Our strategy:

Low-volume, high conviction.

We’re making 5 new investments, so if you’re a high-agency founder open to building in a non-coastal city like Buffalo, let’s chat - [email protected]

'A company is the sum of their incentives.' Excellent read from the Plenty team.

withplenty.com/blog/to-pick-t…

Evergreen clarifying question:

Enterprise-enterprise? Or tech-enabled enterprise?

95% of startups and emerging funds would be better off sending plain text over HTML emails

No better way to enjoy my first live professional women's sporting event than in the fellowship with other phenomenal female investors -- thank you, Helen Min and Meena Harris ! Slowly, then suddenly, we arrive.

Last night Phenomenal Ventures hosted a special group of investors to cheer on #BayFC alongside 17K fans. I’m still feeling so energized by the win and turnout. Excited for more!!

Where can I find a butter lamb in the Bay Area?

They buried the lede on this new study. It's not that exercise beats out SSRIs for depression treatment, but that *just* dancing has the largest effect of *any treatment* for depression.

That's kind of beautiful.

As a follow-up to my last post on how founders should think about the media, I interviewed Colin D Crook, a PR pro I've worked with and trust, to get his perspective. His takes are wise and evergreen. Enjoy!

helenmin.com/blog/how-to-ea…

“Mom. Did you know that the #buffalobills went to the Super Bowl… 4 times… in a row… and lost every time?!?! How is that even possible?!”

Re-traumatized by my 8 year old.

Advice from Helen Min on when to own media and when to earn media

Working through a bunch of blog posts sitting in drafts... Here's one on how founders should think about press.

helenmin.com/blog/you-are-y…

Gen X 🖤
Millennial 💙
Gen Z 💚✨🩷✨💚✨🩷✨💚✨🩷

I don't make the rules.

We're releasing Koala 2.0: warm outbound that actually works.

75% open rate.
15% reply rate.
10% book a meeting.

One of our pilot customers sourced & closed a two-year, $250k+ TCV deal in their first few weeks!

getkoala.com/blog/koala-2-0…

Metronome’s usage-based billing software finds hit in AI as the startup raises $43M in fresh capital tcrn.ch/4bkR5SQ

2023 was a huge year for Metronome, and 2024 will be even bigger. Kevin and Scott are fantastic leaders and special humans, and they are hiring! jobs.lever.co/getmetronome

Information That Would Get Your Attention

1. The history that was never written down and the thoughts that were never spoken.

2. Meeting all the versions of yourself that you could have become.

3. How much time you have left.

collabfund.com/blog/informati…

Charley is a 10x human. Congrats to every founder, investor, colleague, and partner that gets to work with him and Exponent Founders Capital

Fireside chats in Buffalo are actually fireside 🙃

Proud to see Zabreen Khan on this list 👏👏👏 Phenomenal Ventures