BADideas.fund

Hosted by Raimonds K

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Jul 2024

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BADideas.fund is an early stage funding for CEE startups led by helpful founders and operators. Since launching at TechChill '22, we have invested over €1M in 13 startups, and our global member pool keeps growing, spanning 150+ members from 16 countries and counting. Our members are founders and operators, who’ve been building such companies as Vimeo ($450M), Printify ($54M), Pandadoc ($51M funding), Pipedrive ($90M), Bolt ($1.3B funding), Apollo ($151M funding), Bird ($783M funding), Shopify ($122M), Printful ($130M), Twilio ($614M), Veriff ($192.3M), Wise ($1.3B raised), Interactio ($30M), Vinted ($562.3M), NordVPN ($100M), Hubspot ($100.5M).

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14 recent

July 19, 202458 min

BAD to better at startup building | B2B cold outreach: Janis Brugis on how to not end up in spam

About Janis Brugis - 10Y+ in email deliverability - Ramp ($1.4B in funding), part of Martal - ex- Pipedrive - Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janis-brugis-62840bb1/ About BADideas.fund: BADideas.fund is an early stage angel syndicate, led by helpful founders & operators, that provides €50K-€200K funding for CEE startups. Since launching at TechChill '22, we have invested over €3M in 25+, startups, and our global member pool keeps growing, spanning 200+ members from 20 countries and counting. Our members are founders and operators, who’ve been building such companies as Vimeo ($450M funding), Printify ($54M), Pandadoc ($51M), Pipedrive ($90M), Bolt ($1.3B funding), Apollo ($151M), Bird ($783M funding), Shopify ($122M), Whimsical ($30M), Lokalise ($56M), Deel ($679M), Printful ($130M), Twilio ($614M), Veriff ($192.3M), Wise ($1.3B raised), Interactio ($30M raised), Vinted ($562.3M), NordVPN ($100M), Hubspot ($100.5M).

June 3, 202431 min

BAD to better at startup building | Techchill special with Suhas Ghante

About Suhas Ghante - 2x 500 Startups alum, 3x COO, and 4x advisor to high-growth startups - Early executive at Innovaccer ($3.2B valuation) - Former advisor at Shef (YC W19 $74M Series B) - 8 years in Silicon Valley - Featured mentor at Swissnex, Spain Tech Center, Founder Institute - Currently COO at ChatWith.io and Partner at SVethos - Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suhasghante/ About BADideas.fund: BADideas.fund is an early stage angel syndicate, led by helpful founders & operators, that provides €50K-€200K funding for CEE startups. Since launching at TechChill '22, we have invested over €2M, and our global member pool keeps growing, spanning 200+ members from 20 countries and counting. Our members are founders and operators, who’ve been building such companies as Vimeo ($450M funding), Printify ($54M), Pandadoc ($51M), Pipedrive ($90M), Bolt ($1.3B funding), Apollo ($151M), Bird ($783M funding), Shopify ($122M), Whimsical ($30M), Lokalise ($56M), Deel ($679M), Printful ($130M), Twilio ($614M), Veriff ($192.3M), Wise ($1.3B raised), Interactio ($30M raised), Vinted ($562.3M), NordVPN ($100M), Hubspot ($100.5M).

April 25, 202425 min

BAD to better with Marijus Andrijauskas | BADideas.fund

00:00 Marijus' background 03:25 What is easier - to be a founder or an investor? 05:30 How the founder mindset helps Marijus be a better investor 08:00 5 non-negotiables to make an investment decision 11:25 Founders - the one thing that matters 17:05 What makes Baltic founders stand out 21:35 Signal vs noise in startup building 22:55 Building in stealth vs public 23:50 Marijus' take on the bigger picture About Marijus Andrijauskas: - Partner at FIRSTPICK, an early stage venture capital fund focused on Baltic tech founders - Serial founder, including Teamgate (acquired by Xenon Partners), Ventury.app - 15Y experience in tech strategy, sales, marketing, business development and operations - Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marijus-andrijauskas/ About BADideas.fund: BADideas.fund is an early stage angel syndicate, led by helpful founders & operators, that provides €50K-€200K funding for CEE startups. Since launching at TechChill '22, we have invested over €2M, and our global member pool keeps growing, spanning 200+ members from 20 countries and counting. Our members are founders and operators, who’ve been building such companies as Vimeo ($450M funding), Printify ($54M), Pandadoc ($51M), Pipedrive ($90M), Bolt ($1.3B funding), Apollo ($151M), Bird ($783M funding), Shopify ($122M), Whimsical ($30M), Lokalise ($56M), Deel ($679M), Printful ($130M), Twilio ($614M), Veriff ($192.3M), Wise ($1.3B raised), Interactio ($30M raised), Vinted ($562.3M), NordVPN ($100M), Hubspot ($100.5M).

March 27, 202425 min

BAD to better at pitching to investors. Interview with Girts Graudins, ex-Twilio | BADideas.fund

00:00 Girts' bio: Engineer to angel investor 04:45 What Girts is looking for in a startup 10:00 Top 3 red flags for investors 20:40 The big startup ideas of tomorrow 24:55 Where to find Girts About Girts Graudins: - ex-Director, Engineering at Twilio - Built SDK Platform org, built and launched multiple products - Scaled Twilio Video 10x - Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/girts/ - Twitter: @girtis About BADideas.fund: BADideas.fund is an early stage angel syndicate, led by helpful founders & operators, that provides €50K-€200K funding for CEE startups. Since launching at TechChill '22, we have invested over €2M, and our global member pool keeps growing, spanning 200+ members from 20 countries and counting. Our members are founders and operators, who’ve been building such companies as Vimeo ($450M funding), Printify ($54M), Pandadoc ($51M), Pipedrive ($90M), Bolt ($1.3B funding), Apollo ($151M), Bird ($783M funding), Shopify ($122M), Whimsical ($30M), Lokalise ($56M), Deel ($679M), Printful ($130M), Twilio ($614M), Veriff ($192.3M), Wise ($1.3B raised), Interactio ($30M raised), Vinted ($562.3M), NordVPN ($100M), Hubspot ($100.5M).

February 23, 202438 min

Startup Scaling Secrets. BAD to better with Ross Nazarenko, Reforge & ex-Vimeo | BADideas.fund

00:00 Ross' bio 02:20 How to think about and forecast growth models 05:50 How Vimeo scaled 4x user growth and 3x revenue growth, and how Braid 09:15 How Braid went from 0 to $1M revenue in under 6M 12:20 Quantitative growth model in action. Step 1 - Set up & inputs. 23:20 Step 2 - The 1% exercise 24:30 Step 3 - Action items 25:10 Step 4 - Measuring impact & reiteration 31:00 When to build the first growth model 37:00 How to reach Ross Resources: - End-to-end growth creation plan at Braid: https://www.reforge.com/artifacts/end... - How to build a growth-creation plan: https://www.fishmanafnewsletter.com/p... About Ross Nazarenko: - ex-Growth PM at Vimeo (achieved 4x user and 3x revenue growth) - ex-Growth Manager at Bird ($783M funding) - ex-Senior Growth Manager at Braid (grew from 0 to $1M revenue in under 6M) - Top 3 Reforge contributor - Part of Sequoia’s 1% talent pool - Linkedin: / ruslannazarenko About BADideas.fund: BADideas.fund is an early stage angel syndicate, led by helpful founders & operators, that provides €50K-€200K funding for CEE startups. Since launching at TechChill '22, we have invested over €2M, and our global member pool keeps growing, spanning 200+ members from 20 countries and counting. Our members are founders and operators, who’ve been building such companies as Vimeo ($450M funding), Printify ($54M), Pandadoc ($51M), Pipedrive ($90M), Bolt ($1.3B funding), Apollo ($151M), Bird ($783M funding), Shopify ($122M), Whimsical ($30M), Lokalise ($56M), Deel ($679M), Printful ($130M), Twilio ($614M), Veriff ($192.3M), Wise ($1.3B raised), Interactio ($30M raised), Vinted ($562.3M), NordVPN ($100M), Hubspot ($100.5M).

November 24, 202333 min

BAD to better at angel investing. Interview with Miranda Gottlieb | BADideas.fund

Timestamps: 00:00 Miranda's background 04:20 Is startup investing an obvious thing to do? 06:08 Passion vs financial upside in angel investing 08:20 How to get started 11:06 Creating an investment process and evaluating dealflow 14:05 Two unexpected lessons from angel investing 17:00 Investing as a startup builder - fuel or distraction? 20:00 Portfolio construction - how to start and how that evolves. 25:50 What makes CEE (and BADideas.fund :) special 28:00 Where is the healthtech going 31:45 Advice for new angel investors About Miranda Gottlieb: - Venture Partner at Pappas Capital and fractional CMO (Healthy CMO: https://www.healthycmo.com/) to Seed-Series A startups - 5 years in health tech corporate venture, venture capital, and Seed-Unicorn startups - Ex-CMO of Curative, which she helped grow from $0 to unicorn w/ 7k employees through a $25M marketing budget - Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mirandaegottlieb/ About BADideas.fund: BADideas.fund is an early stage angel syndicate, led by helpful founders & operators, that provides €50K-€200K funding for CEE startups. Since launching at TechChill '22, we have invested over €2M, and our global member pool keeps growing, spanning 150+ members from 16 countries and counting. Our members are founders and operators, who’ve been building such companies as Vimeo ($450M funding), Printify ($54M), Pandadoc ($51M), Pipedrive ($90M), Bolt ($1.3B funding), Apollo ($151M), Bird ($783M funding), Shopify ($122M), Whimsical ($30M), Lokalise ($56M), Deel ($679M), Printful ($130M), Twilio ($614M), Veriff ($192.3M), Wise ($1.3B raised), Interactio ($30M raised), Vinted ($562.3M), NordVPN ($100M), Hubspot ($100.5M).

October 20, 202329 min

BAD to better at startup building. A Fundraising School special

Timestamps 00:00 Intros 02:35 How Hyperjob leveraged personal networks for fundraising 03:55 How WasteHero built the investor target list 07:25 The first investor meeting 10:20 Derisking the investment 14:00 How to make the No's hurt less 17:50 Nurturing long-term investor relationships 22:10 Investor targeting by geography 23:30 What makes an investor say Yes 28:05 Fundraising at different stages, what's different and what's the same About Janis Kreilis - CEO & Co-founder at Hyperjob (Antler alum) - Serial entrepreneur (YourMove, tella) - Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kreilis/ About Hussam Mansour - CEO & Founder at WasteHero (InnoFounder Batch of September 2018) - Serial entrepreneur (Nicetrends, Rose Essence) - Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hussam-ma... About Suhas Ghante - 2x 500 Startups alum, 3x COO, and 4x advisor to high-growth startups - Early executive at Innovaccer ($3.2B valuation) - Former advisor at Shef (YC W19 $74M Series B) - 8 years in Silicon Valley - Featured mentor at Swissnex, Spain Tech Center, Founder Institute - Currently COO at ChatWith.io and Partner at SVethos - Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suhasghante/ About BADideas.fund: BADideas.fund is an early stage angel syndicate, led by helpful founders & operators, that provides €50K-€200K funding for CEE startups. Since launching at TechChill '22, we have invested over €1M, and our global member pool keeps growing, spanning 150+ members from 16 countries and counting. Our members are founders and operators, who’ve been building such companies as Vimeo ($450M funding), Printify ($54M), Pandadoc ($51M), Pipedrive ($90M), Bolt ($1.3B funding), Apollo ($151M), Bird ($783M funding), Shopify ($122M), Whimsical ($30M), Lokalise ($56M), Deel ($679M), Printful ($130M), Twilio ($614M), Veriff ($192.3M), Wise ($1.3B raised), Interactio ($30M raised), Vinted ($562.3M), NordVPN ($100M), Hubspot ($100.5M).

September 14, 202331 min

BAD to better at angel investing with Anda Klavina - lessons from art investing | BADideas.fund

Timestamps: 1:05 Anda's background and the road to art investing 3:38 How art investments work 7:10 Criteria for art investment - author, artwork, gallery track record or aesthetic? 13:40 Create and they will come, or not. 16:50 Unlikely winners and bad ideas that turned out to be great 21:00 Returns 23:50 Anda's take on AI-generated art 28:15 What the future holds for art investment About Anda Klavina - Art curator and critic with 20+ year experience in art investing: - Co founder of Corinthian Contemporary Art Partnership, an invitation-only partnership to support emerging art talent: https://corinthiancontemporary.art/ - MA Philosophy of Art, Middlesex University - Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/anda-klavina-85155137/ - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anda.klavin... About BADideas.fund: BADideas.fund is an early stage angel syndicate, led by helpful founders & operators, that provides €50K-€250K funding for CEE startups. Since launching at TechChill '22, we have invested over $2M, and our global member pool keeps growing, spanning 150+ members from 16 countries and counting. Our members are founders and operators, who’ve been building the kinds of companies that have collectively raised $13B+ in funding, such as Vimeo ($450M funding), Printify ($54M), Pandadoc ($51M), Pipedrive ($90M), Bolt ($1.3B funding), Apollo ($151M), Bird ($783M funding), Shopify ($122M), Whimsical ($30M), Lokalise ($56M), Deel ($679M), Printful ($130M), Twilio ($614M), Veriff ($192.3M), Wise ($1.3B raised), Interactio ($30M raised), Vinted ($562.3M), NordVPN ($100M), Hubspot ($100.5M). https://badideas.fund/

August 15, 202319 min

BAD to better at angel investing. Marvin Liao's advice to new angel investors | BADideas.fund

Timestamps: 00:00 Intro and Marvin's track record 02:15 How has the tech and investing scene changed over years 03:55 Why angel investing? 05:20 Mistakes when angel investing 06:08 What makes CEE founders stand out? 07:00 Local vs. global maximum, and how to spot the latter 10:26 Marvin's biggest miss and what he learned from it 11:35 How to get started 15:05 How to think about risk & reward 16:35 Evaluating pre-seed vs seed deals 17:10 A few words of wisdom and advice About Marvin Liao - Invested in & worked with 463+ pre-seed & seed stage startups - Previously a Partner at the most active global VC Fund 500 Startups - Among investments: Aircall, ManyChat, Shippo, Eaze, Printify, Embroker, Indio (Acquired), Backlot Cars (Acquired) - He serves on inv.committees and boards of several VC funds and mentors startups - https://www.linkedin.com/in/marvinliao/ About BADideas.fund: - We are an angel syndicate, providing early stage funding for CEE startups led by helpful founders and operators - Since launching at TechChill '22, we have invested over €1.8M in 15 startups, and our global member pool keeps growing, spanning 150+ members from 16 countries and counting. - Our members are founders and operators who’ve been building such companies as Vimeo ($450M), Printify ($54M), Pandadoc ($51M funding), Pipedrive ($90M), Bolt ($1.3B funding), Apollo ($151M funding), Bird ($783M funding), Shopify ($122M), Printful ($130M), Twilio ($614M), Veriff ($192.3M), Wise ($1.3B raised), Interactio ($30M), Vinted ($562.3M), NordVPN ($100M), Hubspot ($100.5M).

July 13, 202326 min

BAD to better at angel investing. Interview with Gerri Kodres, Estonia's #1 investor | BADideas.fund

Timestamps 00:30 Intro and how it all started 07:05 Gerri's biggest miss (and what it taught him) 11:25 What made Bolt & Veriff stand out at the time 16:00 Two things that matter most for investment decisions 17:15 The best advice Gerri received when starting angel investing 19:10 Who really is in the driving seat 21:55 How to get into angel investing (without dropping your full time gig) 24:07 The bottom line About Gerri Kodres - Founding Partner at Specialist VC, a €50m fund that's backed over 45 teams and is an early investor in Bolt, Veriff, Monese, CoModule, Starship, NFTPort, etc. - One of the most prominent VCs in the region, voted #1 startup investor in Jan 2020 by Estonian tech founders - 15+ year experience in strategy and general management of early & growth stage tech teams - Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerrikodres/ About BADideas.fund: BADideas.fund is an early stage angel syndicate, led by helpful founders & operators, that provides €50K-€200K funding for CEE startups. Since launching at TechChill '22, we have invested over €1M, and our global member pool keeps growing, spanning 150+ members from 16 countries and counting. Our members are founders and operators, who’ve been building such companies as Vimeo ($450M funding), Printify ($54M), Pandadoc ($51M), Pipedrive ($90M), Bolt ($1.3B funding), Apollo ($151M), Bird ($783M funding), Shopify ($122M), Whimsical ($30M), Lokalise ($56M), Deel ($679M), Printful ($130M), Twilio ($614M), Veriff ($192.3M), Wise ($1.3B raised), Interactio ($30M raised), Vinted ($562.3M), NordVPN ($100M), Hubspot ($100.5M).