• Napkin Notes
  • Posts
  • šŸ’° Meet the Fundraising Genius Behind Liquid Death and Dollar Shave Club

šŸ’° Meet the Fundraising Genius Behind Liquid Death and Dollar Shave Club

And steal his playbook for raising a quicker seed round

Hey, this is Napkin Notes: the only newsletter you read that knows how flipping hard it is to raise money as a founder, so we work our tail off to build tools, content and events to make it easier. šŸ› 

Today weā€™re chopping it up with the earliest investor behind Dollar Shave Club ($1B acquisition) and Liquid Death (Valued at $1.4B).

His name? Mr. Peter Pham.

If you havenā€™t met him, heā€™s got a bio and a half šŸ˜®ā€šŸ’Ø

Heā€™s the co-founder of Science Venture Studio where they co-build companies at the intersection of Culture & Tech. Out of his studio has come:

  • šŸŖ’ Dollar Shave Club ($1B Acquisition by Unilever)

  • šŸ• Dogvacay/Rover ($2.3B acquisition by Blackstone)

  • ā˜ ļø Liquid Death (currently valued at $1.4B valuation)

  • and a bunch more

Aside from that, you should listen to Peter b/c he

  • šŸ“ø Grew Photobucket to the largest photo-sharing site in 2007 before exiting to Myspace for $300M

  • šŸ’° Angel invested in Kabam (acquired for $1B), Ring (acquired for $1B) and Scopely (acquired for $4.9B)

  • šŸŽ¶ and is all around a good time, especially on the dance floor at conferences (check his IG if you think weā€™re bluffing)

Most importantly, Peterā€™s helped raise almost 200 venture rounds (Seed, Series A, B etc) so he knows his shit.

And since we know a lot of you wanna learn more about how to raise a round quicker, thatā€™s what weā€™re gonna dig into.

And if you didnā€™t knowā€¦ Peterā€™s also 1 of the 4 big-name VCs on our panel at the April 24th virtual Battle Royale Demo Day. So if you wanna hear Peter rip it up on stage, join 400 others and grab a seat šŸŖ‘

šŸ“° In Other News:

Instagram is doing $32B per year in revenue. ByteDance's revenue increased 60% in 2023 to $40 billion. YC released the 260 founders in their 2024 Winter batch. Keevin from Brainstroms is selling his newsletter. Sam Parr talked about giving up drinking. And Twitter now has a jobs section now.

Now dim the lights, pour your ChemX coffee and put up your feet. Itā€™s time to turn our attention to the fundraising king, Mr. Peter Pham.

šŸ’ø Peter Phamā€™s Fundraising Playbook that helped him scale Liquid Death, Dollar Shave Club, Flexport and more

Peter knows his way around a pitch deck. In fact, heā€™s helped close nearly 200 venture rounds (Seed, Series A, B etc). But it hasnā€™t all been green runs on the ski hill.

In a recent fireside chat he gave with Anthony Pompiliano, he dropped some gems about fundraising every early-stage founder should know.

And since youā€™re busy building apps, raising kids, and trying to score 8 hours of sleep to please your Aura ring. Your fam at Kernal are gonna summarize his top tips to keep it stupid easy for you to implement. Sound fair? Letā€™s get down and dougie:

Some Context

Liquid Death (the company Peter incubated/invested in at the Seed, Series A, B) just announced its $1.4B valuation.

So he may have a gem or two to share šŸ˜®ā€šŸ’Ø

But screw it, since itā€™s April 12th and the sun is shining on my patio, weā€™re gonna give you 5 šŸ’Ž

1. ā€œPrepare for VCs to give you 70 to 100 noā€™s for every 1 yesā€

  • itā€™s the name of the game Peter says

  • regardless of your clout, business model or pitching finesse, be ready for 70-100 noā€™s, before you get a yes

  • but as long as youā€™re resilient and follow the math, youā€™ll be good to go

2. ā€œAt the early stage (pre-seed/seed), nothing ruins a pitch more than sharing numbersā€

  • Peter says the worst thing for your pitch is numbers.

  • As soon as you share numbers. VCs think of multiples. Revenue in 5 years, cost of acquisition etc. Then they know youā€™re making shit up. Because they know numbers 10 times better than you.

  • Instead, give them a compelling 1 liner and talk about how the world is changing and how your business is going to take advantage of that

  • VCs want 1 line they can remember so they can share it with their investment team, their GP or their friend at the bar theyā€™re gonna see in a few hours

  • This means you need a short deck, with clean bullet points and a big ass vision that inspires people to get behind it

  • anticipate the telephone game of VCs ā€” if you canā€™t explain a simple story of why someone is excited that the story wonā€™t spread

3. Cast a big vision that the VC can get excited about. Use this 3-step process to do that

  • Instead of talking about numbers, talk about vision and explain

    • 1) how the world used to be

    • 2) how the world is changing

    • 3) the trend youā€™re taking advantage of

4. Early-stage VC bets are on people. Prove why you and your team are badass and can pivot

  • AI and ChatGPT can copy your early-stage business in a heart beat

  • you need moats, which often is 1) your community and 2) your teamā€™s background/execution ability

  • prove why your team is the best people for the job

  • the product will evolve, so prove how your team will be ahead of the curve

5. Always be editing your deck to speak to your top questions/pain points meetings bring up

  • Peter says - In the first couple of meetings, set them up with friendly people in your network who will give you feedback

  • Take the top questions they get hung up on, write them down, then weave them into your deck

  • Ensure your pitch answers the top pain points that get former meetings hung up

Like these tips?

Youā€™ll love seeing Peter on stage later this month.

šŸ¾ STARTUP IDEAS OF THE WEEK

Up-vote and comment on your favs:

šŸ’ø Wanna buy a newsletter?

Got the heart to share your own napkin idea?

Tap below to prove it.

šŸ–¼ Swipes of the Week

Suck at delegating tasks? Steal Davidā€™s guide.

Can someone build Vedikaā€™s idea plz?

FYI, Elonā€™s coming for LinkedIn jobsā€¦

šŸ’š The Kernal Fam

P.S. If you havenā€™t RSVPā€™d to our April 24th demo day with Andrew, Michele, Peter and Ryan, join 400 others and sign up now

Reply

or to participate.