Rob Snyder

A Venture Studio ignored venture and won. They built for Cashflow, not Venture. Here is how they did it: 20 years ago, an Atlanta-based venture studio operated with a unique approach. Instead of targeting VC or Private Equity, they  focused solely on cash-flow businesses like  professional service firms.  Here are 2 powerful lessons every studio can learn from their model: ------ 1. Funding Mechanism: A Line of Credit - Companies were funded via a line of credit, not equity capital.  - Portcos had to become cash flow neutral within 18 months—recycling capital quickly.  - Reduced funding needs = Faster scalability. This setup created discipline. Each month, portfolio founders had to justify every dollar spent. Want to hire McKinsey? Nope—do it internally.  Result? Founders learned to obsess over cash flow—an essential entrepreneurial muscle.  --- 2. Picking Founders Wisely  Successful founders were not running from bad employers. Instead, they were executives who always dreamed of building something but lacked the timing or resources earlier in life.  These proven leaders had:   - Strong networks   - Deep domain expertise   - Relentless drive to finally fulfill their vision  They thrived almost every time.  P.S. Which of these lessons resonates with you? 👇 Best, Matthew Burris

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So hot right now. Looking for Founders to build funded companies in a few hot spaces! VCs get a lot of flak for trend chasing (and rightly so), but a lot of times, things are hot for a reason. Forum Ventures we are building companies against two hot VC trends right now:👇 1️⃣ The AI Agent Application Layer – What still needs to be built for AI agents to take the next real step forward? The infrastructure is maturing, but the applications that truly unlock value are still in flux. 2️⃣ New Administration, New Markets – In case you missed it, the U.S. has a new president, and policy shifts create market shifts. Market shifts create startup opportunities. Simple as that. Here are five B2B SaaS startups we’re looking to launch: 💰 AI Agent Payments – The financial layer for AI agents, enabling them to initiate and process payments autonomously. ✈️ Automating Compliance for Aerospace & Defense – Mid-market aerospace suppliers are buried in outdated systems. AI-driven compliance and audit automation can fix that. 👨‍💼 Insurance for AI Agents – Bridging the gap between legacy insurance and the emerging risks of AI, so companies can get coverage that actually makes sense. 🏗️ Surety Bonds, Simplified – AI-powered underwriting to speed up approvals and scale surety bonds efficiently. 📲 Voice AI for Regulated Industries – Healthcare, finance, insurance, commerce—highly regulated industries need AI-driven voice solutions that meet their compliance standards. We’re actively recruiting founders to launch these companies through our AI Studio. Full blog below 👇

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A lesser talked about aspect of fundraising that I’m lately thinking about is *founder-fund fit*. Most times, we as investors tend to make a decision about the founder and their idea or company within 5 minutes of conversation (with list of checkboxes to tick off) - same applies on the other side too wherein founders tend to focus more on the round size, valuation and who-offers-first. While team, market size, and execution agency are all considered, sometimes VCs and founders lack clarity on what true founder-fund fit looks like for them. Here’s the catch: a myopic way of evaluation hurts both sides. Founders end up feeling they weren’t understood holistically, and VCs make hasty judgments based on surface-level patterns. Knowing what founder-fund fit looks like for you as a business and as an investor enables more honest, comfortable conversations. It requires deeper introspection from both parties. VCs need to ask: "Does this founder fit the persona we're looking for?" And founders must consider: "Does this fund fit the persona I want to take a decade-long journey with?" High levels of value alignment with their investors, empower companies to take more bets, experiment and ultimately generate outsized returns, since they have co-creators through the ups and downs of the journey. VC is a business of judgment, but it has to come from a place of self-awareness, not hidden biases or assumptions that overlook the nuances of true alignment.

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YC just released its Spring 2025 'request for startups' only 3 months after their last one - and it shows what they think are the biggest opportunities to build right now... YC is asking... 'Instead of fighting against non-human internet traffic (bots, scrapers, agents), what if we built services specifically FOR them?' Ones worth noting: • A new "B2A" (Business-to-Agent) category for services built specifically for AI customers • Autonomous datacenters operated entirely by robots • Infrastructure for the mass deployment of AI agents • Tools that democratize what only rich people could afford (personal lawyers, doctors, money managers) There are some parallels to Google's early success... Their infrastructure edge came from its founders’ obsession with optimizing commodity hardware. DeepSeek's recent success shows founders who can optimize at the lowest levels of the computing stack (kernels, drivers, system architecture) have an unfair advantage. They specifically want to fund more founders like this... If you're an investor, this is YC showing you where billions of dollars of value will be created: in the infrastructure and tooling that powers autonomous AI systems. If you're a founder, this is the whitespace between what everyone is building today and what YC thinks the world will actually need. But of course... these areas are only a fraction of what they'll fund. Which YC 'request for startups' are you most bullish on? 🤔

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Lately I’m hearing more founders being told to delay revenue to make early growth metrics look better for fundraising. I get the logic, but it just feels wrong. Early revenue is an important learning loop. Don’t stunt your business just to package it for VCs

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Welcome to the Seedstrap era. Bootstrapping has historically stood in the opposition of the VC model. There have been a handful of venture scale outcomes over the years, most notably Mailchimp, but by and large, a generation of founders was taught that venture capital was the only viable path to growing a large business. I speak from experience, my cofounder Adam Robinson and I bootstrapped and scaled our startup to a $10M exit, and after I transitioned to my role at Forum Ventures he used the cashflows from the first business to launch Retention.com($13M ARR with 6 people) and RB2B($5M in ARR in 13mo with 5 people). Increasingly I am talking to more and more founders embracing an evolution of the bootstrapper mentality - the seedstrapper. With the advent of Ai tooling - these founders are raising an initial pocket of capital from investors, and in some cases an A round, but have no aspirations of raising large institutional rounds to scale their business. In the past, bootstrappers could not compete with the growth rates of their well funded competitors, but in this new normal we are seeing that change, as large growth rounds are no longer the prerequisite for explosive growth. The venture market is adjusting. I for one - along with many other pre-seed investors - am embracing seed strapping, as this new breed of startup still has the opportunity to reach $100M+ in revenue, now just with considerably less dilution along the way. Later stage funds are at more of a crossroads however, with many adjusting their investment lens to focus more on deep tech, hardware, and AI infrastructure - sectors where scaling still requires massive amounts of capital.

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Success in VC meetings isn't just about the call itself. It's about what you do before and after. Here's how to stand out: Before the Call: Send a reminder 24 hours in advance - Include your deck and any prep materials - Ensures your info is fresh in their mind Research the VC and prepare thoughtful questions - Show you've done your homework - Demonstrates genuine interest in their firm During the Call: Ask about their process and next steps - Shows you're serious and organized - Helps you plan your follow-up After the Call: Send a follow-up email within 24 hours - Recap key points discussed - Confirm next steps - Thank them for their time If applicable, send any additional info promised during the call Remember, only about 1% of founders nail the follow-up. Be in that 1%. These small actions can significantly boost your chances of securing that crucial second meeting. What's your go-to follow-up strategy after a VC call?

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