Founder Weekly

Welcome to issue 551 of Founder Weekly. Let's get straight to the links this week.

General

The Mechanics of Unbundling - Part I

A Deep Dive Into How Horizontal Platforms Truly Become Unbundled.

The Hidden Backstory of 5 Startup Pivots That Grew to $43B

From Lyft to Discord, here are 5 pivots that created $43B+ in value—have you heard of them all?

Building Your Talent Strategy

When, Why, and How to Bring in a Recruiter.

Marketing, Sales and PR

We signed up for 50+ SaaS companies. Here are the best product-led growth examples.

After signing up for 50+ SaaS companies, here are the best product-led growth examples and the characteristics that make them stand out.

Divide and Conquer

HashiCorp’s Multi-Product Strategy for Taking Over a $630-Billion Industry.

Money and Finance

Questions VCs ask founders

The quality of questions asked matters when evaluating a startup. Here’s what experienced investors ask during a pitch.

The Insider’s Guide to Data Rooms: What to Know Before You Raise

It’s time for your startup to fundraise. You prepare a deck, practice your pitch, and start reaching out to investors. If a first meeting goes well, it often ends with a request to share your “data room.” But what is a data room, and what should be included in it?

State of Private Markets: Q2 2022

Venture capital is in a slowdown, but not a freefall. For the past two quarters, the number of rounds and the amount of cash raised on the Carta platform both declined, deepening the downturn in venture investment. However, the decline in Q2 wasn’t as steep as it was in Q1. Whereas Q1 saw a 27% drop in the number of rounds and a 36% decline in cash from the previous quarter, the Q2 declines were 13% and 29%, respectively. As companies continue to document their second-quarter deals on Carta, revised data will likely show slightly smaller Q2 declines. 

Tips, Tools and Services

How to build a killer product proposition with user research

How we used qualitative research from over 200 user interviews to mould a product proposition that our customers love.

The anatomy of a pitch deck

In this post, we're taking a closer look at the overarching goals and aims of a pitch deck, what exactly a pitch deck is, why you might need one and how to go about creating one.

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