A few weeks ago, I was have having coffee with Eric Marcoullier, who I’ve mentioned before because of his amazing content over at Obvious Startup Advice. I was trying to explain to him why we would not participate in a bridge round for half a million dollars despite our typical check size being about half a million dollars. Seems like a perfect fit, doesn’t it?
It’s a terrible fit.
As I was attempting to explain this I found myself waving my hands a lot and saying, “ya know?” Which was obviously unhelpful.
The next day I was catching up with a friend at another fund and I mentioned the bridge round. We had this moment of shared understanding about why neither of us—nor any other venture fund—would invest on that round. We didn’t have to explain it to each other, because, ya know.
This is obviously not helpful to you, dear founder.
So I set out to explain, in excruciating detail, why seed funds do not do this. Why we don’t take the whole round. And why that half a million dollar bridge round / seed extension round / whatever-you-want-to-call-it round is going to be the hardest round that you raise… unless you set yourself up for success starting now.
The result was four episodes of setting the stage and one long—for VC Minute—episode of how you can prepare to succeed where others have failed.
We’ve seen a lot of bridge rounds and insider rounds lately. According to Carta our experience is reflective of the broader market.
I’ll save the reasons why this is happening for another day. For now, whether or not you’re in this situation, I highly recommend you listen to the compilation of those five episodes and set yourself up for success.
Building An Insider (Not Bridge) Round
13m 58s - LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google | More
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About SpringTime Ventures
SpringTime Ventures seeds high-growth startups in healthcare, fintech, logistics, and marketplace businesses. We look for founders with domain expertise, forging a path with a truly transformative technology. We only invest in software-based businesses in the USA. We bring a people-focused approach, work quickly, and reach conviction independently. Our initial check size is $600k. You can learn more about us and our approach.