⭐ #109: $60M and 170 employees in 2 years to be the “Android of EV Charging Software”
2-minute read: Climate, startups, productivity, leadership
Good morning, folks.
In today’s 2-minute read, we’ll cover these 4 nuggets below — as delightful as a Friday afternoon when you realize there are no plans for the weekend except family time at home.
Climate Startups & Investment:
#1 — 📈 The Q1 2023 venture capital market in 6 bullet points
#2 — 🏎️ $60M and 170 Employees in 2 Years to be the “Android of EV Charging Software”
Productivity & Leadership:
#3 — 🌲 Our only rivalry is our potentiality
#4 — 📵 We check our smartphones 144x per day
Onward and upward,
Chris
P.S. Want more? Read 100+ prior newsletter issues here.
P.S.S. I’ll be hosting Ask Me Anything (AMA) on my podcast at Entrepreneurs for Impact. Reply to this email if you have questions that I could help with (or could ask my smarter friends to answer for me). I’ll give you a shout-out on air if your question gets answered. 👊 🙏
#1 — 📈 The Q1 2023 venture capital market in 6 bullet points.
First…
Thanks to Carta for this data.
Second…
Here are your 6 bullets.
Total capital raised by startups fell by about $40B, or nearly 80% year-over-year.
Almost 20% of all venture investments were “down rounds” — i.e., capital was raised at a lower company valuation than the prior round.
More than 40% of all investments in Series A and Series B companies were bridge rounds — i.e., a small dollar value round with no precise company valuation specified.
M&A activity within venture-backed companies increased by 20% compared to Q4 2022, but 57% of those deals were < $10 million. This means more startups chose to sell their companies in less-than-ideal scenarios given the lack of cash being invested out there.
Year-over-year company valuations are down 14%, 17%, 30%, 44%, and 58% for seed, Series A, Series B, Series C, and Series D companies, respectively.
Dilution has remained about the same for founders at each round of capital for the last few years — 20%, 16%, 13%, 12%, and 7% for seed, Series A, Series B, Series C, and Series D companies, respectively.
Third…
Hey founders, sometimes it’s not about you. It’s about them (the investors).
#2 — 🏎️ $60M and 170 Employees in 2 Years to be the “Android of EV Charging Software”
That’s some serious growth.
Like a benevolent kudzu vine taking over the EU EV market.
My guest on this Entrepreneurs for Impact podcast was Casper Rasmussen, Co-founder and CEO of Monta.
Based in Denmark, with 8 offices globally, they are backed by leading climate investors such as Energize Ventures and Pale Blue Dot.
If you like this content and want to chat with me…
…just share this newsletter with your friends on LinkedIn, tag me (@Chris Wedding), and I’ll pick one of you generous souls for a 1:1 Zoom session.
We can talk about career chats, fundraising strategies, or business brainstorming.
Here’s some lingo you can work with when you post. 😇
#3 — 🌲 “Our only rivalry is our potentiality.”
Abraham Maslow * said something like this decades ago.
Forget competitors. Forget peers. Just for a second.
It reminds me why I love that my kids run track and field.
With the right mindset, they are only competing against their last best time.
Every race.
Important footnotes:
They are teenagers and want to win, not only beat their personal record.
I don’t love track meets because they run 3-4 minutes during a 3-4 hour event. 😬
—
* An American psychologist who “created Maslow's hierarchy of needs, a theory of psychological health culminating in self-actualization.” (Bio)
#4 — 📵 We check our smartphones 144x per day.
We’re addicted.
Blah, blah, blah. You’ve heard it all before. 🙄
But what if we gamified our smartphone use?
Got a text notification? — Can we wait > 10 minutes until checking?
Just got up in the morning? — Can we wait > 1 hour before looking at the phone?
Using the bathroom? Uh, just enjoy yourself. (But I must maximize podcast time!)
Read more research and weep a little.
That’s all, y’all.
Make it a great week, because it’s usually a choice.
Cheers,
Chris
Climate CEO peer groups | Podcast | Executive coaching | LinkedIn
(As evidenced by these photos, I’m a real human. Not an AI. I promise. 🤫)
