S2 E5: From the ground up: Building startups with Deb Kemper of Golden Seeds Ventures

Jul 22, 2024

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Deb Kemper is a managing partner of Golden Seeds Ventures, a firm that focuses on backing early-stage, women-led companies.

She joined me on the podcast to share tactics with founders who want to build networks with investors outside of Silicon Valley and discuss some of the challenges facing anyone seeking follow-on funding these days.

We also talked about the criteria investors use to gauge the strengths of teams and their ideas.

“I know some investor groups do full-on psychological assessments of founders and their teams,” she said, noting that she prefers to learn through observation. One red flag: entrepreneurs who can’t easily explain their ideas aren’t ready to work with investors.

“If I go to a networking event and someone can't tell me in 60 seconds what they do — or even less — I'm done,” said Deb.

“They just want to talk to you and tell you everything about their company. And I walk away saying, “I still don't know what they do.’”

Episode breakdown

How Golden Seeds Ventures works with Golden Seeds Angel Network
“You have to be really solving a customer problem in a way that we see is unique.”
Strategies for fundraising, extending runway + adapting to the current investment climate
Founders/companies that might benefit more from funding methods besides traditional VC
Why finding a co-founder is more about serendipity than process
How Golden Seeds gauges a team’s domain expertise/understanding of market needs
Deb talks about the need for products to solve substantial problems and not just be quick fixes
Common pitfalls for founders, especially around financial management and market positioning
“I don't think that's of any use to have a rubber stamp board.”
Deb’s perspective on the current state of AI investments and the potential for startups outside major tech hubs

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Thanks for listening!

– Walter.