Founders Forward Podcast

For a bonus episode of the Founders Forward Podcast, we are joined by Mike Evans. Mike is the founder of GrubHub and the current CEO of Fixer — Fixer provides skilled experts, solving a variety of home problems in one visit.

Mike shares the ins and outs of his time building GrubHub — from humble beginnings in his Chicago apartment to the IPO 10+ years later. We cover everything from the difference between quitting and giving up, to building a valuable board, to raising capital, and more.

What you can expect to learn from Mike Evans: 

• The difference between quitting and giving up
• Why Mike doesn't like NPS as a metric
• How a board can be valuable
• How to build a list of potential investors
• Why cash doesn't fix problems
• How to turn problems into resolutions

They did it! Jonathan and the team have wrapped up their raise and they are in the process of finishing up the round. Jonathan shares what he has learned during the raise and what is next for The Juice.

The first term sheets are in hand and the end of the raise is in sight. Jonathan joins us to discuss the term sheets he has in hand and what due diligence has been like so far. Finally, we talk through what hiring plans and projections look like once the cash is in the bank.

Coming off of their first ProductHunt launch, Jonathan joins us to share the current status of the round. We discuss what they’ve been focusing on internally as a business. Finally, we discuss the term sheets that are on their way.

We are back in the heart of The Juice fundraise. They are a few weeks in and starting to get to the middle of the “3 months of pitching.” We discuss how Jonathan is leveraging verbal commits to build urgency with new investors and discuss what is being shared in The Juice’s data room.

Jonathan has been busy with investor meetings and pitches since the last time we chatted. Jonathan breaks down the “VC speed dating” event he attended and updates on other investor conversations. 

Finally, we hit on financial projections at the pre-seed/seed stage and what investors are looking for in the early stages of financial projections.

Trey Closson is the CEO and Founder of Amplio — a platform for proactively identifying the risks of tomorrow's supply chain. Prior to starting Amplio, Trey spent time at Flexport and Georgia Pacific. Trey joins us to break down his first year as a founder and what he has learned from transitioning from operator to founder. 

A couple of key topics we hit on: 

• The current state of the global supply chain issues 
• How Amplio found their first customers
• How Amplio is using pilot programs to scale their customer base
• The importance of relentless focus
• Why founders should invest in community
• Why building a startup is a marathon, not a sprint

On Week 3 of the Founders Forward Fundraising Series, Jonathan Gandolf, CEO of The Juice, discusses how pre-seed investors have been evaluating their revenue vs. product vs. team.

A few other key topics we hit on:

• How to talk about revenue with investors
• How Jonathan leveraged their product while pitching
• Adding investors to the top of an investor funnel
• Identifying your ideal investor

Related Resources: 

• Building Your Ideal Investor Persona

Jonathan joins us after his first few weeks of heads-down fundraising. We discuss how he is going about adjusting and tweaking his pitch deck as more feedback comes in and how he is leveraging his network (and customers) to find intros to potential investors.

A few other key topics we hit on:

• Managing pitch deck recommendations and changes
• Designing a pitch deck with a small team
• Finding introductions to potential investors
• Leveraging customers for investor introductions

Related Resources:

• Our Teaser Pitch Deck Template
• Creating Momentum in Your Fundraise with Brett Brohl

We dig into the business behind The Juice and the fundamentals of their pre-seed funding round. Jonathan is ready to go with a list of 60 potential investors and a pitch deck in hand. Hop around and learn more about what we covered in week 1 below: 

• The Juice business model 
• How Jonathan is building his investor outreach list
• What Jonathan’s plans are for reaching out to investors
• The pitch deck feedback loop