Crest Collective

?? Last night we launched Crest Collective with a bang. Thank you J.P. Morgan Private Bank for hosting our inaugural summit introducing a completely new way for early-stage startups to hire fractional operators. Hot off the press, Gené Teare from Crunchbase kicked us off with the latest venture funding trends and explained that startups have to do 2-3x more with the same amount of funding to reach their Series A. We almost didn't fit everybody on the panel with 7 of our 20 Crest founding members joining into the discussion about success stories of working with startups, pulling up our sleeves, and stepping into fractional roles. I couldn't be happier to have partnered with Michelle Tran to kick off Crest and pull in a lot of friends and connect with new amazing members. Asya Bradley, Roberto Gutierrez, Katja Gagen, Oakley T. Johnson, Justin Lokitz, Zahra Badey, Anne-Sophie Reinckens, Veronica C., Maaike Doyer, ROSEANN FERNANDEZ, Jocelyn DeGance ??, ?? Mercedes Bankston, Jens Weitzel, John Ashley. Huge thank you to Deema Jubran Scullin, CTP for hosting us and to Gené Teare and Fernanda Baker for asking our startup founders great questions during their excellent pitches and super connector session: Check out these incredible founders and their companies! Hans Paul Pizzinini Ashmita Kumar Evita Grant Elsa Jungman, Ph.D. Gwyneth Borden Ted Snelgrove Erika Bahr It made my day when Gwyneth told me that our vision of the audience of investors and startup experts connecting came to fruition at the lovely reception afterward. Thank you Nicole and Barak Shrama for the amazing photos!

Check out our library of blog posts explaining what a fractional CxO is, what you can expect from them as a seed-stage entrepreneur and how to integrate them in your leadership team. https://lnkd.in/gBpv36gT

At the seed stage, startups often struggle with building efficient operational processes. Many founders hire junior operational talent or rely on advisors who offer guidance but don’t stay involved in execution. This leads to ... Read on https://wix.to/jR0shHj #fractional #startup #cofounder

At SFTechWeek, took over a coffee shop for our networking event with founders and funders. We had a great time meeting new founders and investors and will recommend fractional talent to some of the attendees that expressed dire need in getting good recommendations for CTOs, CFOs and marketing professionals. That’s what we best at Crest - connect the right folks to each other for startups to grow ??

Come see us at #SFTechWeek and have a coffee - we think that sometimes the less formal events without all the speakers and endless panels are some of the best to make meaningful connections and get to know each other. The event is almost full and you’ll see on Luna who is already attending. A great mix of exited founders, now angels and new founders pitching or looking for fractional talent.

Well said, Sara Blakely ?? . Value, value, value. That's how we lead and how we help our founders who work with our fractional CxOs step into a truly customer-centric mindset. Knowing your competition is key. It shapes the strategy of creating a unique product that people can't wait to use and pay for. And that is the key to success and growth. Especially in times when budgets are tight and founders need to 3x their revenue or break even at seed stage.

We're launching a menu of new services. Not every startup needs a fractional CxO - sometimes founders need a startup "surgeon" to come and help with specific tasks that won't take more than 2-4 hrs. We polled our community of founders and have put together some of the most desired services. Download our service sheet at https://lnkd.in/gjsu27ZJ What other surgical services do you find helpful? Let us know in the comments.

We had a wonderful night filled with connections, smart people and innovation at our inaugural startup and fractional operator summit. Startups connected with investors and potential fractionals eager to help. Reactions: It’s?so nice to get out again with amazing people! So proud to be part of this community. What a great event and turnout! Oakley and I didn't even have seats at the end Loved the rare diversity and quality folks in the room! It was an excellent opportunity to meet and network with an inspiring group of founders, investors, and fractional CXOs. Events like these reinforce the power of collaboration and the importance of learning from seasoned professionals in the startup ecosystem. What makes Crest different? Asya Bradley put it this way: "As startups you don't just need master chefs, you most importantly need sous chefs." Crest is a community of sous chefs for seed-stage startups. Thanks for the excellent capture of the event Barak Shrama!

#SuperConnectors aware: Instead of the same old #pitch competition, we're changing the model at our pitch event next week: #Founders pitch to harness the power of the audience in the room. Our founders will ask for - investment - connections - customer intros - advisory board members - smart people who can join their team Our "judges" will help ask questions highlighting the startups' needs and strengths. We're not trying to find the "winner" - they are all winners in our book - at Crest, we connect startups to the resources they need to win and we believe the best prize is the collective power of our network. Join us at a one-of-a-kind pitch event on June 20th. Thank you, Hedi Razavi, PhD for shining a spotlight on the new type of superconnector events!

Excellent post and perspective on fractional leaders!