The list of Diane’s achievements is long and stellar. She is in the 1% of Asian-American female founders who are also a partner, and has founded angel networks, venture funds, and investment networks. She works extensively with more than 700 global companies.

Her next project is the toughest she has taken on yet. Diane Yoo is determined to level the playing field for talented women who are all but shutout from tech fundraising. She is co-founder of Global She Ventures, an accelerator in partnership with Rice University to catalyze global women entrepreneurs. Diane is also co-founder to a national media platform, Identity Unveiled, which highlights trailblazing Asian American women who have broken barriers and become firsts in their industry. Diane serves as an investment partner to several Silicon Valley funds, including the largest women’s fund and the first fem-tech fund in the nation.

Grit Daily: We were last in touch late last year. What have you been working on since then?

Diane Yoo: Since our last talk, I’ve been focused on pushing the envelope forward for Asian American female entrepreneurs and executives. I’ve secured numerous IPO candidates where diversity for board members and executives is ripe for women.

Since then I’ve founded the first IPO accelerator in partnership with Korea Investment Corporation (KIC). KIC is a sovereign wealth fund established by the government of South Korea. Their goal is “to enhance sovereign wealth and contribute to the development of the domestic financial industry.” Our program has secured several companies with market valuation of $600 million-$1 billion.

Grit Daily: From your perspective as an experienced and successful VC, why is it that female founders have such a hard time securing funding? After all, we are led to believe these decisions are data-driven.

Diane Yoo: While there may still be a gender bias towards investing, women founders still receive scrutiny such as, “Can she really close her raise (of millions) but more so, does she have the executive leadership and track record or ability to truly run a billion-dollar company?” There are so many highly qualified women who need opportunity and access to board seats to powerfully represent their voices.

Grit Daily: Are female founders scrutinized more than male founders? And since I presume they are, what should they anticipate and how can they prepare for that?

Diane Yoo: The scrutiny is sadly there. Countless women receive endless questions to affirm if their credibility stands. Female founders have proven to have higher returns, be extremely successful as founders and CEOs, and outperform their male colleagues, yet they still remain highly underrepresented.

I’ve seen countless women apologize or feel that they are not enough. That needs to stop. Women should be as unabashed as their counter colleagues and never back down or feel as if they are “not enough” due to internal excuses. I’ve seen women focus on leadership education materials or classes, when really, they need to go out into the field powerfully, even when they don’t feel like it.

Grit Daily: If female founders in general have a harder time successfully pitching VCs, how much harder is it for minority female founders?

Diane Yoo: Minority female founders have more difficulty overall, as there is not only a gender- but also an ethnic-biased lens. Less than 2% of people of color have successfully secured venture money in a trillion dollar industry.

Don’t shy away from how credible you truly are. Nor justify any anxiety in the lens of comparison. All that needs to go, and women and minorities should stay close to a community that supports their ambitions and go out powerfully.

Grit Daily: Entrepreneurs are fixated on networking, which really suggests that who you know is at least as important for successful fundraising the pitch itself. What’s your networking advice to female founders, and how is it different from what you would y tell male founders?

Diane Yoo: Networking is crucial, and it’s absolutely crucial that the founder understands her or his own networks. I see many “connectors” who actually lack the ability to harness the power of their network, and they absolutely are not able to reap from their own curated backyard. VCs look to invest not only in the company, but more so in the founder and their success and DNA.

Grit Daily: I know from our previous Q&A that you are passionate about seeing women succeed in business. What are you doing to help them?

Diane Yoo: I want to place more women in powerful positions. I’ve secured partnerships in efforts to work toward the advancement of diverse leaders through sourcing women, incubating talent through a leadership institute. I’m working with organizations to put more women in power, from board seats to publicly traded companies. I’m very passionate about empowering more women to be in powerful decision-making roles through my work with Wall Street in efforts to bring leaders together to help elevate the industry as a whole.

The post Diane Yoo Is Working So That Many More Women Can Succeed In Tech appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Exclusivity of Capital Investing

Venture capital’s purpose is to provide new companies with subsistence to grow their operations, but historically it’s been an exclusive club. Traditionally, only those with a net worth above a certain amount were privileged with an investor accreditation. Since 2016, the JOBS Act has allowed for the crowdfunding of new businesses, giving entrepreneurs access to a new capital market and individuals the ability to invest in early-stage companies. 

Rate of Start-up Growth is Decreasing

Still, despite the aggravated media stories about the rise of entrepreneur culture, the rate of growth for new start-ups is, in reality, quite low compared to a decade ago. Since the peak of start-up creation in 2015, the numbers have halved. This might be attributed to factors such as higher investment standards, longer rounds, and increased risk aversion towards company creation. 

In 2010, approximately 15% of Series A invested start-ups had revenues; this number has jumped to 70% in recent years. The trend has been for investors to extend the initial funding phase through “superfunding” and waiting for start-ups to grow quicker and outcompete their competitors. Although the volume of investments has experienced exponential growth in the past decade, the number of deals closed has decreased. There were more businesses created in 1980 than there were in 2013.

New Solution to an Old Problem?

The VC industry requires new solutions to help aspiring entrepreneurs meet their needs so that more innovation can rise to the surface. Changemaker Nobody Studios is taking on the challenge, providing opportunities for people around the planet to be involved in a radical, inclusive approach to business development and wealth creation. 

Serial entrepreneur Mark S. McNally built Nobody Studios—which he sees as his “last company”—on the principles of de-risking early-stage companies, putting people first, and improving accessibility for anyone to invest in projects they care about. Ultimately, Nobody Studios, a “Crowd Infused” venture studio, acts as a vehicle that brings together a community to solve the world’s problems. Here are four factors that will revolutionize venture operations, creating an ecosystem where both business and investors can thrive.

Build an Inclusive, People-First Culture

The foundation of every successful business is made up of intricate relationships between employees, employers, partners, and investors. Good managers lead productive and efficient teams. Individuals are more likely to be more engaged if they understand and align with the companies’ vision, as well as feel as if they’re an important contributor to the company’s success. Business deals are sealed with trust and the comfortability of knowing who you’re dealing with. Maintaining transparent processes in work relationships and decision-making creates an environment that encourages accountability and drives results.

Understanding that “relationships are the greatest assets” lies at the core of Nobody Studios. Firm in the belief that supporting and empowering people produces greater results, Nobody prioritizes putting people first. Building a community with the right, diverse mix of talent, from entrepreneurs and creatives to investors and the public, opens the ceiling for new businesses to grow and thrive. Giving founders the confidence that they not only have access to funding, but ongoing support, human resources, and public feedback helps them accelerate their growth and ultimately generate a greater ROI for investors.

De-Risk New Companies Before Significant Investment

Out of every 100 businesses created, 90 of them will fail. Common reasons are lack of demand and planning in the early stages, and lack of capital to scale. Crafting a successful business model takes time and rigor; those that fail to put in the mental dedication or lack a prominent “why” is unlikely to outrun their competitors.

Nobody Studios is dedicated to creating businesses that are outstanding. This means targeting compelling ideas with real market value, but following strict parameters to quickly and inexpensively test them. 

Besides being meticulous about the process, living in an era dictated by “speed, innovation, change and disruption” means you need to “go big and bold,” McNally said. Better yet, for “those with a big enough vision, who can also be flexible enough to adapt the vision to changing conditions and market feedback — that’s the gold.”

Thinking large, planning ahead, and being prepared to receive and apply constructive feedback from the market is crucial for a business to excel. 

Invite the Crowd to Participate

Access to investment pools is extremely limited, especially for investors that don’t have an excess of funds. This limits the opportunities for interested individuals to invest in projects that benefit society and potentially earn a dividend on its success, as well as caps the opportunity for entrepreneurs to raise money to grow these businesses.

Allowing the public to participate in more investment projects encourages people to become more educated on investment opportunities and entrepreneurship. This might lead to the creation of a more financially literate society. With improved financial literacy comes better investment decisions that can lead to more positive innovation in the world.

McNally explains what the phrase “Crowd Infused” means for his company, that is “the opportunity for anyone to be a part of building compelling companies that will shape the future. That opportunity can include contributing ideas, offering feedback or joining discussions, or even joining the team to help build new companies. 

“And the way we’ve set up our company, it also means you get to see the financial upside as a result.” Nobody Studios is allegedly the only venture studio that leverages crowdfunding and offers investors and contributors lifetime equity across its portfolio.

Think Globally to Generate Value and Impact

Solving the world’s problems takes innovation, financing and enough people to care about it to make it happen. Climate change, economic inequality, gender disparity, and racial injustice are amongst the primary targets that are supported by impact investment.

Judging by the remarkable growth of impact investments in the past decade, there appears to be a sizable opportunity for private companies to devote and allocate more capital towards building impact projects. The Global Impact Investing Network issued a report detailing the growth of impact investment as an asset class, stating it would reach between $400 billion to $1 trillion in assets under management by 2020.

Upholding SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) will continue to be a deep challenge for governments around the world with a $2.5 trillion annual deficit in funding. COVID-19 has only exacerbated these issues and proved the necessity of technology and science innovation to save lives and entire economies.

Private investments will pose solutions to problems societies will face, including unprecedented crises. For example, online streaming and video platforms have made it possible to conduct work and run companies of thousands of remote workers.

Nobody Studios embraces a global perspective in its commitment to build compelling companies that solve meaningful problems. It catalyzes change by taking its companies into markets where no one else is currently going. And if necessary, it may even establish non-profit organizations to advance its impact. By adopting a global perspective, the studio can reach regions lacking economic infrastructure, create jobs, and enrich commerce, and enhance people’s lives. 

A new wave of business creation is upon us. The crises and transitions the world has undergone in the past decade have only spurred interest among the public to activate some form of change. Efforts to build and scale companies are surging, facilitated through a mix of private and public funding. Out-of-the-box thinkers like Nobody Studios are part of that transition from traditional venture investing, to a model that is inclusive of the public and mindful of building strong, internal communities to fuel successful projects that can change the world.

The post 44% Decline in Startups: Nobody Studios on Crowd Infused Ventures appeared first on Grit Daily News.

ArieGuard was funded by the founders, and by angel investor Dmitry Zubatyuk, a serial entrepreneur, who has founded several successful global IT startups and invested in multiple technology projects. The total amount of initial investment in ArieGuard is $1.2 million.

ArieGuard is focused on the market for small M&A and fundraising deals with a size of $5-50 million and underserved industries such as early-stage tech startups and cannabis. This category of deals is not attractive for bulge bracket banks, and such deals end up being referred to small investment boutiques with a limited network and experience.

The total global market size of this type of deals is about $190 billion. ArieGuard is aiming for the M&A advisory fee market which has an estimated value of over US$10 billion.

“The M&A and investment industry is operating in the same way as when it was invented decades ago. It’s a conservative field which is very old-fashioned,” observed Vlad Seleznev, a co-founder of ArieGuard. “When a business owner comes to an investment bank, their opportunities are limited by the list of contacts that the investment banker has in his or her little paper notebook. This approach drastically narrows the network of investors who are informed about the investment opportunity. We want to change this situation and build a global network of trusted partners (investment bankers) and investors, so that when a business owner is seeking funding or has an M&A opportunity, they could find the best deals.”

ArieGuard implemented a system of ratings and connections that allows all three parties to choose who to work with and be sure that they are trustworthy, even if a  person is out of their personal network.

“ArieGuard brings the M&A and investment banking industry into the current digital era,” said Dmitry Zubatyuk, a serial entrepreneur and pre-seed investor in ArieGuard. “Currently, investment bankers do a lot of ‘monkey jobs’ trying to attract clients that are not really interested. They are working 80-100 hours a week on deals that are not likely to close. ArieGuard is shifting the industry to the gig economy and deals made via video calls, so that investment bankers are able to work remotely, and even be freelancers, choose deals and clients and have transparency in how much they’re going to make.”

By the end of 2022, ArieGuard plans to attract 5 percent of about 100,000 M&A advisors globally. Also, the team is developing an AI tool for the automated valuation of companies and an intelligent search system that will help investors quickly and easily look up projects from all over the world by multiple parameters.

ArieGuard is the first global Digital Investment Banking Platform that connects business owners, investors, and the best investment banking professionals. The company also provides all the necessary digital tools, including an AI-based automatic valuation system, online data rooms, mobile app, and many others. This enables these players to close M&A and fundraising deals in a far more efficient way.

The post ArieGuard Launches Digital Platform for M&A Advisory and VC Fundraising appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Diane’s inspiration is her father, a Korean immigrant who spoke sparse English but worked night and day to support his family. The family of four lived in a one bedroom apartment and had to rely on an unreliable car, which taught Diane two lessons at a young age. First, nothing comes without working for it, and second, to never underestimate what she could accomplish if she worked harder than the competition.

We asked Diane Yoo about the links between winning beauty pageants and winning in business.

Competing in beauty pageants is not what most people view as the beginning of a business career. What did you learn competing in pageants that remains relevant to you as a businesswoman?

Diane Yoo: Competing in beauty pageants helped uncover a self realization that I operated with the mentality of an entrepreneur. Purely competitive, independent, and a self-starter, pageants further propelled my appetite as I traveled to globally compete. Like Squid Games, titleholders are sent to compete with entirely new groups of people, in hopes to win big. When dealing with the cream of the crop beauties across multiple countries and regions, my inner self morphed into a savvy fighter that outperformed and, at any point, swiftly outmaneuvered. Most ironically, it is not the most beautiful who wins beauty pageants. It’s the uncanny ability to win over people under the facade of glittery lights. It’s more about portraying the mentality of a champion and that you already conquered the competition. This is how judges quickly sift through the talented beauty holders in the industry.

Likewise, in business, you must learn how to be quick, pivot and innovate. No matter how lonely it gets at the top, you are constantly learning how to survive and then thrive. I honed my skills for over a decade by repeatedly going head-to-head with the global beauty elites, in addition to adeptly absorbing cultural differences. These powerhouse women did not win by chance or beauty, they were killer professionals.

The world of beauty pageants is exhilarating and extraordinary, filled with the most jaw-dropping, gorgeous women who have been perfected to compete in lifestyle and beauty. Just as some women use this as a platform for their next step in life or career, I juiced the industry to grow stronger. As a business woman, I utilized soft skills, EQ intelligence, quickly honed in on my competitors, networked with dizzying charm to influence key decision makers and ultimately close the deal – or, in the beauty world, clench the victorious title.

Any person, given the choice, would choose to be good looking rather than plain, but  is there a stigma for women that comes with beauty?

Diane Yoo: Yes. There is a stigma with gorgeous, beautiful women. It’s an unspoken bias potentially derived from a place of insecurity or, sadly, judgment. More upsetting, some women even feel they have to be more conservative or play down beauty in order to be accepted. This stigma cuts across identities, countries, and genders. Even women-to-women, some have such insecurities that they tear down others just based on external appearances. Such women simply don’t like it if others are more beautiful than them. It grates on their insecurity.

On the other hand, beauty can be utilized for our success. A prime example are the growth rates of models on Instagram. In today’s virtual society, we have a new genre of the “digital entrepreneur”. As some of the highest growing Instagram accounts are models, they can monetize their accounts into an empire.

What skills did you acquire in pageants, and what did you learn about the fashion industry, that you can apply as a VC?

Diane Yoo: Meticulously understand your industry, move swiftly and strategically to achieve your ultimate goal. Never lose sight of what you want because ultimately, you are responsible for driving your own success.

In pageantry and modeling, one needs a thick skin to survive. You are told that your nose is too big, you are too fat, that your walk is wonky – the feedback is endless. Likewise, when fundraising in venture capital, you need to hear hundreds of “no’s” before you get a “yes”. In both instances, ask (yourself) if you are cut out for repetitious rejection.

What challenges did you face when transitioning from beauty queen to businesswomen?

Diane Yoo: I didn’t view this as a transition. Beauty was not my driving mentality. I utilized my soft skills, intelligence, wit, and leadership to maneuver through the fiercely male dominated world of business and finance.

What motivated you to make the transition from fashion to venture capital?

Diane Yoo: It is not about fashion. It’s who you are at the core. I identify as an entrepreneur and come from a strong lineage of entrepreneurs. I saw first hand what hard work ethic was. My father was an immigrant. He spoke little English and juggled three shifts to simply survive and provide for his family. There were days when our car did not work while we lived in a one bedroom apartment for a family of four. My father’s work ethic was what I aspired to at a young age and I knew life was not handed to me. When I was a child, he would inspire diligence as we would run the neighborhood at the crack of dawn before he left for work.

I became an entrepreneur over a decade ago and applied the same hard work ethic, competitive nature, and fastidiously learned about the business industry nuances. Fundraising as a woman and person of color, there can be unspoken bias such as, “can this woman really build a billion dollar empire?” Soon after earning an MBA from Rice University, I dove into the finance world. I voraciously taught myself about fund operations, investing, and learned about being an asset manager. Time after time, I found myself working from the bottom as an entrepreneur only to climb higher, as I did in my pageant days, to become the top 1% in the nation as an Asian female fund founder.

The post Diane Yoo Tells How Winning Beauty Pageants Revealed to Her That She Is a Born Entrepreneur appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Recently, hotel payment software startup Selfbook raised $25 million in a Series A round of funding led by Tiger Global Management. In addition, Thayer Ventures Acquisition Corp. invested in the management arm of Life House independent hotels and hotel revenue-management software firm Duetto. And Agya Ventures–a real estate technology fund investing in early-stage tech and founders–already backed two companies in the industry this year. These include Stayflexi–a proprietary first-of-its-kind software system to automate and integrate hotel and vacation stay processes and operations end to end–and Kift, which uses a van as their mobile bedroom and access to a network of clubhouses across the West Coast.

Generally, what’s happening is the “decentralization” or “unbundling” of hospitality options. For example, gone are the days when the primary option was to stay in a one-bedroom hotel room. Instead, people now have a wide range of options to choose from, such as Airbnb, short-term rentals, glamping, special stay packages that are beauty-focused, pet-focused, etc. 

“What’s driving this trend is the realization many people have gone through that there isn’t much of a point in staying in a room or a facility that looks the same anywhere,” said Nobu Iguchi at Agya Ventures. “People want special experiences that make their time and stay count.”

So, what can we expect in the hospitality world moving forward?

More Workcations

The pandemic has fueled the rise of workcations–visits to extended-stay properties for work and leisure. These stays often happen at fully-serviced locations with dedicated workspaces, strong WiFi, and multiple meeting spaces to accommodate both couples and families. In response to this new demand, new workcation packages have emerged across the hospitality industry, including major incumbents, boutiques, and alternative hospitality providers. Examples include: Work from Hyatt, WorkSpaces by Hilton, Umaya Village, Kift, etc.

Glamping Will Grow

Yes, glamping became a buzzword in hospitality pre-pandemic. But it’s not going anywhere. In fact, glamping is one of the most prominent verticals of alternative hospitality. It consists of luxury cabins, yurts, and treehouses often owned and operated by a glamping company. Notably, glamping has taken off with Millennial and Gen Z audiences, who account for 60% of total demand in the U.S. Just look at Getaway, Bubble Hotel, etc.

Focus On Wellness

Again, wellness travel was steadily rising before the spread of COVID-19. But, the pandemic has placed renewed emphasis on wellness in both one’s professional and personal life. One rising sector in this space is wellness tourism, where travel is associated with the pursuit of maintaining or enhancing one’s personal well-being. This trend presents an opportunity to equip a curated group of assets with wellness services and amenities, creating target destinations for the growing segment of wellness tourists. Just take a look at Six Senses, Miraval Resorts, Vacayou, and more. 

The post What New Tech Investments Are Revealing About The Future Of Hospitality appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Since early 2020, internet retail – including ecommerce, food and grocery delivery, streaming, and gaming – has boomed in Latin America. Mexico continues to be the U.S.’s top trading partner and has emerged as the fastest growing ecommerce market in the world per Euromonitor. It is quickly narrowing the gap between itself and Latin America’s largest ecommerce market: Brazil.

According to LAVCA, VCs invested $10.3 billion across more than 400 Latin American startups in the first half of 2021. That’s more than double the investment seen in the same period in 2020. Five newly minted unicorns have emerged from Latin America this year; increasing the total number of private and public tech companies valued at $1B+ and further spotlighting emerging tech-innovation opportunities in the region. Brazil and Mexico have generated the lion’s share of investor attention and startup activity, which isn’t surprising given their rankings as the two largest markets in terms of economy and population. 

But Latin America isn’t a monolith, and investors and merchants looking for opportunities in the region shouldn’t treat it like one. Latin America is an ethnically diverse landscape made up of more than 20 countries with distinct customs, currencies, buying preferences, social challenges and opportunities that are worthy of deeper understanding at the local level.

As a U.S.-born executive working at a hyper-growth Latin American startup, it’s my job to find new opportunities across the region. After many years of following its progress, I am bullish on Central America as the next big frontier for venture investment and startup growth, particularly in ecommerce which is booming across LatAm.

Why Central America?

Home to Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama, Central America is the bridge between North and South America. This diverse region, which has heavily invested in education and infrastructure, has been largely ignored by international investors so far. It is poised for tremendous growth during the next five years, particularly for internet-first businesses, and the local startup founders and global investors who understand this deeply have a leg up to cash in and build market share early on.

During the pandemic, Central America lost access to one of its largest and most reliable streams of revenue: tourism. While this change has led to more social and economic volatility, necessity is the mother of invention and the region’s internet adoption and entrepreneurship is setting new records for the region. Some of this growth is held back by low numbers of banking inclusion, particularly among women, which is why understanding how the region buys is the key to unlocking it.

In late May, the Biden administration announced its new Partnership for Central America initiative in an effort to ignite private sector business development and positive change at the local level. So far, 12 private companies and organizations including Chobani, Mastercard and Microsoft have answered Vice President Kamala Harris’ call to action for more “inclusive economic development” in the Northern Triangle of Central America, which includes El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

Increased foreign investment and local job creation are only one piece of the Central American opportunity today. U.S. government agencies, including the State Department, are pursuing partnerships with local governments to address ongoing health and education disparities, many of which could be mitigated or even solved by internet-first companies and initiatives.

Paving the way to more financial inclusion

The pandemic has transformed ecommerce from a luxury to a necessity. The global ecommerce market is expected to reach $4.21 trillion in 2021 as an online surge continues, according to an Adobe forecast, which would be up 38 percent year-over-year. This pace is almost certain to become the new benchmark, which means global companies will be forced to find growth in less mature markets to keep driving more growth. 

This rapid rise in digital commerce explains the recent explosion of fintechs throughout the region. They are filling the gaps in financial inclusion that traditional banking has not addressed. 

Due to this, more people now have access to new types of bank accounts and online transaction processing in local currencies, various payment methods, and even options for cash-based transactions online. These new capabilities that are becoming more commonplace across the region are critical to reaching Central American consumers, a large population that continues to grow every day.

Another contributor to unlocking the promise of Central America is by helping those that perform their day-to-day financial tasks in local currency to continue to do so. For example, in Guatemala only 24 percent of its 16 million citizens currently shop online, and only a fraction of them have  access to bank accounts in USD. Merchants and digital-service providers seeking to reach the largest customer base need to go beyond credit cards and USD and give their online shoppers the ability to pay in quetzales using cash options.

With the increase in cross-border payments, more international companies have been expanding into the region, and they no longer need to incur the expense and overhead of having to staff their own local operations to service the market. With global merchants’ newfound ability to sell into Central America and settle transactions in their home currency, the region is a great option to quickly grow their total addressable market.

Internet penetration throughout Central America is now at 60 percent and continues to climb. When combined with new fintech and payment options, all the tools and infrastructure exist for local buyers to do more online shopping of all kinds – from buying household necessities and birthday gifts to running their businesses fully in the cloud.

Central America is poised for explosive growth. B2B SaaS and global brands looking to grow would be wise to take note of the next big opportunity in Latin America, either through direct sales or acquisitions. The key to turning the most underserved customers into vocal fans for democratizing access through local payment methods that make it not just possible, but easy, to say yes to offers from global merchants.

The post Bullish on Central America: LatAm’s Next Hot Spot for Tech Startups appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Here’s a deeper look into the trials of this serial entrepreneur — an immigrant that has launched a number of successful projects despite being rejected by — in her words, “practically all” — venture investors. Her take? Hack it, and make money the “old-fashioned way” through sales. 

Grit Daily: Where do you start when it comes to conjuring up viable business ideas?

Irina Lebedeva: I start with the overall strategy. Provided that you choose your goal wisely and have the right resources to achieve it, your chances of success are pretty high even if you have to pivot from your original idea down the line. Basically it all comes down to two factors: creating a Minimum Viable Product using as little development resources as you can and being able to get first clients with a zero budget by using strategic partnerships, for example. 

This can help you stay independent from VCs and angel investors who are often too demanding when you need them. Closing a round of investment can take from 6 to 12 months, and most projects fail to get funded. If you are a female founder and an immigrant who doesn’t have a record of success in this country your chances are basically zero. But this doesn’t mean your project cannot succeed, though! 

You simply will be much better off using these 6 to 12 months developing the first version of your product and getting the first clients or users, and make VCs approach you themselves later down the line when you get your metrics right by having a product that is already in high demand.

Grit Daily: So how do you minimise development involved in the first version of the product?

Irina Lebedeva: This depends on each particular product. When it’s a service, you don’t even need to develop anything, you just need to focus on onboarding the first clients and then scaling it. For example, you can use the existing functionality of Instagram and Whastapp to provide consultations or educational services. 

Often you do not need to create a complicated platform or mobile app, you just need a landing page, where your potential clients can put in their contact details, for instance. A product is a tool, so development of the MVP is not your end goal, focus on the cash positive business instead, and your happy customers are at the core of it. 

But if you are sure the mobile app is the solution, again, you don’t have to develop it! You can create a clickable design in Invision, show it to your first users and then use this design and their positive feedback as an MVP to get funding from angel investors. You can have a perfectly designed app for less than $2k if you use outsource designers. Developing an app will cost you at least $20k and will take more time (up to six months instead of 1-2 months). With proper testing the app can cost you $200k. Investors do not care how much money you have spent developing your prototype, but they eagerly invest in successful scalable businesses.

Grit Daily: How can you simplify development of something worth millions of dollars? 

Irina Lebedeva: Well, first, you need to verify if you actually need a platform, or a landing page/chatbot will suffice for an MVP. The more aps you have, the more complexities you create, which can shoot you in the leg once you start testing the product on real users. Put simply, involve no more than one full stack developer for the prototype, if you can. When it comes to mobile apps, for example, one native iOS developer can develop both the interface and also simple backend using firebase. So you can actually have one person doing design, frontend and backend, because native interface 

Secondly, you focus on what really matters, this will also make your product more sustainable in the long run. At Teamkraft, which is a social sports app, at some point we needed to develop a system that could track and verify user data and reputation across sports and across countries. At that time, the majority of companies would have developed their own non fungible tokens to launch collectible items. This process, however, cost them millions of dollars and took at least  a year to develop a prototype while hiring the world’s most expensive developers. We decided to keep things simple and start by storing hashes of data on the blockchain, which would make it immutable and verifiable. 

This approach of using blockchain as a database was extremely quick in comparison to developing, for example, an ERC-721 token, and was also extremely cheap. This allowed Teamkraft to have a prototype ready in mere months without any additional developers and financing. Further, because the transaction costs were much lower, it allowed for an overall more sustainable business. Morale of the story: you can build apps without hiring an army of developers if you simplify your prototype by focusing on what really matters to the consumer and eliminate the noise. 

Grit Daily: We got the prototype. What’s next?

Irina Lebedeva: Marketing is one of the toughest parts of early stage projects. Prototypes require thousands of dollars, but marketing costs can be in the millions. This is why optimising the marketing costs is one of the core skills of Founders and Product Managers. 

At Xfinite, which is a crypto entertainment platform (“Netflix on the blockchain”), we didn’t start the acquisition of users with raising dozens of millions of dollars through private sale or ICO like other blockchain projects did. The product itself started with developing strategic partnerships, including a partnership with Eros Now (India’s major media company with over 220M subscribers) and scaling to over two dozen international content partners even before we got any blockchain development done. Morale of the story: you can build an outreach of hundreds of millions of users even if you do not have any marketing budget!

Grit Daily: So you can launch any product and market it to millions of people without any financing. What are the venture capitalists for then?

Irina Lebedeva: Once you have your product ready, and start scaling the number of customers or users, you can start talking to VCs and angel investors. Now you will have the data for them to be able to assess your product in terms of valuation and future cash flows. 

At this point you have all the chances to get funded no matter who you are, where you come from, what projects you have had in the past. This might not sound like a shortcut but this is one of the very few sure ways to building a successful venture project even if you have no access to financing.

Looking to get together with startup enthusiasts like Irina? Take a look at the upcoming Congressional Startup Day, August 11 in Tampa.

The post Irina Lebedeva Has Perfected the Art of the “Bootstrapped Startup” appeared first on Grit Daily News.

These new companies operate in a variety of fields from SaaS to edtech and even cybersecurity. They expressed their ideas to the investors and all over the world in Antler Southeast Asia Demo Day.

Co-founder and managing partner for Asia at Antler, Jussi Salovaara thinks these startups are building a base that will shape technology and change the way we work, live, think and learn.

Antler chose 190 founders from about 4,500 applications. Around 72% of founders have worked in a startup before, 59% of them founded a company before.

Salovaara expressed pride in the 14 companies that emerged from the Antler Southeast Asia program that are also part of Antler’s global platform.

These founders have demonstrated courage and adaptability in the face of deadlock and uncertainty in the global economy.

Currently, Antler has supported 90 startup companies in Southeast Asia since July 2018 and until last year Antler has created around 27 new companies.

Specifically, Antler’s program is divided into two phases over six months.

In the first ten weeks, the Antler team will validate with the founders about the business idea, product market compatibility, and team building.

At the next stage, Antler is investing in the strongest team in preparation for a Demo Day that will include people who will continue to build and scale startups.

Here is a summary of 14 startups from Antler’s Southeast Asia Demo Day:

Wizly: a platform for startup professionals with the aim of fast-tracking growth.

Found & Seek: an integrated mobile-enabled cloud-based platform that helps businesses do things like manage, share, and resell valuable equipment.

Svested: provides a platform to help users manage stocks (ESOP) and capitalization tables.

Alpha Impact: a social network where users can view, track and copy trades of crypto investors with high efficiency.

Soda: an application that users can explore the world, such as connecting communities and other professions.

Cysense: developed for the purpose of helping companies create and monitor information security programs automatically.

Qweebi: a virtual STEM platform for kids to engage in experiences and practices. At the same time, they can apply basic STEM concepts to solve real-world problems.

Innade: a digital coaching platform that partners with organizations to empower and transform users.

Payd: a financial benefits platform that allows employees to receive a portion of their wages earned and can view their earnings directly.

sudoHero: a SaaS and free-market platform that provides technical resources. This platform helps companies solve problems related to software development.

SellerLot: allows brands, distributors and sellers to optimally access and sell on online channels; The client has full control over the strategies.

Slab: a mobile game content platform. Slab’s software is said to lead to a 10x increase in downloads.

Nife: works with telecommunications companies and data centers to provide an application deployment and orchestration platform.

Eateroo: a marketplace in Indonesia for micro, small and medium sized F&B businesses exploring socially.

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The key to digital marketing success is being data-driven. As a result, Hawke Media has generated massive success for more than 600 clients. And that success has rubbed off: the company now has a valuation of over $80 million. When asked why his agency was the fastest growing marketing company in the world, he said, “One, we have a really good team that does really great work. We’re also flexible with ‘accessibility to great marketing for everyone.’ I’m also a big fan of partnerships to get things off the ground; that third party validation builds trust.”

Marketing for Success

Grit Daily News probed on what constitutes a foundation for marketing success. Huberman was quick to respond. “We have three pillars: awareness, nurturing, and trust.” When he was asked if he’d undo any moves that he’s made at Hawke Media, his response was both insightful and directional. “In 2018, we planned for hypothetical growth. And that put us so tight that it actually held us back from growing the way we could have at that time.” Entrepreneurs face this dilemma all the time juggling planning for growth with cashflow. There is no magic formula and “every business is different,” he added.

There are numerous accolades: almost too numerous to mention. Industry recognition includes five Stevie Awards, three from Fortune, and two from INC 500. These marketing awards prove that Hawke Media has both the credibility and the creativity needed for mega success. But there’s one more essential ingredient: passion.

Earlier this year, Huberman received an offer to buy Hawke Media. Although the size of the deal is unknown, it was substantial enough to make Huberman – and his future grandchildren – incredibly wealthy. But here’s how that deal unfolded. “In February 2021,” he mused, “I received an offer to buy my company – and it’s worth a lot – so much that generational wealth was now available to my grandchildren. But I realized that I love what I do. And I don’t want to retire right now. I want to build something big.”

A Plan for Growth

With millions of Shopify e-stores all looking to grow, Huberman is using his hawk-eye to spot new growth opportunities. “There is so much that we can do. We could expand internationally and really build this out.” Although he didn’t reveal what happens next, one thing is for sure: Hawke Media will likely be soaring for a long time.

Listen on Spotify, Apple, or anywhere that content is streamed. Get the podcast here.

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The report, released this week, states venture capital investment is continuing to increase in the US and specifically, the Pacific Northwest.

One of those who contributed to the report, senior analyst at PitchBook, Kyle Stanford, said there was more capital being deployed as investors are increasingly attracted to tech startups.

Startup investments are growing markedly in the US. Startups raised $150 billion in the first half of 2021, which exceeds the $164 billion raised in all of 2020 and the $142 billion raised in 2019.

Washington state has seen startup investments of more than $3.4 billion in the first half of 2021, which is nearly 70% of the $5 billion total investment seen in 2020 and $4.1 billion in 2019.

According to PitchBook, venture capital is on track to invest a record amount of money this year.

A few Washington based companies are leading the way. Umoja Biopharma, a startup studying new immunotherapies for cancer, raised over $200 million this year. Highspot, a software platform to help customers manage sales, also raised a $200 million.

Cap Hill Brands, a company purchasing e-commerce businesses, received $150 million in January, and the total raised in Washington State this year may hit $100 billion.

Soma Somasegar, a managing director at Seattle-based Madrona Venture Group, thinks startups can stay private much longer.

He said, “ (companies) have the flexibility to say ‘I’ll go public when I want to go public,’ as opposed to, ‘I need to go public because that’s the only way I can raise lots of money.’”

Michael Schutzler, CEO of the Washington Technology Industry Association, also explained demand from venture capitalists may keep the cash investment rolling into 2022.

Changes in the work environment amid the COVID19 pandemic may also make investors more interested in tech startups as technology is increasingly used by people in their daily lives to work and live in isolation.

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