The Feedback Loop

Startups age in dog years. Startups at the idea stage look and feel very different just 3 or 6 months later. And so too do the dynamics of how VCs think about those startups. Are they investing in a founder, a vision, traction, early evidence, or an engine of experiments?On Episode 040 of The Feedback Loop, you'll see 2 investors wrestle with this dynamic - and with each other - as 3 ambitious startup founders take the stage to pitch their business.If you're interested in startups and founders building the future, and the venture capitalists funding them, this is a must watch. And today, we hear from founders across healthtech (can AI and LLMs solve insurance coverage issues?), fashion and commerce (an omnichannel AI personal stylist?), and Jarvis for account executives (is AI for sales already oversaturated?).It's Episode 040 of The Feedback Loop, and it's a fun one!Be sure to leave a comment talking about your favorite pitch down below! And leave your own feedback for these founders and judges, because feedback is a gift, after all.As always, hosted by Sherveen Mashayekhi, Founder & CEO of Free Agency. ​Today's guest investor, returning to the show for the FIFTH time, was Mike Ma of Sidecut Ventures.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.More on our guest investor for the episode:​​Mike is a tech CMO turned venture investor — he runs Sidecut Ventures, backing mission-driven pre-seed founders, and is an Operating Partner at Sway Ventures. He was previously MD at Nex Cubed, a pre-seed accelerator for underrepresented founders. In other words, he knows startup storytelling!Follow Sherveen: https://x.com/SherveenFollow Mike: https://www.instagram.com/michaelwmaTo 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.Curious as to this episode's takeaways? You'll hear about a lot, including about how in the weeds to get re: your user experience, whether to cater your pitch to specific investors, how to talk about a long-term vision without confusing the short-term product roadmap, competing in a heavily crowded space, and so much more.This is purpose-built for startup nerds, tech industry fanatics, future founders, and everyone in between. Venture capitalist? You should get in the comments below and let us know whether you'd take a meeting with the founders on stage.

How do venture capitalists REALLY think through a startup pitch? Well, today is Episode 039 of you getting to find out, as we get to hear pitches from 3 startup founders and see 2 investors react in real-time.If you're interested in startups and founders building the future, and the venture capitalists funding them, this is a must watch. And today, we hear from founders across personalized skincare (can we finally get over all the conflicting advice on TikTok?), AI-driven nutritional tracking (our investor wants this for his gym bro son), and experiential employee benefits (can this fix our loneliness epidemic, or at least make a dent?).It's Episode 039 of The Feedback Loop, and it's a fun one!Pitch 1 (VAIN)Pitch 2 (Acurixx)Pitch 3 (ANI)As always, hosted by Sherveen Mashayekhi, Founder & CEO of Free Agency. ​Today's guest investor, returning to the show for the FIFTH time, was Mike Ma of Sidecut Ventures.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.More on our guest investor for the episode:​​Mike is a tech CMO turned venture investor — he runs Sidecut Ventures, backing mission-driven pre-seed founders, and is an Operating Partner at Sway Ventures. He was previously MD at Nex Cubed, a pre-seed accelerator for underrepresented founders. In other words, he knows startup storytelling!Follow Sherveen: https://x.com/SherveenFollow Mike: https://www.instagram.com/michaelwmaTo 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.Curious as to this episode's takeaways? You'll hear about a lot, including how to think about AI features and staying competitive in the AI-driven app space, how men are stealing their girlfriends' skincare, how to sequence a startup pitch, why a question in a pitch meeting is an invitation, how to bring up your credibility as a founder, the challenges of pitching an innovative idea in a legacy industry, and so much more.This is purpose-built for startup nerds, tech industry fanatics, future founders, and everyone in between.

On Episode 037 of The Feedback Loop, we hear from founders building in: support platform for people in crisis, SEO for LLMs, and an AI-driven workflow for product compliance.Timestamps:00:00 Hello!06:59 Support platform for people in crisis (Samaritan)12:16 AI-generated meditation (Exhale AI)21:49 SEO for Large Language Models (Pearls of Wisdom)39:18 AI-driven workflow platform for product complianceAs always, hosted by Sherveen Mashayekhi, Founder & CEO of Free Agency. ​Today's guest investor, Ihar Mahaniok, Managing Partner at Geek Ventures.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.More on our guest investor for the episode:​Ihar Mahaniok is Managing Partner at Geek Ventures, which he founded in 2021 to support immigrant entrepreneurs building at the pre-seed and seed stage. He’s made more than 200+ investments over the past decade, and has invested early in companies like Instacart, People.ai, Chainalysis, PandaDoc, and Airbyte, to name a few.Before becoming a full time investor, Ihar was a software engineer at Google for 8 years, where he worked on AI solutions for Maps, Ads, Offers, Search, and the Play Store. He went on to become an engineering leader at Facebook, WeWork, and Grid AI. In other words, he brings a technical leader’s POV to the world of early stage investing.Follow Sherveen: https://x.com/SherveenFollow Ihar: https://x.com/mahaniokTo 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 036 of The Feedback Loop, we hear from founders building in: industrial automation, AI for meditation, and end-to-end encrypted AI!As always, hosted by Sherveen Mashayekhi, Founder & CEO of Free Agency. ​Today's guest investor, returning to the show for the fourth time, was Mike Ma of Sidecut Ventures.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.More on our guest investor for the episode:​​Mike is a tech CMO turned venture investor — he runs Sidecut Ventures, backing mission-driven pre-seed founders, and is an Operating Partner at Sway Ventures. He was previously MD at Nex Cubed, a pre-seed accelerator for underrepresented founders. In other words, he knows startup storytelling!Follow Sherveen: https://x.com/SherveenFollow Mike: https://www.instagram.com/michaelwmaTo 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.

Ready for Episode 035 of The Feedback Loop!?Three startup founders get up on stage to talk about: an AI toolkit for marketing operations, a clinician-enabled at-home fertility testing kit for men, and an AI-enabled knowledge management system for the enterprise.Timestamps:00:00 - Welcome and intros02:42 - AI for marketing ops (Waxwing AI)18:54 - Male fertility (Hera Fertility)34:32 - AI for knowledge management (LEAD)As always, hosted by Sherveen Mashayekhi, Founder & CEO of Free Agency. ​Today's guest investor, returning to the show for the fourth time, was Mike Ma of Sidecut Ventures.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.More on our guest investor for the episode:​​Mike is a tech CMO turned venture investor — he runs Sidecut Ventures, backing mission-driven pre-seed founders, and is an Operating Partner at Sway Ventures. He was previously MD at Nex Cubed, a pre-seed accelerator for underrepresented founders. In other words, he knows startup storytelling!Follow Sherveen: https://x.com/SherveenFollow Mike: https://www.instagram.com/michaelwmaTo 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.

It's time for Episode 034 of The Feedback Loop! And this one gets intense.We go from talking about a fintech platform focused on retail loyalty programs to predictive AI for medical billing to the concept of investing in high-value influencers... all the way to a debate about whether our phones listen to us or 2020 had puppeteers behind it.Timestamps:00:00 - Welcome and intros01:55 - Rewards and local loyalty (Huzza World)15:50 - Predictive AI for medical billing31:23 - Invest in Justin before he became Bieber (Creator Stock X)39:02 - Uh oh! (Creator Stock X, continued)47:48 - Takeaways, favorites, and bye!You just have to watch it to believe it.As always, hosted by Sherveen Mashayekhi, Founder & CEO of Free Agency. ​Today's guest investor is Lainy Painter Singh, Partner at Craft Ventures.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.More on our guest investor for the episode:Lainy Painter Singh is a Partner at Craft Ventures, an early stage venture fund with a focus on B2B SaaS startups — where she's invested in companies like ClickUp, Instawork, and Trusted Health. She was previously an investor at Battery Ventures, spent time in biz ops at Gainsight, and started her career at Goldman Sachs (on their tech investment team). She is also an active member of All Raise, the nonprofit on a mission to make tech more accessible, equitable, and diverse.Follow Sherveen: https://x.com/SherveenFollow Lainy: https://x.com/lainypainterTo 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.

It's time for Episode 033 of The Feedback Loop! We hear from founders building: an AI copilot for product managers, an AI platform for wealth management firms, Duolingo for entrepreneurs, and an AI-enabled construction project management platform.As always, hosted by Sherveen Mashayekhi, Founder & CEO of Free Agency. ​Today's guest investor is Lainy Painter Singh, Partner at Craft Ventures.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.Timestamps:00:00 - Welcome and intros01:55 - AI for product managers (Iteraite)17:58 - AI for wealth management firms (LEA)31:52 - Duolingo for entrepreneurs (Adjacent)47:43 - AI-enabled construction management (Construct AI)1:03:55 - Bye!More on our guest investor for the episode:Lainy Painter Singh is a Partner at Craft Ventures, an early stage venture fund with a focus on B2B SaaS startups — where she's invested in companies like ClickUp, Instawork, and Trusted Health. She was previously an investor at Battery Ventures, spent time in biz ops at Gainsight, and started her career at Goldman Sachs (on their tech investment team). She is also an active member of All Raise, the nonprofit on a mission to make tech more accessible, equitable, and diverse.Follow Sherveen: https://x.com/SherveenFollow Lainy: https://x.com/lainypainterTo 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 032 of The Feedback Loop! We hear from founders building: a marketplace for market research, a new way for you to get your veggies every day, a platform for Internet radio and micro-communities, and a zero-waste, non-toxic cleaning products brand.As always, hosted by Sherveen Mashayekhi, Founder & CEO of Free Agency. ​Today's guest investor is Nika Duan, Partner at Inflect Capital.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.More on our guest investor for the episode:​​​Nika Duan is a Partner at Inflect Capital, which invests in and incubates early stage startups in health and wellness. She cut her teeth as a consultant at Bain & Company before becoming an impact investor at Emerson Collective, where she focused on healthcare, edtech, and future of work. She then backed student founders as an Investment Partner at Dorm Room Fund and served as an advisor to Google Ventures before joining the team at Inflect, which has invested in companies like Seven Starling, AnsibleHealth, and ShiftRx.Follow Sherveen: https://x.com/SherveenFollow Nika: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikaduanTo 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.