Eng Founder’s Takeover: Navigating the new fundraising environment, idea-mazing and overcoming pattern-matching bias w/ Lizzie Matusov #126
The Engineering Leadership Podcast
Lessons Learned About the Fundraising Process
Sally Kohn: I wanted to make sure that we covered some of the lessons and experiences you had around fundraising. And then some of the things that many people have been told are true, but are no longer true. Yeah, so just to give brief context, we successfully ran and closed a pre-seed fund raise last fall; it was a very interesting time. This is fall of 2022, which was just after the market sort of really crashedA lot of funding sort of retracted,. A lot of conversations around dry powder and when VCs will deploy it.
This is a special episode from our new show “Engineering Founders” - Lizzie Matusov, CEO & Co-Founder @ Quotient, shares her unique founder journey – from Harvard’s dual-degree grad program & Innovation Lab to founding Quotient! She also reveals strategies for fundraising, including utilizing your relationship pipeline, incorporating story arcs into your pitch, overcoming pattern-matching bias, and how fundraising today is different than it used to be. We also cover Quotient’s major pivots, tips for not becoming too attached to your first idea & making space for new ideas, defining idea-mazing & its impact on your product, and developing clarity as a founder. For more episodes of Engineering Founders, subscribe here: https://engineering-founders.simplecast.com/
ABOUT LIZZIE MATUSOV
Lizzie Matusov (@lizziematusov) is the co-founder and CEO of Quotient - a toolkit to supercharge engineering teams. Today, their first tool is an onboarding platform that leverages behavioral research best practices to ramp up engineers more effectively. Quotient’s mission is to democratize access to the best engineering cultures.
Previously, Lizzie built software to improve access to medical-grade genetic testing at Invitae. She was also a software engineering consultant at Red Hat, where she built software applications for companies across various industries, including fintech and biotech. She holds a bachelor of science from UCLA, and an MBA and Masters of Engineering Sciences from Harvard.
"Let's say in a four-month period, you check in with investors or founders that you're working with two or three times. Now what they have is not just one call to base their opinion on, but an entire story arc that they can use to say, 'All right, in August they were doing this and by October they already did this, and then by December they were here. I'm now seeing sort of a preview of what I'm backing.' I think that that really helps founders sort of help investors make decisions, right? You are de-risking for them, you are sharing more of the milestones as you're doing them.”
- Lizzie Matusov
ABOUT QUOTIENT
Quotient is a toolkit to supercharge engineering teams. Their mission is to democratize access to the best engineering cultures.
Today, their first tool is an onboarding platform that leverages behavioral research best practices to ramp up engineers more effectively. With Quotient you can build and deliver a high-quality, research-backed onboarding experience, and get data-driven insights into how your team changes and grows together.
Check out Quotient and join the waitlist HERE - https://www.getquotient.com/waitlist
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Check Out Engineering Founders!
We cover the stories, pivotal moments and critical insights from former engineering leaders turned founders - that helped them take the earliest steps to launch!
You can find it wherever you get your podcasts - Spotify / Apple / Google / Web
SHOW NOTES:
- The backstory behind Quotient (3:01)
- Why the atomic unit is the team, not the individual & how that impacts Quotient (4:03)
- Lizzie’s leadership journey before Quotient (5:25)
- Why Lizzie chose Harvard’s dual-degree grad program as part of her founder’s journey (8:43)
- How Harvard’s program helped Lizzie accelerate founding Quotient (12:43)
- The community aspect of entrepreneurship & Harvard’s Innovation Lab (15:48)
- Lizzie’s favorite grad school hacks (17:58)
- Frameworks behind Quotient’s key pivots (20:12)
- How Quotient pivoted to better support companies & the onboarding process (23:02)
- Tips for making space for new ideas (25:59)
- Defining idea-mazing & how it impacts your product / solution (28:13)
- Where Quotient is in terms of fundraising (31:02)
- How assumptions & expectations around fundraising have changed (32:43)
- Collect data points that show your ability to execute, lead, & grow (34:06)
- Strategies to help overcome pattern matching bias (36:09)
- How Lizzie utilized story arcs while fundraising for Quotient (38:32)
- Why clarity as a founder is vital & frameworks for developing clarity (41:05)
- The renaming process & unveiling the new name “Quotient” (44:52)
- Rapid fire questions (46:38)
LINKS AND RESOURCES
- Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts’ novel following an escaped convict with a false passport who flees maximum security prison in Australia for the teeming streets of Bombay, where he can disappear. Accompanied by his guide and faithful friend, the two enter the city’s hidden society of beggars and gangsters, prostitutes and holy men, soldiers and actors, and Indians and exiles from other countries, who seek in this remarkable place what they cannot find elsewhere.
- The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine - Michael Lewis documents the real story of the crash that began in bizarre feeder markets where the sun doesn't shine and the SEC doesn't dare, or bother, to tread: the bond and real estate derivative markets where geeks invent impenetrable securities to profit from the misery of lower- and middle-class Americans who can't pay their debts. The smart people who understood what was or might be happening were paralyzed by hope and fear; in any case, they weren't talking.
- The Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet - Becky Chambers’ novel following a motley crew on an exciting journey through space—and one adventurous young explorer who discovers the meaning of family in the far reaches of the universe.
This episode wouldn’t have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:
Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-Host
Jerry Li - Co-Host
Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/
Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan’s also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/
Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/
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