Key Intangibles for Attracting Early-Stage Investors (Plus: What Poker Players and VCs Have in Common‪)‬ The Funding Blueprint: Unlocking Startup Success

Learn about 3 key intangibles that could make you and your startup stand out to venture capitalists when seeking funding.

Playfair’s Andrew Sheffield discusses the intricacies of pre-seed funding for startups, including essential intangibles for securing funding, the importance of pace in business development, and the necessity for a strong founder-VC relationship. He discusses the allure of investing in technology-focused companies, the patience required in venture capital, and post-investment strategies for scaling up startups, with specific listener takeaways such as the importance of technological defensibility, the typical 10-year investment horizon for VCs, and the need for startups to craft compelling narratives for future fundraising. Plus: parallels between poker playing and venture capitalism, strategic hiring decisions for scaling startups, and tactical advice for founders on validating their business assumptions.

Andrew Sheffield is a VC at Playfair, which is a generalist VC fund with a contrarian approach to pre-seed technology investing. Playfair invests across the UK and Europe with an intentionally high conviction, low volume approach: making 6-8 investments a year and preserving time, capital and resources to help companies post-investment. At Playfair, Andrew meets with founders, researches their markets, and helps Playfair’s portfolio build out the beginnings of independent sales teams. Prior to Wayfair, Andrew spent a year as a full-time professional poker player. Andrew and Playfair are based in London. You can connect with Andrew on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-sheffield-264360134/ 

Learn more about Playfair at https://playfair.vc/ 

Learn about Recycleye at https://recycleye.com/

In this episode, you’ll learn about: pre-seed funding, startup scaling, venture capital, early-stage investment, securing capital, startup success, business growth, technology startups, investment strategies, startup advice, founder-VC relationship, professional poker playing, entrepreneurial insights, startup journey, scaling ventures, market leaders, tech startups, business development, investment game, founder tips, startup investment, sales strategy, venture capital success, risk management, job titles in startups, UK market investment, business assumptions, sales teams, startup growth, startup validation, poker and investing, strategic decision-making, pre-seed startups, startup acceleration, technology defensibility, hardware startups, software startups, VC investment horizon, and sustainable technology.

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Music track: "Cinematic Funk"

Source: https://www.lokhmatovmusic.com/ 

Free Background Music by Yevhen Lokhmatov

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