Natalie Kaminski

Some recent headlines from early March in Boston's venture backed world.... -We've got fundraisings -We've got announcements -We've got content from around The Hub -We've got a new book you shouldn't miss -Copley comes out of stealth with $4.8M from Asymmetric & Underscore VC to build an agentic, content experimentation platform for commerce businesses. Look out for their feature in the newsletter soon! -Givzey is building the world's first autonomous fundraiser and just launched their 3rd cohort of non-profits to bring digital labor to the workforce -Lila Sciences is building a superintelligence platform for life, chemical, and material science with $200M in seed funding -Kevin Walsh, Co-Founder of Melodi & previous HubSpot leader, joins The Lantern to talk about the AI analytics platform he's building -Healthtech Bluebird Kids Health raises a $31.5M Series A from F-Prime and .406 Ventures -Proof secures strategic investment from State Farm Ventures -Underscore VC announces their Pearce Summer Fellows Program for academic innovators -Jeffrey Bussgang Bussgang launches his new book The Experimentation Machine for AI Founders (and builders). I highly recommend you read it and check out the content he's putting out during his promotion tour. Jeff has a top 1% view of the VC backed world! -Pentera (dually hq'd in Tel Aviv & Boston) raises $60M at $1B+ to continue building out their network attack simulation cybersecurity platform -Sesha Kadakia from Tangify joins The Lantern to talk about her AI platform for IP & patent development -Shannon Kay from Topline Pro joins The Lantern to talk about their record 2024 and plans to grow the team & business in Boston -Ryan Quinlan from Flexcar shares his views on why their alternative car ownership model shouldn't be overlooked during your consideration process! 🚗 More on the MGMT Boston news feed. We update it pretty much daily! POW

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Excited to share the latest investment I’m leading for us at Eniac Ventures, a $6.5M seed round in Refold AI. If you’ve been inside a large enterprise tech stack, you know the “integration tax.” Every time you add a workflow, upgrade a system, or hit an edge case, a small army of consultants shows up to keep APIs talking. Enterprises spend $350B a year on this and the work is repetitive, brittle, and slow. Refold flips that model. Their AI agents learn how systems interact, generate and maintain the code, and adapt automatically as software changes. Multi-quarter service projects become repeatable, productized software delivered in days. Founders Jugal Anchalia and Abhishek Kumar lived this pain inside massive SAP environments, where a single field change could take days and six figures to fix. Their insight: integrations aren’t magic, they’re patterns. And patterns can be learned, automated, and scaled. Refold already works with 30+ paying enterprises, processes 30M+ API calls per month, and is growing ARR fast. This is not just cost savings, it is removing friction from how businesses connect and unlocking speed and innovation. We believe this is the future of integrations: fast, invisible, and autonomous. Excited to partner with the Refold team to kill the integration tax for good.

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🔥 I raised $40M in venture capital for my last startup. But getting a ~$2.5M SBA loan? Way harder. 💸 (Read that again.) 👀 With venture, you can go from term sheet to close in 30 days. Good luck getting an SBA loan funded on a business acquisition in under 3 months from start to finish. The SBA and the bank will do more diligence and paperwork on you and the business than all your VCs combined. 🔍📑 The closing process is night and day. Raising VC is like having TSA Precheck and skipping the 3-hour line ✈️. With a government-backed loan, you’re in that long line, piles of paperwork, rounds of diligence, and countless steps before you get the green light. 🛂 And yet… I’d still choose an SBA loan to buy a boring, profitable business over raising venture capital again. Why? Because with VC you’re dependent on investors and chasing runway, where 99% of startups never turn a profit 📉. With ETA, you step into a business that already throws off cash 💵 and you actually own your destiny 🔑. Owning a business that generates real profits beats relying on the next round of funding to survive. 🚀💪

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If you've never had to cover next month's payroll while fundraising for your seed startup, I encourage you to keep your startup-guru advice to yourself. It's incredible the amount of founders I speak with that ask me about what "experts" in the field told them. No advice is going to make or break your company. Really. Founders, if you're looking for a second opinion, the advice that you're going to receive from a founder that is just a few steps more advanced than you, is a trillion times better than what an executive, an "early" employee (hire n° 78) of an exited startup, or a connector that "knows a lot of people" but has never raised for their own startup, will give you. Seek for founders who are in a higher stage than you. They will relate way better with the amount of stress you're going through and know tips, details and the current market that will give you down-to-earth actions that you can apply. For advice from non-builders: listen, nod, smile and move on. #entrepreneurship #fundraising #venturecapital #startup

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🚨 VC Fund Alert: Creative Capital Ventures Launched €18M to Back Bold Ideas in Tech, Media & Consumer Innovation 🚀 In a time when capital efficiency and strategic value-add matter more than ever, Creative Capital Ventures Group (CCV) stepped in with an ambitious new €18 million fund — and a vision to raise €50 million by Q1 2025. Backed by Saratoga Capital Partners, Anthill Ventures, and a network of institutional & private investors, this Lisbon- and London-based venture studio brought a bold new model to early-stage VC. 🔥 🎯 What’s the play? 18 initial investments + 11 follow-ons by the end of 2024 Sectors: Tech, Digital Media, Consumer Products High-growth focus on: sports tech, entertainment, immersive IP, and wellness 💡 Why it matters: As CCV’s John D. put it: “The fund provides critical capital and helps scale innovative startups. We aim to foster long-term success for ambitious entrepreneurs.” But this isn’t just another VC fund... 🎥 Immersive IP & Creative Capital: Rich Britton is doubling down on entertainment innovation: “This fund comes at the right time — immersive content and music rights are redefining how we consume and create.” 🔧 Execution-focused Acceleration: With Pivotal, CCV’s venture studio, the fund promised “hands-on tactical support from strategy to execution,” said Dominic Joseph. 🧠 CCV’s track record is real: 150 startups impacted 20 companies founded 6 successful exits 📈 With structured investment in early-stage tech and IP assets, this fund blends venture-like returns with enhanced downside protection — a playbook that speaks directly to today’s LP mindset. 💬 If you're an LP looking to diversify into high-upside, creative-led ventures, or a founder innovating at the crossroads of tech and culture — this is the fund to watch. 🎧🎮📱 #VentureCapital #TechStartups #ImmersiveMedia #IPInvesting #ConsumerInnovation #SportsTech #WellnessEconomy #CreativeEconomy #LPs #VCFunds #EarlyStageVC #Fundraising #StartupAcceleration #CreativeCapitalVentures #PivotalStudio

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Zero tax on (up to) $15 million of gains when you sell shares of your company. That's not a loophole. It’s the potential power of QSBS. Qualified Small Business Stock was enhanced by new rules this summer. Written specifically for startup investors, founders and early employees. But you can disqualify yourself without knowing it. I've used QSBS five times. Each time, I worked with experts who understood the requirements and helped me avoid expensive mistakes. The rules are specific: -You acquire shares directly from the company -You hold your shares for at least three years -Company is a C-corp -Company has less than $75 million gross assets -Company is “qualified” trade or business Miss any of these and you don’t get QSBS treatment. I recently asked Christopher Karachale, one of the country's leading QSBS attorneys, to explain how this works in practice. Our conversation covers what founders and early employees need to know before making decisions that could cost millions. If you're involved in high-growth technology companies, you need to understand this and know if you qualify. Click the link in the comments to see our video and use our QSBS eligibility checker to see if you may qualify. Smart tech companies frequently use this tax strategy. The crucial thing for you is to understand the QSBS strategy before you make a few critical decisions. What could prevent you from taking advantage of QSBS benefits?

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I always hear founders at pre seed say 'we did this without any marketing'. That's really impressive. Truly...it is. But also...why? I understand that you aren't going to hire a head of growth yet. Or buy ads. That's good. Don't do these things. But even at early stage there is a punch list of things you should 1000% be doing. Here it is: - have a coherent positioning document. make sure that you are saying things clearly, coherently and consistently. Yeah, it will change. Update it. - have a GREAT, well designed 5-10 page website. It costs like $1000, and makes you look bigger / stronger than you are. Strong signal to customers, future employees (and VCs) - a whitepaper that explains clearly what your customer problem is, your unique approach, and why you should exist. IN CUSTOMER VOICE (please). - active social channels, most importantly, YOUR OWN. I get it, I don't really want to be doing this either. In the words of a wise friend 'the best time to do content marketing was ten years ago. the second best time is today.' In the age of Ai there is no excuse for not having the above. 'No marketing' isn't the flex you think it is.

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Success in VC meetings isn't just about the call itself. It's about what you do before and after. Here's how to stand out: Before the Call: Send a reminder 24 hours in advance - Include your deck and any prep materials - Ensures your info is fresh in their mind Research the VC and prepare thoughtful questions - Show you've done your homework - Demonstrates genuine interest in their firm During the Call: Ask about their process and next steps - Shows you're serious and organized - Helps you plan your follow-up After the Call: Send a follow-up email within 24 hours - Recap key points discussed - Confirm next steps - Thank them for their time If applicable, send any additional info promised during the call Remember, only about 1% of founders nail the follow-up. Be in that 1%. These small actions can significantly boost your chances of securing that crucial second meeting. What's your go-to follow-up strategy after a VC call?

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After being acquired by Foursquare, most would take a break. Not Sina & Isaac. In this episode, I sat down with Sina Kashuk, Co-Founder & CEO of Fused, he shares why he couldn’t shake the itch to build again, and what really drives repeat founders. We talk about: * Starting from zero (again) * Building teams the right way * Why investors often back people, not products #FounderJourney #SecondTimeFounder #StartupCulture #VentureCapital #FounderMindset #SerialEntrepreneur #EarlyStageFounders #StartupLife #BuildingTeams #FounderInsights #BerkleyHunt

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Searching for startup investors here on LinkedIn, Google, or Reddit? Stop. You might be wasting months and precious runway. Here's what to do. After 7 startups and helping raise over $100M, I know finding the right investor is an infuriating process. But there’s a system to it. Here’s my investor-finding tier list, based on 25 years in the trenches (I've tested them all): Google & Reddit: You’ll get flamed, ignored, or worse, scammed. Serious investors aren't scrolling Reddit for deal flow. This is the fastest way to waste your time. Google is also filled with services that will leave you disappointed. Who can you trust? PitchBook: A powerful tool with great data. The problem? It costs tens of thousands of dollars. It's overkill for most early-stage founders who need to be scrappy. LinkedIn: The approach everyone should be using. You can research investors, understand their thesis, and build real relationships. But it's a major commitment. You have to be active and build your personal brand for it to work (which you should be doing anyway). Crunchbase: A fantastic, cost-effective starting point. You can find out who invested in similar companies, download lists, and cross-reference contacts. It’s a huge step up from guessing. Smart Tools: This is why I joined Startups.com. We built an investor-matching tool where I essentially baked my brain and entire process into an AI. It analyzes your deck and matches you with verified, relevant investors. It automates the outreach I used to do manually for hundreds of hours. Try our pitch deck analyzer and investor matching tool for free here: https://lnkd.in/ds2HPMZ3 The Combo: The real magic happens here. Use a smart tool like Startups.com to build your target list and automate initial outreach. Then, use LinkedIn to warm up those leads, build relationships, and show them you’re a founder worth backing. It’s not just about finding an email address. It's about combining intelligent automation with genuine human connection. Watch this video for my full tier list: https://lnkd.in/dbxsNmTT

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🌱Seed valuations are breaking records - again. In Q4 2024, Carta data* showed median pre-money seed valuations hitting $16M - the highest on record. This isn't just a return to optimism. It's a reflection of how early-stage markets are bifurcating: - Well-networked, repeat founders? Still oversubscribed. - First-time teams without momentum? Struggling to raise at all. Valuation inflation isn't across the board - it's concentrated among startups with conviction, story, and signal. If you're raising now, it's not about adjusting to the "market average." It's about understanding which part of the market you're in. *data source: https://carta.com/uk/en/

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I'm seeing more and more top-tier seed investors reverse-pitching proven founders to go after specific opportunities they think can win, and I love it! When I ran an accelerator we found it really tough to find great founders interested in latching onto an opportunity they didn't originate -- even when it came with funding and customers. But I think it might be different with proven, serial founders. I can see how founders that have already had success may be more inclined to apply that know-how to an opportunity they didn't originate -- because they understand that success is less about inventing a better solution, and all about timing, validation, and execution. Success, even when it's not something you personally originated, can be just as fulfilling. #startups #seedinvesting

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