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Welcome to the May Edition of Soapbox 🫧

Alright, it’s time to address the elephant in the room… this edition of Soapbox is sponsored! That’s right; we’re in the big leagues now ⚾️ #influencer #clickthelink #sponsored

Here’s a snapshot of what happened in April: 📸

Sending thoughts and prayers to all of our subscribers in Chicago, Austin, and DC after all Foxtrot and Dom’s Market locations closed abruptly this month. Despite completing a merger of the two chains into Outfox Hospitality last year, the company still couldn’t stay afloat. The lawsuits are piling up, and vendors are stuck with inventory in the closed stores. To be continued… 🦊

An edited photo of Mark Zuckerberg with a beard made the rounds on Twitter. Is Zuck cool again? Maybe only if he grows a beard. 🧔‍♂️

President Biden signed a foreign aid bill into law this week with a provision containing a ban on TikTok. The bill that got the green light last week isn't straight-up banning TikTok. It gives ByteDance until January 19, 2025, to sell TikTok to a US-based company. TikTok has said it won’t sell but will fight the law in the courts. So, don’t worry; the app isn’t leaving our phones or nighttime routines anytime soon. 🤳 

It’s a new era for Andreessen Horowitz as the firm announced the close of $7.2B to be deployed across 5 fund strategies: American Dynamism ($600M), Apps ($1B), Games ($600M), Infrastructure ($1.25B), and Growth ($3.75B). 💰

Here’s what we’re looking forward to this month:

• A surprise Soapbox event IRL…stay tuned! 🥳

• Watching the Met Gala - peep the guest list here 🧍🏼‍♀️

• Maria begins her digital nomad adventure at the end of the month 🌎

Check out this article about Soapbox as a UNL Alumni Feature! #GBR ⤵

Soapbox of the Month

What I Wish I Knew My First Month in Venture

Written by Maria

Read and share this Soapbox moment on Medium.

I grew up incredibly isolated from the tech world. My parents worked as teachers, there were no corporate jobs in my community, and no one around me spoke the language of “business.” In starting my career in Venture, I've had to get up to speed on corporate and venture courtesies simultaneously.

I’ve found that working in VC isn’t a learning curve; it’s a learning rollercoaster. When you think you’ve grasped a concept or nailed a best practice, there’s another one waiting for you around the bend. It’s a cycle of learning that can leave you feeling like you’re stuck on a ride with no one telling you where to exit.

So don’t worry, I’ve punched my ticket on the rollercoaster many times when I didn’t have to (and I know there’ll be more). There are way too many things that I wish I had known in month one, but below are the key learnings I’ve had, along with insights from other young VCs who’ve navigated similar challenges during their inaugural month in the venture.

1. Taste takes time

It’s incredibly difficult to know what you think of a company when you have no baseline for comparison. Knowledge of large markets, comps, and knowing what questions to ask can all be accelerated by talking to as many founders as possible. Knowing what you like to see in a startup and what your partners like to see takes time and practice. On another note, having conviction is not an overnight phenomenon, and being able to communicate it to a GP isn’t either. Learning time can be shortened through repetition.

2. Always double opt-in

When introducing two people who don’t know each other, ask each of them to opt-in to the introduction before making it. I was completely unaware of this common courtesy when I started in VC (sorry to all those who got intros launched into thier inboxes from me). Emails without opt-ins don’t set up either party for success, they increase the likelihood of the connection never happening, and they make people aware that they may not want to spend the time on intros that come your way. Here’s my favorite breakdown of how to facilitate a strong intro email from Chris Fralic, Partner at First Round Capital.

3. Listen more. Talk less.

There’s a lot of ground to cover in an intro call with a founder. Asking concise questions to get the answer you need and listening is critical. Sometimes, what a founder doesn’t say is just as important as what they do say. Noticing the missing pieces of information helps formulate the next question. Listening to the full scope of an answer helps you decide where deeper into the aspects that are missing or transition to the next topic.

CAREER 🧑‍💻

You’ve probably seen @vcstarterkit on X or general VC Starter Pack memes… Shoutout to our friend Grant and his LinkedIn post that inspired us to take a deeper dive on this topic.

We’re all familiar with the stereotypical Patagonia vest and Allbirds wearing VCs. We’ve noticed that with the Gen Z crowd, some brands are more popular, like Vejas, Bylt, and more.

But what’s the equivalent of the Patagonia vest for women? What are the girlies wearing???

Here are some of our favorite brands you’ll see us wearing at a networking event, innovation conference, or coffee meetup:

• Vejas

• Abercrombie - Office Approved Collection - Men’s and Women’s

• Athleta - The Work Shop

• Permanent Jewelry 

Tell us what you are wearing!! ⤵

CULTURE 🌈

Some of you may have seen The Anxious Generation book floating around on your feeds. It’s definitely been added to our “Read Next” list. The author, Jonathan Haidt, is collaborating on his Substack with Freya India, a freelance writer and author of the GIRLS Substack.

This month, we LOVED reading her piece:

Freya’s article explores the concept of anemoia, a feeling of nostalgia for a time or place never experienced, particularly among Gen Z’ers who yearn for the simplicity of life before iPhone, TikTok, and AI.

The author calls out the profound impact of technology on our childhoods and daily social interactions, urging us to prioritize real-world experiences and connections.

Many of you have been feeling the negative impacts of tech on our lives. Should we be reevaluating our relationships and dependency on social media?

Here’s a taste of the article:

CAPITAL 💸

The State of Pre-Seed Report from Carta is here, and as Pre-Seed/Seed investors, we’re excited. Peter Walker, Head of Insights at Carta, shared some of his favorite data points from the report and we shared some of our takes! 🔥

SAFEs v.s. Notes

• The competition for pre-seed has been won by SAFEs, which comprise 85% of capital invested into nascent startups.

• Our take: Love to see it! SAFEs are simple and less costly

Geographic Split

• As usual, California leads in pre-seed investment at 38.4% over the past 12 months. Good showings from Texas, Florida, Colorado, New Jersey, and North Carolina.

• Our take: Nothing new to see here. Shoutout to the flyover states making the highlight reel.

Valuation Caps

• The median val cap for a $500K raise was $8M over the past year. But the distribution is rather wide. The median for a $1M SAFE raise was a $10M cap.

• Our take: Valuation caps depend on a lot of different factors. For example, investors that are geographically constrained will be looking at comps related to their geo. These numbers are benchmarks, not absolutes.

From Our Feed to Yours

Tweets, Memes, and other things from our feed that gave us a laugh.

Thanks for supporting Soapbox!!! Have something you want us to talk about, or want to connect? Drop us a note at [email protected] 

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