Lessons from a First-Time Founder with Mike Preuss of Visible.vc

Leading a startup company is surely intimidating and comes with tons of ups and downs. But do non’t fear, as it also brings valuable life lessons and satisfying rewards you can use for a lifetime.

In this episode, Mike Preuss, CEO and founder of Visible, shares his journey as a first-time founder and the lessons he has learned along the way. He discusses his background in technology and entrepreneurship, his experience in the Orr Fellowship, and how he started Visible to solve the problem of investor-founder communication. Our guest also talks about the importance of trusting your gut as a founder, the value of building relationships with investors, and the key metrics investors care about when evaluating startups.

Visible is a platform that helps founders update investors, manage fundraising, and track KPIs in one place. Mike’s background in technology and entrepreneurship and experience as head of business development for Formstack taught him useful skills that he now uses in his own company. He is also passionate about helping founders succeed and has a deep understanding of the investor-founder relationship.

Show highlights:

1:33 Mike's humble beginnings

5:34 Orr Fellowship explained

12:30 Hustle and confidence as useful learnings

17:25 The advantages and disadvantages of B2B and B2C

22:57 How Visible grew over the past years

26:45 Advice to first-time time business founders

35:38 Changes in business products

37:30 Raising money as a start-up founder

42:25 Why you need to be educated about financing your company

47:39 Raising funds by frequently updating current investors

52:29 The proper way to communicate with investors

56:04 Early-stage companies are a team more than anything

57:50 Ways to pitch your team as a big strong suit for potential investors

1:03:19 Living with no regrets

LINKS MENTIONED

Connect with Mike Preuss on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelpreuss/

Email: mike@visible.vc

Website: https://visible.vc/

Connect with Grayson Faircloth on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nosyarg/

Email: grayson@sonamation.com

Connect with Crystal Bell on Linkedin:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/crystal-bell-ms-eit/