Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Pre-Seed Fundraising Strategy w/ Ihar Mahaniok
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Pre-Seed Fundraising Strategy w/ Ihar Mahaniok
In this episode, Ihar Mahaniok (Managing Partner @ Geek Ventures) lends his expertise from the venture capital / tech startup world to help demystify some of the early fundraising experience. Ihar shares his leadership journey and why he decided to go the VC route over an eng leader or founder path, deconstructs his unique investing angle, what qualities he looks for in founders, tips for transitioning to the pre-seed fundraising round, formulas for implementing SAFE caps when seeking investments, and much more.
ABOUT IHAR MAHANIOKIhar (@mahaniok) is the Founder & Managing Partner of Geek Ventures, an NYC-based VC firm investing in early-stage startups by immigrant founders. Ihar is an experienced engineering leader and investor with 20+ years of experience. Ihar has invested in 100+ early-stage startups with exceptional returns, including 5 seed-to-unicorn. His portfolio includes Instacart, Slack, Flexport, Jeeves, PandaDoc, People.ai, Founderpath and more. As an engineering leader, Ihar led teams at Google, Facebook & WeWork; he led engineering at Lightning AI.
A lot of founders try to get all the commits before they start signing papers and wire which means they don't have money in the bank which means they cannot hire people but if you get safes and get wires right away, you get money in the bank and you can hire people.
Obviously, the more you spend on R and D, the more hopefully you can achieve your milestones and show. Right? So it's better to give away kind of 5% of the company at $3 million cap for $150k, but then raised later at higher cap after you have achieved milestones and why you achieved milestones? Because you hire some people!
- Ihar Mahaniok
ABOUT GEEK VENTURESGeek Ventures is a tech venture fund investing in immigrant founders building amazing, scalable products.
SHOW NOTES:- How Ihar became a venture capitalist within the tech startup world (2:14)
- Ihar’s unique angle as a VC (4:11)
- The early-day challenges faced by immigrant founders (6:58)
- Why Ihar chose the investor path over eng management or founding (10:02)
- Criteria Ihar considers before investing in a company (14:36)
- Ideal qualities / characteristics Ihar likes to see in a founder (17:59)
- Ihar’s recommendation for what a successful funding process looks like (20:32)
- Strategies for transitioning into the pre-seed round (23:43)
- Implementing SAFE caps for pre-seed investing, weighing the benefits and risks (28:11)
- Using structural FOMO to encourage VCs to invest before it’s too late (32:47)
- Seek investors’ help beyond simply investing (35:39)
- How to build trust with investors through regular, honest updates (38:00)
- Rapid fire questions (40:29)
(book) A DANCE WITH DRAGONS (A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE, BOOK FIVE) by George R. R. Martin - In the aftermath of a colossal battle, the future of the Seven Kingdoms hangs in the balance once again–beset by newly emerging threats from every direction. In the east, Daenerys Targaryen, the last scion of House Targaryen, rules with her three dragons as queen of a city built on dust and death. But Daenerys has three times three thousand enemies, and many have set out to find her. Yet, as they gather, one young man embarks upon his own quest for the queen, with an entirely different goal in mind.
To the north lies the mammoth Wall of ice and stone–a structure only as strong as those guarding it. There, Jon Snow, 998th Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, will face his greatest challenge yet. For he has powerful foes not only within the Watch but also beyond, in the land of the creatures of ice.
And from all corners, bitter conflicts soon reignite, intimate betrayals are perpetrated, and a grand cast of outlaws and priests, soldiers and skinchangers, nobles and slaves, will face seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Some will fail, others will grow in the strength of darkness. But in a time of rising restlessness, the tides of destiny and politics will lead inevitably to the greatest dance of all. . . .Dubbed “the American Tolkien” by Time magazine, George R. R. Martin has earned international acclaim for his monumental cycle of epic fantasy. Now the #1 New York Times bestselling author delivers the fifth book in his spellbinding landmark series–as both familiar faces and surprising new forces vie for a foothold in a fragmented empire.
View all episodes
By The Engineering Leadership Community (ELC)In this episode, Ihar Mahaniok (Managing Partner @ Geek Ventures) lends his expertise from the venture capital / tech startup world to help demystify some of the early fundraising experience. Ihar shares his leadership journey and why he decided to go the VC route over an eng leader or founder path, deconstructs his unique investing angle, what qualities he looks for in founders, tips for transitioning to the pre-seed fundraising round, formulas for implementing SAFE caps when seeking investments, and much more.
ABOUT IHAR MAHANIOKIhar (@mahaniok) is the Founder & Managing Partner of Geek Ventures, an NYC-based VC firm investing in early-stage startups by immigrant founders. Ihar is an experienced engineering leader and investor with 20+ years of experience. Ihar has invested in 100+ early-stage startups with exceptional returns, including 5 seed-to-unicorn. His portfolio includes Instacart, Slack, Flexport, Jeeves, PandaDoc, People.ai, Founderpath and more. As an engineering leader, Ihar led teams at Google, Facebook & WeWork; he led engineering at Lightning AI.
A lot of founders try to get all the commits before they start signing papers and wire which means they don't have money in the bank which means they cannot hire people but if you get safes and get wires right away, you get money in the bank and you can hire people.
Obviously, the more you spend on R and D, the more hopefully you can achieve your milestones and show. Right? So it's better to give away kind of 5% of the company at $3 million cap for $150k, but then raised later at higher cap after you have achieved milestones and why you achieved milestones? Because you hire some people!
- Ihar Mahaniok
ABOUT GEEK VENTURESGeek Ventures is a tech venture fund investing in immigrant founders building amazing, scalable products.
SHOW NOTES:- How Ihar became a venture capitalist within the tech startup world (2:14)
- Ihar’s unique angle as a VC (4:11)
- The early-day challenges faced by immigrant founders (6:58)
- Why Ihar chose the investor path over eng management or founding (10:02)
- Criteria Ihar considers before investing in a company (14:36)
- Ideal qualities / characteristics Ihar likes to see in a founder (17:59)
- Ihar’s recommendation for what a successful funding process looks like (20:32)
- Strategies for transitioning into the pre-seed round (23:43)
- Implementing SAFE caps for pre-seed investing, weighing the benefits and risks (28:11)
- Using structural FOMO to encourage VCs to invest before it’s too late (32:47)
- Seek investors’ help beyond simply investing (35:39)
- How to build trust with investors through regular, honest updates (38:00)
- Rapid fire questions (40:29)
(book) A DANCE WITH DRAGONS (A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE, BOOK FIVE) by George R. R. Martin - In the aftermath of a colossal battle, the future of the Seven Kingdoms hangs in the balance once again–beset by newly emerging threats from every direction. In the east, Daenerys Targaryen, the last scion of House Targaryen, rules with her three dragons as queen of a city built on dust and death. But Daenerys has three times three thousand enemies, and many have set out to find her. Yet, as they gather, one young man embarks upon his own quest for the queen, with an entirely different goal in mind.
To the north lies the mammoth Wall of ice and stone–a structure only as strong as those guarding it. There, Jon Snow, 998th Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, will face his greatest challenge yet. For he has powerful foes not only within the Watch but also beyond, in the land of the creatures of ice.
And from all corners, bitter conflicts soon reignite, intimate betrayals are perpetrated, and a grand cast of outlaws and priests, soldiers and skinchangers, nobles and slaves, will face seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Some will fail, others will grow in the strength of darkness. But in a time of rising restlessness, the tides of destiny and politics will lead inevitably to the greatest dance of all. . . .Dubbed “the American Tolkien” by Time magazine, George R. R. Martin has earned international acclaim for his monumental cycle of epic fantasy. Now the #1 New York Times bestselling author delivers the fifth book in his spellbinding landmark series–as both familiar faces and surprising new forces vie for a foothold in a fragmented empire.