Foundevo

Learn How Investors Choose Startups!

Praveen Panjiar

20 Nov 2025 — 8 min read

September 11, 2024 | Listen Online | Read Online

In This Edition:

Learn How Investors Choose Startups!
37 Hot Remote Jobs at Startups!
100 Most Influential People in AI 2024
Top AI Tools for Smarter Marketing
Close Any Deal with These Objection Hacks
️ Regnology Automates Ticket-to-Code with Vertex AI
⚙️ AI Tools to Boost Your Productivity

STARTUP’S STRATEGY

Stop Guessing! Learn How Investors Choose Startups!

Investors who provide money to help new businesses grow often seem mysterious to the people starting those businesses. It can feel like the decisions to invest happen behind closed doors, and getting that investment can feel like a lucky guess.

But what if you could understand exactly how those investors think before deciding to give money to a startup? breaks down the 13 key steps that investors follow when deciding whether to invest.

It covers how they find potential investments, what they look for in the people running the company, how they assess the market opportunity, the important terms of the investment deal, and what separates successful startups from the rest.

13 Key Steps Investors Follow Before They Say Yes!

Deal Sourcing: The Pipeline: Investors find deals through professional networks, other investors, and self-generation.
Investment Selection: What VCs Look For: Key focus areas include the management team, market size, product differentiation, and business model.
Valuation: Determining Worth: Investors assess potential value based on factors like anticipated exit, comparable companies, and ownership desired.
Forecasting: Crystal Ball Gazing: Predicting future growth is critical, with VCs relying on cash flow forecasts and revenue projections.
Deal Structure: Terms and Conditions: Deals include pro-rata rights, liquidation preferences, participation rights, and anti-dilution protections.
Syndication: Teaming Up: Many deals are syndicated, meaning multiple investors join in to spread risk and enhance collaboration.
Post-Investment Value-Add: Beyond Capital: Investors provide more than money, assisting with strategy, operations, hiring, and connections.
Exits: Reaping Returns: VCs aim for successful exits like IPOs or acquisitions to generate returns on investment.
‍ Value Creation: The Secret Sauce: Investors focus on creating value through operational improvements, hiring, and scaling.
⚖️ Success and Failure: Make or Break: Team success is essential, but failures are common, with 53% of companies experiencing losses.
VC Firm Structure: The Inner Workings: Firms have small teams but spend significant time sourcing deals and managing investments.
LP Relations: Keeping Investors Happy: VCs ensure limited partners (LPs) are satisfied with returns and meet their expectations.
Key Differences Across VC Segments: Different VCs have distinct approaches, focusing on early or late-stage investing, and industry-specific strategies.

An infographic outlines these steps, and then goes into more detail on each part of the investment process. The goal is to give founders the knowledge they need to better understand how investors think, so they can approach them with a clearer strategy.

Source: Chris Tottman

The insights are designed to empower founders to understand not just what investors do, but why they do it. Knowing this can help founders leverage that understanding to their advantage when seeking investment.

AI TOOLS

Top AI Tools for Smarter Marketing

Collider AI: Creates personalized ads, webpages, and emails to boost sales.
️ MagicAds.ai: Quickly creates ads and influencer content for e-commerce.
AdCreative.Ai: Generates ad creatives with customization and analytics.
Aidaptive: Provides real-time recommendations to boost eCommerce revenue.
Maso Ai: Speeds up content creation with AI templates for blogs and ads.
Localy: Offers AI tools for content generation and SEO optimization.
CustomChat: Enhances engagement with AI-driven chatbots and instant replies.
ContentCal: AI-powered content calendar generator with membership options.
Pipedata AI: Optimizes content and improves Google ads performance.
Toks: Generates high-quality content to boost social media engagement.

Submit Your AI Tool

STARTUPS BUZZ

Why 75% of Y Combinator’s Latest Startups Are All About AI! (Link)
How to get startup ideas (Link)
The Ultimate Cheatsheet for Startup CTOs! (Link)
The Mind-Blowing Way AI Is Revolutionizing Startup Creation! (Link)
How This Startup Hit a $75 Million Valuation in Just 3 Years! (Link)

Will Cannon @iamwillcannon

I built a SaaS from zero to a ~$75 Million valuation in 3 years.

Here are 8 lessons I learned the hard way (so you don't have to):

3:12 PM • Sep 10, 2021

3.12K Likes 547 Retweets

71 Replies

Startup Struggles? Discover How to Keep Going with Fresh Ideas! (Link)

Garry Tan @garrytan

It's hard to do a startup. Sooner or later people end up on the struggle bus.

You can always come up with a new idea or change something. A status-focused culture would give on people immediately. We try to be the opposite.

9:06 PM • Sep 9, 2024

436 Likes 40 Retweets

21 Replies

What Really Makes VCs Invest in Startups? Insider Secrets Revealed! (Link)
How This Content Plan Added $210,000 to a SaaS Monthly—You Can Too! (Link)

The Boring Marketer @boringmarketer

We added $210,000 in monthly pipeline to a SaaS

using this exact content plan that I am sharing here:

6:47 PM • Sep 9, 2024

515 Likes 27 Retweets

11 Replies

Why Going Open-Source Could Be a Game-Changer for VC-Backed Startups! (Link)

WEB PICKS

Oracle Database and Google Cloud is now GA! (Link)
Where to find investments when you have just an idea or an early-stage startup? (Link)
44 standout AI startups for 2024, according to leading VCs. (Link)
100 most influential people in artificial intelligence according to TIME (Link)
1 million people now use ChatGPT Business, says OpenAI (Link)
Apple Intelligence Hits iPhone, iPad, and Mac—Find Out What’s New! (Link)
OpenAI Invests in New Drug Discovery Startup (Link)
AI Beats Humans at Generating Ideas! (Link)
How Voodoo Plans to Cash In on BeReal’s Success—Insider Secrets! (Link)
Unlocking Massive Savings: How Cloudflare Cuts Compute Costs by 1%! (Link)
Inside Telegram’s Dark Side: Why It’s the Top Choice for Criminals! (Link)

INVESTMENT & FUNDRAISING

AI Startup Glean Becomes a $4.6 Billion Giant After Huge $260M Funding! (Link)
Glean Hits $4.6 Billion Valuation with Massive Investment Round! (Link)
Smartcat Bags $43M for Cutting-Edge AI Translation Technology! (Link)
Illuma Labs Secures $9M to Fight Banking Fraud with New Innovations! (Link)
Viome Lands $25M and Brings on Ex-Amazon Leader for Major Expansion! (Link)
Retraced Scores €15M to Boost Fashion Brands' Eco-Friendly Efforts! (Link)
AI Bookkeeping Startup Finally Snags $200M in Massive New Round! (Link)
Darkhive's $21M Raise to Revolutionize Drone Tech and Secure Code Delivery! (Link)
Mother Games Scores $5M in Pre-Seed Funding for New Studio! (Link)
FreightTech Aifleet Hits $16M Series B Funding to Supercharge Growth! (Link)

FREE FINDS

Close Any Deal with These Objection Hacks

Struggling to close deals due to constant objections?

This guide offers templates, best practices, and strategies to help you confidently handle pushback from prospects.

Learn how to effectively schedule meetings, overcome common concerns, and boost your close rate using proven techniques backed by industry leaders like Calendly and Gong.

Templates and Best Practices for Sales Success

Source: HubSpot

This insightful guide includes:

Data-backed techniques to overcome objections
✉️ Effective meeting invitation writing tips
Proper etiquette for scheduling links
Three-step framework for handling objections
Scripts for top five sales objections

Transform your sales strategy with these effective insights!

NEW JOBS

37 Hot Remote Jobs at Startups!

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Looking for a new remote job? Here are 37 exciting mid-sized startups that are hiring! From AI and data tools to healthcare and design platforms, there’s a wide range of roles available.

Compnay	Profile
vijil	Intelligent AI bots builder
Veryfi	Data extraction platform
SafeBase	Trust center platform
Gather	A better way to meet online
Vetcove	Animal health supply chain
Momence	Scheduling and payments
Fieldguide	AI for audit & advisory firms
DirectShifts	Jobs for healthcare workers
Freshpaint	Data collection for healthcare
Rootly	On-call and incident management
Grid Status	Electric grid monitoring & data
Quantstamp, Inc.	Security auditing for web3
Collectly, Inc.	Money collection for healthcare
Thera (YC S22)	Payroll and payments platform
Promptfoo	Open-source LLM testing company
Hightouch	Composable customer data platform
PowerUs	LinkedIn for skilled blue-collar workers
Mutiny	Personalized website pages with no code
Pair Team	Connecting communities to healthcare
PostHog	Open-source product operating system
CoLab Software	Build hardware products faster
Community Phone	Landline and voice services
CoinTracker	Cryptocurrency portfolio tracking
GiveCampus	Fundraising platform for schools
Vendoo (YC W22)	Manage a sales platform
CircuitHub	Electronics factory automation
Pulley	Equity and cap table management
UserGems	AI-powered sales solution
Spline	Collaborative 3D design platform
GoLinks	Easy-to-remember short links
AtoB	Global transportation payments
OneLocal	CRM for local businesses
R2	Embedded lending infrastructure
Joy	Platform for all your life events
Hatch	SMS for contact centers
Embrace	Mobile observability
Gigs	Stripe for phone plans

Some jobs might have location restrictions, so be sure to review the details.

Ready to find your next remote opportunity?

Check out these 37 startups hiring now and apply to find your perfect fit! Don’t wait—start your application today and take the next step in your career.