BRAIN FOOD vol. 4

Our Guests' brains were delicious this month ??

While many were busy with Pumpkin Spiced Lattes and the World Series (congrats, Dusty!), the distinguished Silicon Zombies Podcast audience absorbed stories around what founders need to progress, and pitched live to some of the biggest investors around. All in all, a pretty spook-tacular Halloween ??

And just like when the plot changed as Max and Allison free Dani and Binx in Hocus Pocus , the market is also at in inflection point. How will things change?

       founders will turn their focus from growth to profit ??
         

As Bob Dylan says, 'these time are a changin '.

Mortgage rates rose past 7% for the first time in 20 years, the Fed just announced another hike (3/4 of a point), and real GDP slowed for the second quarter in a row.

But that's not all. In the last year, the S&P has taken quite the haircut . Meanwhile, Big Tech has had Big Layoffs: Lyft, Chime, Dapper Labs, Opendoor, Snap, and Stripe (who once worth $100B) are all trimming 10-20+% of their workforce. Twitter expects to get halved. Elon may be leading the pack in drastic cost reductions, but many founders are keen to avoid what Sequoia Capital calls the death spiral ??. Remember, investors have other options. Are you raising capital? Then you're competing with T-Bills getting 4%, municipal bonds at 5% (that are triple tax advantage), and corporate bonds at 8%. But founders who can trim the fat early are far more likely to weather the storm.

But the early stage fundraising environment? Jordan Wahbeh says there is no need to fret.

While it seems there are major headwinds and an economy-wide slowdown coming our way, founders who think capital is drying up can take solace.

"This is a market correction and valuations are being adjusted. New energy will focus towards more viable companies that improve the human condition."

-Jordan Wahbeh

In fact, Venture-capital funds raised a record $151B in the first 3 quarters of this year. This isn't new; VC has outperformed other asset classes in prior down economic cycles, beating the NASDAQ by 34% in the 07-09' recession.

Trends vs. Staying Power

Jordan is a Silicon Valley icon, and hasn’t had a full time job in years. "The pleasure, joy, stress, challenge, stretching of ones mind. I don't know why you'd want to do anything else."

He's seen the tides change from AI to ML, crypto to SPACs, drones and web3. Ever-practical and occasionally prickly ??, he waits 6-12 months before jumping in. "Sometimes market drives innovation, sometimes innovation drives the market." Global business experience helps. India, Dubai, the Middle East (Jordan is from Jordan), and most recently coaching startups in Copenhagen through the Danish Innovation Center with Diana Thiesen White and team.

Peaking into the future of early stage VC, he shared:

"Syndication is the next chapter. Wider exposure with subject matter experts, cleaner cap tables, and more efficient due diligence"        

Jordan is a partner at Network.vc , and decentralized investment is their bread and butter. The process is simple: Their network invests when it makes sense to their thesis and investors from 20+ countries. Deal flow comes from Startup.network , an organization with 100+ events a year where founders pitch online or in person. His advice on picking winners? Don't chase the unicorns; instead chase great successes. 10-20x returns are lovely.

"You know it when you see it. Dig in and see the determination of the founders; Look for the heart of a lion. The market, the technology… yes. But it boils down to the executive team."

-Jordan Wahbeh

Jordan is marvelous because he's always having fun. And he freely shares philosophies to set the entrepreneur mindset, including:

• Give twice, or three times, and receive once
• Success come from relationships based in trust
• Build your own tribe: link arms with men and women around you, look after each other
• If you're not having fun, don't do it

As it turns out, Jordan Wahbeh is not the Gordon Ramsay of VC. More like a humble servant of the people. --

You know who else has a lot of fun? Conor Riley . Building consumer brands, creating makeup products, private jets to Singapore; and Luxie Beauty keeps growing. 160+ markets with retail in 20 different countries. All this was after the Bay Area native sold an extreme sports company in his early 20's, bought a sailboat, and sailed through Mexico for 5 years. ???? No doubt this would later help him when landing beauty influencer Pautips , who has over 9M YouTube subscribers.

How does an ex-pro at motocross/big wave surfer and jujitsu master become a top makeup exec?

"Coming from private equity (GP at White Stable Ventures), I had experience in manufacturing, consumer products, logistics...it just made sense. If the market is there and we have access to it, then we're gonna drive revenue."

-Conor Riley

A little known fact is that the blush application changed to go slightly higher on the cheekbone. This process of learning inspired Conor to learn how to contour, highlight, create a smokey-eye look, a cut-crease . 6 months later, he was hooked. The mom and pop founders didn't know what tools were available to fund the business, which had millions of dollars in purchase orders but no ability to fund production against them. But Conor knew asset-based lending like the back of his hand. He brought the initial capital, and came by the office (still in flip flops and board shorts from Mexico) and helped them enter into their first retail contracts. Not long after, he was steering a different ship ??

This hands-on approach is crucial to driving product development and predicting trends in the beauty market. Another benefit of doing press and interviews? The chance to candidly share the steps Luxie is taking to deliver against consumer expectation (especially as it relates to ESG and DEI ). Peter Wang agrees, that "The community wants to know what value you are bringing to them. It's not what you're representing, it's what you are adding."

TLDR? Build something they will want to seek out, independent of the brand 
        

Conor (who holds the FINRA Series 79 and 63 licenses) sees real movement of technology in the #consumer space, specifically:

1. Fintech: Mitigating risk of non-payment for short term loans through backend payment integrations.
2. Web3: NFT's as a way to drive customer loyalty.
3. Augmented Reality: Tech-enabled consumer devices. Imagine a tutorial of how to prepare something in the supermarket. Give your fans a way to engage. AR mascara currently looks more like a filter, but we'll get there.

Talent Alert??: Looking for fresh content creation and strategy in the marketing space? Conor gave a shout out to Brindley Woods who is a pro ??

"Explore new opportunities and find new ways to work. Just encourage yourself to be curious." - Conor Riley

Don't know yet how or where to find your bliss? Conor says thats OK .

Martin Van Buren (our 8th President of the United States of America) would likely agree. In fact, had the nickname OK, “Old Kinderhook.” “OK now has a double meaning: Old Kinderhook was all correct.” MVB was also the only president who was ESL; his mother tongue was Dutch ????

Tips for managing stress and burn-out?

Self care is important, and you'll see a difference when it's prioritized. Conor says get up early and knock out your exercise. Similar sentiments at The Huberman Lab , which says get sunlight as early as you can. One of the best shows around on neuroscience and wellness as it relates to brain development, function, stress, and neural plasticity -- strongly recommended. ??

What's it like to be at sea for 5 years? ?

It took about 4 months to truly 'unplug' but he ditched his cell phone, checked his laptop once a month, and surfed every day. Between the amazing food and connecting with the locals, he urges everyone to take some time off from their career at some point.

"I was able to advance so much more professionally, because people knew I took time away. It was almost like, you must be good because you went sailing.'"

-Conor Riley

A fictional character he wishes could be real?

Sherlock Holmes ?? to help him refine his already impressive bullshit radar when hearing pitches #detectiveinvestor --

Piotr Zaj?c believes that Technology makes us equal. As CEO of Untitled Kingdom - which does product and software development for medtech solutions- he's gone from?building exceptional technology to bringing innovation that is changing the world.

"I'm driven by a mission to turn tech into tools of social change; to provide equal access to high-quality healthcare. To allow modern solutions to build a society where everyone feels included."

-Piotr Zaj?c

Good culture's don't happen on accident

The Untitled Kingdom newly designed office highlights this flexibility for the team, which as of last week was 70 employees (and running 14 years strong). "If you want to focus, work from home. If you want to brainstorm and collaborate with your colleagues, come to the office." Jay Burton M.B.A , who was a Senior Director at 苹果 with a tenure of a decade, shared a similar approach to building culture.

Everything at Apple is intentional and purposeful. Even though it's a massive global conglomerate, your value is felt every day. Leadership performance metrics are largely based on how you are developing your direct reports...we were taught to manage the person, not the job.

-Jay Burton

Total commitment from the entire team

When JFK first toured the NASA facility in 1962, he casually asked a janitor passing by what he did for NASA.“Mr. President, he said, I’m helping put a man on the moon.” ????

The hilarious and lovely Carrie Davis from Modern Luxury shared some experiences 'drinking the kool-aid' during her tenure at 谷歌 . Cultural fit was #1. Having zero digital experience at the time was of less importance, and she joined the digital team. Carrie's travels (which have taken her to 40+ countries) and personal values/belief system were far more important, bringing a unique perspective when the 'Bat Signal' was sent out. Joseph Minafra who leads Innovation at NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration has a similar approach: bring together experts in other fields that are seemingly disconnected to drive diversity of thought. This plus an insatiable curiosity to learn more.

Organizational scholar Edgar Schein defined culture in 3 pieces

Artifacts -- The things you can see, touch, smell. Happy hours, inside jokes, ping pong tables, the office layout, shared vocabulary, branding.

Espoused values and?beliefs -- A level deeper are the things you say you believe. How the team treats each other, the mission statement you co-wrote, the principles that govern the hierarchy and dynamic.

Basic underlying assumptions -- The foundation. Basic underlying assumptions are the things you?actually?believe. Jonathan Weston shares that Salesforce is rooted in trust.

In FemTech, there's work to be done

In 2017, Piotr Zaj?c 's friend and founder named Rachel was pitching VC's in New York with a great idea for a #femtech product. Their reply? "We do not invest in niche markets." A pretty pitiful response.

Trust Your Gut

We're finally to the point where women are designing products for other women. In fact Piotr's goal is to replace himself with a female CEO within the next several years, saying that "hiring is the most important part of being a leader." During an interview, Piotr asks about approaches, and beliefs, then just follows his gut feeling. Malcolm Gladwell 's book Blink has shown the power of thinking without thinking via the adaptive unconscious.

In 'Blink', a researcher on marital relationships analyzed a normal conversation between a husband and wife for an hour, then accurately predicting (95%) whether that couple will be married in 15 years.
        

A Man of the People

In 2013, Untitled Kingdom almost went bankrupt. When faced with the option of paying taxes or salaries, Piotr went with salaries. Shortly thereafter, a monumental contract landed in their laps. Do the right things, and the right things will happen to you.

How can you help Piotr? ??

Connections to big medtech corps, innovation officers, R&D, new products, feasibility studies and certifications, as well as startups who are building the medtech products of tomorrow. UK's big wins with Elvie , Eargo , and other's point to achievements that are second to none.

Selling Digital Assets? Web3 platform Blocksee helps you reach Community members in a Brand new way

Blocksee , a blockchain CRM and communications platform, is run by Eric Forst , CEO. "Since your wallet verifies you into different communities, we can automatically populate conversion funnels and provide a tokenized chat. The long term is incentivizing better conversations leveraging a new approach to building algorithms.

The majority of NFTs go unsold or unclaimed, and marketers ranging from influencers to enterprise clients require more effective tools for getting customers. Blocksee helps marketers leverage on-chain data to help marketers enhance their distribution and community building capabilities on Web3.

Delivering actionable insights for NFT and crypto marketers ??

TechCrunch Disrupt was surreal. The yearly 3-day legendary tech conference highlights breaking technology with top thought-leaders from all over, including Payom Niazmandi , Deep S. Kateryna Hrechko , Anna Belova , Gwyneth Borden , Ruhi Gandhi , Pardis Mirmalek , Ron Erd , Amos Dare MD, FACS and Piotr Zaj?c . Huge thanks to the KOTRA team for the ticket ( Yongmin Park , Minjung Joo ); and Austin J. sure know's how to get down - the KOTRA afterparty stole the show ??

Olga Bortnikova Behdad Karimi Dermeni Austin J. Viktoriia Stepanenko Moussa Dao Flavius Pop Jordan Wahbeh Gary Fowler

All in all, tons of new technology around the sciences, productivity, and robotics. Shout out to Jonathan Weston and Salesforce for the Business Builders Happy Hour with Tiffanie Stanard , always love spending time with wonderful people. Likewise excited for Curtis Ashford who is now a 美国斯坦福大学 IRB Approved Researcher of Neuroscience. Huge congratulations for tripling the revenue for CogniFit - and look forward to having you and Dr. Ashford on the Silicon Zombies Podcast to explore the latest in memory testing ??

Tuesday the 25th we had the pleasure of connecting with entrepreneur turned Super Angel (and now VC), David Mandel . Talk about a force of nature:

 David looks at 500 startups a month, typically investing in 1-2/month 
        

Starting in 2011, and now 750 deals later, he is still "Investing in tomorrow's tech today." As GP of Emerging Ventures , David builds a diversified portfolio of curated emerging tech startups. The initial process was about 'learning on his own dime' but eventually others came in and they started an early stage technology fund.

Born in NY, he took to applied math and computer science as a dual undergrad. After moving to LA, he built/exited 4 separate companies around insurance and finance (specifically, underwriting). One of David's tips for success? Saying no most of the time.

High level economics of Venture Capital

500 virtual meetings turns into 10-12 in person meetings, then 1 - 2 per month. The three things he looks for is execution.

The funds focus is on Southern CA, however they have deal flow from, and have funded companies throughout the US, Canada, and Israel. Over 50% of Fund 1’s portfolio are outside of CA. What does it mean to be “venture back-able”? When there's a strong possibility of the team raising a large institutional venture backed round in 12-24 months at a significantly higher valuation. We look for:

Three Legs of the Stool

?? Can you build it (MVP)

?? Can you sell it (first customer)

?? Do they love it (path to product/market fit)

Now on fund II and half-deployed, David (similarly to Jordan Wahbeh ) doesn't go unicorn hunting. Instead the 10-20x returns are stable and perfectly welcome. To learn more, check out https://emerging.vc/ --

Papia Gambelin honored as top 100 Women of Influence! ??

Super stoked for this remarkable woman to receive such a great award - as she empowers her community, builds relationships, and solves crucial policy/infrastructure challenges. After an impressive tenure as Director Of Public Affairs Pacific Gas and Electric Company , Papia now serves as Managing Director State and Local Government Affairs for United Airlines - can't wait to see what will come next. Go Papia! ??

We Have Zombie Stickers!

Reach out if you want to decorate your house, car, or life partner with them. Free while supplies last, when we'll just order more. Custom stickers from Stickermule.com

A message from our friends at Necodex ??

Need help building a product? Want to get your dream off the ground, starting at only $25/hour? They've perfected the B.O.T. method (build, operate, transfer) and have done superb work for founders in the Zombie Community, including Matt Lentzner at Bizinta Inc. Questions? Connect with Ana Paula Monge to learn more.

Founder of the Month???

Tonya Grubbs fell into her role as a founder (as well as her love of vintage furniture) by accident. After working at a few estate sales and seeing things that could be improved, she started Scarlet Modern , which provides vintage consignment for estates and individuals all over the country. Tonya uses e-commerce to reach buyers around the world for her clients’ pieces- and what a powerful message to have built a product to solve her own problem in the space. ???? Now working on software solutions specifically meant for other sellers, Slide 35 is set to innovate the design/e-commerce space so sign up for the newsletter because it's about to get wild. She and her co-founder have also created copy/CURATE which automates listings to the luxury marketplaces, starting with Chairish , a large marketplace for shoppers in US looking for designer vintage and antique home decor and furniture.

Tune in Tuesday at 5pm PT for Kevin "KD" Dorsey for more of the best brains in the bay!

LinkedIn Audio Event here ??

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