Funds and Founders Weekly

Welcome to the first issue of Funds and Founders Weekly, a weekly roundup of the latest episode that dropped and teasers of those yet to come (plus some other cool stuff that I came across).

My name is Abhinav and you probably know me as the host of the show (check it out here)

Whats on deck:

1. Recent episode with Catalin Briciu on Funds and Founder

2. Interesting tweets/linked in posts that I bookmarked

3. Events I am organizing/going to

Since I am 34 weeks late in starting this, ill add bits and pieces from older episodes.

On episode 34 of Funds and Founders I chatted with Catalin Briciu CEO of Linnify.

We talk about

👉 Linnify's mission to simplify life through innovation

👉 The challenges of taking ideas from concept to product-market fit

👉Strategies for effective product validation and market research

👉Common pitfalls founders face when launching new products

👉The pros and cons of focusing on personal brand vs. company brand

Full episode links:

Youtube, Spotify, Apple, Everywhere Else

Or skip straight to the juicy parts:

• 00:00:00 Introduction and Linnify's mission

• 00:04:29 Product validation and market research

• 00:11:58 Founder pitfalls and early startup experiences

• 00:24:52 Managing remote teams and company culture

• 00:27:33 Misconceptions about offshore development

• 00:32:08 Future plans for Linnify

• 00:39:52 Personal brand vs. company brand

• 00:43:24 Catalin's support system

• 00:45:02 Startup tech stack and tools

• 00:47:24 Discussion on recommended resources for entrepreneurs

• 00:48:05 Question from previous guest about entrepreneurial moment

• 00:49:33 Catalin's question for future guest

• 00:50:13 Host shares anecdote about previous guest's entrepreneurial moment

• 00:50:56 Discussion on the impact of first business check

• 00:51:17 Where to find Catalin online

• 00:51:42 Future plans

Next up, bookmarks I saved this week worth reading

• This article from Lenny’s product community/newsletter has gained a lot of a popularity and he recently removed the paywall behind this article, I think it covers really well who should and when to raise a seed round, Highly recommend.

  Read Here

• I noticed a couple weeks ago every decently popular artists was starting a youtube channel, smart move or mid career crisis? Everyone is doubling down on distribution and personal branding, I personally think having distribuition is an unsaid moat for founders as it gives you rapid feedback and beta users that help you make rapid improvement. This post by Alex Liberman summarizes some business idea that capitalize on this trend
  Read Here

• If you dont know what tik tok shop is, some companies are killing it, here is an example of Goli (a supplements company) that has mastered the tik tok shop game
  Read Here

Thanks for reading my bookmarks

Let me know if these are interesting, I have a ton I can share over the coming weeks.

Exciting events

• Inspired by Noah Kagan’s book Million Dollar Weekend we are also putting this together, planning for sometime in January but would love feedback from folks on how this can become a home run event - Unlock your Future

• Justin and I are hosting a poker tournament in October, would love to see folks come out

  Register for Event

That’s all I have for this week

And don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube if this gave you any value. You'll get new entrepreneurial stories every week.

Email me here if you want to share any feedback, or recommend a guest you think would be good on the show.

-Abhinav