The new UK accelerator for women, Starling Bank, and the link between SaaS and Covid-19
Your weekly guide to start-ups and venturing
Welcome to Heroa, a weekly newsletter for women in start-ups and venture. If you enjoy what you read, please do share this newsletter with friends and like it above!
Hello and welcome back to Heroa.
I was going to start this newsletter by writing about social impact. Instead as a result of speaking to various people including some of the amazing readers who’ve already subscribed to this newsletter I’ve slightly decided to change tack. I thought instead it was worth covering who I am so that I don’t just come across as an anonymous writer.
I work in the corporate venture arm of a large global professional services firm and in my free time, I’ve co-founded two failed start-ups. That’s why I am so passionate about the advice and opportunities that I cover in my newsletters.
I’ll write more about my journey in subsequent newsletters. However, before I get onto the bulk of the newsletter, I wanted to make the announcement that as of next week I’ll be trialing sending this newsletter out on Monday morning.
Here’s what’s covered today.
Why Venture Capital funds work better when they have multiple founders
The 7 lessons you learn as a non-profit founder and how they apply to any entrepreneurial endeavor
How to deal with falling out with your co-founder
Round-up of the news this week
A new accelerator has launched in Manchester to kick-start the entrepreneurial careers of 100 women. Actress Kerry Washington has made an investment of undisclosed size in direct-to-consumer jewelry startup Aurate. The start-ups making European fashion sustainable. Book a YC mock interview with Holly Liu of Kabam. Former Sequoia Partner Amy Sun has already raised $3.8m for her new start-up, Daylight Labs, which will help gig workers make more money. Why video games are actually good for you according to Oxford University. Day One Ventures launches a new $52.5m fund and finally Happy Thanksgiving!
From the investors
“Stocks are forward-looking, even with more visibility into returning to ‘normal,’ the market anticipates that cloud companies will still be able to capitalize on the [market expansion] and growth opportunities that COVID helped to propel.” Mary D’Onofrio of Bessemer
There are lots of different VC personality types. Wendy Xiao Schadeck of Northzone has written about the 10 different VC Archetypes you could encounter. As Wendy succinctly says you need a variety of these personas to build a productive board to support you. Irrespective of whether these Archetypes are accurate it’s worth putting in some time to think through the different types of investors that your company needs.
Venture Capital firms work best when they are made up of more than one Partner says Check Warner of Ada Ventures.
Bessemer’s Mary D’Onofrio, Work-Life Ventures’ Brianne Kimmel, Day One Ventures’ Masha Drokova and Floodgate’s Iris Choi on SaaS, Vaccines and the Future of Work
From the operators
“People did think I was crazy, that no one ‘starts a bank’, especially people who looked like me, but I’d reached the stage where I was prepared to fail. I was 54 and confident enough not to care if somebody said I was stupid.” Anna Boden of Starling
A Google for Startup’s event replay: Black Founders featuring The Black Report, Paystack, Syft, and more by Kathryn Tingle. Marta Krupinska who leads Google for Startups in the UK stating that if we want technology to reflect ‘everyone’, it has to be built by ‘everyone’
“It’s crazy but I started my own bank” and how to deal with falling out with your co-founder. An interview with the founder of Starling, Anna Boden.
The 7 lessons you learn as a non-profit founder and how they apply to any entrepreneurial endeavor by Stephanie Tolk of the Pangea Project. Her tip on avoiding support and advice from the wrong people and focusing on your target audience is especially poignant.
How to build a community to drive start-ups success by the founder of Vurger Rachel Hugh. Spoiler alert the key is constant customer feedback.
Events
How Start-ups can work with Large Corporations
Tuesday, December 1st @5pm GMT
Amali de Alwis MBE of Microsoft Ventures talks about her role in setting the strategic and commercial direction across Microsoft’s startup and scale-up activities in the UK. RSVP here.
All Raise - Enterprise SaaS Workshop: SaaS Partnership Strategies
Wednesday, December 2nd
Judy Loehr will share a framework for prioritizing the best partnership opportunities, what it takes to make a SaaS partnership successful, and how to maximize go-to-market opportunities with each partner.
RSVP here.
The Debut Sessions Live Pitch Competition
Tuesday, December 15th @10am GMT
Ascension Ventures hosts this event which sees 4 early-stage start-ups pitch to VCs in the UK for the chance to win a £100,000 SEIS investment. This will then be followed by interactive discussions on term sheets and investor decks. RSVP here.
Job opportunities
London Venture Partners is hiring for an Analyst. Apply here.
White Star Capital is hiring for an Associate. Apply here.
Jumpstart is hiring for its start-up graduate program. The program combines training and a role at a leading UK start-up. Check them out here.
SEE YOU NEXT SUNDAY!
If you have any comments, questions, or just want to chat about start-ups and venturing then do drop me a comment.
Written by Alexandra Wyatt, based in London but a global traveler. You can also reach me on Twitter and Instagram.