The Feedback Loop

On Episode 029 of The Feedback Loop! We hear from founders building: an AI-driven API platform, an AI copilot for product marketing managers, and a package delivery protection product.As always, hosted by Sherveen Mashayekhi, Founder & CEO of Free Agency. ​Today's guest investor is Jesse Middleton, General Partner at Flybridge. More on Jesse below.The Feedback Loop is all about getting ambitious founders on stage to pitch and get unfiltered feedback from experienced, honest investors.Because the thing that can hold even the best founders back from reaching their ambition? Their pitch. Whether a startup founder is raising money, recruiting a team, or selling their product, it's the pitch at the start of any given conversation that starts them on a journey to success.Timestamps:00:00 - Welcome and intros07:46 - An AI-driven API platform20:31 - Founders, take on improv!22:30 - An AI Copilot for PMMs34:45 - WeWork... somewhere else?42:53 - Package delivery protection51:28 - Takeaways & bye!For those founders on stage and in the audience, it's an answer to the essential query: how to pitch your startup.More on our guest investor for the episode, Jesse:Jesse Middleton is a General Partner at Flybridge, which has invested in companies like BetterCloud, Bowery, Chief, Codecademy, Firebase, MongoDB, and Splice. He is also an Investment Partner at Next Wave NYC and The Community Fund, was a founding team member at WeWork, and led the technology group at LivePerson. He’s also served as a key advisor to companies like fitmob, inDinero, and Squire.Follow Sherveen: https://x.com/SherveenFollow Jesse: https://x.com/srcasmTo attend The Feedback Loop in-person or apply to pitch as a founder, head to afterfeedback.com.Thank you to all of the brave founders who participated in this episode. The Feedback Loop is dedicated to creating an engine of support for startup founders attempting to change the way the earth spins. We're on your side.

On Episode 028 of The Feedback Loop! A startup founder tells a potential investor that they're too old, another founder is trying to bring sizzle to the stage, and a third won the audience's heart but might not be venture backable.The Feedback Loop is all about getting ambitious founders on stage to pitch and get unfiltered feedback from experienced, honest investors.Because the thing that can hold even the best founders back from reaching their ambition? Their pitch. Whether a startup founder is raising money, recruiting a team, or selling their product, it's the pitch at the start of any given conversation that starts them on a journey to success.For those founders on stage and in the audience, it's an answer to the essential query: how to pitch your startup.As always, hosted by Sherveen Mashayekhi, Founder & CEO of Free Agency. ​Today's guest investor is Brian Hollins.Brian is Founder and Managing Partner of Collide Capital, an early stage fund focused on software companies tackling major problems across fintech, supply chains, and future of work markets. Prior, he spent six years at Goldman Sachs, where he helped build a VC coverage arm and invested in growth stage software businesses as a member of the GS growth equity team.​He's also the founder of The Takeoff Institute, a job readiness fellowship for Black undergraduate students across the US. He is co-founder of Phoenix Fund, an early stage fund focused on supporting startups from the Harvard community. Brian is a founding board member of BLCK VC, the largest Black investor community in the US. He's also a Kauffman Fellow and a member of the Milken Institute.Follow Sherveen: https://x.com/SherveenFollow Brian: https://x.com/bholls1To attend The Feedback Loop in-person or apply to pitch as a founder, head to afterfeedback.com.Thank you to all of the brave founders who participated in this episode. The Feedback Loop is dedicated to creating an engine of support for startup founders attempting to change the way the earth spins. We're on your side.

On Episode 027 of The Feedback Loop! Cloud infrastructure, AI for recruiting, employee engagement + corporate sustainability, and restaurant tech.The Feedback Loop is all about getting ambitious founders on stage to pitch and get unfiltered feedback from experienced, honest investors.Because the thing that can hold even the best founders back from reaching their ambition? Their pitch. Whether a startup founder is raising money, recruiting a team, or selling their product, it's the pitch at the start of any given conversation that starts them on a journey to success.For those founders on stage and in the audience, it's an answer to the essential query: how to pitch your startup.As always, hosted by Sherveen Mashayekhi, Founder & CEO of Free Agency. ​Today's guest investor is Brian Hollins.Brian is Founder and Managing Partner of Collide Capital, an early stage fund focused on software companies tackling major problems across fintech, supply chains, and future of work markets. Prior, he spent six years at Goldman Sachs, where he helped build a VC coverage arm and invested in growth stage software businesses as a member of the GS growth equity team.​He's also the founder of The Takeoff Institute, a job readiness fellowship for Black undergraduate students across the US. He is co-founder of Phoenix Fund, an early stage fund focused on supporting startups from the Harvard community. Brian is a founding board member of BLCK VC, the largest Black investor community in the US. He's also a Kauffman Fellow and a member of the Milken Institute.Follow Sherveen: https://x.com/SherveenFollow Brian: https://x.com/bholls1To attend The Feedback Loop in-person or apply to pitch as a founder, head to afterfeedback.com.Thank you to all of the brave founders who participated in this episode. The Feedback Loop is dedicated to creating an engine of support for startup founders attempting to change the way the earth spins. We're on your side.

The Feedback Loop is all about getting ambitious founders on stage to pitch and get unfiltered feedback from experienced, honest investors.Because the thing that can hold even the best founders back from reaching their ambition? Their pitch. Whether a startup founder is raising money, recruiting a team, or selling their product, it's the pitch at the start of any given conversation that starts them on a journey to success.On Episode 026 of The Feedback Loop! Live shopping, "real" co-working, AR/VR collaboration, and a group dinner matchmaking.As always, hosted by Sherveen Mashayekhi, Founder & CEO of Free Agency. Follow him on X at @Sherveen.​Today's guest investor is Charley Ma, an operator-turned-investor. Since 2021, he's been the Co-founder and Managing Partner of Exponent Founders Capital, a $125M early stage fund that has invested in companies like Apollo, Chronosphere, Unit, and many more.Prior, he led growth at canonical fintech companies like Plaid, Alloy, and Ramp. He's helped build several unicorns, and now he's on the hunt for the next few to fund! Follow him on X at @charleyma.To attend The Feedback Loop in-person or apply to pitch as a founder, head to afterfeedback.com.Thank you to all of the brave founders who participated in this episode. The Feedback Loop is dedicated to creating an engine of support for startup founders attempting to change the way the earth spins. We're on your side.

3 startup founders give their best 1 minute pitch, covering a live music data platform, a machine learning platform for AI collaboration + monetization, and a climate data + IoT platform. PLUS, learn about what it means for startup founders to take "money off the table" in the form of secondaries.It's all about these ambitious founders getting unfiltered feedback on the elevator pitch and learning about the nuances of venture capital along the way.Because the thing that can hold even the best founders back from reaching their ambition? Their pitch. Whether a startup founder is raising money, recruiting a team, or selling their product, it's the pitch at the start of any given conversation that starts them on a journey to success.As always, hosted by Sherveen Mashayekhi, Founder & CEO of Free Agency. Follow him on X at @Sherveen.​Today's guest investor is Charley Ma, an operator-turned-investor. Since 2021, he's been the Co-founder and Managing Partner of Exponent Founders Capital, a $125M early stage fund that has invested in companies like Apollo, Chronosphere, Unit, and many more.Prior, he led growth at canonical fintech companies like Plaid, Alloy, and Ramp. He's helped build several unicorns, and now he's on the hunt for the next few to fund! Follow him on X at @charleyma.To attend The Feedback Loop in-person or apply to pitch as a founder, head to afterfeedback.com.Thank you to all of the brave founders who participated in this episode. The Feedback Loop is dedicated to creating an engine of support for startup founders attempting to change the way the earth spins. We're on your side.

THIS WEEK! Uber for limos and party busses, an AI-powered personalized learning platform, and a personalized fashion discovery + commerce marketplace. PLUS, a special prize at the end... founder-investor Marty Ringlein SWAPS SEATS and pitches his latest venture.It's all about these ambitious founders getting unfiltered feedback on the elevator pitch.Because the thing that can hold even the best founders back from reaching their ambition? Their pitch. Whether a startup founder is raising money, recruiting a team, or selling their product, it's the pitch at the start of any given conversation that starts them on a journey to success.As always, hosted by Sherveen Mashayekhi, Founder & CEO of Free Agency. Follow him on X at @Sherveen.​Today's guest investor is Marty Ringlein. On the venture capital side, he's a GP at Adventure Fund, which has invested in early to growth stage companies like Figma, Chime, Plaid, SpaceX, Beehiiv, and SwagUp, to name a few. As a founder, Marty has started and served as CEO at three startups acquired by Twitter, WPP, and Eventbrite, respectively.Now, he's on his latest upstart journey as Co-founder & CEO of Agree.com, an e-signature and payments platform. In other words, the man knows both how to recognize and craft an excellent startup pitch. There are few resumes in tech as dense as this one. Follow him on X at @martymadrid.To attend The Feedback Loop in-person or apply to pitch as a founder, head to afterfeedback.com.Thank you to all of the brave founders who participated in this episode. The Feedback Loop is dedicated to creating an engine of support for startup founders attempting to change the way the earth spins. We're on your side.

THIS WEEK! Plant-to-hotel matching, AI relationship coach, payments for the smallest online transactions, and a new loyalty platform for brands. They have 1 minute to tell their story, then they get UNFILTERED feedback from two check-writing venture capitalists.Because the thing that can hold even the best founders back from reaching their ambition? Their pitch. Whether a startup founder is raising money, recruiting a team, or selling their product, it's the pitch at the start of any given conversation that starts them on a journey to success.As always, hosted by Sherveen Mashayekhi, Founder & CEO of Free Agency. Follow him on X at @Sherveen.​Today's guest investor is Marty Ringlein. On the venture capital side, he's a GP at Adventure Fund, which has invested in early to growth stage companies like Figma, Chime, Plaid, SpaceX, Beehiiv, and SwagUp, to name a few. As a founder, Marty has started and served as CEO at three startups acquired by Twitter, WPP, and Eventbrite, respectively.Now, he's on his latest upstart journey as Co-founder & CEO of Agree.com, an e-signature and payments platform. In other words, the man knows both how to recognize and craft an excellent startup pitch. There are few resumes in tech as dense as this one. Follow him on X at @martymadrid.To attend The Feedback Loop in-person or apply to pitch as a founder, head to afterfeedback.com.Thank you to all of the brave founders who participated in this episode. The Feedback Loop is dedicated to creating an engine of support for startup founders attempting to change the way the earth spins. We're on your side.

THIS WEEK! AI infrastructure and LLM ops, butter/better skincare, enterprise data + blockchain, and a sports social network! 4 startup founders give their elevator pitch, then get unfiltered feedback about both their concept and their storytelling!Because the thing that can hold even the best founders back from reaching their ambition? Their pitch. Whether a startup founder is raising money, recruiting a team, or selling their product, it's the pitch at the start of any given conversation that starts them on a journey to success.As always, hosted by Sherveen Mashayekhi, Founder & CEO of Free Agency. Follow him on X at @Sherveen.Today's guest investor was Mike MacCombie, General Partner at Generous Ventures. Mike has spent the past 8 years in venture capital – as an investor, operating + platform partner, community builder, and superconnector, supporting founders at the earliest stage. Find him on X at @MikeMacCombie.To attend The Feedback Loop in-person or apply to pitch as a founder, head to afterfeedback.com.Thank you to all of the brave founders who participated in this episode. The Feedback Loop is dedicated to creating an engine of support for startup founders attempting to change the way the earth spins. We're on your side.

3 startup founders have a minute each to pitch their business and their vision of the future. Then, they receive unfiltered feedback on both their concept and their storytelling.Because the thing that can hold even the best founders back from reaching their ambition? Their pitch. Whether a startup founder is raising money, recruiting a team, or selling their product, it's the pitch at the start of any given conversation that starts them on a journey to success.As always, hosted by Sherveen Mashayekhi, Founder & CEO of Free Agency. Follow him on X at @Sherveen.Today's guest investor was Mike MacCombie, General Partner at Generous Ventures. Mike has spent the past 8 years in venture capital – as an investor, operating + platform partner, community builder, and superconnector, supporting founders at the earliest stage. Find him on X at @MikeMacCombie.To attend The Feedback Loop in-person or apply to pitch as a founder, head to afterfeedback.com.Thank you to all of the brave founders who participated in this episode. The Feedback Loop is dedicated to creating an engine of support for startup founders attempting to change the way the earth spins. We're on your side.