Ep57, a metaverse, music & web3 episode with Edo Fouilloux, Co-Founder & CEO/CTO @ PatchXR. [PROMO CODE to listen to the full episode https://upcomingvc.substack.com/ep57] The technological possibilities for bringing music into the virtual world seem endless; all that's missing is an artist-driven breakout moment, as Pitchfork would say. The fate of any new media format depends both on the underlying tech and on the content it delivers, and music has always seemed bound for interactive multimedia spaces. A few attempts by Björk, in 2011, and Radiohead, in 2014 were early such pioneering experiences but the practical utility for fans often wasn’t clear. Even when the experiences were thrilling, it was difficult to see who would buy the gear for them, or how often they would want to go back for more. Two years in after the pandemic started, it seems like remote interactions over a smartphone or computer screen are suddenly the norm and a virtual-music future that was always supposed to be just around the corner appears, once again, to be almost in sight. Bloomberg Intelligence has predicted that the metaverse, loosely defined as an always-on internet made up of 3D virtual worlds where users take the form of digital avatars, could be an $800 billion market by 2024. It seems likely that music will play some part in this virtual future. Applications for music in the metaverse are varied. This is where PatchXR, a swiss-danish startup, comes into play. PatchXR is a technology company founded by artists, hackers, and XR experts blending the emotional power of music with the possibilities of world-building games in the Metaverse. PatchXR is building PatchWORLD, a user-generated contentplatform forINTERACTIVE MUSICAL WORLDS,with a fully integrated creation system. It connects creators and audiences in an economy designed for Web3 & XR. Creatorsfrom various skill levels can usePatchWORLD to build and share, interactive digital assets, songs, stories, or complete musical worlds, where you can dig into a complete collection of interchangeable blocks that blend music and visuals with gesture and interaction in real-time. Imagine theMinecraft of Music. Audienceslooking to engage with immersive and interactive musical content can have casual fun together by entering PatchXR growing library of interactive content made by our users and PatchXR, filled with instruments, narrative games, andfully immersive shows. In these shows, the audience can step inside the recorded media and interact. ImagineSpotify meets Twitch, but you can walk around and play. In this Runway Series Originals 57, we meet Edo Fouilloux, Co-Founder of PatchXR. In this five-part episode, you will discover an exceptional team of artists, hackers and XR experts, a unique vision to develop an immersive environment for creators in music, the technical complexity to create such an infra, monetization with web3.. -- Produced by UPCOMINGVC upcoming.vc, created and hosted by Raphael Grieco.
"Solo-GP Series" ep. 2, with David Yakobovitch, Solo-GP @ DataPower Ventures (datapower.vc) and On Deck Angels Fellow. - - - If you’d love to learn more about how to become a Solo-GP, look for this upcoming series on Venture Notes (venturenotes.co) our private newsletter where we will share the full episodes while we just publish a 15min excerpt on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. - - - Even more startup founders are onboarding in their captable non traditional VC firms, in the form of Solo-GPs, via nano-funds or syndicates. Most of the time, these Solo-GPs are operators-investors, meaning that they have a dual profile on one hand their run their startups or are part of a fast-growing startup as a key hire, and on the other hand they are growing a deal flow and a community of founders & LPs which allows them to raise a nano-fund or develop a syndicate Over the past 3 years, we have been witnessing this increasing population of such Solo-GPs. Still some operators with this potential profile have not launched yet, for various reasons they are unsure about their value-add they are unsure about how to structure it they are unsure about quality & repeatability of their deal-flow… ... and many other questions. That is why I am launching with the help of On Deck a short series Called “Solo-GP Series” to help you kickstart your thinking about becoming an operator-investor / Solo-GP. In this short “Solo-GP Series” podcast series, you’ll understand how to identifyyou actually have a deal flow and how to develop and nurture it the tipping point to launch as a Solo-GP how to craft a compelling thesis how to build an LP community … … plus so much more. I'm in the process of launching my solo-gp pre-seed fund, Olive Capital, focusing on web3 European founders driving change in the way we Create, Collaborate and Communicate.. If you are raising fund, send us your deck! If you want to learn more, head to olivecapital.vc. In this second episode of the “Solo-GP Series” podcast, we get to know David Yakobovitch, who lives a true passion for data. David is also an On Deck Angel Fellow and a Solo-GP: during the pandemic, David launched DataFrame Ventures which invested in 20 data-driven companies. Now, David has transformed DataFrame Ventures to DataPower Ventures, in a move that puts a differentiated emphasis on Data that he explains in this show. In this 4-part episode, David shares with us a greate amount of insights and actionable pieces of advice while driving us through how & why he started a career in data and to develop a unique understanding on the power of it how he started investing, his initial source of dealflow how he started to add value to the startups he has been backing and a lot of examples of investments David has made in the data space how his thesis was becoming clearer along the way why David decide to move away from an undifferentiated data-driven focus to a specific data-powered focus and his 5 unique thematics David is focusing on why shaping a thesis changes how you are perceived by the founders community and the implication on the dealflow the importance of building an LP community... + so much more. I am sure you will love this episode, lets get right in. -- These podcasts are produced by UPCOMINGVC upcoming.vc, created and hosted by Raphael Grieco.
Why branding is important. With Marie-Capucine Lemétais (Ring Capital), Vincent Touati Tomas (Northzone), Camille Kriebitzsch (Eutopia) and Camille Venot (Cap Horn). - - - This episode is an excerpt of the full talk (5 in 13 talks in total) that was held during our first «Runway Series Summit: The Fundamentals of Success». Head to summit.runwayseries.co to get the full episode and detailed shownotes. Enjoy the show! - - - Over 3 days on June 1-3, 2021, during break lunches (11.30 - 1.45) and at the end of the day (5.30 - 7) and in 4 time zones, we received 39 guests (28 VC & 11 CEOs) including 31 who had already come on the Runway Series podcast. With «Runway Series Summit: The Fundamentals of Success», the idea is to take a step back from the usual discussions on execution, in order to understand what are the fundamentals of success, with 13 panels covering the DNA of entrepreneurship, the dynamics of co-founding teams, branding, focus, change, remote, data, creativity, diversity and inclusion. And unique fact, these 13 talks are hosted by the 39 guests who themselves are the moderators of these talks, which mechanically increases the quality of the talks. Top speakers from French startups / scaleups (Double, Labellevie, Supermood, Medadom, Convelio..) and French VCs (Frst, Elaia, Ventech, Cap Horn, Ring, Kima, Eutopia, Axeleo and many others) participates but also European VC partners, such as Evgenia from Dawn, Sia from Seedcamp, Jon from e.ventures, Louis from Point Nine, Mathias from Speedinvest.., as well as investors such as Marguerite from Cherry, David from Brighteye or Vincent Head of MarComm's at Northzone which also shows the attractiveness of the French scene for discussing structuring and fundamental subjects. - - - The podcasts Runway Series Originals, AMA VC, Human Factor, No-Code VC / Fit & Venture Talks are produced by UPCOMINGVC (www.upcoming.vc), created and hosted by Raphael Grieco.
"Solo-GP Series" ep. 1, with Victor Li, Solo-GP @ The Winning Together Fund and On Deck Angels Fellow. - - - If you’d love to learn more about how to become a Solo-GP, look for this upcoming series on Venture Notes (venturenotes.co) our private newsletter where we will share the full episodes while we just publish a 15min excerpt on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. - - - Even more startup founders are onboarding in their captable non traditional VC firms, in the form of Solo-GPs, via nano-funds or syndicates. Most of the time, these Solo-GPs are operators-investors, meaning that they have a dual profile on one hand their run their startups or are part of a fast-growing startup as a key hire, and on the other hand they are growing a deal flow and a community of founders & LPs which allows them to raise a nano-fund or develop a syndicate Over the past 3 years, we have been witnessing this increasing population of such Solo-GPs. Still some operators with this potential profile have not laun...
Ep56, a web3 episode with Thibaut Sahaghian, Co-Founder & CEO @ Multis (YC S19). [PROMO CODE to listen to the full episode https://upcomingvc.substack.com/ep56] The myth about pivots is that they are an exception: something undesirable that happens because a startup went seriously awry, and which you should strive to avoid. In reality, pivots are an integral part of the entrepreneurial process. Whether you’re pivoting in the early days because you haven’t yet found product-market fit, or you’re pivoting by reinventing yourself later on, all companies, if they’re going to become and stay successful, are going to have to pivot. You have a brilliant idea, hopefully you’re in the right place at the right time, you execute like crazy, and it either works or it doesn’t. So how do you know when it’s time to pivot? This is the case with Multis, a startup building the financial backbone of crypto-native organizations which has pivoted and experienced being kind of too early in its markets. Mid-March 2022, French startup Multis announced it had raised a $7 million round led by Sequoia Capital, about the firm’s third investment in France after Pennylane and Upway. Originally designed as a neobank for companies working with cryptocurrencies, the company has completely altered its product vision as it offers now the software layer helping web3 organizations manage their crypto finances. Co-founded in 2018 by Thibaut Sahaghian, Y-Combinator and efounders alumni Multis’ is an all-in-one crypto finances management tool that works in concert withGnosis, a highly trusted platform for managing digital assets on Ethereum. Sequoia’sStephanie Zhan explains that “Multis is uniquely positioned to provide a new generation of entrepreneurs with an all-in-one solution for cashflow and spend management”. “DeFi companies, NFT studios, or DAOs are cutting-edge in terms of tech. But their business tools are prehistoric: most crypto founders still struggle to perform basic financial operations that are essential to running a business, like getting visibility on cashflow.” declared recently Thibaut to Tech.eu. “They end up creating their own solution, often a shared spreadsheet, in fear that their operational set-up will fall apart and they'll end up losing money because they don't have a clear understanding of their finances, or that team members will misuse funds.” In this 56th episode, Thibaut reflects on the early days & assumptions of Multis and shares with us his learning from building too early in the dark a crypto-company in 2019, the toxic validations they got early on, why they stopped building the product in order to pivot while experiencing a critical change in the co-founding team. Thibaut also shares his findings during the conversations held the VC in their captable as the company was facing tough challenges to find PMF, why vulnerability is key when building a transition plan, switching a challenge to an opportunity & building a narrative. we also talk about how DAOs are reshaping the future of capitalism and the principal-agent discrepancy, about how transparency is a means, a lever for higher trust and the challenges to connect code-based decisions with IRL existance / objects. we discover the road ahead for Multis, Thibaut’s take about hiring in web3, and learn about the next milestones for the Multis product I am sure you will enjoy the episode. -- These podcasts are produced by UPCOMINGVC upcoming.vc, created and hosted by Raphael Grieco.
It’s been a while since I have not published an episode on the podcast. In fact the last one I published was on Dec 7th, with Maxime Hagenbourger, Founder & CEO of SorareData. You may wonder, what have you been doing? Since Q3 2021 you may have noticed that I started to publish more & more episodes about web3, crypto & NFTs. It is not gonna be the new and only focus for Runway Series but this is definitely a space I have been exploring & intend to explore more in depth. I however don’t want to explore this rabbit hole alone. I want to share with you what I'm learning in the process. What is to me the most efficient way to learn? By doing. I'm happy to share with you that I'm building my own NFT Collection called the Beardy Punks. If you want to join me on the learning path, you can subscribe for free on beardypunks.com because I don't want to mix it with Runway Series, it is a different objective. Staying just a bit on the NFT topic before moving to the other topic I want to share with you today, I definitely think that NFT are not just profile pictures to display on twitter, but are also very powerful as access passes or keys for members, readers, listeners. Therefore, each and every premium subscriber to Venture Notes, where we publish our full podcast episodes and private newsletters, are entitled to receive their member pass in the form of an NFT. This NFT will open the door to private access to events, contents and so much more yet to be designed. It is a long journey ! Subscribe to Venture Notes (https://venturenotes.co), if you want to become a premium member & receive your member NFT, it’s 9€ / month or 90€ / year. Ok so now that we’re done with web3, crypto and NFT, let’s talk about the upcoming podcast series (available in full for premium members). More and more startup founders and onboarding in their captable non traditional VC firms, in the form of solo-gp, via nano funds or syndicates. Most of the time, these Solo-GP are operators-investors, meaning that they have a dual profile on one hand their run their startups or are part of a fast-growing startups as a key hire and on the other hand they are growing a deal flow and a community of founders & LPs which allows them to raise a nano-fund or develop a syndicate We’re an increasing population of such Solo-GP. Yet some of us have not launched yet, for various reasons Unsure about your value-add Unsure about how to structure it Unsure about quality & repeatability of deal-flow.. .. and many other questions That is why I am launching with the help of On Deck a short series to help you kickstart your thinking about becoming an operator-investor / solo-gp. In this short series, you’ll understand how to identify you have a deal flow and how to nurture it the tipping point to launch as a solo-gp how to craft a compelling thesis how to build an LP community + so much more If you’d love to learn more about how to become a solo-gp, you can subscribe to Venture Notes our private media platform where the series will be published shortly. To conclude, I am myself building my own early stage investment syndicate called Olive Capital (olive-capital.co). Starting next month, I will participate to VC LAB, a highly selective international accelerator for emerging fund managers with the objective to launch my first venture capital fund by 2022.
In this 55th episode of "Runway Series Originals", I am thrilled to welcome Maxime Hagenbourger, Founder at SorareData. _____ [PROMO CODE] This episode is an excerpt from the episode that you can find in full with shownotes for our premium members on VentureNotes.co. Being a premium member of “Venture Notes” means 1) full episodes + detailed shownotes, 2) invitations to live podcasts and events, 3) a private chat reserved for the premium members community, 4) a monthly online get-together reserved for premium members, 5) perks and 6) possibly an investment syndicate! To thank you for listening to this episode, we offer you 20% OFF on the 12 month premium plan (€ 72 instead of € 90) valid until January 31, 2022 < Here is your link https://upcomingvc.substack.com/ep55soraredata > _____ Fast-growing companies raising several hundreds of millions of dollars in venture capital, sometimes attract in their wake independent players who have identified unmet needs and thus develop products in this large ecosystem born from the success of these scaleups. From this context there are two facts: the certain initial dependence of these emerging actors on these ecosystems but also the opportunity for them to create new categories, by emancipating themselves as they meet success themselves and get traction.And other very insightful takes. This is the case with Soraredata, the go-to platform for every Sorare player. Founded in June 2020 by Maxime Hagenbourger, SorareData provides data and tools to enhance the experience of every Sorare manager: aggregated market data, football players stats, decision-making tools & side games are amongst the key features of the platform. From its inception, SorareData has become the key companion app for every Sorare player to make sure they thrive and succeed in the game: more than 80% of 10+ Sorare card owners are registered on SorareData. Maxime recently declared With the emergence of play-to-earn games, players will look for companion apps to help them in their gaming experiences. Starting with Sorare managers, we look forward to taking part in the changes brought by this new gaming model, making players successful wherever they play. In this 55th episode of "Runway Series Originals", Maxime talks about his technical skills in blockchain that he acquired during the crypto winter of 2018/2019, how he started Soraredata as a side project to help himself to be a better player on Sorare and why he decided to devote himself to it and raise funds (a seed of $ 700k with Seedcamp but also Kima Ventures, Cigny Labs and Sorare-itself). Maxime also explains how to overcome the challenges of a solo-founder even technical, the importance of thinking long-term and utility function for a web3 / crypto / play-to-earn project, why listen to users and the importance he places on recruiting passionate people, how Soraredata serves the Sorare ecosystem and how Maxime intends to deploy the Soraredata experience in other ecosystems and other play-to-earn games... and many other exciting topics. I am sure you will love this episode, we have a lot to cover so enjoy it right now. - - - The "Runway Series Originals", "AMA VC", "Human Factor", "No-Code VC / Fit" & "Venture Talks" podcasts are produced by UPCOMINGVC (www.upcoming.vc), created and hosted by Raphael Grieco.
In this 5th episode of "Venture Talks", I was thrilled to have assembled an international panel of VC and Founders to discuss “Personal Tokens & Creators IPOs”. - - - [PROMO CODE] This episode is an excerpt from the episode that you can find in full with the full shownotes for our premium members on VentureNotes.co. Being a premium member of “Venture Notes” means 1) full episodes + detailed shownotes, 2) invitations to live podcasts and events, 3) a private chat reserved for the premium members community, 4) a monthly online get-together reserved for premium members, 5) perks and 6) possibly an investment syndicate! To thank you for listening to this episode, we offer you 20% OFF on the 12 month premium plan (€ 72 instead of € 90) valid until December 31, 2021 < Here is your link https://upcomingvc.substack.com/vt5personaltokens > - - - Rex Woodbury based in San Francisco VC @ Index Ventures and writer of Digital Native Julien Genestoux based in New York Founder @ Unlock Protocol which just raised $4M, to further develop its NFT protocol designed for subscriptions and memberships. Kenneth Schlenker based in Paris Co-Founder @ Opal, the #1 screen time app, gathering 100,000+ people who save time, focus better, and develop healthier screen habits. Kenneth launched his personal token $KNTH. Matthew Espinoza based in Toronto Co-Founder @ BlockPerks which allows creators to launch their own cryptocurrency and reward their fans with exclusive content, NFT’s and more. We talked inclusion, accountability, literacy, fandom … in particular What is a creator nowadays? Transitioning from pure creator profiles to a creator / business DNA? What about creators’ inclusion in Web3, does one neeed to be technical? Is there a rough playbook to identify when one should issue a personal token? Building in public or Living in public? Issuing a token to ask people what you should do next: how can a personal token issuer be accountable? Is there a new definition of accountability? And will anyone issue a personal token? Who will be relevant to issue a personal token? What about consumer use cases to prove you live “right” in front of financial institutions? What about the concept of “Personal & Creators market caps”? What about inclusion from a fandom perspective? How to include fans not able to afford buying items / tokens from their fave celebrities? And other very insightful takes. I am sure you will love this episode, we have a lot to cover so enjoy this episode right now. - - - The "Runway Series Originals", "AMA VC", "Human Factor", "No-Code VC / Fit" & "Venture Talks" podcasts are produced by UPCOMINGVC (www.upcoming.vc), created and hosted by Raphael Grieco.
In this 54th episode of "Runway Series Originals", I am thrilled to welcome Kevin Primicerio, Co-Founder & CEO at Pianity. - - - [PROMO CODE] This episode is an excerpt from the episode that you can find in full with the full shownotes for our premium members on VentureNotes.co. Being a premium member of “Venture Notes” means 1) full episodes + detailed shownotes, 2) invitations to live podcasts and events, 3) a private chat reserved for the premium members community, 4) a monthly online get-together reserved for premium members, 5) perks and 6) possibly an investment syndicate! To thank you for listening to this episode, we offer you 20% OFF on the 12 month premium plan (€ 72 instead of € 90) valid until November 30, 2021 < Here is your link https://upcomingvc.substack.com/ep53Hive > - - - 2020 has turned the music industry on its head and taken away a key source of income for musicians. Because of this, artists have been seeking new methods to interact and develop with their audiences, which has led to the creation of NFT marketplaces, which provide numerous benefits to artists. NFTs, also known as crypto collectibles, are one-of-a-kind assets that use blockchain technology to establish scarcity and value on one-of-a-kind artworks, connecting the virtual and real worlds. Founded in Paris in March 2021 Pianity is the first French music NFT marketplace where artists and fans gather to create, collect and trade unique digital artworks guaranteed by the blockchain technology. Through NFTs, Pianity vows to restore music’s art status and insure a new income stream to artists, helping them become more independent doing what they love. It is also a social platform that encourages discovery and creativity, as collecting is intrinsically social. In this new Runway Series Originals episode, I had a lot of fun receiving Kevin Primicerio, its CEO & Co-Founder of Pianity who has a fascinating and versatile background which has led to starting Pianity. In this issue, Kevins shares everything on his brackground, from being passionate about space, research, physics and his haha moment moment that brought him to entrepreneurship his first months at 42 aka Ecole 42 a one of a kind self-paced coding school and how 42 Entrepreneurs started the Hook Genesis, being 42 Entrepreneurs' startup accelerator, how they iterated and what's next the rationale of building Pianity and how Pianity intends to solve the problem Spotify has created Why would you go and buy NFTs on Pianity and the benefits for artists more about the traction since launch, their past fundraise and the upcoming utiltiy token sales and the rights attached to the tokens for both the artists and the collector And other very insightful takes. I am sure you will love this episode, we have a lot to cover so enjoy this episode right now. - - - The "Runway Series Originals", "AMA VC", "Human Factor", "No-Code VC / Fit" & "Venture Talks" podcasts are produced by UPCOMINGVC (www.upcoming.vc), created and hosted by Raphael Grieco.
In this 53rd episode of "Runway Series Originals", I am thrilled to welcome Franz Purucker, Co-Founder at Hive. - - - [PROMO CODE] This episode is an excerpt from the episode that you can find in full with the full shownotes for our premium members on VentureNotes.co. Being a premium member of “Venture Notes” means 1) full episodes + detailed shownotes, 2) invitations to live podcasts and events, 3) a private chat reserved for the premium members community, 4) a monthly online get-together reserved for premium members, 5) perks and 6) possibly an investment syndicate! To thank you for listening to this episode, we offer you 20% OFF on the 12 month premium plan (€ 72 instead of € 90) valid until October 31, 2021 < Here is your link https://upcomingvc.substack.com/ep53Hive > - - - Buying a product online these days is not only anymore about great online shop design. Customers expect an end-to-end experience, including a great online shop, stellar customer service and a unique unboxing experience. A study by Bain&Company found that 60-80% of customers, who are satisfied with a brand’s offering, do not return to do more business with the company that initially satisfied them. Thus, offering a unique experience is more important than ever. Your vision of your brand must be channeled not only in your packaging but throughout the whole customer experience, from on time delivery to easy return and seamless payment options, in order to increase brand loyalty. No one could not agree more with these statements that Hive, a german based logistics platform for DTC brands. Founded in Berlin in 2020 by Oskar Ziegler, Franz Purucker and Leonard von Kleist, Hive eases the fulfillment process for e-commerce brands via a software solution that provides customised analytics, forecasts and suggestions, in addition to its own in-house logistics fulfillment centres. And I can not be more excited to receive in this episode Franz Purucker one of the 3 co-founders of Hive because we initially met with Franz about 4 years ago when he participated as an aspiring VC to our 2nd Venture Capital Investment Challenge that we organized at Station F in Paris. Franz is only in his mid-20s but has already an impressive background that has enabled him to develop unique analytical skills to run operations and strategy as well as unique insights about the challenges that DTC brands need to address to grow and scale processes while delivering a seamless experience on the customer side. In this amazing episode, Franz explains his key takeaways and learning from his early career in consulting, banking and as a DTC entrepreneur in Indonesia the challenges that DTC brands meet the contrarian product vision that the founding team at Hive built right from the begining how Franz and the founders were able to fast-track their fundraising rounds how big you need to think when talking to later stage investors and why long timelines matter their ongoing international expansion with the particular example of what Franz & Hive start to build in France And many other fascinating topics and insights I am sure you will love this episode so enjoy it right now. - - - The "Runway Series Originals", "AMA VC", "Human Factor", "No-Code VC / Fit" & "Venture Talks" podcasts are produced by UPCOMINGVC (www.upcoming.vc), created and hosted by Raphael Grieco.