a supporting partner for this event, offers founders a sweet discount. If you’re an early-stage startup founder — or aspire to join the ranks — use this link to register and buy a Founder Pass for 33% off! Why wait? Buy your Founder Pass today and join TechCrunch in Boston on April 20, 2023!
Prepare 4 Launch
You know you have a great idea. It keeps you up at night planning, preparing and putting the pieces together. You imagine the day when you see someone on your website at the airport, they see you glance over and start to tell you about the amazing platform like you're seeing it for the first time and you just smile and tell them it sounds incredible. But how do you get to that place when you need other's around you to be just as excited as you are about your passion? At the Prepare 4 Launch program, our virtual cohort shares experiences among similar stage founders learning from our team of veteran entrepreneurs, investors and executive coaches to help you and your startup grow and attract the right support. Apply today to learn more: https://airtable.com/shr0p6IIX8eX6wd5W
Prepare 4 VC Accelerator
Our equity-free paid accelerator program brings together a cohort of passionate founders ready to thrive in their own ventures while helping others in their group succeed. Our team brings expertise as venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, and executive coaches here to assist you as you level up your startup. Learn more and apply below: https://www.prepare4vc.com/accelerator
Partner shoutout: Parna Sarkar-Basu of Brand and Buzz Marketing joined Jason Kraus and Christopher R. Dube Dube of Prepare 4 VC in leading workshops at the MIT Reality Hack last week. Parna led a workshop on The Secret to Startup Success: Building Market Credibility, will be joining as a mentor in our upcoming accelerator program and has created several custom service packages for the Prepare 4 VC community. Check out the following and reply to this email to discuss further:
First step to building a founder’s brand Goal: Leverage our 7-step process to develop positioning that highlights the expertise of a founder/executive/professional.
Building your social presence: We all get a lot of random suggestions on promoting ourselves on social. Most fail because of lack of strategy and consistency. At Brand and Buzz, we take time to understand your goals and develop a targeted DIY social media strategy that you can execute against.
Beautifying your investor decks: Founders can stay focused on creating slides for investor and/or customers. The Brand and Buzz creative team can help make your deck visually arresting and easy to read.