Welcome to the ultimate startup stage, where early stage founders get discrete and constructive feedback from real venture investors. And today, we'll hear ideas across AI, developer tools, and neurodiversity edtech.

Each founder gets one to pitch. Then, they get feedback from two venture capitalists – feedback to help them push forward, telling a better story as they continue to raise money, hire teammates, and sell their product.

This is Episode 046 of The Feedback Loop.

In this episode:

- understand your true customer and illustrate that to investors - cereal sells through the kid to the mom, not to the kid directly

- avoid overloading your pitch with too much context and too many value propositions - especially if you accidentally say something disagreeable

- build trust in the 'how' - you might build a narrative around the pain and the features you're building, but more important is how your product brings us a new reality

Be sure to leave a comment talking about your favorite pitch down below! And leave your own feedback for these founders and judges, because feedback is a gift, after all.

In a job search? Check out our latest channel for next-level advice in 2025's competitive talent marketplace: https://youtu.be/dlbfZJmY8t8

As always, The Feedback Loop is hosted by Sherveen Mashayekhi, Founder & CEO of Free Agency. He's a many-time startup founder, angel investor, and LP in multiple venture capital funds.

​Today's guest investor is Marty Ringlein. On the venture capital side, he's a GP at Adventure Fund, which has invested in early to growth stage companies like Figma, Chime, Plaid, SpaceX, Beehiiv, and SwagUp, to name a few. As a founder, Marty has started and served as CEO at three startups acquired by Twitter, WPP, and Eventbrite, respectively.

Now, he's on his latest upstart journey as Co-founder & CEO of Agree.com, an e-signature and payments platform. In other words, the man knows both how to recognize and craft an excellent startup pitch. There are few resumes in tech as dense as this one.

Follow Sherveen on X: https://www.x.com/sherveen

Follow Sherveen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sherveenm

Follow Marty on X: https://www.x.com/martymadrid

To attend The Feedback Loop in-person or apply to pitch as a founder, head to afterfeedback.com.

Thank you to all of the brave founders who participated in this episode. The Feedback Loop is dedicated to creating an engine of support for startup founders attempting to change the way the earth spins. We're on your side.

Startup founders – get inside the mind of top investors as they pinpoint weak spots, highlight opportunities for narrative, and shape early-stage ramblings into venture-ready narratives. You need a one-liner that resonates, you need to shape your TAM, and you need to pivot on the fly. Subscribe to the channel to get more essential feedback to feed your early stage journey.

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