🚀 Space tourism, assessment metrics VCs use for Seed to Series A, pivot types, $50K+ in new funding

Lolita Taub
Jun 27, 2021

A bi-weekly newsletter of curated actionable resources for underestimated founders, funders, and friends.

Welcome to Lolita’s Newsletter! We share curated actionable resources for underestimated founders, funders, and friends. We are at 9,218 members. To give or get access to exclusive founder content, office hours, our Slack community, and get your pitch deck reviewed become an annual subscriber.

Julia N (MilkRun), Erikan O (Audacity), Chrys L (CLF)

Richard Branson’s Virgin Galatic has a green light on space tourism (tickets are $250K) and 100K+ people want Jeff Bezos to be left in space. Britney Spears has asked the courts to end her conservatorship and I think the court should #FreeBritney. Hawaii is ending its COVID test requirement for vaccinated travelers on July 8th. Are we going back to “normal?” In states where COVID restrictions have been lifted the longest, like Florida and Texas, diners more than doubled last month compared to two years earlier. And, the US recovery is fueling a hike in prices in all things across the board: ride-hailing (↗️ 40%), flights (↗️ +24%), and appliances (↗️ 26%). Good thing my mom figured out that a chair can hold our dishwasher shut. lol.

This week, I was frustrated by an LP, who due to his privilege and bias, questioned my commitment to The Community Fund because I have a day job. I’m grateful for my partner, Jesse Middleton, the TCF founders and investors, and our LPs for believing in me. I’m also lucky to have a Transact Global fund manager sisterhood that points out double standards when they see them. I mean, no one questions Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey for having multiple day jobs. So, let’s stop punishing hard-working hustlers who are not chained to old tropes, are awesome at time management, and are leveraging creative ways to scale and produce real results. Nothing will stop us from going after what we want.

I’ll leave you with a saying my dad taught me: they tried to bury us, but they didn't know we were seeds.

✨ Lolita Taub
Proud investor-operator-creator
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ICYMI: I made OnDeck's community homepage, was mentioned in the Wall Street Journal and showed up in The Top 100 Hottest VCs list. The Startup-Investor Matching Tool's intros have led to 31 checks ($4M+ total value).


Congrats

Chris Lyons launched the Cultural Leadership Fund II. Ryan Hoover raised ~$10M for Weekend Fund III. Erikan Obotetukudo launched Audacity Capital. Joey Womack at Goodie Nation launched a $5M Black Founders Fund. Cameron Johnson raised $12M for Nickson. Carlos Hernandez raised $3.1M for Crediverso. Amanda Goetz raised $2M for House of Wise. Janice Omadeke raised $1.4M for The Mentor Method. Julia Niiro, Carolyn Rodz, Elise Smith, Kristen Sonday, Geeta Verma, Nathalie Walton, Lauren Washington, Mariam Nusrat, Julia Collins, Dawn Dickson, Gesche Haas, Travis Holoway for making the Forbes Next 1000 List.


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Funders

Weekend Fund | Emerging managers: here’s how you can raise from 2K+ LPs

Forbes | Emerging managers: here are programs to get you to the next level

Startup-Investor Matching Tool | VCs: receive thesis-aligned customized deal flow

🌈 Are you an LP who wants to meet underrepresented GPs? Learn more about the GP-LP Matching Tool and sign-up to get intros.


SPONSORED Reboot is a book by Jerry Colonna, a venture capitalist who is now a startup coach. Since his VC days, he's taken a huge dive into Buddhism and Jungian therapy. This book aims to help founders develop psychological patterns and behavioral patterns to help them succeed.


Founders

Asking for a founder | Here are metrics VCs assess in Pre-Seed, Seed & Series A cos

Asking for a founder | Find VCs and angels investing in emerging countries

Asking for a founder | Decide how much equity to give out and to whom at Pre-Seed

📚 Want more resources? Here are courses + services for you.


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Money

Elevate Pitch | Founders in Mountain West Region: apply to pitch for $2K by 7/2

Linktree | Creator-founders: apply for $1-20K cash grants by 7/7

Hello Alice | Female founders: apply for $10K grants by 7/9

iFundWomen | Female entertainment founders: apply for $10K grants

Lightship Capital | Founders: apply to Twitch Pitch for $5K and Amazon credits

1863 Ventures | Black founders: apply to get a 3Rs $5K grant

Non-dilutive capital | Create a profile to find non-dilutive capital

Equity Crowdfunding | Raise up to $5 million

👋🏽 Want investor intros? Sign-up for The Startup-Investor Matching Tool and, if you founded a community-driven co, submit to The Community Fund.


Jobs

Handsome App | Community Manager > Austin, TX

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Vamos Ventures | Senior Associate > Los Angeles, CA

💥 See all open roles here. 💥

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