extra crunch live announcement
Auto Added by WPeMatico
Hear Startup Alley companies pitch expert VC judges on the next episode of Extra Crunch Live
We know how much you love a good startup pitch-off. Who doesn’t? It combines the thrill of live, high-stakes entertainment with learning about the hottest new thing. Plus, you get to hear feedback from some of the smartest folks in the industry, thus learning how to absolutely crush it at your next pitch meeting with a VC.
With all that in mind, we’re introducing a special summer edition of Extra Crunch Live that’s all pitch-off, all the time.
On August 4, Extra Crunch Live will feature startups exhibiting in the Startup Alley at TechCrunch Disrupt 2021 in September. Those startups will pitch their products/businesses to a pair of expert VC judges, who will then give their live feedback.
Extra Crunch Live is usually a combination of an interview with a founder/investor duo and an audience pitch-off. But as it’s summer, and Disrupt is right around the corner, we thought it would be fun to bring you even more pitches and even more feedback.
On August 4, our expert VC judges will be Edith Yeung from Race Capital and Laela Sturdy of CapitalG. Register here for free!
Edith Yeung started out as an investor at 500 Startups and is now a general partner at Race Capital. She’s an expert on both the China and Silicon Valley investment landscape and has made more than 50 investments, with a portfolio that includes 50 startups, including Lightyear/Stellar (valued $1.2 billion), Silk Labs (acquired by Apple), Chirp (acquired by Apple), Fleksy (acquired by Pinterest), Human (acquired by Mapbox), Solana, Oasis Labs, Nebulas, Hooked, DayDayCook, AISense and many more.
Laela Sturdy is a 10x unicorn operator-turned-investor whose investments are worth nearly $200 billion. She joined CapitalG, the investment arm of Alphabet, in 2013, and her portfolio includes Stripe, UiPath, Duolingo, Gusto, Webflow and Unqork, among many others.
As a special thank you, all attendees of this episode of Extra Crunch Live will be entered into a random drawing for a chance to win one of three free tickets to TechCrunch Disrupt 2021. Following the event, we’ll randomly select three winners and send details on how to redeem their passes. Do you need to submit any additional information to enter the drawing? Nope. All you need to do is register for Extra Crunch Live by clicking here and attend the event on August 4.
Powered by WPeMatico
Hear Startup Alley companies pitch expert VC judges in upcoming episodes of Extra Crunch Live
We know how much you love a good startup pitch-off. Who doesn’t? It combines the thrill of live, high-stakes entertainment with learning about the hottest new thing. Plus, you get to hear feedback from some of the smartest folks in the industry, thus learning how to absolutely crush it at your next pitch meeting with a VC.
With all that in mind, we’re introducing a special summer edition of Extra Crunch Live that’s all pitch-off, all the time.
On July 21 and July 28, Extra Crunch Live will feature startups exhibiting in the Startup Alley at TechCrunch Disrupt 2021 in September. Those startups will pitch their products/businesses to a pair of expert VC judges, who will then give their live feedback.
Extra Crunch Live is usually a combination of an interview with a founder/investor duo and an audience pitch-off. But as it’s summer, and Disrupt is right around the corner, we thought it would be fun to bring you even more pitches and even more feedback.
On July 21, our expert VC judges will be Alexa von Tobel of Inspired Capital and Anis Uzzaman from Pegasus Tech Ventures.
REGISTER HERE FOR INSPIRED CAPITAL AND PEGASUS TECH VENTURES
REGISTER HERE FOR INSPIRED CAPITAL AND PEGASUS TECH VENTURES
Alexa von Tobel founded LearnVest, which sold for hundreds of millions of dollars. She then went on to found and serve as general partner at Inspired Capital. She’s been to plenty of TechCrunch events, and has even been a guest on Extra Crunch Live earlier this year. Long story short: She’s a smarty pants and an all-around fun person to hang out with.
Anis Uzzaman is founder and partner at Pegasus Tech Ventures, whose portfolio includes SpaceX, 23andme, Airbnb, Sofi, Coinbase, Robinhood, DoorDash and many more. Before Pegasus, he was at IBM and Cadence, where he drove strategic investments in software development, microelectronics and e-commerce. And if that weren’t enough, he’s founded several companies.
On July 28, our VC judges include Nicole Johnson from Forerunner and Mor Assia from iAngels.
REGISTER HERE FOR FORERUNNER VENTURES AND iANGELS
REGISTER HERE FOR FORERUNNER VENTURES AND iANGELS
Nicole Johnson has a background in psychology and brings that experience into the world of consumer tech, focusing on the consumer psyche to both evaluate and help grow startups in which she is investing. Her portfolio includes Calibrate, Neighborhood Goods, Nécessaire, Heroes, Thingtesting, Prose, Stadium Goods and others.
Mor Assia is founding partner and co-CEO of iAngels. Hailing from Israel, and part of the IDF’s elite intelligence unit 8200, Assia leads the iAngel’s investment committee, deal screening, due diligence and portfolio management. She has a background with SAP, IBM and Amdocs, and specializes in the areas of fintech, AI and automotive technology.
These upcoming episodes are sure to be as exciting as they are informative, and we’ll be hitting you with more special edition Startup Alley pitch-off episodes of ECL throughout the rest of the summer.
Also, buy a ticket to Disrupt. Trust me. The agenda is lit. Along with the heavy hitters on the Disrupt Stage, you can get your founder how-to knowledge at sessions on the Extra Crunch Stage, breakout sessions and intimate roundtable discussions. You’ll be able to find and engage with people from all around the world through world-class networking on CrunchMatch and our virtual platform — all for under $100 for a limited time with even deeper discounts for nonprofit/government agencies, students and up-and-coming founders!
Powered by WPeMatico
Emergence’s Lotti Siniscalco and Retail Zipline’s Melissa Wong will join us on Extra Crunch Live
For all that’s said about fundraising and working alongside investors, rarely do we get to see founders and their investors in candid conversation with one another. Extra Crunch Live is changing that. On the weekly live show, we sit down with founders and the VCs who funded them to talk about how they came together on the deal, what stood out about the other party that led to their commitment and how they operate today. We also (usually) take a walk through their early pitch decks to get a feel for how success starts.
On an upcoming episode of Extra Crunch Live, we’ll sit down with Emergence’s Lotti Siniscalco and Retail Zipline’s Melissa Wong to discuss all that and more. The event goes down on Wednesday, June 23 at 3 p.m. ET/noon PT. You can register to attend right here.
Siniscalco is a principal at Emergence Capital, investing in early-stage enterprise software companies. She currently serves on the board of directors at Whistic and High Alpha. Prior to Emergence, she was an investor in financial services and technology at Advent International, a PE firm, and led diligence for Ribbit Capital (also fintech focused) before that.
In other words, she’s an expert in fintech and can bring a wealth of wisdom to our conversation around fundraising and startup growth.
Melissa Wong, on the other hand, has spent 10 years in retail communications at Old Navy. It was here that she realized a problem that Zipline Retail, a retail communication and store execution platform, could solve and set out on her own venture.
Extra Crunch Live also features the ECL Pitch-off, where startups in the audience can virtually “raise their hand” to pitch their startup live on our stream. Our expert guests will give their feedback on each pitch. If you want to throw your hat in the ring, you have to show up.
Extra Crunch Live is accessible to everyone, but only Extra Crunch members can access the content on demand. We do these every week, so there are scores of episodes across a wide variety of startup sectors in the ECL Library. It’s but one of many reasons to become an Extra Crunch member. Join here.
Powered by WPeMatico
Wonderschool’s Chris Bennett and investor Marlon Nichols will break down the path to seed-stage funding
Extra Crunch Live is all about helping founders build better venture-backed businesses. Naturally, we do this by having candid conversations with founders and their investors.
On an upcoming episode of Extra Crunch Live, we’ll sit down with MaC Venture Capital founding managing partner Marlon Nichols and Wonderschool co-founder and CEO Chris Bennett. REGISTER HERE FOR FREE!
Not only will we discuss how they came together for Wonderschool’s seed round in 2017, but how that translated into what has become a total of $24 million in funding from VCs like a16z and First Round Capital.
We’ll also host the Extra Crunch Live Pitch-off, where folks in the audience can pitch their startup to Nichols and Bennett to get their live feedback.
Nichols is a former Kauffman Fellow and Investment Director at Intel Capital. His portfolio includes Gimlet Media, MongoDB, Thrive Market, PlayVS, Fair, LISNR, Mayvenn, Blavity and Wonderschool. Nichols knows more than most of us will ever learn about seed-stage fundraising, and even gave a chat at TechCrunch Early Stage in April that outlines four strategies for securing seed funding.
We’ll get even deeper on that subject with Nichols, and hear the perspective from the other side of the table with Bennett.
Wonderschool is a network of early childhood programs that combine the quality of top-notch early education with an in-home setting.
Bennett can talk extensively on edtech as a sector, and we’ll pick both his and Nichols’ mind on that fast-growing space.
Don’t forget that this episode will feature an Extra Crunch Live Pitch-off, so founders in the audience should be ready to “raise their hand” and get in the mix.
The episode goes down on Wednesday, June 16 at 3 p.m. ET/noon PT. Extra Crunch Live is accessible to anyone who wants to attend, but on-demand access to the content, including the entire library of ECL episodes, is reserved exclusively for Extra Crunch members. Join now to check out what Aileen Lee, Roelof Botha, Mark Cuban and more had to say on earlier episodes of ECL.
Powered by WPeMatico
Get feedback on your pitch deck from tech leaders on Extra Crunch Live
The importance of the pitch deck can’t be underestimated. It is often the first point of contact between a company and venture investors… but how investors consume a pitch deck (and what they really think) is also a bit of a black box.
Are they speed-flipping through the slides or taking their time? Do they prefer more information on the team or context on the industry? More numbers or more words? How many slides is the right number of slides?
There are too many questions to count, and often very few answers. But we’re popping the lid off of that black box with the Pitch Deck Teardown. We’ve done Pitch Deck Teardowns at events like Disrupt and Early Stage 2020, and this year we’re cranking it up a notch on Extra Crunch Live.
Anyone can submit their pitch deck and hear what our guests, tech leaders across the industry, think of them. (Important note: Extra Crunch members will be prioritized on the list of decks we choose to show during the episode.)
We’ve already gotten some amazing feedback from our guests.
So what are you waiting for? Submit your pitch deck or grab yourself a ticket to our next episode of Extra Crunch Live.
See you there!
Early Stage is the premier “how-to’ event for startup entrepreneurs and investors. You’ll hear first hand how some of the most successful founders and VCs build their businesses, raise money and manage their portfolios. We’ll cover every aspect of company building: Fundraising, recruiting, sales, product market fit, PR, marketing and brand building. Each session also has audience participation built-in — there’s ample time included for audience questions and discussion. Use code “TCARTICLE” at checkout to get 20% off tickets right here.
Powered by WPeMatico
The Series A deal that launched a near unicorn: Meet Accel’s Steve Loughlin and Ironclad’s Jason Boehmig
The only people who truly understand a relationship are the ones who are in it. Luckily for us, we’re going to have a candid conversation with both parties in the relationship between Ironclad CEO and cofounder Jason Boehmig and his investor and board member Accel partner Steve Loughlin.
Loughlin led Ironclad’s Series A deal back in 2017, making it one of his first Series A deals after returning to Accel.
This episode of Extra Crunch Live goes down on Wednesday at 3pm ET/12pm PT, just like usual.
We’ll talk to the duo about how they met, what made them ‘choose’ each other, and how they’ve operated as a duo since. How they built trust, maintain honesty, and talk strategy are also on the table as part of the discussion.
Loughlin was an entrepreneur before he was an investor, founding RelateIQ (an Accel-backed company) in 2011. The company was acquired by Salesforce in 2014 for $390 million and later became Salesforce IQ. Loughlin then “came back home” to Accel in 2016, and has led investments in companies like Airkit, Ascend.io, Clockwise, Ironclad, Monte Carlo, Nines, Productiv, Split.io, and Vivun.
Not entirely unsurprising for a man who has dominated the legal tech sphere, Jason Boehmig is a California barred attorney who practiced law at Fenwick & West and was also an adjunct professor of law at Notre Dame Law School. Ironclad launched in 2014 and today the company has raised more than $180 million and, according to reports, is valued just under $1 billion.
Not only will we peel back the curtain on how this investor/founder relationship works, but we’ll also hear from these two tech leaders on their thoughts around bigger enterprise trends in the ecosystem.
Then, it’s time for the Pitch Deck Teardown. On each episode of Extra Crunch Live, we take a look at pitch decks submitted by the audience and our experienced guests give their live feedback. If you want to throw your hat pitch deck in the ring, you can hit this link to submit your deck for a future episode.
As with just about everything we do here at TechCrunch, audience members can also ask their own questions to our guests.
Extra Crunch Live has left room for you to network (you gotta network to get work, amirite?). Networking is open starting at 2:30pm ET/11:30am PT and stays open a half hour after the episode ends. Make a friend!
As a reminder, Extra Crunch Live is a members-only series that aims to give founders and tech operators actionable advice and insights from leaders across the tech industry. If you’re not an Extra Crunch member yet, what are you waiting for?
Loughlin and Boehmig join a stellar cast of speakers on Extra Crunch Live, including Lightspeed’s Gaurav Gupta and Grafana’s Raj Dutt, as well as Felicis’ Aydin Senkut and Guideline’s Kevin Busque. Extra Crunch members can catch every episode of Extra Crunch Live on demand right here.
You can find details for this episode (and upcoming episodes) after the jump below.
See you on Wednesday!
Powered by WPeMatico
At Extra Crunch Live, Felicis’ Aydin Senkut and Guideline’s Kevin Busque will look back on the Series B deal that brought them together
Aydin Senkut is a Swiss Army knife of an investor. He has been on the Midas List for the past seven years, with early investments in companies like Shopify, Rovio, Fitbit, Ayden, Credit Karma, SoundHound and more.
One such investment is Guideline, an enterprise tech company focused on giving small businesses a simplified way to offer affordable 401ks to employees. Guideline has raised nearly $140 million from investors such as Tiger Global Management, Greyhound, Generation Investment Management, Propel and, of course, Felicis.
It should go without saying that we’re thrilled to have Senkut and Guideline founder and CEO Kevin Busque join us for this week’s episode of Extra Crunch Live.
The new and improved Extra Crunch Live pairs founders and the investors who led their earlier rounds to talk about how the deal went down, from the moment they met to the conversations they had (including some disagreements) to the relationship as it exists today. Hell, we may even take a peek at the original pitch deck that made it all happen.
Then, we’ll turn our eyes back to you, the audience. That same founder/investor duo (in this case, Guideline founder and CEO Kevin Busque and Felicis’ Aydin Senkut) will take a look at your pitch decks and give their own feedback. (If you haven’t yet submitted a pitch deck to be torn down on Extra Crunch Live, you can do so here.)
The hour-long episode is sandwiched between two 30-minute rounds of networking. From start to finish, it goes from 11:30 a.m. PST/2:30 p.m. EST to 1:30 p.m. PST/4:30 p.m. EST. And Extra Crunch Live will come to you at the same time, every week, with a new pair of speakers.
In this case, we’ll be talking to Senkut and Busque about the $15 million Series B investment that Felicis led in the startup: How did they meet, what attracted them to one another, and ultimately, what made them decide to be financially bound together for the foreseeable future.
For now, let’s learn a bit more about Senkut and Busque, shall we?
Before starting Felicis Ventures (and serving as managing partner), Senkut was a senior manager at Google responsible for strategic partner development and account management in Asia Pacific. He joined the search giant in 1999 as its first product manager to launch Google’s first international sites. He then became the company’s first international sales manager.
Alongside an impressive portfolio of both angel and institutional investments, Senkut is about as well-rounded as a tech leader can be.
Kevin Busque, meanwhile, founded Guideline in 2015 and has since amassed more than 17,500 small businesses on the platform with nearly $4 billion in assets under management. Before Guideline, Busque spent seven years at TaskRabbit where he was a co-founder and VP of Technology. Busque deeply understands what it takes to go from idea to MVP to product market fit to hypergrowth.
This episode of Extra Crunch Live airs at 3 p.m. EST/12 p.m. PST on Wednesday, February 10.
As a reminder, Extra Crunch Live is for Extra Crunch members only. We’re coming to you with a new pair of speakers every week, and you can catch everything you missed on demand if you can’t join us live. It’s worth the cost of the subscription on its own, but EC members also get access to our premium content, including market maps and investor surveys. Long story short? Subscribe, smarty. You won’t regret it.
Senkut and Busque join an impressive list of guests on the show.
Full details to register for these events are below.
See you on Wednesday!
Powered by WPeMatico
Lightspeed’s Gaurav Gupta and Grafana Labs’ Raj Dutt will tell us why they financially tied the knot (twice!)
Many founders only know their own experience fundraising and don’t hear much about what other founders went through. On Extra Crunch Live on Wednesday, we’re going to remedy that.
Grafana Labs has raised upward of $75 million since it launched in 2014. Lightspeed Venture Partners, and partner Gaurav Gupta to be specific, led both the startup’s Series A and Series B rounds. As far as commitments go, that’s a pretty significant one.
The new and improved Extra Crunch Live pairs founders and the investors who led their earlier rounds to talk about how the deal went down, from the moment they met to the conversations they had (including some disagreements) to the relationship as it exists today. Hell, we may even take a peek at the original pitch deck that made it all happen.
Then, we’ll turn our eyes back to you, the audience. That same founder/investor duo (in this case, Grafana Labs CEO Raj Dutt and LVP’s Gaurav Gupta) will take a look at your pitch decks and give their own feedback. (If you haven’t yet submitted a pitch deck to be torn down on Extra Crunch Live, you can do so here.)
The hour-long episode is sandwiched between two 30-minute rounds of networking. From start to finish, it goes from 11:30 a.m. PST/2:30 p.m. EST to 1:30 p.m. PST/4:30 p.m. EST. And Extra Crunch Live will come to you at the same time, every week, with a new pair of speakers.
So let’s learn a little bit more about Gupta and Dutt.
Before becoming an investor, Gupta enjoyed a rich career in the product development sphere, holding positions at Elastic (where he led product management), Splunk (VP of Products), as well as Google, Gateway and the McKenna Group. He joined Lightspeed in 2019 as a partner, focusing primarily on enterprise software. He’s led investments in Impira, Blameless, Hasura and Panther, and of course, Grafana. He sits on the board of the last three companies in that list.
Dutt is the co-founder and CEO at Grafana Labs, but the fast-growing company isn’t his first go at entrepreneurialism. Dutt also founded and led Voxel, a cloud-hosting startup that was acquired by Internap for $30 million in 2012.
We’re absolutely thrilled to have Gupta and Dutt join us on our first episode of Extra Crunch Live in 2021. As a reminder, Extra Crunch Live is for Extra Crunch members only. We’re coming to you with a new pair of speakers every week, and you can catch everything you missed on-demand if you can’t join us live. It’s worth the cost of the subscription on its own, but EC members also get access to our premium content, including market maps and investor surveys. Long story short? Subscribe, smarty. You won’t regret it.
Oh, and here’s a look at other speakers you can expect to see on Extra Crunch Live:
Aydin Senkut (Felicis) + Kevin Busque (Guideline) — February 10
Steve Loughlin (Accel) + Jason Boehmig (Ironclad) — February 17
Matt Harris (Bain Capital Ventures) + Isaac Oates (Justworks) — February 24
And that’s just the February slate!
All the details to register for this upcoming episode (and more) are available below. Can’t wait to see you there!
Powered by WPeMatico