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Bootstrapping to $5M in Revenue, the Power of Monthly Updates, & the Best Advice for Founders
A newsletter for founders & friends (25th edition)
Hey 👋
Welcome to the 25th edition of Re:VITALIZE, a newsletter with tactics, strategies, and stories on building companies plus cool things we’re seeing in the future of work.
Did you miss last week’s newsletter about a deck for raising $6.5M, term sheet essentials, and the best five-word pitches? Subscribe below so you never miss another👇
Top 3 Tweets
🥇 Bootstrapping to $5M in Revenue
17 months ago, I co-founded my first business
Today, we crossed $5,000,000 in revenue with only 5 US full-time employees. Totally bootstrapped
I’m a mom, wife, and now a first-time founder/CEO
Here are my top 11 learnings on leadership, entrepreneurship, and startups 👇🧵
— adriane schwager (@aschwags3)
Jul 7, 2022
🥈 The Power of Monthly Updates
In today’s thread, I share the story of our most powerful fundraise tool: the monthly update.
We sent:
- 27 monthly updates
- 594 subscribers
- 65.39% open rate
- 13.45% click thruHow is it powerful? What did we do?
Let’s dive in👇👇👇
— Yohei (@yoheinakajima)
Jul 6, 2022
🥉 The Best Advice for Founders
Some of my favorite responses from this tweet:
In addition to product-market fit, make sure you have founder-product fit. I think it's easier to stick with it for longer if the business fits into your life and you like running it.
— Veni Kunche I Founder of Diversify Tech (@venikunche)
Jul 7, 2022
Believe in yourself when others don’t.
— Andrew Gazdecki (@agazdecki)
Jul 6, 2022
Have a long outlook and stay focused on that
— Allison Esposito Medina (@techladyallison)
Jul 6, 2022
Ask yourself if you’re solving a real problem. Seek critical/candid feedback.
Customer discovery > almost everything else. And don’t stop doing it. When you think you’ve validated your idea, keep interviewing potential customers.
— Daniel Shalinsky (withe.co) (@Shalinsky)
Jul 6, 2022
Figure out if you have a business quickly with the least amount of money possible.
Spend a few months, not a year to find product market fit.
— Christine Carrillo (@ChristineCarril)
Jul 6, 2022
Listen first build second: talk to people that actually have the pain point you're solving for and build based on what you learn instead of building first and hoping they'll like it
— Ian 영한 Garrett (@ianygarrett)
Jul 6, 2022
Have a long runway...or another source of income (if starting now).
— Dr. Julie Gurner (@drgurner)
Jul 6, 2022
Your greatest advantage is your speed. The ability to pivot fast, build fast, launch fast.
Don't waste it & take advantage of it while it lasts.
— Alexi (@asusalex11)
Jul 6, 2022
Here’s what I learned on my journey:
1. Validate the problem before building a product.
2. Choose the right partner to be your co-founder, lack of cohesion between co-founders always spells doom for startups
3. Don’t be afraid of pivoting.— John Otieno (@Faddablack)
Jul 6, 2022
Resources
The FAST agreement for working with advisors
An ode to cold outreach
A platform for saving on SaaS subscriptions
A catalyst for outlier founders
A platform for improving your company culture
Future of Work Reads
Airbnb Just Accelerated The Future Of Work — Your Organization Can Do The Same (Forbes)
Web3 Needs In-Person Gatherings (CoinDesk)
Deepfakes come to remote job interviews (Computerworld)
The Future of Skills and Learning in a Rapidly Transforming Investment Industry (PR Newswire)
Even bosses are joining the Great Resignation (Vox)
The World of VITALIZE
This week on The VITALIZE Podcast we had Drew Leahy, the Managing Partner at Hawke Ventures, a firm that recently raised a $25M Fund II.
Watch on YouTube
Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
We committed to our 10th investment from VITALIZE Angels
The VITALIZE family has grown 😊
Open jobs at Vitalize portfolio companies
Future of Work Funding Rounds
Flexe raised a $119M Series D
Flexe delivers omnichannel logistics programs for eCommerce fulfillment, retail distribution, same-day delivery, and network capacity.
Top Investors: Alumni Ventures, Tiger Global Management, BlackRock, Acequia Capital (AceCap), Madrona Venture Group
Mayvenn raised a $40M Series C
Mayvenn enables stylists to sell products directly to their clients without the upfront costs and burdens of holding inventory.
Top Investors: Andreessen Horowitz, 500 Startups, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, 10x Group, Core Innovation Capital
Tesorio raised a $17M Series B
Tesorio automates accounts receivable management.
Top Investors: FundersClub, Y Combinator, Haystack, Madrona Venture Group, Floodgate
Promoted raised a $6M Seed
Promoted helps e-commerce marketplaces achieve profitability by unifying organic search, promotions, and ads in one optimized system.
Top Investors: Y Combinator, Rebel Fund, MAGIC Fund, Vela Partners, Preetha Parthasarathy
Focal Point Procurement Solutions raised a $3M Seed
Focalpoint is a procurement modernization startup for businesses.
Top Investors: Techstars, Operator Partners, Susa Ventures, Amplo, Surface Ventures
Written by Justin Gordon, Director of Marketing at VITALIZE, a venture capital firm and 300+ member angel investing community for everyone investing in U.S.-based B2B software founders in the work revolution. Find us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube.