96 - First Time Founders Think Product Wins, Second Time Founders Know GTM Wins (Elaine Zelby, Partner at SignalFire)

A request that I've gotten from listeners is to bring on a VC firm to talk through “the view from the VC side” so here we go!

I invited Elaine Zelby, Partner at SignalFire, to join me and talk about all things investing in startups, building a strong relationship with port companies, product market fit and what that actually means and how that's changed over time, and more. I’ve helped advise and have also worked with SignalFire’s portfolio companies on their marketing efforts.

More about Elaine:

• on the Board of Directors at SVEN (Silicon Valley Executive Network)
• worked on the product and marketing side at Zazzle, Capriza (Series C), Slack and Consensys (Series D)
• host of the (un)sexy podcast - ranked Top 3% globally - an exploration of just how sexy unsexy industries can be!
• sends a weekly newsletter called “3 Things” - a dive into 3 rabbit holes and you can join her if you want

More about SignalFire:

• founded in 2013
• based out of San Francisco
• invests in startups Seed through Series B

Here's what we hit on:

What VCs want to see before they invest in an (early stage) startup, what matters (HINT: Team, Market and Product and it's very rare to find companies with tech moats so you should be creating brand and distribution moats);

What do you want to see during the relationship (HINT: be an A+ at 1-2 things and B- in everything else and we'll help get you A+ support in those other things);

What does product market fit mean today, how do you know, what do you look for (HINT: customers rip it out of your hands faster than you can sell it);

Which 1-2 portfolio companies are you personally super excited about and why.

You can reach Elaine on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elainezelby/

Check out SignalFire: https://signalfire.com/

Check out the (un)sexy podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/un-sexy/id1527034265

For more content like this, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen.

You can find Anna on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov or visit this website: www.furmanovmarketing.com

Thanks for listening!