We Begin! (A Quick Background)
Welcome to my new blog — Micro Insights, Major Impact — dedicated to helping founders, one learning at a time. I wanted to start with a quick background story on how this blog came to be…
I used to teach a class to Notre Dame graduate students called “Intro to Early Stage Financing.” I had a two hour commute from Chicago to South Bend, so I often spoke with a number of founders via phone as the train chugged along. Some calls were with founders in our current portfolio, and some were first pitches. Once I got to campus and gave my lectures, I liked to share anecdotes from these calls in order to bring concepts to life (with confidential info omitted of course). I quickly realized that these stories and learnings were very popular with the students — they looked forward to these gems more than any other part of the lecture.
While I have been “retired” from teaching for a year, just this morning, another aha moment occurred. A founder told me that a piece of advice I gave him during a phone call several weeks ago — something as simple as changing how he showed his LTV:CAC ratio — made a huge difference in how investors received his pitch. In fact, he had gotten a term sheet since I’d spoken with him last.
Hmmm…is there something here? I think so. Let’s find out. Each blog post will be dedicated to one very specific micro insight or learning that could be helpful to founders as they grow their business. Posts will be < 300 words and readable in 90 seconds or less. Please feel free to ask questions in the comments and make suggestions as we go. I appreciate you reading and following!
