Raising $400k in 5 Days, The Most Surprising Thing About Being a Founder, and the Importance of Protecting Your Time

A newsletter for founders & friends (27th edition)

Hey 👋

Welcome to the 27th edition of Re:VITALIZE, a newsletter with tactics, strategies, and stories on building companies plus cool things we’re seeing in the future of work.

Did you miss last week’s newsletter about raising $30M without an "in" with investors, how to achieve success in business, and lessons on raising capital? Subscribe below so you never miss another👇

---

Top 3 Tweets

🥇 The Most Surprising Thing About Being a Founder

Anita Hossain @ahossain24

Someone asked me the most surprising thing about being a founder: I knew there were high highs and low lows, I just didn't know the rate of frequency. It can happen in 5-min increments "this is totally going to work" then you get a dreaded email 😭 Emotional resilience so impt

🥈 Raising $400k in 5 Days

Martins Lasmanis @MartinLasmanis

Are you fundraising for your startup? I raised a $400k investment in 5 days. Here are 5 steps to do the same: 🧵THREAD

🥉 Protecting Your Time

Kristen @CatchKristen

A meeting was canceled 4x in 2 months. It was finally on the calendar for today. With no note, the EA adjusts the invite to 10min. I responded: This doesn't seem to be a priority. Reach out if it becomes one. Protect your time. Don't let "important" people overlook your worth.

---

Resources

• 12 different GTM motions for 100 Unicorns

• A blazing fast website builder

• 118 fresh powder funds

• An essay on crazy new ideas

• 5 Sales Strategies To Weather The Market Downturn

• What I Miss About Working at Stripe

• The pillars of building a marketing team

---

Future of Work Reads

• The battle for talent is unlocking new definitions of flexibility and transparency (Fortune)

• The Future of Work: Themes, Trends and Technologies (Nasdaq)

• The future of work—the Gen Z way (yahoo! news)

• The Future of Work and the Great Realignment (Inc.)

• Why the Creator Ethos Is Key to the Future of Work (Entrepreneur)

---

The World of VITALIZE

• This week on The VITALIZE Podcast we had Amy Elize Wong, the founder of Always On Purpose®. She is an executive leadership coach, author, speaker, and facilitator offering transformative leadership development and cutting-edge communication strategies to executives, corporate teams, and institutions around the world.

  • Watch on YouTube

  • Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

• Today is the last day to invest in July’s VITALIZE Angels deals

• Gale and Justin were on the Adventure Capital podcast hosted by Wefunder

• Open jobs at Vitalize portfolio companies

---

Future of Work Funding Rounds

• Walla Software raised an $8M Series A

  • Walla Software is a startup that develops fitness studio management software

  • Top Investors: Industry Ventures, TenOneTen Ventures, Keshif Ventures, Crescent Ridge Partners Ventures, Social Leverage

• SupplyPike raised a $25M Series B

  • SupplyPike is a software company that provides retail analytics software for CPG brands.

  • Top Investors: Blumberg Capital, Frontier Growth, Noro-Moseley Partners

• HireArt raised a $26.25M Series B

  • HireArt is an online recruitment platform that engages in the pre-screening process for suitable job seekers.

  • Top Investors: 500 Startups, Y Combinator, Learn Capital, Felicis Ventures, InterWest Partners

• Zesty.ai raised a $33M Series B

  • Zesty.ai is a startup whose platform helps insurers get information on how properties might be affected by climate risks

  • Top Investors: Brex, Plug and Play, Centana Growth Partners, Brex Venture Debt, Blamar

• Halborn raised a $90M Series A

  • Halborn is a startup that protects blockchain companies by searching their software code for vulnerabilities that cyber criminals could exploit

  • Top Investors: Digital Currency Group, Castle Island Ventures, Summit Partners, Brevan Howard Asset Management

---

Written by Justin Gordon, Director of Marketing at VITALIZE, a venture capital firm and nearly 400-member angel investing community for everyone investing in U.S.-based B2B software founders in the work revolution. Find us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube.