Alia Lamaadar

What would it take for your product to go from just “usable” to lovable? This week on Product Thinking, I spoke with Tomer London, co-founder and CPO at Gusto, about their approach to building "Minimal Lovable Products" and focusing on user-centered design. Tomer shared how this approach goes beyond functionality to address user needs and build stronger connections. By focusing on what matters most to customers, these products create lasting value. Key takeaways: ✅ Create emotional connections by exceeding user expectations. ✅ Use feedback and metrics like NPS to guide product improvements. ✅ Simplify complex processes while delivering seamless experiences. ✅ Embrace patience and focus on long-term product impact. ✅ Collaborate across teams to turn compliance challenges into opportunities. Listen now👇 🎙️ Apple: https://lnkd.in/g6irBJ87 🎧 Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gM_uaRvR How do you ensure your products leave a lasting impression on users? Let’s discuss in the comments! #productthinking #productmanagement #customerexperience #innovation #userfeedback

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I’m thrilled to be announcing that Notion Capital is leading the $15m Series A investment in Cogna today. In the industry, we like to think that software has been eating the world. But when you look at the data a better description would be more of a nibble. Depending on what source you look at the software industry represents between 5-8% of global GDP. Contrast that with the services industry that represents between 60-70% of GDP and worth around $25 trillion on a global basis. Most services have been out of reach for the software industry. They have either been too complex or too specialized for off the shelf software to access in any economically viable way. But that’s beginnning to change with GenAI leading to the emergence of ‘service as a software.’ Cogna is at the forefront of this opportunity - building precision software at scale and delivering huge productivity gains for traditional industries. We know Ben Peters & Lars Mennen well having backed their previous company Five AI that was acquired by Bosch in 2022. And we’re very excited to be backing them again together with Hoxton Ventures & Chalfen Ventures Read my full blog post on why we invested here. Radu Bozga Ben Peters Lars Mennen Bryan G. Mike Chalfen Hussein Kanji Kirsten Connell https://lnkd.in/eh8mhcJb

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Hearing Jamie Urquhart, co-founder of ARM, speak about their early days was a masterclass in navigating uncertainty and building momentum before product-market fit. A few takeaways stood out: 1️⃣ Vision & Culture First: ARM’s team aligned on a shared vision and trusted themselves to make key strategic calls, even under the pressure of Moore’s Law and fast-evolving tech. 2️⃣ Focus on Burning Needs: They targeted tier 2 customers who could help them establish a foothold, partnering to gain access to markets they couldn’t reach alone. 3️⃣ Ride the Wave: ARM leveraged trends like the shift to 32-bit processors and low-power demand for wireless devices, staying ahead by tailoring their technology to these needs. 4️⃣ Customer-Led Development: ARM only developed features with a committed lead partner. This ensured alignment with market demand and reduced wasted effort. 5️⃣ Grow With Partners: ARM’s disruptive tech turned into business success by leaning on the global reach of their semiconductor partners. The path to PMF is tough, but stories like ARM’s show that clarity, focus, and partnership can unlock massive growth. Thanks to the Deeptech Labs team for hosting this session last week. #DeepTech #ProductMarketFit #Startups

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Thanks Lindsay Moore and especially to Nick Grant of adQuadrant for pulling this together. Ad Engine Optimization (AEO) is one of the secret superpowers for #BFCM - want 35% more traffic for the same ad spend anyone? #digitalmarketing #ecommerce #AEO

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I don't know sh*t about sh*t. But I know this is garbage. - All-female founding teams: Receive 2.3% of VC funding - Mixed-gender founding teams: Receive 10.4% of VC funding - Female founders receive about a quarter of the funding they seek: While male founders receive half on average And if you have brown skin? Basically forget about it. The numbers just shrink. I keep bumping into founders that have a bigger uphill battle than the rest. And I'd love to be able to provide some level of help outside of intros and ideas. Who has resources? Who are the VCs that are focused on underserved and underrepresented founders? Can you help me build the list? Or locate the one that already exists? PS: Before you come at me, yes, I realize I'm a middle-aged white man with a c-level title at an early stage company that has received funding. Be part of the problem or part of the solution. Ya feel?

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Infrastructure Support networks Never just one person Make mine a team Here’s a thought👇🏼 Stories have hero’s and villains, which both tend to focus on individuals. The founders story tends to be told in the singular. It’s what catches the eye and makes for better copy. Overcoming adversity tends to the plucky individual. But that’s not quite true is it? It’s good for storytelling and setting out the narrative but real life isn’t like that. It’s usually a pairs trade. Think Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, think Morecambe and Wise, think Wozniak and Jobs, think Robert Miller and Chuck Feeney, think Laurel and Hardy. Why include comics in a list of uber-successful business leaders? Because the comics understand the mechanics at work here. The foil, the stooge, setting up the punch line and the delivery. Guess what in the field of business that is necessary too. Business is a team sport whatever the headline. Successful teams do need a centre pin as their leader to achieve success. Someone who takes the lead. But as the old wry comment reminds us leadership is easy but it’s no good if no one follows. Leaders need their teams to believe in the plan laid out before them. One of the advantages of the venture studio model is that it ensures that there is a team that are proven collaborators. This mitigates the risks in launching a new business. This is a strong hand in the world of early stage businesses. ThinkLikeAClient #GrumpyOptimist #TechStartUps #VentureStudios #Entrepreneur Footnote: all my content is written daily by me with no additives or tricks. If it interests you please tag the 🔔 in my profile to get it delivered straight to you. Otherwise if you search #GrumpyOptimist you’ll find my library of past posts. Never recycled, always fresh.

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Raising a Series A round in today’s competitive market can be a daunting task. To equip seed-stage founders with the insights and strategies needed for success, TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 will host a crucial session on the Builders Stage titled “What You Need to Raise a Series A Today.” This session will bring together some of the industry’s most experienced investors to share what they and their firms are looking for in their next Series A deals. Attendees of this session will gain unparalleled insights from these industry veterans, learning what investors are currently seeking and how to position their startups for success. From understanding the key metrics and milestones that matter to investors, to crafting a compelling narrative that highlights their startup’s unique value proposition, founders will take away the knowledge and confidence needed to secure their Series A funding. Let’s meet these Series A mavens! #ai #tech #technology #AItech #business

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What is the future of Terra given Verily & MSFT ❌'ed Broad's DSP Contract? Losing $30 million / year of funding is a serious blow to the future of Terra's tech stack & platform. I've met an increasing number of researchers and PIs who are looking for better support, lower prices, and will no longer use Terra.bio. --- As the saying goes, one's loss is usually another's gain. We at MemVerge built technology that enables a lower cost "Terra" on AWS with the added benefit of resilient Spot instances...excited about future opportunities as the tech stack for cloud bioinformatics becomes less tightly controlled by a powerful few 😇. We are workflow agnostic: -We support your WDL, CWL, Nextflow, or Flyte workflows -Use SJM or another job manager? We got you. -Got custom bash scripts? Yup, we got you too. --- Many of you are coming from traditional HPC environments and need much more support than existing IT teams can provide to you in the cloud and you need more compute "on demand" than is locally available. We help researchers and PIs run their genomics analyses and workflows on the cloud and we save them a ton by using our Spot surfing solution for EC2 Spot instances. DM me to learn more or drop a comment with your questions and POV below 👇. Link to an article with more details in the comments below. #genomics #multiomics #NGS #HPC #AWS #Nextflow #Cromwell

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As a first-time founder, I’ve encountered many 'firsts' that push me to grow and adapt. I've written my reflections in the Medium post below https://lnkd.in/eReZBfBb #FounderLife #Entrepreneurship #Startups #Founder

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“You can’t solve climate with SaaS.” 🌎 Going from science project to profitable business model is hard for most deep tech startups. It’s the valley of death. But some—like the ones that need hundreds of millions in capex to prove their tech at scale—have it harder. Here’s to the climate tech startups that are literally saving the world for us when there are much easier ways to make money. And shout out to the investors large and small who have the patience and vision to back them. Founders, you can do it! You’ll need more focus than most, and your capital stack will be different. But we’re running out of time to get this right, and we need you to succeed. Lisbeth Kaufman Stephen Blalock Shaima Sharif Jason C. Alex Anderson Khaled Al Huraimel Fares Almazrooei Laura Bowen #climatetech #deeptech

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On top of bias and groupthink there's a hidden force that stops VCs from investing in misfits. VCs struggle to back founders who look different / are in unloved industries for a 3rd hidden reason. They are scared that nobody else will fund misfit companies when it's time for the next round. The fact that they believe in you doesn't matter. They know you'll go bankrupt if nobody else believes. I unpack how it works here and how funds might try to fix it - check it out https://lnkd.in/eEPtGK_U

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An exciting day Three at #AustinStartupWeek! It's Funding Day, also known as VC day, with a bustling line outside the building. Emerging VCs are here sharing their stories, while there are insightful VC reverse pitches offering valuable insights on what VCs seek and how to engage with them effectively. Current session is about the landscape of founders and VCs in Texas, #4 in VC investing! Charlie Plauche Krishna Srinivasan Morgan Flager Kerry Rupp Thomas Ball These vcs have awesome insights for founders looking to partner and what and what not to do! #AIAgents

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Really is refreshing to see a founder talk so plainly open and honest about building a startups, low, highs, fundraising and Europe in context of innovation startups: Daniel Khachab at 20VC podcast I used to listen to podcasts on my way to and back from the office Recently not so much - here is the reason: It is mostly about a VC showcasing one of their portfolio companies. Asking half-hearted soft questions that are not only vague but only work to optimise the image and praise the startup as to "how they will change the world" We would like to learn about the real story. The dirty stuff. The nightmares. How you resolved them. Not how everyone wanted to invest and particularly not that you found product market fit with the shittiest product in the world because the problem you were solving was so important and there was no competition It never is like that What other podcasts are doing this? Hope Harry keeps doing more of this - I was just about to churn from 20VC, good thing I listened to this one

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🚀 Join the Rebellion – Support Omniverse City! 🌍 While other UGC platforms profit from their users and provide limited scalability, we’re building a platform for the users, by the users. At Omniverse City, we’re not backed by venture capitalists or driven by investors—we’re a community-led, self-funded platform where creators come first. By signing up for a Residential License or Commercial License, you’re supporting: A platform built by its community, not investors. Policies that benefit you, the user, because we’re users too. A revolution in virtual worlds that puts creators in control. Omniverse City isn’t just another platform—it’s a rebellion against the corporate-driven models that dominate the industry. Join us today and help build a world where the builders comes first. 💪 Visit us at https://theomniverse.city and join the revolution. #OmniverseCity #Metaverse #UGC #CommunityDriven #VirtualWorlds #Innovation #VCFree

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Big news: We’re opening up applications for the next cohort of PMF Method, in a brand-new format. It’s the same high-impact content and support for super early founders building B2B sales-led companies, now delivered in a 4-day intensive retreat. When we launched PMF Method this spring, we saw tons of demand, with thousands of applications for just a handful of spots. We put together an *incredible* cohort (with early founders coming from companies like Stripe, Retool, Twitter & Vanta), which just recently wrapped up. While the depth and intensity of the 14-week program was great, in the application process we heard from many founders who were eager to accelerate their progress but couldn't commit to a months-long experience — or make the temporary move out to San Francisco. With 𝗣𝗠𝗙 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁, we've turned what iconic enterprise founders did in their first six months of company building into a condensed series of tactical sessions for taking a straighter path to PMF, on topics like "𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘧 𝘐'𝘮 𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘺𝘦𝘳?" and "𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯?” — the questions founders desperately need to work out the answers to in the early days. It's the perfect fit for founders who want to accelerate their progress — but 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗦𝗔𝗣. What I’m maybe most excited about is that 𝘄𝗲'𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘁 𝘂𝗽 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 — as long as you've raised <$2M and can make it to Sonoma for the retreat, you’re in the running. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮 𝗳𝗲𝘄 𝗸𝗲𝘆 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀 👇 - The Fall 2024 PMF Method Retreat runs 10/27 - 10/30. - Application deadline is 11:59 PDT Sept. 23rd. - Any early founder working on a new B2B SaaS company is welcome to apply, whether you’ve been working on an early idea for the past year, or you’re still at your day job, a few months away from leaving to start your company.  - PMF Method is 100% free. It costs you $0 and we own 0% of your company. - If you’re in, you’ll know by October 6th. Check out the links below for more details. Can’t wait to read the applications!

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I’m feeling mixed about our best quarter in a while. Something to celebrate, or only feels good compared to a low base? It’s been such a challenging period for anyone in the startup and VC space – us included. None of the last 3 quarters have delivered what we wanted when to comes to revenue, and that hurts. But we just had our best quarter in that period. Plus April was 24% over our revenue target. I'm increasingly confident that our message is resonating and that people get what makes us different. This week, we spent half a day reviewing the past three months and planning ahead. It was a valuable opportunity to reflect on our recent achievements, including: 🍜 Hosting 250 attendees across various events, from intimate lunches for 25 healthcare founders to multiple AI South West events and roundtables for Heads of People and Chief Commercial Officers. 🤝 Partnering with 8 clients on retained hiring campaigns, six of whom were first-time clients—proof that new business is out there! ⭐ Some great feedback and a Net Promoter Score of +50. 🔄 Receiving continued referrals from investors and chairs. I know numbers often dominate the narrative in business, and it’s hard not to focus solely on this month’s revenue when asked how things are going. But no matter the debate I’m having on revenue this quarter vs last quarter, the main reason I’m feeling optimistic is the team at ISL Talent – they’ve never been better. And maybe we’ve escaped from a challenging period stronger than ever. I’d love to know how you think about comparing good and bad periods in your business? And how it’s going for you at the moment?

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👋 We’re building tech for founders to help founders attract, engage, and nurture investors and advisors as effectively as possible. We’ve been building it with founders as an angel and expert community for the last 12mths with over 40 founders at different stages and we’re seeing them generate and convert potential advisor and investor signal really well. If you are a founder that wants to see what we’re shipping to keep in the loop - DM me and I’ll put you on our update mailing list 🚢 #startup #community

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DayNow, a grief and loss app, was just featured on Tech Crunch. As an investor, I would tend to look to see if it could be offered as a benefit to companies, for a more consistent revenue flow. Sadly, people die - how long is the grief process - 1 year? Is that sustainable as a business / revenue model? I don’t see it. What do you think? https://lnkd.in/gWZ5K4XG #grief #griefandloss #mentalhealth #wellness Landon Steele Customer Discovery Pros

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We know Black startups receive less than 1% of venture capital funding in most quarters of the year, but does it matter what city you're in? There isn't a clear indication of which city has the highest funding for Black-founded startups. However, we can draw some insights about funding trends in major startup hubs: Major Startup Hubs 1️⃣ San Francisco Bay Area:    - Historically the top region for funding Black-founded startups.    - However, funding plunged 78% in 2023, reaching its lowest total since 2017.    - The Bay Area saw funding drop from $895 million in 2022 to $198 million in 2023, an 88% decline since 2021. 2️⃣ New York:    - Experienced a 51% drop in funding to Black-founded startups.    - Funding fell from $375 million in 2022 to $185 million in 2023. 3️⃣ Los Angeles:    - Saw a 43% decline in funding to Black-founded startups.    - Funding decreased from $301 million in 2022 to $173 million in 2023. 4️⃣ Atlanta:    - Historically strong for minority-led companies.    - However, funding for Black-founded startups declined by 79% in 2023.    - Only $23 million was invested, the lowest amount since 2017. 5️⃣ Boston:    - Experienced a 72% decline in venture dollars going to Black-founded startups.    - The 2023 total of $23 million represented 2.6% of the region's venture market, which was the highest percentage share among these cities, despite the significant drop. While no city stands out as having the highest funding for Black-founded startups in 2023, it's clear that all major startup hubs experienced significant declines. The San Francisco Bay Area, despite its sharp decline, still appears to have allocated the largest amount of funding to Black founders in absolute terms. However, Boston had the highest percentage of its venture market going to Black founders at 2.6%, even though the total amount was relatively small. These figures reflect a broader trend of declining funding for Black founders across the United States, with total funding dropping to $705 million in 2023, the lowest figure since 2016. How do you think Black startup founders can get more VC dollars to flow their way? Subscribe to my newsletter below to receive more insights on diverse founders, my business and VC learnings and well as well the Emerging world around us. https://lnkd.in/g85xKDxj 📸 : Google Black Founders Fund #venturecapital #startup #funding #black #founders

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