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Apr 21, 2022

Last week we kicked off Lead Tribe cohort 2, our annual program for rockstar early stage women founders. This year we have 29🔥founders across 10 sectors & a power-packed speaker line-up💪 To spread the❤️we're sharing 3 learnings from all sessions below👇 👀this space for more!

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LeadTribe 2022 cohort results are out! After weeks of going through an overwhelming quantity of high quality applications, we present to you the companies breaking new ground in female entrepreneurship @sanjaynath @BKartRed @sajithpai @radhika_agar blume.vc/leadtribe-2021

nandiniv

@nandiniv

Nov 21, 2022

You're super tired after a day full of interviews and then you meet this one young woman from a small town who spent a year learning about personal finance and saved money, so she can be independent to plunge into building a startup. Brightens up the evening :)

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Finally,

closes by saying: Early stage termsheets (especially in well structured institutional rounds) become the precedence for future rounds. So don’t be penny-wise & pound-foolish while negotiating clauses. If you're unsure of what to negotiate, bring in help!

4/ Board seats: ➡️Typically anyone > 8-10% gets a board seat. ➡️Often giving 'observer seats' (non-voting) is beneficial since it reduces operational steps. ➡️Early stage founders should aim to have a majority on the board. Solo founders can do this by appointing directors.

3/ Angels on the cap table: Bringing in individual names makes compliance hard, especially if they have additional rights. ✅Have ONE person ('lead' angel equivalent) take a 'Power of Attorney' for all angels, and try to bring all angels into a single entity on the cap table.

2/ Founders are advised to be "fundraise ready" at all points: ready to pitch, raise, respond to inbounds. Which means, you also need to be DILIGENCE ready ALWAYS! ✅Have a SSOT of data + repository of all contracts ✅Invest in someone who can help with the FDD & LDD

1/ Founders often think of Finance as non-core / not important / "just data management" - especially at the early stage. But, the cost of non-compliance is very high⚠️ Invest in a finance function early on - even if it's outsourced: make sure it's on your priority list✅

As we come towards the end of #LeadTribe 2🔜

@SadashivaNT

@KhannaDheeraj_

@urConstellation

spoke to the cohort about all things legal, finance, taxation, and cap table management📑 Here are our key takeaways from their session👇

Isha Sapra

@Sapraise

Jun 16, 2022

'When truth hits the hardest'. This could have been the theme of the session by

. Candid, honest, inspiring - something you can feel in your bones, and so brutal that one can only laugh at the sincerity! Thank you

for making this happen.

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Jun 11, 2022

Teary eyes at #LeadTribe today as @vinaykrsinghal shares his incredible story of up, a massive down, and then rocketing back up

"Keep your eye on the prize. If you're building to create long term value & impact, and ultimately ringing that IPO

, then that's all that matters."

sarita raichura

@saritaraichu

As they say, vast majority of us prefer to do business with those we like and we trust….I’ve learnt a lot from

. It was indeed a fun session with

and

@DikshaLahoti

and the energizing #LeadTribe cohort

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The core of #LeadTribe is helping exceptional women founders develop a strong community. But how does one build & grow a long lasting dependable network? @BlumeVentures' master networkers @sanjaynath & @saritaraichu share their learnings in a session moderated by @DikshaLahoti

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tanu ganguly yadava

@Tanuganguly

It was refreshing to hear the very inspiring

talk about the importance of mental health, family time and self-awareness. Celebrating the ‘hustle’ has lead to too many burnouts for some of our smartest. Time to be more vocal about it all around.

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Last weekend @vinaykrsinghal left the #LeadTribe cohort teary eyed as he spoke about his journey from WittyFeed, through unparalleled lows, & now building @STAGEdotin: How he managed his relationships, mental health, & kept his eye on the prize; in a

chat moderated by @arpiit

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Vinay Singhal (stage.in)

One of the best sessions that I have been part of till date.

@arpiit

did an amazing job bringing out the best in our story and the audience of Lead Tribe was just brilliant. Kudos to Blume and

@radhika_agar

for running this amazing initiative. 🙌🏽🚀

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chat moderated by @arpiit

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Arpit Agarwal

@arpiit

Really enjoyed my interaction with the one and only

, a person who embodies a never-say-die spirit. What he shared with everyone were real gems of advice. Thanks

for having me over. Hoping this session was of value to all cohort participants.

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chat moderated by @arpiit

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Finally,

closes by advising founders to not modify their businesses to suit specific investors or competitors. Instead, make your business NIMBLE and be ready to suit SITUATIONS. Eg: Reducing marketing spend without compromising on growth when cash is low. FIN.

3/ Most M&As take 4-12 months + high integrity & intent to pull off. If you go too late, the acquirer knows you have no $ left & you’re not helping yourself negotiate for more. Make sure you either have enough runway or a 2nd option/offer, and that de-growth hasn't started yet.

2/ Convert your investors into your champions: 🔝You need to be in the top decile of their portfolio: that's when you stay top of mind! 📢Show strong performance, but also COMMUNICATE your performance. You might be the best, but if you don't share updates, people won't know.

1/ In tough times, existing customers >> new customers. ➡️Improve customer experience & retention, don't increase marketing spend / CAC. If your runway < 8 months, don’t look at new markets, new products, new launches. The new revenue from these only shows up after 4+ months!

Blume's Jatin Madhra moderating the session with Ashish.

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There's been a lot of conversation recently around crisis & recession management. But the best businesses are built sustainably to stand the test of time & crisis. In this #LeadTribe session,

Jatin Madhra and 9 others

talks about how founders can manage cash & biz sustainably from Day 1👇

Finally,

says: make time for your family. As an early stage founder you may not always be able to give your family the best material things, but you can give them your time. ✅Be present. Be communicative. Be transparent.

3/ Therapy can help EVERYONE. It’s the best life & productivity hack. Founders tend to associate their sense of self w/ their biz. So if things go bad, it causes an identity crisis. You need to build YOUR OWN sense of self. Give your🧠time to recharge. Stay active, stay healthy.

2/ Good culture isn't about OKRs & fancy lunches. It’s about treating people right He spoke about how WittyFeed allowed the team unsecured loans (& several folks used that $ for weddings etc.) ➡️When times were bad for the co, they valued that benefit & remained loyal/invested🤝

Vinay Singhal (stage.in) and 7 others

1/ Your support system is the key to staying in the game: parents, co-founders, spouses, mentors, investors. Need to be 100% transparent to build this up, & remain proactive to leverage it. Pro tip: Founder angels on the cap table help add more advisers to your 3am speed dial📞

Last weekend

left the #LeadTribe cohort teary eyed as he spoke about his journey from WittyFeed, through unparalleled lows, & now building

@STAGEdotin

: How he managed his relationships, mental health, & kept his eye on the prize; in a 🔥chat moderated by

@arpiit

👇

Karthik Reddy and 9 others

My colleagues

& I are working on

' '22 edtech thesis. Here's how we see the last 2 years in edtech👇 Curious to hear: What have been the biggest challenges edtech founders /teachers / growth leads faced last 2 yrs? Tell us below!

Ria Shroff Desai

@riashroff

Jun 13, 2022

There's more to the world of VC than just investments. Relationships are at the center of all we do. If you're a young professional excited to build and strengthen relationships across the ecosystem, here's a role for you at

Vinay Singhal (stage.in)

Thank you

and

for hosting this. You guys are building an amazing community with Lead Tribe and I wish it continues to grow leaps and bounds. 🚀

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Jun 11, 2022

Teary eyes at #LeadTribe today as @vinaykrsinghal shares his incredible story of up, a massive down, and then rocketing back up

"Keep your eye on the prize. If you're building to create long term value & impact, and ultimately ringing that IPO

, then that's all that matters."

From nutritious food to walks, petcare startup sploot wants to help you be the best dog parents

🕺🏻

Entrepreneurs Garima Kaushal and Arnav Sahni want their petcare startup sploot to become the go-to user manual and social media platform for dog parents and experts.

Jun 11, 2022

Teary eyes at #LeadTribe today as

Vinay Singhal (stage.in) and 9 others

shares his incredible story of up, a massive down, and then rocketing back up🚀 "Keep your eye on the prize. If you're building to create long term value & impact, and ultimately ringing that IPO🔔, then that's all that matters."

Finally,

adds that she maintains a directory of people she's met over time - helps her leverage & maintain her network better💪

Divya Upadhyay - themangojelly.com

closes with: Asking for help is hard, but WHOM and HOW you ask makes all the difference💯

3/ Pro tips: ✅Use warm referrals; Get your referrer to nudge the other person if needed ✅Don't ASK for updates, instead YOU give them an update from your end & leave room for them to reply ✅Networks come from stories you build around yourself over time, not single interactions

2/ Creating serendipity:

sarita raichura and 7 others

keeps 15 min buffers between his meetings so the people he's meeting get to meet each other in breaks➡️WHO you introduce matters!

@saritaraichu

recalls a $ round Sanjay helped engineer by bringing the right folks in the same room by 'chance'😉

1/ Build long-lasting relationships: 🤝Take your time, have agenda-less interactions: get to know people as ‘people’, not just transactions 🤝Go out of your way to be helpful: people will remember it 🤝Find commonalities in your journeys: build a personal connect 🤝Be consistent

Blume Ventures and 7 others

The core of #LeadTribe is helping exceptional women founders develop a strong community. But how does one build & grow a long lasting dependable network?

' master networkers

sarita raichura and 9 others

@saritaraichu

share their learnings in a session moderated by

@DikshaLahoti

👇

Replying to

Such a fun session with stories of founders building , raising funds, managing boards, conflicts and enjoying summers + winters with equal zeal. thanks

tanu ganguly yadava

@Tanuganguly

Full house and full-on learnings via anecdotes of founders/startups who experienced similar times in their early years. Keep calm, indeed!

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Full house at #LeadTribe today as @AshishFafadia discusses @BlumeVentures' learnings from previous downturns, successful and less successful companies, and other "wartime stories". Started off with: "Keep calm, GO ALL IN & build your dhandha."

Good day for

to feature a story about

@letspurplle

linings too - a company that everyone ignored till 3 years ago when they first broke through $100 mill value mark

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Aishwarya Jaishankar

@Aish_jaiHF

Fantastic session with #hardtruths delivered straight and to the point! Thanks

and

🙌🙌

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Full house at #LeadTribe today as

discusses

Blume Ventures and 9 others

' learnings from previous downturns, successful and less successful companies, and other "wartime stories". Started off with: "Keep calm, GO ALL IN & build your dhandha."

raja ganapathy

@ganraja

Jun 2, 2022

Super interactive and fun session with the #LeadTribe founders, batted a whole range of questions on the right marketing for early stage startups and how they should view brand building. Thanks

for inviting me.

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Jun 2, 2022

Over the last few years, we've seen brands develop incredibly unique messaging & positioning to grab eyeballs & rapidly scale distribution. But what are the fundamentals of building a brand? How should early stage founders think about it? Here's @tweet2spring's @ganraja's take

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