Shanthi Shanmugam

I'll be co-hosting a Cap Table Management Workshop with Fidelity Investments on Tuesday, 11/19! This will be part of a series of Startup Workshops that help founders with practical tips and actionable learnings. If you are a founder looking to raise future rounds of funding, this workshop is for you. Learn how to create, manage, and scale your cap table! https://lu.ma/vp0tzwtm

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Navigating Growth: Insights from yesterday’s Panel Discussion with Founders and Innovators SeedLegals Yesterday’s panel discussion, featuring Rob Cossins (Scribe) and Siddhi Mittal (yhangry), moderated by SeedLegals, was a deep dive into the interplay of data, adaptability, and technology in building scalable businesses. The conversation, enriched by audience questions, provided actionable insights for every founder in the room. 📊 Data: A Guide, Not a Gospel Rob stressed the limitations of relying solely on historical data, pointing out its backward-looking nature and emphasised the importance of responding to market signals in real time. Siddhi shared the challenges of starting with limited or skewed data, underscoring the value of focusing on one clear KPI—such as revenue or bookings—as a guiding metric for early growth. Both speakers agreed that intuition plays a pivotal role, especially in rapidly changing markets where data alone may lag behind reality. 🔄 Pivots: The Catalyst for Evolution Siddhi revealed how 60% of Yhangrys' bookings shifting to holiday homes led to a transformative pivot, showcasing the importance of staying attuned to customer behaviour. Siddhi reflected on Yhangry’s journey from solving a personal problem to creating a scalable business model, adapting to market demands through multiple iterations. Audience question: What was the biggest turning point in your business? Siddhi credited strategic partnerships and targeted outreach (like appearing on Dragons' den) for amplifying visibility and trust. Rob emphasised the need to constantly reassess and refine your product’s value proposition. 🤝 Networks: The Foundation of Growth Siddhi highlighted the value of leveraging personal networks for advice, mentorship, and distribution. “Your connections can unlock doors you didn’t even know existed.” Rob shared how engaging with customers and early adopters provided critical feedback, helping refine Scribe’s offerings and distribution strategy. Audience question: How do you prioritise networking as a founder? Both speakers encouraged founders to ask for help unapologetically and to view networking as an ongoing effort, not just a one-off activity. 🤖 AI and Technology: From Efficiency to Transformation Rob explained how AI enables Scribe to query large datasets and extract actionable insights, making processes faster and smarter. Advice for Early-Stage Founders Focus on revenue early: Both speakers agreed that revenue validates your market and provides clarity on customer needs. Be agile: Pivots are not failures—they’re opportunities to realign with what the market demands. The discussion was a reminder of the delicate balance between data and intuition, focus and flexibility, and technology and human connection. As one audience member remarked, “Growth isn’t about knowing everything—it’s about adapting to the unknown.” #Entrepreneurship #GrowthMindset #DataDriven #Innovation #Networking #AI

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📈 Curious about the startup scene in Massachusetts? Explore our detailed funding list featuring startup names, HQ locations, and investor info. Perfect for investors and entrepreneurs alike! Check it out: https://lnkd.in/dAp3xj-Q #startup #startups #venturecapital #funding #vc #managementconsulting

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Attention founders or founders in the making. Michael Ho always has great insight on a lot of topics. Check out this one on navigating from Seed to Series A.

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💯 agree with this viewpoint Today there are hundreds of products in every vertical that should really be features not products 🤯 Who actually enjoys having 20+ software applications to run a business? I’ve yet to meet a degenerate who does 😂 Building a compound startup or true system of record is not for the faint hearted. Everything is harder. Navigating through the complexity and the breadth vs depth conundrum is agonising 🛣️ 🧟‍♂️ But if you can stick the course and execute on this strategy successfully to build the ‘one stop shop for X’ both the customer and the software provider get incredible rewards 🏆🏆 #compound #startup

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🧑‍🍳 Work with Cathy Guo (and me!) on Iterative We're hiring a Senior Associate to help evaluate the startups that apply to Iterative. We receive 1K+ applications roughly every 3 months and invest in roughly 1.8% of those applications. Maybe somewhat counter-intuitively, we want to increase that % and take more risk. The trick is figuring out what areas (founder, market, country, etc.) that we should be taking more risk in. You'll be an active participant in how we evaluate companies. See the job description for the typical stuff but here's 2 things we DON'T do as part of our investment process. 🤔 Invest Based on Who Else Is Investing We don't care who else is in the round. Most of the time, we make our decision before everyone else does. That means you'll have to do the work of building your own conviction. 🤓 Invest on School, Previous Work Experience, etc. We don't have any filters around what school a founder went to, what company they used to work at, etc. We evaluate all founders based on our interactions with them. Why settle for a proxy of whether someone is good (that's what all of these are) when you can talk to them directly? If you can't tell whether a founder is good by talking to them.. well.. Instead.. you'll have to think for yourself and argue from first principles. Mostly with me :). If that's how you want to invest or want to learn how we do that, you should apply. For more details about the role, look for the 📌 in the comments.

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🎙️ Excited to share a recent convo I had with Justin Wolz on #FounderWellness and #Burnout. Reflecting on my last ten years in tech and especially these four intense years as a founder, I’ve learned a lot about what keeps us going in high-pressure roles. At Ambient, we're focused on Chiefs of Staff, Heads of Ops, and Founders—people who thrive in ambiguity and uncertainty. Through my conversations with many of you, it's clear we share many of the same challenges and strengths. ✨ These roles demand courage, as they often involve stepping into the unknown and solving complex problems before they're fully defined. Ambiguity is where you SHINE! ✨ 🔥 Building #RESILIENCE is key, and it's something we talked about a lot on the podcast. I think there are valuable takeaways for anyone who’s navigating high-stakes environments. 🥂 Cheers to all #ChiefsofStaff #CoS #Founders #BizOps #COO

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A few insights into the startup fundraising process from last week's talk with Chelsea Zhang (Equal Ventures) and Michelle Liao (DayZero) When you’re starting to fundraise Assign one founder to lead the process - Designating one founder to spearhead the process not only ensures a cohesive narrative and pitch but also effectively divides the demanding tasks of running the company and securing funds. Do your research - Tap into your network to glean insights from those who have raised money before. You can learn a lot from their experience. Thoroughly research potential VC funds to pitch, find the ones that are aligned with the vision and stage of your company. Don’t waste your time reaching out to investors that invest outside of your scope. Gaining momentum VCs move fast - VCs often operate with a clear investment thesis, having extensively researched the sectors they specialize in. As a result, they have a precise idea of what they're seeking and can swiftly recognize it. For example, before Chelsea came across DayZero - she had already seen 40+ variations of the same model. When VCs identify an opportunity that aligns with their criteria, they move fast. The investment process between Equal Ventures and DayZero took ~2 weeks. Gaining momentum during the process is important - Its important to end your VC conversations around the same time so you can round up all interested investors. Generating momentum involves prompting VCs to take action, which might entail instilling a sense of urgency or fostering a bit of FOMO to encourage swift decision-making. Closing the deal Be ready to negotiate quickly - Understanding which deal terms are important to you you as a Founder is crucial to research in advance. The process can unfold rapidly, making it overwhelming to decipher your priorities afterward. Dealing with rejection - Receiving a "no" from an investor doesn't invalidate your startup. Investors operate based on specific investment criteria, so it's important not to take rejection personally. There’s an investor out there that is probably a better fit; the key is to keep searching until you find them.

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Really enjoyed my conversation with Matt Newberg on the HNGRY podcast. We dove into why we founded Bikky, why there's so much potential for restaurants to tap into their customer data, actionable ways to use that data, and the age old third-party vs. first-party debate. Restaurants raised prices aggressively over the past two years to stay ahead of inflation, and for the first time in a while consumers are questioning the value equation for their favorite brands. We're seeing softness in traffic across the category - with even leaders like CAVA (who still had blowout earnings) showing a slight decline. The winners in this cycle will be those that know what levers to pull to drive incremental traffic, frequency, and sales. I want to thank Matt for allowing me to talk about how we're doing that at Bikky. He's one of the most insightful folks covering the space, and holds the record for number of articles I forward when folks ask me what's top of mind in the industry. Here's the link the episode. I hope you enjoy listening to our conversation as much as I enjoyed being part of it: https://lnkd.in/e4yHTYeu

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As we explore a seed round of VC funding for Avnir, a mentor has driven into me to "interview them as much as they'll do their due diligence on you!" When I consider professional etiquette important to me (and probably every serious founder), I am reminded of what I've coached hundreds of executives on over the past two decades: "Your culture is a culmination of behaviors you're willing to tolerate!" So, here is a Top 10 List of Professional Etiquette crucial to long-term strategic relationships between VCs and founders: 1️⃣ Respect for Time—Punctuality, Efficient Communication, and Timely Feedforward are demonstrated and genuinely felt. We would both rather me invest time in building the business. 2️⃣ Transparency—Clear Expectations, Honest Feedforward, and Disclosures on conflicts of interest or resource limitations save everyone unnecessarily wasted cycles! 3️⃣ Professionalism—Politeness, Confidentiality, and Objective Evaluation allow courteous interactions, respect for proprietary information, and avoiding bias in evaluating the founder's meritocracy. 4️⃣ Empathy—Understanding the Journey and Constructive Dialogue acknowledge the uphill battle founders face while avoiding unnecessary criticism and providing supportive guidance, demonstrating a genuine interest in their vision. 5️⃣ Integrity—Fair Terms, Follow Through, and Avoiding Overpromising honor commitments during discussions, and create realistic expectations from the relationship. 6️⃣ Co-Creation—Value-adding Mindset and Team Player Attitude accelerate the founder's ability to gain traction and position the VC relationship as transformational vs. simply transactional. 7️⃣ Humility—Avoiding Arrogance, Condescension, and Open-Mindedness acknowledges that both parties have unique expertise to add and enhance the receptivity to unconventional ideas, approaches, and perspectives. 8️⃣ Listening Louder—Present, Engaged, and Clarity of Intent eliminates distractions, brings out what's not being said, and jointly crafts better questions to help uncover the unknown and the undiscovered. 9️⃣ Encouraging—Supportive Communication, Positive Reinforcement, and Inspiration help celebrate small wins and key milestone achievements. It's ideal to light a fire within the relationship rather than under anyone, which seldom lasts! 🔟 Playing the Long Game—Relationship Nurturing and Post-Investment Care establishes the runway for a lasting partnership rather than simply pitching a deck and closing a deal. After the investment decision, sustaining the relationship will determine the partnership's long-term perspective. Jason M. Lemkin, Peter Bell, Cassie Young, and Ed Sim - you exemplify world-class in the relationships you build with your founders. Did I miss anything? #VCFounderRelationship #AlignedExpectations #RelationshipsMatterMoreThanEver

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Excited to be part of NY Tech Week! 🎉 Come see me and let's talk tech. Whether you have questions, want to start or scale your business, or are interested in a quick intro to AI as a productivity tool, drop by and say hello! Let's innovate together. 🚀 #NYTechWeek #Innovation #AI #BusinessGrowth

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I have a similar bias to Marty Cagan - I'm a Scientist by training (PhD), but moved to Product after learning the ropes via an Entrepreneurship route. Is Product an Art or a Science? We at Iteraite think it should be made more into a Science. And one of the ways we're doing it is helping #ProductManagers create with the help of #AI (of course) and generate ideas. Here's what I can say from years of experience working with some of the most brilliant people at places like University of California, Berkeley and various companies: Many people may be "brilliant", but have very low #creativity - which is something we usually associate with "Art". So what happens if you're a PM, and you have a low Creativity capability? Or are highly Creative, but don't know how to do things in a rigorous manner? That's where AI-Frameworks really shine - doing things Methodically can help both creative people become more scientific (use rigorous approaches, utilize data, etc), whereas it can help spark the creativity in those who lack it by helping them think and sift through ideas that the AI generates. You can try out some of our tools for free by logging into iteraite.com and using the free access code FreePRD2024 to help you generate ideas (we have better tools in the paid version, like OST).

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Check out our curated list of #New York funded startups, featuring key insights like HQ locations, founded years, and investor info. https://lnkd.in/dbw7pUqq #startup #startups #venturecapital #funding #vc #investmentbanking

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Want a front-row seat to the frontier of tech? We’ve got the role (or two) for you! We’re expanding our frontier-tech team at Blackbird by hiring a Frontier Tech Investments Associate and Foundry Fellows! Got questions? We've got answers... 1️⃣ What are the roles? 🧪 Associate = a full-time VC investment gig in our Blackbird Investments team, working directly with me. We’re looking for someone with a science and/or engineering background and more curiosity than they can handle. You’ll grow your own investment brand and practice, support our portfolio founders, and will help build Foundry, our early-stage frontier-tech accelerator. ✨ Foundry Fellow = a casual/contract gig in our Blackbird Investments team, ~15h per week for 3 months. The Fellowship is ideal for PhD students and ECRs who want to learn more about startups and VC. You’ll go deep on emerging areas relevant to your expertise (or curiosity!), get a front-row seat to groundbreaking companies in those areas, build out your non-academic network, and develop a solid writing practice. 2️⃣ Why are you hiring? We love frontier tech, and we’re ready to grow our team. 3️⃣ Wow, it’s so great that you’re starting to look at deep tech! Look, we get it: we don’t make a lot of noise about our frontier tech investing. Buuuut we’ve been deep-tech investors since we backed Tim Kentley-Klay to found Zoox back in 2014—we’ve been on incredible journeys with PsiQuantum (building the world's first utility-scale quantum computer right here in Australia!), Inventia Life Science (transforming drug discovery with high-fidelity cell models), Remedy Robotics (surgical robots for remote endovascular procedures), Opto Biosystems (minimally-invasive neural implants to treat cancer), and more. We believe that frontier technologies, and great frontier-tech investing, will be part of the solutions to the greatest problems humanity faces today. 4️⃣ When do applications close? May 31st at 11:59pm AEST. 5️⃣ I have more questions! I’m sure you do! Clare Birch and I are hosting an AMA to answer any and all questions about these roles. Want to know what a week in the life of our team looks like? What’s keeping us up at night? What our ideal candidate looks like? Come along and find out - registration link in the comments 👇 Apply for these roles: Associate - https://lnkd.in/gCfj4EUJ Foundry Fellowships - https://lnkd.in/gj6ATZVZ If you know anyone that we should meet, send me their details! Cameron Elise Ben Andrew Robin Joseph Adelaide James Olivia Lucinda Raghav Jesse Christie Mohamed Tom Amee Pablo Haya Loong Hon Joshua Benjamin Megan Harry Denzil Matthew Diana Daniel Tom Deanna Justin Amar Lilly Stone Thomas

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Founder Fellowship applications are open at South Park Commons and due Feb 2nd. We support founders in -1 to 0. How early is that? Just look at the numbers. Fellowship companies so far were: >99% pre-revenue (there was 1) 85% pre-product (nothing built) 59% pre-idea (not sure what to build) We mean it about -1 to 0. The Founder Fellowship is the only program that invests this early with the kind of terms we offer: $400k for 7% and $600k in the next round. For overwhelmingly pre-revenue/product/idea founders. This is possible when you specialize in -1 to 0. Or in SPC's case, define it. We've spent nearly 10 years developing the -1 to 0 philosophy because we firmly believe it's when your company actually starts. Not with an idea, but when ambition takes hold. -1 to 0 requires patient capital. The Fellowship isn't a sprint to demo day. The right idea can take time. We spend a median of >7 months with teams before they raise their Seed and continue to partner long after. We're on your timeline, not ours. First idea doesn't work? No problem. We're used to it. You still have access to the SPC community, offices, programming, and staff. So on to the next, bigger, better idea. Our whole structure gives you the time and support to discard good for GREAT. The size of each fellowship is also key. We average 2 companies per member of the investing team. Every partner will work with every company. I will work with every company. We love O(N^2) connectivity. Why do we want people to take more time? So they can take more risk and build the kinds of companies that excite us. More technical risk, more market risk. It’s the only path that makes sense at venture scale. Sector is irrelevant. Scale of ambition is what matters. Recent fellowships had novel foundation model architectures, automated manufacturing, AI gaming, humanoid robotics, agentic drones, and software for everything from law enforcement to construction to AI advertising. We built the SPC Founder Fellowship to support you at the earliest stage, when it matters most. 💰 $1M in funding 🤝 Bespoke support, small cohort, open timeline  🚀 SPC community membership, offices & programming Don't miss the deadline!

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Wonderful article about Emily Knight and the whole The Engine Accelerator team on the amazing work their doing changing the world with #ToughTech!

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Exciting Announcement! 🚀 Join us on Thursday, October 4th at 3 PM EST for a dynamic A11Y webinar: Shift Left – Integrating Accessibility from the Start! I’ll be speaking alongside Daryn Harpaz and Juliette Alexandria from Zenyth,  as we dive into best practices for building accessibility into your design and development process from day one. Here’s what we’ll cover: • The importance of “shifting left” with accessibility to create more inclusive digital experiences • How early integration of accessibility saves time, reduces costs, and improves user satisfaction • Practical strategies to embed accessibility within your workflow, ensuring WCAG 2.2 compliance Whether you’re a designer, developer, project manager, or business leader, this webinar will provide actionable insights to make your digital projects more accessible and user-friendly from the ground up. Date: Thursday, October 4th Time: 3 PM EST Don’t miss out – Register now: https://lnkd.in/etvz9Rph #ShiftLeft #Accessibility #A11Y #DigitalInclusion #WCAG #InclusiveDesign

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We are thrilled to announce that TurboDocx has successfully closed its Angel funding round, raising $75,000. This significant milestone marks a leap forward in our journey to revolutionize smart and modular document and slide deck creation, accelerated by AI. A heartfelt thank you goes out to our friends, family, early supporters and everyone that believes in our vision. Your support is not just appreciated-- but a strong vote of confidence in our mission to innovate and transform how business document creation is created. What does this mean for TurboDocx? We're reinvesting it into the business: - Focusing on Partner/Client Needs - Understanding and addressing the evolving needs of our users remains our top priority. We're here to build not just a product but a solution that truly makes a difference. - Enhanced Solutioning - We're more committed than ever to developing solutions that set new benchmarks for efficiency, re-usability, and innovation has never been stronger. - Innovation, Partner, and Channel Growth - Our investment team and advisors primarily consists of go-to-market (GTM) and implementation professionals that have already provided invaluable guidance on scaling our overall growth. Looking ahead: As we celebrate this achievement, we're mindful that fundraising is not the end goal but a milestone --a means to an end-- to build out a well oiled machine. We're excited to leverage this opportunity to further our mission, drive innovation, and exceed the expectations of our users and partners. With this said - If you'd like to be part of this exciting journey, please reach out! Stay tuned for updates, join our growing community, and let's reshape the future of document and slide deck creation together. -Nicolas https://lnkd.in/e4CGrUVB

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Chat with Miles Clements about building Linear For me companies are like design problems: you have context, constraints & goals unique to you. Then you look for a solution that has a good fit to your unique problems. The company problem also evolve over times the solution Directly applying what others have done doesn’t work that well, yet there is lot emphasis on playbooks, pattern matching and playing copying what other companies are doing in industry. https://lnkd.in/ghxjJwYU

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