This week, I asked three different teams seeking funding if they’re old enough to open a bank account.

All you need to build a company

Please don’t put Advisors in your slide decks. Huge red flag

Founder triforce: Grit. Determination. Ambition. If you’ve got all three, you’re dangerous.

If you think current smart cameras are smart... You are going to be blown away by this! Welcome to Founders Inc Stan!

i've done a lot to try and improve the startup ecosystem in london, but the issue is more fundamental: investors are too risk adverse. i left london to come to sf and *immediately* raised a pre-seed. the same company, the same founder. in london no one would bet on me. in sf,

A B2B software SaaS VC passed on one of our portfolio founders building cutting-edge AI hardware. Said there was “no moat.” Are you kidding ?? Next day someone took the whole round in 30 minutes.

Stop making fundraising decks. They’re a waste of time. Write a memo. It forces you to communicate clearly your business. It tells a story, not a slide dump. And it turns the call into a real conversation, not a one way pitch.

What makes a killer fundraising memo? Here’s the structure I swear by ⤵️ 1️⃣ What are we building? One crisp line—no buzzwords. 2️⃣ Who are we? Founders back-story 3️⃣ How does it work? Demo, key features, north-star vision. 4️⃣ Who’s it for? Target user and burning pain. 5️⃣

Things are moving very fast rn at Founders Inc

Consumer AI hardware is more fundable than consumer AI apps

Anyone can join Founders Inc, just come to SF and build something cool. I couldn’t care less where you went to school (I didn’t even finish high school), so credentials won’t win you a spot—your ambition and idea will.

Yes

We just raised $4M to build the AI OS for government interaction. Policy, legal, and compliance teams use Helios to catch what others miss—before it derails strategy or exposes risk. Exclusive in TechCrunch: techcrunch.com/2025/07/11/hel…

The real KPI for founders at exit is how many lives were changed— Not just how much money the top 5 people made nor the investors. I hope that’s still true here.

My wife’s toxic trait is that she wants five kids, an intense career, to travel the world, start a farm to grow our own food, and be the main educator of our kids.

It’s more important than ever to be deeply technical

Almost all the top talent at my company was totally undiscovered before joining us. Almost every hire from a big company flopped — and cost way more. Startups are in the business of finding undiscovered talent.

In this AI world, it’s more important than ever to have taste

We built a robot that can ride elevators 🛗 Meet Elly, the autonomous delivery robot for buildings. It navigates floors, rides elevators, and delivers anything fast. Built by engineers from Waterloo & SpaceX. No lost packages. No cold food. No wasted time. Comment “ELLY” or DM