501st Roundtable Recording on September 17, 2020: With Robert Weber, Great North Labs

In case you missed it, you can listen to the recording here:

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Sonali Vijayavargiya of Augment Ventures (Part 4)

Sonali Vijayavargiya: I think the engine has started. People are engaging. There is an increasing awareness of teams and solutions that are coming out of different regions other than just the Bay Area or New York. People are willing to get on a plane and meet with these teams.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Julianne Zimmerman of Reinventure Capital (Part 5)

Julianne Zimmerman: At the conference, I was approached by several women. The conversation we had is a conversation I have with far too many founders from MIT and many other alma maters.

I have formed a really spectacular team around me. I have customer demand. I have contracts that are waiting to be filled. I have significant inbound interest from customers, but I cannot get a meeting. When I get a meeting with a venture capital partner, the questions I get are about my children or husband.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Sonali Vijayavargiya of Augment Ventures (Part 3)

Sonali Vijayavargiya: Another example that I would share with you is a company called Flume. It’s in the water space. This came out of Cal Poly. This was brought to our attention by one of our champions and co-investors from the Bay Area. It’s a very elegant solution for leak detection and water management.

I’m sure a lot of people have spent time trying to understand water and how we are not fully valuing the cost of water. I tried to play in that space for a long time but hadn’t found the right solution to get behind.

Roundtable Recap: September 17 – Around the World with Startups in Ninety Minutes

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest Robert Weber, Managing Partner at Great North Labs located in Minneapolis.

Medifees

As for entrepreneur pitches, this week we had Hugo Gallegos from Portland, Oregon, pitching Medifees, a solution for assessing medical expenses.

Halalworkchop

Next up, Muyideen Ayinla from Nigeria pitched Halalworkchop, a digital services company catering to small businesses.

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1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Julianne Zimmerman of Reinventure Capital (Part 4)

Julianne Zimmerman: The company did eventually have mainstream well-known investors. It took us a long time to get there. Also, that company was one of innumerable companies that were killed off in the extinction event that occurred when the markets imploded in 2007.

I had an amazing experience of being at the forefront and accomplishing something incredible with my colleagues, but the ultimate success was outside our control. That was an excellent learning experience.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Sonali Vijayavargiya of Augment Ventures (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: Tell me more about the business model. A large percentage of enterprise software is sold via the subscription business model. So is that your business model?

Sonali Vijayavargiya: Exactly. Most of our companies have a subscription business model. Investors value the recurring model. I feel that products don’t walk by themselves. You have to get engagement.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Julianne Zimmerman of Reinventure Capital (Part 3)

Julianne Zimmerman: I never aspired to be in the venture capital world. I started off as an aerospace engineer. I went to MIT when I was 16 because I had wanted to be an astronaut since I was 12.

I thought that that’s how you became an astronaut. It’s not the worst idea, but it’s a bit naive. This was the way I thought about it. I double majored in Literature.