Anne Silliman’s Post

(This post is primarily for SE Michigan friends! The reason why will become clear in my post) "Youth are our future!" We hear it and say it all the time. We have an immediate opportunity to be of help to those youth. LaunchX.com runs a high school entrepreneurship summer program and they just had a big set back in that two major orgs participating in the program had to pull out because of layoffs and lack of staff issues (one is a billion dollar company, so pretty disappointing). The impact is that HALF of their student teams are now without a sponsor. This is for their SE Michigan program. Program background: "Our U-M Innovation program starts next week; this program is a little different than our Entrepreneurship program in that students consult with established businesses to tackle a problem proposed by the business and grant them a business plan and prototype to tackle the problem." The ask: They are hoping my network can come through and we can get enough folks/orgs to help support these teams. You would just need to help with 1 team (and this particular program is U of Michigan / SE Michigan based). Timeline: The program starts on 7/24... yep, Monday. They are in a bind and are hoping we can still get them help! Email for more info/to express interest: Kristen Clayton <kristen@launchx.com> ❤️

Whether we've crossed paths before or you're a new connection, welcome! Let's make this year one of shared achievements. What I Discuss 1. Startup 2. Innovation Studio 3. School 4. Creative Exploration 5. Skills My Role - Aiding founders in creating through innovative services and an innovation factory. - Coaching those aspiring to launch profitable innovation studios. - Offering reliable support to businesses using an innovation-in-a-box solution, tailored for SMEs. Goals for the Year - Establish a network of innovators, guiding them to enterprise success. - Coach innovators to launch fulfilling careers on their own terms. - Broaden my skillset in Research, Insight, and Actionable Steps. Beyond the Workspace Immersed in the innovation experience and space outside of work or school. Let's connect in the comments! Share what you're passionate about beyond your usual routine—work, school, or family. Open to speaking gigs, collaborations, or any discussions on the topics outlined. Looking forward to getting to know you! #NewBeginnings #InnovationJourney #2024Goals

We announced the NYU Tandon Future Labs Catalyst NYC 2024 cohort! 15 pre-seed startups will join the program after intensive 2 weeks of interviewing over 50 companies. A few things that I've learned during the interviewing process: 👉 In-person makes the difference - we conducted most of the interviews in person. Seeing the team dynamic, being able to show the space, and having those small talks that will not always happen on Zoom, really makes the difference.  👉 Is it all about money? As I don’t think that money should be the first motivation to build a startup, not caring about money is a red flag. Building a successful for-profit company that will financially benefit the founders should be a goal to be motivated by.  👉 It takes a village - I appreciate founders who know the limitations of their skills, know what help they need, and appreciate learning about help that they don’t know that they need. I can not wait to start the program and work with so many great founders!

Elevate your workplace with FoundR Lab’s DEI program! Unlock the power of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion through our comprehensive educational program. Designed to help empower your team with the knowledge and skills needed to foster an inclusive workplace culture. Transform your workplace today with FoundR Lab! https://lnkd.in/gwxef3Cq #FoundrLab #startup #education #businessgrowth #FounderEducation #Entrepreneurship #BusinessGrowth

Took a trip down memory lane last week. I spent the day on Indiana University’s campus for the IU Ventures Summit.  (Shout out to my colleague Katie Noble who attended with me!) Here are 3 things I took away that you’ll probably: - See as a helpful reminder / validation of what you already doing - See as useful info to apply to your own work 1️⃣ You know that contact, CEO or VC you want to work with? Treat them like you’re already working alongside them. Send them updates that show your progress and action.  2️⃣ Expect relationship-building to take time. Our world moves realllllly fast, but building a strong connection sometimes doesn’t. Plan for months of nurturing a connection before making that "ask" you want to make. 3️⃣ Deliver outsized value to the clients and partners you’re already working with. You likely have your eye on the next client or connection. Be intentional about strengthening connections just like you are at building new ones. 

Just gave a founder fireside chat at University of Washington - Michael G. Foster School of Business with Minda Brusse and Yoko Okano about building founding teams in the early days. Here are some of the takeaways- would love to hear from other founders if they agree: 1) The FAST advisor agreement is your friend - when you can’t hire an expert and don’t have budget for FT hiring use the FAST to bring on a fractional expert; you can combine it with a retainer later and leverage true expertise without over committing $. Your advisors and angels can become your hiring bench when you grow! Some of my early advisors are in my C-suite and now Board. 2) I was asked if you should co-found a company with someone who can only work on the startup part-time. Short answer there: probably not. Co-found with people willing to work 24/7 as hard as you. Nothing matters more than a trusting partnership and determination around execution. Your co founder might have another job or partime job before funding- that just means they are agreeing to work two full time jobs (it’s doable for the true masochists). Everyone needs to be fully in and fully committed. Having an understanding related to departures from the founding team ahead of time can help you avoid a cap-table killing event of dead founder equity. 3) The founding team that can grow your startup from 0-1 might not be the one grows it from 1-2 and beyond. Ideally your team will scale with the growth of the company but often there are different skill sets involved. Another uncomfortable truth is that most startup CEOs (especially first timers) are not great at hiring or management, and the better they can get at quickly recognizing who is stage appropriate or can scale, and who cannot, the more chances for success. 4) If you want but can’t find women for your C-suite or founding team- We exist :) Call me if you need referrals. I was super inspired by the teams and their vision - can’t wait to see what’s next for these aspiring founders. Thanks so much for the opportunity today!

What is -1 to 0? A Philosophy of Ideation. Defining a crucial stage of company-building—and why you should take it seriously. Good ideas aren’t enough—you need great ones. The difference is conviction earned through a disciplined ideation process. Others might call it proof: the thing you build, the story you tell about the problem it solves, and why you are the right person to build that solution. You should try to find as much as you can of each in -1 to 0. Weakness in any of these proof points makes it harder to convince the constituencies you need to believe in you in the early stages (customers, recruits, investors, yourself). The less proof you have, the more likely it is you are stuck in a local maximum Spend a bit of it up front so you don’t waste more of it later. If at the end of a dedicated period of ideation you haven’t built conviction, you’ve likely saved yourself years of frustration. And if you do build conviction, you will shake off the naysayers and have a more successful fundraise. Go slow to go fast! It is easier to generate and validate an idea—to build conviction for yourself and proof for others—if you think of -1 to 0 as a discrete stage of company-building. This is the core takeaway from my time in Silicon Valley. Treat ideation like your job. You will not have a eureka moment and come up with a billion dollar company idea while meditating on top of a mountain. Your career sabbatical full of interesting travel will not unlock your ambition. -1 to 0 isn’t a break or a stage you should rush. You only get a few shots at building your life’s work—so make them count. Via Ruchi Sanghvi, Partner at South Park Commons (https://lnkd.in/gByzVp_D)

Less than 20% of pre-seed funding goes to underrepresented founders…and that number shrinks to less than 5% when it comes to exits. It's one several reasons I’ve devoted more of my time over the last year to working with underrepresented founders on everything from brand strategy & positioning to ad copy & creative. It’s also why I’m huge fans of the work Kofi Ampadu and Caitlin Glazebrook are doing at a16z Talent x Opportunity in providing infrastructure to help founders building cultural breakthroughs. I had a great time with this year’s cohort leading a class on a variety of topics which have been on my mind this year. We talked about the power of consumer feedback and word-of-mouth and turning that into tangible ways to inform acquisition, retention and innovation strategy. I’m rooting for this year’s cohort and all those doing work to make this space more accessible to new voices and faces 👏 . https://a16z.com/txo/

Just some interesting Techstars stats: Locations of our companies: Americas - 3,244 Europe - 789 Middle East - 145 Asia - 121 Africa - 83 Oceania - 45 +1 Billion companies (20) $111.6 Billion All-Time Graduate Market Cap 9,000+ founders/participants in our accelerators (rivaling small universities) First program, 2007 (Boulder, Colorado) Founders: Brad Feld David Cohen David Brown Jared Polis Resources available to the public: toolkit.techstars dot com - video tutorials on building a startup venturedeals.techstars dot com - insight from our investors on how to navigate them jobs.techstars dot com - 3,790 jobs available right now at our portfolio companies Go to Techstars to learn how to apply Evangelists (1) - me :)

Pitch Applications for Venture Atlanta Conference are now open! ✍ Who Should Apply? - Tech Companies  - From the Southeast (as far west as Texas, as far north as D.C.) - In any startup stage (seed stage to growth stage) There’s no reason NOT to! - It’s free - There’s truly no downside to applying.  - Valuable exposure JUST from applying - Our recruiting and screening committee is comprised of dozens of investors. Your application will serve as an intro to your company before the conference even starts! - It’s an important exercise - The questions we ask in our application make you truly think about the direction and future of your company. It’s something all founders should be doing. Benefits If Selected - Free tickets to the conference - Early and growth-stage companies (and 10 seed-stage companies) will get to pitch on stage in front of hundreds of investors - An invite to our exclusive Investor Dinner (the best networking event of the year) - Early access to the investor registration list and mobile app (a great way to make the most of the conference is to set up meetings ahead of time with the firms you want to meet while you’re there) - One-on-one coaching and mentorship  - Ongoing social media coverage - Year-round networking with access to our alumni events 🗓 DEADLINE: 8/2 https://lnkd.in/gVeCYRXz . . . Dan Roselli Allyson Eman Joey Womack Larry McHugh #venture #atlanta #founders #pitch #startup #startupfounder #tech #innovation #VC