Thunder

We're a tech-enabled investment bank for founders, by founders. We help companies navigate their capital strategy for acquiring funding to fuel their growth.

Founders: AI-assisted fundraising for companies. Join the network for free to see which investors are more likely to invest in you.

Investors: Access vetted deal flow and invest with no fees direct on cap table

Thunder X Capital, LLC offers securities through Stonehaven, LLC, a Member FINRA/ SIPC.

Managing Director & Founding Partner

Interplay

Operating Partner

PEF Community

Brining together the London PEF community

Chapter Lead

Hustle Fund

Angel Squad Member

Angel Investor & RE/VC/PE LP

Investor / Advisor 

Generation Esports

President & COO

Walmart Technology

Director Of Digital Media

LiquidSky Software, Inc. (Acquired)

Chief Revenue Officer

ConveyIQ by Entelo

VP of Marketing

Misc Small Businesses and Startups

Built, grew, and sold a few small businesses that are still actively running today.

Founder

I'm a serial entrepreneur that has raised $135M+ and has had multiple exits. I'm now on a mission to support founders with their capital strategy and acquire the capital they need to grow their businesses. 

Thunder.vc is a tech-enabled investment bank for founders, by founders.

When it comes to supporting the founders in our Thunder.vc community, here are some free resources that can help you with your capital raising efforts.

 - Fundraising Demystified newsletter - Sign up at http://join.thunder.vc
 - Free list of AI-recommended VCs specific to your business - https://web.thunder.vc/list-of-investors-vcs-for-founders 
 - Free tool to source lending partners for your working capital needs - https://lp.thunder.vc/apply-for-working-capital-for-your-startup-company
 - Private Slack community for founders - Apply to join at https://app.thunder.vc/signup

Jason Kirby

Founders think raising capital is hard.
Try selling your company while running it. ⚙️

If you’re a founder thinking about selling in 2026, here’s your M&A survival guide (from two people who’ve done it the hard way):

5 Steps to Sell Smart - Not Desperate:

1️⃣ Start early. Build relationships with strategics 12–18 months before you plan to sell. Seek partnerships, integrations, and POCs in the early days to build trust and rapport with them.

2️⃣ Know your numbers. Buyers don’t fund dreams; they fund predictability. After a few intro calls you'll know if you're ready or not with the numbers.

3️⃣ Run a process. Competitive tension is your best negotiation leverage. In today’s market, selling to a strategic is harder; that's why you need to prepare for a private equity buyer, it keeps strategics honest and makes them move faster.

4️⃣ Avoid the earnout trap. Structure cash up front. Earnouts sound great, but rarely workout. Maintain control over the KPIs of an earnout or drop the earnout all together.

5️⃣ Control your narrative. Don’t let your board, your VC, or your emotions run the process. If you're not 100% behind the narrative, it will fall apart.

Bonus6️⃣ Don't run a process without help. Selling your company is a full-time job, similar to fundraising, but even harder. As the CEO, you'll be expected to hit your targets. Having a banker or board member leading the process allows you to stay focus and drive momentum on both fronts.
  
If you want to explore M&A and want to pick someone's brain, comment below or send Oliver Low a DM! He leads M&A deals at Thunder.vc and sold his previous company, he knows what it's like to be in your shoes.

4x Exits, $100M+ Raised. Helping founders raise/exit with clarity, control, and conviction.

I just denied an applicant solely because they have a @hotmail email address. Does that make me a bad person?

I'm looking for tech forward partners who have a deep understanding of technology companies. 

If I was one of my clients and saw that the partner that's supposed to competently understand my business had a hotmail account... I'd immediately discount their abilities. That's my justification.

Is that a fair assessment? or am I just an a** hole

If you're a founder looking to hire a PR in the middle of a crisis, it's likely too late and the damage will get worse.

David Meadvin (CEO, One Strategy Group) breaks down why even the best crisis consultants can’t fix what founders don’t already have... trust.

If your reputation isn’t built before the storm hits, you’re in for a rough time.

💡 2 actionable truths from David’s experience:

1. Your reputation is earned long before crisis day. The founders who invest in team trust and transparent communication recover fastest.

2. The calmest person in the room wins. When everyone panics, composure becomes a superpower, and the board will remember it.

Founders: Don’t wait until you’re trending for the wrong reason.
Start building your “reputation reserve” now.

👇 Watch/listen to the full story:

Watch the full video here. Most founders think they’ll never face a real crisis, until they do. In this episode, David Meadvin shares what happens whe

Open article: The $100M founder’s playbook for surviving bad press by Jason Kirby • 2 min read

The $100M founder’s playbook for surviving bad press

I'm hiring a partner to join Thunder.vc... anyone else getting the AI slop applications like these?

Like they're not even trying to mask the AI. I've gotten like 10 of these identical applications via email. Their cover letters make them sound like a perfect fit, but the resume and the past jobs are WAY off, like not relevant at all. And they all say the same thing.

I hope these desperate people aren't paying for a service like this. I've already created a filter to block them.

For those of you hiring, how obvious has been the AI and what are you doing about it?

Spoke my mind on the AI bubble and where I think it's going and shared some personal deal dynamics I rarely mention publicly. Check it out on the The Mergers podcast

Jason Kirby sold his startup for $40M - but only after the CEO of Samsung Electronics went to prison and nearly blew up the deal.

Investors got greedy.

The new Samsung CEO shut everything down.

Jason's team showed up at 9am to celebrate… and there was nothing to announce.

Welcome to the world of venture capital — where founders are often left holding the bag.

This week on The Mergers, Kenneth Kashif Thomas and Rory Mason sat down with Jason Kirby, now founder of Thunder.vc, to hear the wild behind-the-scenes of what really happens when you raise, scale, and try to exit a venture-backed company.

Jason has:

- Raised $100M+, 
- Sold 4 companies
- Advised on $200M+ in founder exits
- Navigated M&A deals with Walmart, Samsung, Verizon... and lived to tell the tale
- Watched VCs ghost founders when they no longer show “breakout velocity”
- Built Thunder VC to help bootstrapped and “orphaned” founders find exits, growth capital, or both

In this episode:

🖊️ What most founders get dead wrong about term sheets, preferences, and secondary sales
🖊️ The dirty secret of management fees and why VCs often win even when startups lose
🖊️ How to create “phantom leverage” when you have no options left
🖊️ Why AI is a bubble — and why that might not matter

If you’re a founder, investor, or operator - you need to hear this

🎧 Listen here: https://lnkd.in/dDCNNsTr
 📺 Watch the full episode: https://lnkd.in/eNztGnxG

When Oliver Low sold his startup, he thought he’d hit the dream exit.

Instead, he walked straight into a trap most founders never see coming:

The earnout...

He hit his growth targets, but the parent company missed theirs — and the big payout disappeared.

Nine out of ten earnouts fail for this exact reason.

That’s why, at Thunder, we help founders structure exits, not just chase them.

Here’s the truth no one tells you:

Selling early isn’t losing. It’s creating optionality.

Once you have liquidity, you can take bigger swings, with less risk — and 10x your next outcome.

But you only get there if you understand deal architecture: competitive process, buyer psychology, and clean incentives.

Oliver Low breaks it down in this week’s episode:
 🎧 “How to Sell Your Startup: The Founder’s M&A Playbook”

💡 Tactical takeaways:
- How to avoid the 9/10 earnout failure rate
- Why selling in the fourth inning is often smarter than waiting
- How private equity is changing founder exits forever

Listen on: Youtube Spotify Apple Most founders wait too long to sell and end up losing leverage. In this episode, Jason Kirby and Oliver Low share the

Open article: The M&A playbook for founders in 2025 by Jason Kirby • 2 min read

He left venture capital to help take Life360 from Seed to a $7B public company. 

When Itamar Novick joined Life360, it wasn’t yet the household name it is today. The team was small. The product was early. The vision was big but uncertain. 

Like every early-stage company, there were challenges: 

💬 Raising VC capital was tough. 
💸 The company didn’t have much cash. 
🚀 The future was uncertain. 

But instead of staying in VC, Itamar made the rare move, he joined the founding team, betting his career & his networth on building something lasting. 

Years later, that decision helped shape Life360’s journey to 80M users, $200M+ raised, and a dual listing on the ASX and NASDAQ.

In our latest episode of $100M Exits, Itamar shares: 

🔥 Why he left venture to join a scrappy startup 
🔥 How Life360 scaled from early chaos to IPO readiness
🔥 What founders can learn from dual IPOs and post-IPO growth

Watch the full video here. When Itamar Novick joined Life360, it wasn’t yet a global brand — it was a small, ambitious startup still proving itself. T

Open article: The VC who quit to build a $7B company - Itamar Novick on Life360’s wild ride by Jason Kirby • 2 min read

The VC who quit to build a $7B company - Itamar Novick on Life360’s wild ride

Wiley

Author of Amazon’s #1 New Release: “Your AI Roadmap"

Bestselling Author: Your AI Roadmap, Featured in Forbes

Clarity AI

Our Mission: To empower business leaders to craft AI roadmaps to future-proof their business
Learn more: HireClarity.ai

🎯 Your AI Roadmap Talk and Workshops Include:
🔷 Align AI Initiatives with Company Goals
🔷 Ensure Compliance and Data Privacy
🔷 Prioritize AI Literacy and Internal Trainings
🔷 Identify High-Impact AI Opportunities
🔷 Foster a Growth Mindset: Iterate and Improve

Clarity AI equips leaders with a proven, structured approach to AI roadmap creation. We align business goals with executive leaders with data and AI strategy. AI has hype, but how do leaders operationalize how to integrate new solutions into the business? We remove roadblocks and build clarity and alignment.

🧠 Are you interested in future-proofing your business? Struggling with AI strategy?
🎯Join Clarity AI to craft 10 Step Your AI Roadmap via Gartner operationalized framework
Boost revenue, increase efficiency, and future-proof your business

📨 DM me or visit HireClarity.ai to learn more

Chief Executive Officer

Perplexity

Business Fellow

Pluralsight

AI and Data Educational Courses and Code Lab: ChatGPT Enterprise: Advanced Data Analysis, Create Dynamic Data Visualizations in R, Advanced Data Visualization Techniques in R, ChatGPT Pro: OpenAI o1, Introduction to Statistical Analysis for Data Analysts, Generative AI for Colleagues

Technical Course and Code Lab Author: AI, Data, Code, Stats

3 Ridge Technologies

Strategic Advisor, Agriculture Innovation, GTM, ROI, AI Product and Data Strategy

Female Invest

Member

Women in Voice

Founded 501c3 nonprofit. Raised over $500k+. Partnerships with Amazon and Google. 65k+ Socials

Founder of Nonprofit, President Aug 2018-Aug 2024

Professional Speaker

CES, VentureBeat, VOICE Summit, AI Summit, GeekGirlCon, Women Who Code, WIT Regatta
Learn more: JoanPBajorek.com

Keynote Speaker | AI Expert

OneReach.ai 

OneReach.ai is a a B2B SaaS Platform in Generative & Conversational AI

Role: Served Customer and Internal R&D Projects for Data-Driven Optimizations Translating into Multi-Million Dollar Opportunities for Fortune 500 Companies
Cross-functional work on Data, Data strategy, Product Feature Roadmapping, Analytics, Case Studies, Reporting, Customer Success, Partnerships, Pre-Sales Enablement, and Evangelism

Data Science and Analytics Work
Analyzed Customer 400k+ Data Sets for Data-Driven Product Optimization Opportunities
Worked with Omnichannel, SMS, IVR, Multimodal Bots and Visualizations
Identified Upsell Opportunities, Increased Readability of Dashboard and Customer Reporting Tools Conducted Competitive Analyses of Partner Technology and System Integrations
Communicated and Unskilled Team with Collaborative and Responsible AI and Data-driven Mindset
Reviewed Data Pipeline and Practices and Made Data and Analytics Recommendation, 
Created Innovative, Descriptive and Predictive Analytics, Leveraged ChatGPT/AI for Code, Data Visualizations (Javascript and D3), and Descriptive Statistics
Wrote Case Studies Documenting $35M Use Cases, $3M Unrealized Revenue Potential
Leveraged Prompt Engineering to Generate Shiny App Prototypes

Storytelling & Evangelism
Speaking Engagements at Major Global AI and Networking Tech Conferences
Generative AI Webinar 2023: Co-Founder, CEO and Joan, 300+ registrants: https://www.linkedin.com/events/taminggenerativeaiwithonereach-7021526024400097280/
Conversational Collective 2023: Co-Founder, COO and Joan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euRv4FM9o_w&t=2275s
Translated Technical Information and Projects to Senior and General Audience
Created Lead-Gen Opportunities with 300+ Registrations for Low CAC
Crafted Strategy, Grew Impressions 507% and Clicks 485% on Most Important Conversion Channel

Worked on Healthcare, Telecom & CPG Verticals

VP of Data and Analytics

Seattle Angel Conference

Reviewed 80+ startups in conjunction with other investors
Narrowed down startups to finalists to conduct due diligence

Investor

CEO Clarity AI 🔥 AI Influencer 👉 Built 80k+ Followers | 🎉 AI, Data, & Product Builder | Your AI Roadmap Podcast Host | x-VP, x-Nuance CES, VentureBeat | Women in Voice Founder | Investor | Linguist ☕️ 🐶 🏃🏽‍♀️

🏆 #4 Voice AI Influencer
🏆 Speaker at CES, VentureBeat, FOX4
🏆 Bestselling Author “Your AI Roadmap”
🏆 Featured in Forbes, HBR, Adobe XD
🏆 Perplexity AI Business Fellow
🏆 VP of Data and Analytics 🔀 Founder

Dr. Joan Palmiter Bajorek is an AI Expert, Keynote Speaker, and Bestselling Author ranked the #4 Influencer in Voice AI by Voicebot.ai. As an AI builder, Dr. Bajorek has 10+ years of technical experience in data and AI development for Fortune 500 clients, she has held senior roles at Nuance (acquired by Microsoft for $16B), Netavox, VERSA Agency, and as VP of Data and Analytics at OneReach.ai.

A highly sought-after speaker, Dr. Bajorek has spoken at CES, KATU-ABC, FOX4, VentureBeat, and Voice Summit. Her work is featured in Forbes, Harvard Business Review, Fox Business, Adobe XD, and UXmatters, and at Google i/O.

Recently featured in Forbes, her Amazon bestselling book, "Your AI Roadmap: Expand Your Career, Money, and Joy," was published by Wiley in Jan 2025. The book is a companion to her international podcast, Your AI Roadmap, featuring top AI builders from Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Upwork, Adobe, Intuit, and more.

With academic credentials including a PhD in Conversational AI from the University of Arizona and an MA in Linguistics from UC Davis, Dr. Bajorek combines cutting-edge technical knowledge with exceptional business acumen to deliver high impact and data-driven results.

Based in Seattle, WA, she is available for speaking and workshop engagements, consulting partnerships, and media appearances

DM and email joan.bajorek@hireclarity.ai

Dr. Joan Palmiter Bajorek

REVENUE GROWTH 611% in 2025 📈 EXACTLY how it happened 🎯
Getting close to fiscal end of year goals. I'm in a reflective headspace...

In a world that feels heavy— Layoffs ⚠️ Burnout 🥵 Uncertainty ❓

I just want to pause and say:
✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨
I'm grateful. Deeply 🙏
✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

To the customers who see the work 👀
To the customer who said "for this value, I'd pay $10k-$15k more"
To the customers who give rave testimonials publicly 🤝
To the presales customer who ask ME for the followup call 💸

Here's what took my business to new heights compared to last year:

1. Author: In 2024, I spent 3-4 months writing the Your AI Roadmap book 📚✍️ (yes, worth it but MONTHS away from selling)

2. Business Coach: I hired a coach who for a whole month costs LESS than one therapy session 🎓💡 Her work has been invaluable in mindset, frameworks, and centering my health

3. Say No, so I could say HECK YES: Stepping back from a potential 9 figure potential project with LONG sales cycles and high risk while bestselling products close in 20-30 days

4. Clarity: I cleared my plate to focus on what customers LOVE 🎯❤️: AI workshops where customers see results and AH HAH moments galore

5. Testimonials: I have a WALL of testimonials 🗣️⭐

6. Simplify: I streamlined sales cycles ⚙️✨ less complexity, more clarity

7. Sales Work: Invested in my sales acumen—upsell, downsell, retargeting, standard opening questions 💼🚀 Less building, MORE selling

8. Listen: I listened DEEPLY to customer needs. THEN built workshops 👂💬

9. Referral Partners: I found quality partners for work outside my zone of genius 🤝💰 Win-win-WIN deals

10. No/Low Meeting Mondays and Fridays. Got to have time to actually do customer heads-down work!❤️🧠

One of my biggest "AH HAH" moments? 🧠🧠🧠

Coming back from vacation and seeing my business in a new light.

I was SHOCKED workshops were my bestseller 🤯
Where customers put down the money. Data don't lie 💯

3 AI Tools for 5x Productivity is our bestselling workshop of 2025
Folks LOVE it. Rave about it. Employees say "fun"
CEO says "Why didn't I know about this tool!!!"
My firm AI helps executives upskill in AI to future-proof businesses 🤝

It might look lucky 🍀
This is really about consistency  📅
This is really about learning from data 📊
This is really about being open to being wrong

It's about courage to take the business seriously
To make hard decisions and have tough convos ❤️

Not gonna lie, there were tears and nights of poor sleep
But the in weeks of tripling down 

The next months of consistent sales
Then tripling down again for our upcoming sprints..... let's go 2026!

Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart 🚀
If you're tired, rest… then keep going 🛌➡️🏃‍♀️
If you're wondering if it's possible
It is. 💥
Cheering you on towards your goals!


What's are you doing to scale? Share it!  👇

Photo: me holding the best focaccia of my life in Rome
See all the rosemary and salt crystals?!?!?
Joan bringing home the bread!

Woman with long brown hair wearing a teal cardigan and colorful striped shirt smiles while holding a metal pan containing golden focaccia bread in an outdoor restaurant setting

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Dr. Joan Palmiter Bajorek

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The Battle

Jason Kirby

Dr. Joan Palmiter Bajorek

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Jason Kirby's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreJason Kirby's LinkedIn Performance