Outlast your energy

So much of being an entrepreneur is outlasting: 

Outlasting the competition.

Outlasting the hard times.

Outlasting the initial, and ultimately unsustainable, burst of passion when you first get started.

Startups are often a game of attrition. The resilient founders win.

Welcome back to the Founder Roundup! Hope your weekend was fantastic. We had the pleasure of featuring three great founders last week. Check out their profiles below.

A big welcome to our new subscribers. If you haven't introduced yourself yet, respond to this email. I'd love to get to know you.

Weekly Wisdom

Startup School

The alternative minimum tax (AMT) is a tax system that runs parallel to the one that we are familiar with. It was put in place to correct a perceived “loophole” in the tax system where high earners were taking advantage of various tax deductions, lowering their tax burdens considerably.

The AMT often comes into play with employee stock options. But, few understand how this tax system works. This article breaks it down.

Backseat Startup

In episode 11 of the Backseat Startup Podcast, we had Robin Singvhi, Founder of SmartCue, on the show. SmartCue allows you to make custom product demo libraries to close deals faster. More on the company below.

A Reddit user pitched a VC and it didn't quite go how they hoped. Robin and I gave our thoughts on whether the response was a red flag or simply part of the fundraising process.

Give the recording a watch above or subscribe through the button below.

Founder Roundup

Joshua Brueckner, Founder of Trulytell

Founders need to be storytellers. Tell your story the right way with a Trulytell deck.

The idea for Trulytell came after Joshua realized a pain point among founders: Their pitch decks needed a jolt of energy and impactful design.

Joshua launched Trulytell in August of 2022 to combine his passions for storytelling, designing decks, and the overall art of pitching. Trulytell provides full-service deck creation support to facilitate narrative, content, and design.

The framework used is inspired by top accelerator methodologies and decks used in recent funding rounds by top startups

Founders are able to select between three options:

1. Utilize their free framework

2. Audit a current deck

3. Full service treatment

Through his experience taking his previous company through Techstars, Joshua knows what it takes to create a winning deck. Head over to the website to learn more.

Read the full article on our website:

Robin Singhvi, Founder of SmartCue

Your dull demo is preventing you from closing sales. Luckily, SmartCue is here to help you close.

Founder Robin Singhvi has 12 years of experience working at various startups in enterprise sales. He saw first-hand the poor results from using stale, one-size-fits-all demos.

So, he set about developing a platform to help you build demos that sell.

Enter: SmartCue

Every potential customer is different, so why are you giving them all the same demo? With SmartCue, you can create custom product demo libraries to close deals faster.

SmartCue tracks important insights that aid in training and performance analysis, such as:

1. Did sales rep follow the playbook?

2. By how much did they deviate?

3. Where did they spend the most time?

Your product is great. Don’t let your demo suck.

There’s a reason the platform was awarded Product of the Day on ProductHunt. Head over to their website to learn more.

Read the full article on our website.

Lynn Lin, Founder of DataNode

Your e-commerce competitors are beating you. DataNode can show you how.

After graduating from Cornell and working in finance in Hong Kong, Lynn Lin caught the startup bug. That led her to join Mogu Inc. (now publicly traded)

The opportunity to work alongside great e-commerce minds sparked the idea for DataNode: Let users “seize the data” and take control of their e-commerce tracking

DataNode is a tool to extract accurate and timely data from any shopping or e-commerce site.

With the click of a button, you can download an entire catalog of data: Everything from product title, price and images, and even estimated revenue.

Stop blindly guessing as to why your e-commerce shop is falling behind. Let DataNode paint you a picture.

Read the full article on our website:

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Community Corner

Who are we and what do we do? Read about our mission and check out our marketing portfolio here.

Calling all students: We have launched a campus ambassador program to connect the next generation of founders and investors. Members can take advantage of a community of entrepreneurial students across the globe, attend weekly meetings where we vet early stage companies, and a host of other programming. If you or someone you know would be interested in joining, apply here.

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