Features don’t sell. Stories do. Even if you don’t have incredible growth, telling an incredible story works really well in fundraising.

I’ve been using Gemini and ChatGPT in parallel over the last 2 weeks. Here’s my thoughts: 1. ChatGPT is still my favorite. I don’t like always having to wait for “Thinking” mode to do its work but it does seem to have the best answers. 2. Gemini is fast. Gemini is always

Storytelling is important in both sales and fundraising. Framing your product with real world use cases and customer testimonials will always work better than a list of features.

Storytelling is important in both sales and fundraising. Framing your product with real world use cases and customer testimonials will always work better than a list of features.

Most of the idea stage founders I meet are looking for some help or guidance. That’s why we created the @SterlingRoadVC Grant, to give you the first resources and advice you need to get started. We back 25 University of Oxford , Cambridge University , and Imperial College London teams a year with

Once the money is in the bank, and not before, you should ask your new investor for intros and go through their network yourself:

Getting to choose who you work with is one of the best parts of startup investing.

Big news: Portfolio company Zalos has been accepted into Y Combinator F25! They’re building agents for CFOs, and Finance Operations to cut repetitive work. If you know CFOs or Ops teams who’d benefit, reach out. Learn more: zalos.ai/contact-us

Posting nonstop doesn’t move the needle. Content marketing is about both authenticity and volume.

Thanks to FOX 32 News for having our VP of Public Policy, Vignesh Ram, on to talk about Serve’s expansion to Chicago! A big milestone as we keep building the future of delivery nationwide. Watch: fox32chicago.com/video/1716240

Looking for a co-founder? 🤔 The goal is to find a friend or a friend of a friend. I typically recommend looking into Y Combinator co-founder matching, mailing lists from former employers or universities, and local meetups or clubs for your interest areas. 🎧Listen to the full

A portfolio company just sent an update. They're at ~$200K ARR, planning to grow to $1M in 12 mos and raise a Series A. Unfortunately those aren't the rules of the game anymore. This is what I sent them; if you're a pre-seed / seed-stage company, it probably applies to you too.

I’ll be joining @ImperialCollege on October 9 to kick off IdeaForge 2025. We’ll talk about how you get started, why Silicon Valley matters and the most common pitfalls. Please join us… luma.com/r70pn7w8?fbcli…

Startups Require Real Confidence As a company grows some founders struggle to believe they’re becoming the people you read about it in the news. 1. Before Great Outcomes. You cannot wait until you hit the jackpot, before you start believing in yourself. 2. Authenticity. Most

Another month of big wins from the Sterling Road portfolio! 🎉 - @SempreHealth named a Top HealthTech Company by TIME - Serve Robotics expands with two acquisitions - @PayWithFlex raises $15M Series A - Zalos Joins YC F25 Exciting progress across healthtech, robotics, & fintech.

Some harsh reality in this email. If you're thinking about a Series A, it's either $2M ARR in double quick time or $1M ARR in near zero time. I wish it were different, but that's what we're seeing.

The H1B Visa Rollercoaster The H1B visa has been used by some of America's best founders and executives, including the founders of eBay, Zoom, the CEO of Microsoft and Elon Musk. The process for H1B applicants had been largely unchanged for 20 years but 2 weeks ago the current

Looking forward to speaking to the Imperial College Ideaforge teams tomorrow. We’ll be covering why SF is the place to build and how to get started in the meantime. luma.com/r70pn7w8?fbcli…

Most companies lose customers at onboarding, but it’s your best shot at creating an engaged customer.

Another week with good people… Shoutout to Xica: one of the best gluten free spots in the city.