M25

Last week, we wrapped up another incredible #ClubM25 Summit! It’s always a blast to bring together our M25 founders and hundreds of top-tier investors from across the country. With nearly 1,000 double-opt-in meetings over the course of two days, the connections and opportunities created were nothing short of remarkable. ?? Every year, the #ClubM25 Summit is one of the Midwest’s biggest VC gatherings. This year it was held right in the heart of Chicago, alongside Millennium Park and Lake Michigan. The highlights? A rooftop happy hour, a ping-pong-packed afterparty and closing out at Big Mini Putt Club on Thursday night. Oh, and did we mention the founder and investor dinners? ??? #InvestintheMidwest A huge shoutout to our amazing sponsors—Banc of California, Gunderson Dettmer, Insperity, JobsOhio and Pasquesi Partners LLC—for making this event a huge success! Victor Gutwein Mike Asem Abhinaya Konduru Leandro Bedolla Katie Birge Arianna Thornton Sam Cavender, CPA Ruth Brungard

Our VP Platform Katie Birge headed to Minneapolis this week for Twin Cities Startup Week and co-hosted a panel on venture capital with our friends at Bread and Butter Ventures and Matchstick Ventures yesterday. A packed house at this side event for one of our favorite weeks of the year!

Leandro Bedolla is repping M25 in Cleveland at #OhioVCFest24 this week! ?? Since 2015, we’ve backed 22 Ohio-based startups, including: ?? Astronomer (Cincinnati) ?? Loop (Columbus) ?? Axuall (Cleveland) Big shoutout to the JumpStart Inc. team for organizing such an amazing event! Excited to see the Ohio startup ecosystem continue to evolve and thrive. ??

Our very own Victor Gutwein and Abhinaya Konduru are up in Montreal at the 2024 Kauffman Fellows Summit alongside 350 other Fellows! ???? The summit has been packed with invaluable insights and discussions. Victor also took the stage to moderate a panel on Portfolio Construction with Clint Korver (Ulu Ventures), Karim Gillani (Luge Capital) and Jeff Weinstein (FJ Labs), debating best practices and key trends. For a bit of excitement on the track, Victor and Abhinaya spent a day racing Ferraris with F1 parts.

Curious about what goes on behind the scenes at our annual #ClubM25 Summit? From nearly 1,000 investor meetings to rooftop happy hours and after-parties, it was a packed week of connection and celebration in Chicago. Check out our latest blog for a full recap of the 2024 Summit and all the highlights! ?? https://lnkd.in/g-9-S5CC

Mission Control is honored and excited to join the LeagueSpot team where we will continue our mission to Gather and Grow Communities with Recreation Gaming! Our new home at LeagueSpot gives our customers access to LeagueSpot’s industry-leading competitive esports platform and allows us to contribute to their vision to grow beyond esports into traditional sports. We believe the combined effort of LeagueSpot and Mission Control will bring tremendous value to our customers in the parks and recreation, private recreation, nonprofit, and gaming-adjacent industries. Since 2018, Mission Control has made it possible for organizations to gather and grow their communities by offering esports recreational leagues. We have delivered value to our customers by providing an amenity to their members, helping them monetize their new esports efforts, gathering new insights on their communities, and simply saving time with their league management efforts. We will continue to do the same thing - but now with the excellent LeagueSpot team & platform, which you can learn more about here: https://bit.ly/MCJoinsLS

This week I went to SaaStr and the M25 VC summit. A week chockfull of conversations with tech entrepreneurs. Biggest takeaways below... 1 - Still a ton of entrepreneurs out there, but there are less than 2 years ago. This may sound like a bad thing, but I actually think it's good. Quality over Quantity. Capital is harder to get than ever. A lot of people in the remote environment have learned things can be easier when there's not commute and less watchful eyes. This combined with market conditions I think have caused many folks to take on less risky endeavors. I think this is totally fine! The ones still here are real grinders! But I also think it's a huge opportunity because AI (see point #2) has made it easier than ever to start a company. The entrepreneurs I met this week were all much higher quality than in the VC craziness of 2021 and 2022. I think some of the best companies are going to have founding dates in 2024. 2 - AI isn't replacing a ton right now. But it is supercharging almost everything. Everything is expected to be a little bit better for a little bit lower price. I think the place that it will make the biggest waves will just be moving the goal posts for companies. 12 month CAC paybacks used to be a gold standard. Not anymore. Once AI is plugged into your GTM motion, you should be getting more leads with less cost. Is it fair? nope. But it's reality. My note to all entrepreneurs is that you should expect every tech benchmark you see to improve. Last years top quartile is this year's median. Level up or be left in the dust. 3 - Energy For some reason I always forget this. There is nothing more energizing than talking with and meeting entrepreneurs. It's contagious. The hype, the hustle, the stories, the curiosity, and the energy. It just gets me every time. Makes me want to run through a brickwall. #Entrepreneurship #Leadership

Last week was a whirlwind of learning, relationship-building and strategizing for the future of Iron Prairie Ventures. I was fortunate to have capped it off with a Rhea Space Activity board meeting, an evening at Schematic Ventures' Big Bash and the opportunity to attend the Club M25 Summit! Always enjoy catching up with great friends and partners including Rectangle co-founder and CEO Matt Salefski and Sarah Morgenstern, venture partner of Flourish Ventures. Iron Prairie joined 200+ VC firms from across the country for 1:1 meetings at the Summit, which give us direct lines of sight into the tech that's driving our region's growth.

Spent last week in Chicago chasing unicorns at the M25 Summit! ? Nothing beats catching up and meeting with so many excellent founders and investors from across the US in real life (because Zoom doesn’t always cut it). Wrapped up the week with a fantastic Emerging VC dinner hosted by Baird Capital and Cooley LLP.

Scenes from the road: ASV had a busy week, with Pia Sawhney and Preston DeGarmo attending Primary Venture Partners' summit in NYC, while Anthony Santaro did some investor speed dating at the Club M25 Summit in Chicago. It was great to see our old friend John Cococcia, as well as Johanna Mennona of Lewis & Clark Ventures and Alessandro Burdisso of Knoll Ventures, and to meet so many new faces!