Crystal Widjaja

Founders raising for the first time? This is an awesome guide. 👀⤵️ All credits to Brian Ortiz 👏🏽 #firstdegree #founders #investors
#alwaysbelearning #sharingiscaring #changethewaywework

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Weekly Update: Had an interesting week 1. Got a response back from someone on Uber Press Team 2. Finished up an exciting content collab call 3. Attending a Private Fireside virtually- with Garry Tan of Y Combinator 4. Planning for a demo day in Singapore 5. Coming up on 4 years of Business Podcast by Roohi in late May/ early June Power of creating content, and posting it is so powerful Will be sharing more such updates every week

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Turns out, Sword Health has an interesting org structure where they hire ex-founders/wannabe founders as GMs, invest $1 million as a seed round, and give them 12 months to work. If the product performs well after a year, they follow up with a Series A investment. We do something similar at Docquity, and each time, the products have generated quite a bit of value for the organization in a fraction of the time it usually takes. In my humble view, this is the only way to create urgency and build value from 0 to 1 as a company matures. h/t Nikhil Krishnan

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Some exciting callls tomorrow 1. W/ a Singapore based community builder re the various events, and such 2. Might be recording a podcast with Dilip Kumar: The Other Side Podcast, Rainmatter 3. Learning more about what someone is building One of my goals this year: Trying to talk with more people about what I am building, sharing my half baked ideas, learning more about the startups and VC ecosystem Surrounding myself with more builders, hustlers, founders, and people doing cool things Will be sharing more like this in my weekly updates on X And hopefully in my personal newsletter- once I get it up and running

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🔥Raise Millions For Your Startup🔥 This is arguably the most valuable startup fundraising resource I've had the privilege of stumbling upon. It's from Tam Pham from hustlefund.vc and it's good... The reason why it's particularly useful is because the intel provided is ACTIONABLE: ● Should I raise from angel investors or venture capitalists? ● What do all the fundraising stages mean? ● What do equity, SAFEs, and dilution mean? ● How do I determine my startup’s valuation? ● Why are cap tables, shares, and vesting so important? ● Where should I incorporate my company? ● When is the best time to start fundraising? ● What exactly should I include in my pitch deck? ● How should I structure my first meeting with an investor? ● What questions will early-stage VCs ask me? ● How do I build authentic relationships with investors? ● What happens if an investor says no or ghosts me? ● What should I expect after an investor verbally commits? You guys can save this doc to your local computer by enlarging the PDF below and then by clicking the "download" icon in the top right corner of your browser. -------------------------------------------------------------------- 💡Join 30,000+ Amplified Investors: https://lnkd.in/eAYGMHRN ---------------------------------------------------------------------

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YC is an accelerator. Faster networks, faster fundraising...it's about getting back to what you do best: BUILDING. Laduram Vishnoi isn't just talking the talk. Proof? He raised $6.5 million in his seed round, topping his entire YC batch in both funding and valuation. 💪 Could he have raised even MORE? Absolutely. But his focus? Scaling smart, with the resources to drive growth for years. YC success stories are inspiring...but THIS is the kind of outcome that gets founders REALLY paying attention. Want to hear the whole story? Watch the full episode here - https://lnkd.in/eqawwxcX . . . . . #startup #startups #founderstory #ycombinator #ycrejects #funding #seedfunding #venturecapital #entrepreneurship #techstartup #software #microservices #monitoring #observability #cloudcosts #saas #devops #cto #techfounder #middleware #lobstertalks

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We've spoken about the best CEOs and the attributes they brought to the table to build world class teams. What about the worst performing CEOs that I have worked with- what were their similarities? Let's dive in. CEO #1 early stage, semblance of PMF, tier 1 investors. Here are the 3 traits they implemented to build a dysfunctional TA function: 1) Significant ego. Although having no former executive leadership experience or true recruiting experience this individual felt as if they knew/understood the nuances of recruiting. They understood recruiting better than the recruiters they hired. 2) Lack of empathy. This CEO relied heavily on pedigree bias to evaluate candidates which is typical for many first time leaders. Great candidates were dropped/ignored for insignificant resume signals like, "if this individual was really great they would not have been fired during the last downturn". 3) Unrealistic expectations. The company lacked "clout" and "hype" it is a fairly standard product selling to enterprise yet the founder wanted to attract talent from hyper growth startups. It was difficult to sell the mission but what was even more difficult was that the founder expected these candidates to take pay cuts because equity should be the chief motivator. CEO #2, mid-later stage, PMF, niche sector but very strong mission. Here are the 3 traits they implemented to build a dysfunctional TA function: 1) Significant ego. The CEO knew they had a great product with a great mission and ultimately adopted a Messiah complex - in many ways the work culture felt like a cult where the founder projected themselves as a genius (if I had a dollar for every time Steve Jobs was mentioned as a comparison I could have independently IPO'd). 2) Underestimated recruiting. When I joined recruiting was one of the lowest paid departments in the entire org. Often this team would make offers to software engineers for $1m+ packages (equity included) but the highest paid recruiter prior to me joining was earning $110k. Company wanted/needed world class engineers but did not understand why recruiting was systematically unable to deliver at scale. 3) Lack of trust. The CEO was a technical founder and I believe their experience as a highly recruited software engineer created inaccurate biases about recruiters. Frankly, the CEO did not believe that recruiters were smart and that their job was easy. Because of this recruiting never reported to the founder and instead reported to functions that made no sense (at one point recruiting reported to Biz Ops lead). When challenges arose internally around recruiting instead of speaking to the team the CEO would immediately hire outside consultancy services "to fix recruiting" - it never worked. I can't help but think of their core similarities: ego, a lack of respect/understanding of the recruiting function and an unwillingness to learn, grow, or change.   #Flag: These former clients are not listed on my digital resume (LinkedIn).

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Wei D. (Founder and CEO of unicorn Clipboard Health) dropped some major 💎 gems of wisdom during her fireside chat with PearX founders at Pear VC SF Studio yesterday. These really resonated: 💎 PMF isn't something you achieve once - staying relevant to your market is an ongoing pursuit 💯 (Wei shared that to date she still LOVES talking with customers and - even at 1000+ employees and with all the success already achieved - she continues to chase unlocks for the business and recently obtained her nursing assistant certification in order to stay close to users and unlock new insights with them 🥇) 💎 If you're scared of sales, don't think of it as sales -- you're just talking to someone who you're trying to help. Approach your customers with care and listen to them as you would a friend. The moment it's an actual conversation with a friend, that's probably where you're going to get your first sale. If it feels "salesy" you're probably not doing it the right way. 🤝 💎 Do whatever it takes to get in front of your customers! (For Wei this meant driving around at 8 months pregnant and walking up to DMs at nursing homes!) 🚗 💎 The users you speak with in your market will give you the key jargon you need to use to speak back to your market. Listen intently and adopt their language! 🗣 💎 There is little you decide that can't be undone. Be smart, make calculated decisions, but don't overthink things --- err on the side of action and quick decision making. ��‍♀️ 💎 Iterate until your users feel passionately about what you're doing (ie. they get angry when the product is down or doesn't work). You want your users to care A LOT about the problem you're solving. 😡 Wei's resilience, grit and work ethic are off the charts. What an inspiration! 👏 #femalefounders #inspiration #techfounder #unicornfounder #hero

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One of the things that worries me the most about 2021-era AI startups is precisely this: early-stage burn rate. Burn rate applies not only to dollar amounts but equity as well. Raises ultimately have to tie to revenue at the very least, so even if the first stage VC went starry-eyed, it doesn't mean the second stage will. I suppose it's just the Great Filter of AI, but here's to the prudent leaders!

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2 years ago this exact day, we were just starting our Y Combinator batch. We were pumped, galvanised by the thought of becoming the next Brian Chesky, Drew Houston, or Tony Xu. Here’s the advice I wish I’d given our younger selves when we were just starting out: 1/ It will take longer than you think. Way longer. During our batch, we sat into talks where YC alums were making sure their companies had 7-8 years of runway. We thought they were crazy, but now we understand why. Everyone knows how hard it is to get to Product Market Fit, but the thing is, you’d have to do it over and over again to continue growing despite the competition. Heck, even when you’re seemingly ahead of any competition and preparing for an IPO (Airbnb), there’s still the chance of a Black Swan event (Covid) that could destroy everything that you spent the last decade building. To my younger self: Be prepared to spend decades of your life solving the problems you set out to solve. If you succeed in building a billion dollar company in 7-10 years, great! But if you end up taking 20-30 years, that’s ok too! Just keep moving fast, and don’t ever give up. 2/ Sacrifice. Tons of it. Building a start-up is like raising a baby. We will lose friendships, we will have regrets, we will suffer mentally, physically, and emotionally. Old friends will look at us differently, and when we have problems in our personal lives, we might only have the time and energy to solve them temporarily. I honestly wish I was more prepared for a life like that. To my younger self: Relentlessly prioritise the few people in life that matter, people whom you are willing to make big sacrifices for. Once you identify them, make sure to invest fully into those relationships whenever you can. Don’t wait till tomorrow, because you’ll never know if tomorrow ends up being too late. 3/ Invest in co-founder relationships. Since our batch ended, many of our batch-mates got caught in unfortunate co-founder break-ups that brought them to their lowest points. We talked to a few of them to provide support, but can’t imagine having to go through that ourselves. I’m super thankful to have an amazing co-founder in Arvind Ramesh by my side going through all the ups and downs, as we continue trying to do possibly the hardest thing we’d ever do in our lives. To my younger self: No matter how busy you are, always remember to invest time, energy and effort into co-founder and team relationships. Even 5-minute conversations learning about each others’ personal lives will go a long way in building the trust and understanding you need to eventually succeed. Always treat your co-founder relationship like a precious plant that needs watering. It could still die even if it was once healthy. To all of you founders who are still on the hunt for Product Market Fit, keep going! There’s thousands of us facing the exact same struggles every single day. As lonely as it might feel, you are not alone - we are all in this together. 💪

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🤝 Iterative Cofounder Matching - What to look for in a co-founder? In the 2 weeks since we launched the co-founder matching platform, we've matched 40 people. After seeing what people are looking for in their co-founders, I have 3 observations. 💡You Don’t Need An Idea to Meet Co-Founders I noticed 90% of users on the platform already have some sort of start up idea. This made me wonder whether aspiring founders without an idea are hesitant to meet co-founders. I think this could be because many people attach too much importance to the idea. In my opinion, you should meet potential co-founders even if you don't have any ideas because 1) You'll meet other people with ideas. (90% of our user base, for example) 2) The idea will change, almost always. The problem and co-founder fit, are more important. 💪 Value Compatibility As Much As Skills 70% of first time founders were looking for specific expertise or skills in their co-founder. On the other hand, 100% of second time founders equally prioritised motivations (and a sense of humour). As an ex-founder, I understand why. More often than not, co-founder breakups happen because of motivation misalignment, lack of communication or misaligned working styles. It’s easier to stay resilient with a co-founder who has a sense of humour - and laugh through the extremely tough times. 👨‍🔧 Non-Technical vs Technical Co-founders 85% of the non-technical folks prefer a technical founder. More interestingly, 30% of technical founders also prefer a technical cofounder. I think people might be placing too much value on technical experience at the idea stage. For non-technical people, my suggestion is to build a basic MVP to validate your idea first. Learn no-code tools like Bubble/Flutterflow if you have to. Once you validate - you’ll also have a clearer, more convincing pitch to your potential co-founder. For technical people, my advise is to prioritise co-founders who are obsessed about the problem, rather than the solution. Want to learn more about how to choose co-founders? We’re hosting an event tomorrow, where Hsu Ken Ooi will talk about what to look for in a co-founder (and what to avoid). 📅 Date: Tuesday 14 May 2024 🕒 Time: 6:30-9:00pm 📍 Singapore – Register for location details. Look for the 📌 in the comments to register

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This is so important to call out Chang (CK) Kim. It’s such a rat race in the Valley. When you surround yourself with people working in corporate big tech who are paid big salaries and stock, you can feel so small and broke as a startup founder trying to build something. You envy them for them for their stability and income, but they envy you because you’re pursuing your dreams. You can often feel like a failure because you can’t provide the same things for yourself or your family. At least in Silicon Valley there are many other founders around and people understand what you are doing. I remember when, in places like New York or Los Angeles, saying you’re a founder at a dinner party might as well be saying you have an infectious disease or are unemployable. I remember turning down invites to glamorous weddings in exotic destinations because I just couldn’t afford it on my startup budget. It wasn’t until I started surrounding myself with other founders who could relate to my experience that I was able to be in a better mental space and stop questioning my self-worth. Of course you will still compare yourself to your founder peers when they raise a new round or have an exit, but you’re rooting for them at the same time, because you hope that will be you someday. There’s a fellowship among struggling founders, because they’re the only ones who understand the rollercoaster of emotions you go through every single day. You can literally be happy one moment because you closed a huge deal and terrified the next because a key employee hands you their resignation letter. This is the biggest reason I started the Asian American Founder Circle, because we as founders had a whole separate load of baggage we had in common. Find your people, you’ll be better off when you realize you’re not alone.

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the biggest difference between San Francisco & Singapore for me is this. whether it's the population of experienced, ambitious series A-B founders that's low (they leave to SF/London for better network effects once they reach this level) or if they exist but the chance of meeting them is low because they're too busy to spend time with people outside of their team/customers/family (or they rather meet up other founders at their level or higher in private dinners) is worth being looked into. but regardless, this takes a massive toll on knowledge/wisdom transfer in an ecosystem. that's bad because startups are peak knowledge economy and insights and short cuts make all the difference in both life and death of startups, as well as in the rate at which they can grow and generate and capture value. singapore is way ahead of most countries. most countries don't even have that critical mass of early stage startups, or a critical mass of exited tech builders/investors. but this curve will create negative network affects, if not dealt with. not just singapore, any country that wants a healthy ecosystem for startups or any other important thing (scientific research etc.) needs a healthy knowledge/wisdom transfer pipeline. can't miss a few layers in between and expect the system to produce great output. Btw I think San Francisco is absolutely lucky to have the knowledge transfer pipeline that it has. It's not necessarily designed or intentionally set up. and I don't think it's sustainable either (smart people leaving their countries to go 1 place can be exciting for a few decades but then causes their home countries to get worse and worse, which makes the world worse and worse. no city can become/stay great if the world around it is burning). but this problem wont get solved by itself because humans have a natural tendency to hang out with people at their level of competence/consciousness or higher. elitism reinforces elitism. LearningLoop.com's global mission since day 1 has been, not to disrupt elitism, but to capture the wisdom of the elite, present it at different levels of abstraction to people who seek it but can't get it; because of their location, wealth, level competence, etc. make 1 billion elites we've started with 1 knowledge space that is startups. so at this scale, we define success as making sure San Francisco's startup network and knowledge/wisdom pipeline and discourse not just available but accessible globally. availability = being able to see/read/hear about it vs accessibility = being able to participate in it and get value from it. P.S: we're hosting an event in singapore this wednesday, if you're a founder you should drop by. the RSVP list looks amazing and you'll love the people and conversation. link in comments

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In moments of doubt, the universe throws signals at you to really reinstate your belief in what you sought out to achieve. I was listening to Emily Chang’s interview with YC CEO Garry Tan. This is a snapshot of some of most legendary tech founders that emerged from Y Combinator and as much innovation screams out of this picture, I can’t help but notice the obvious; we can’t build a future where innovation is not built jointly by men and women and that’s to say the least. So, let’s address what we can do about this ? - Be conscious of the apparent lack of women in tech, startup and investing forums and actively ensure that you engage more women in the same. - As someone who’s part of such key forums, champion conversations around diversity, investing in women and how ROIs on investing in women led ventures are higher. - If you’re an Angel investor or VC, spend some time to look at the diversity in your team; the lack of women in your own teams is the reason why you’re not being able to actively invest in women. - To all my fellow female founders, please allow the world to see the phenomenal work you do, speak about what you’re building, if you’re raising capital and ASK for help shamelessly. - Lastly, any change takes decades but the prep to that change starts now and each day; albeit you don’t see it it’s happening because of our collective efforts. I started Encubay with a vision to make entrepreneurship and investing gender agnostic; today we can proudly claim that we’ve become one of the largest networks for female founders to raise, scale and go global with over 5000 founders part of the same from India and Dubai; it’s been a hard journey but we’re at the tip of the iceberg and if you think you want to contribute to the same, join us! #entrepreneurship #diversity #investing #equality

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Infrastructure Support networks Never just one person Make mine a team Here’s a thought👇🏼 Stories have hero’s and villains, which both tend to focus on individuals. The founders story tends to be told in the singular. It’s what catches the eye and makes for better copy. Overcoming adversity tends to the plucky individual. But that’s not quite true is it? It’s good for storytelling and setting out the narrative but real life isn’t like that. It’s usually a pairs trade. Think Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, think Morecambe and Wise, think Wozniak and Jobs, think Robert Miller and Chuck Feeney, think Laurel and Hardy. Why include comics in a list of uber-successful business leaders? Because the comics understand the mechanics at work here. The foil, the stooge, setting up the punch line and the delivery. Guess what in the field of business that is necessary too. Business is a team sport whatever the headline. Successful teams do need a centre pin as their leader to achieve success. Someone who takes the lead. But as the old wry comment reminds us leadership is easy but it’s no good if no one follows. Leaders need their teams to believe in the plan laid out before them. One of the advantages of the venture studio model is that it ensures that there is a team that are proven collaborators. This mitigates the risks in launching a new business. This is a strong hand in the world of early stage businesses. ThinkLikeAClient #GrumpyOptimist #TechStartUps #VentureStudios #Entrepreneur Footnote: all my content is written daily by me with no additives or tricks. If it interests you please tag the 🔔 in my profile to get it delivered straight to you. Otherwise if you search #GrumpyOptimist you’ll find my library of past posts. Never recycled, always fresh.

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Throw back to 2018 when we launched Gojek under Goviet brand, which is now a $30billions+ company and about half a billion users. I'm a startup OG and I miss those hardcore startup vibes sometimes, the integrity is so high - we are in to beat TikTok Facebook YouTube... not only on the chart (although looking at the chart got the team adrenaline super high 🔥), but more importantly on impact at scale, play to change the world 🌎 Nowadays it's much easier to startup but also it's much easier to not get anywhere big because attention is diluted and there are too many opinions. Seriously have a North Star, forget everything else, put integrity and obsession on and work, those would get your startup very far. Skye Nguyen #TheUnicornTrajectory —- Visit https://lnkd.in/d88Cz68k for your Unicorn Roadmap Sustainable and hyper-growth: Startup, you can HAVE IT ALL

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