Welcome back to the Founder Roundup! A big thank you and welcome to all our new subscribers. If you haven’t reached out and introduced yourself yet, please do! I’d love to meet you.

Exciting times here at SFD! We are now in week three of our new system for selecting the companies we feature: community voting. This was purely an MVP to see if our community liked this new initiative– it’s a pretty unsophisticated system that I hacked together using Zapier.

After 10,000 votes and having to upgrade our Zapier subscription 3 times, I’d say the MVP was a success. We are excited to announce that we will be formally building this out in a web app (with a mobile app to follow 👀).

Thank you all so much for the support. We can’t wait to keep shining a spotlight on startups changing the world.

– Luke

Our friend Justin Gordon at Vitalize VC writes a fantastic newsletter breaking down how legendary founders built their businesses. Hit the link below to subscribe!

Next week will be the first week we showcase startups selected through our community voting process. Last week was a gap week between the old system and new. Luckily, we got the chance to sit down with our friend Brett Calhoun from Scale VC for an interview. More below 👇️ 

Brett Calhoun of Scale Venture Capital

What is Scale Venture Capital?

Scale Venture Capital is a fund and venture studio focused on investing in Midwest founders and startups. Their investment thesis is centered on early-stage tech companies with new ideas. They have invested in 23 companies and 40 founders, deploying over $1.5 million.

What Makes Scale Different?

The key differentiators of Scale are i) responsiveness/availability, ii) intimate level of support from operators who have built billion dollar companies and scaled product teams to hundreds, and iii) a team who will work founder hours alongside Scale founders (e.g., sourcing talent/investors/partners, product discovery support, or role playing negotiations).

Scale is on a mission to elevate entrepreneurship in the Midwest and beyond, so focusing on the people behind the business is crucial. Their team of experienced investors and operators removes barriers for founders by providing industry insights, winning business models, and financing.

Head over to their website to learn more! They also write a fantastic monthly newsletter packed with economic data, analysis and insights. You can subscribe here.

Apply to be featured! If you or someone you know is interested in applying to be featured as Founder of the Day by Startup Founder Daily, the application can be found here.

Help us find the next unicorn. Vote on our current cohort to decide which companies we feature. Want a weekly list of the companies currently under consideration? Sign up here.

Participate in a Founder Focus Group: If you’re a founder who has raised or plans to raise VC money, we’d like to hear what your experience was like. Fill out this form to sign up.

From our friends at Resolute Future: Welcome to the Entrepreneur Ecosystem - where founders can connect with mentors, and resources designed to help you build and scale your business. With access to software, professional services, finance, marketing & development resources, our ecosystem is the perfect place to connect with like-minded individuals and turn your ideas into a reality.

Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Subscribe to the Founder Roundup below 👇️