I'm a serial entrepreneur who has raised $145M+ 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. 
- $100M Exits newsletter & Podcast 
- Sign up at http://blog.thunder.vc 
- Free list of AI-recommended VCs specific to your business - https://web.thunder.vc/list-of-investors-vcs-for-founders  
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Securities are offered through Finalis Securities LLC Member FINRA / SIPC. Thunder X Capital, LLC is not a registered broker-dealer, and Finalis Securities LLC and Thunder X Capital, LLC are separate, unaffiliated entities.

Jason Kirby

This is the story most founders never post on LinkedIn. Most founders only focus on the upside.
 
Very few imagine the moment they stop being CEO.

James Rose scaled his first business to millions in revenue rapidly. Everything was going up and to the right...until it wasn't anymore.

Then the market turned.
The business collapsed.

And suddenly, he had to do the unthinkable: become an employee again.
Not because he wanted to. Because he had to. Family to support, lifestyle to maintain, and unsure of what the next big idea would be. 

That transition of losing the company and the identity was harder than the failure itself.

I chose to have James on because he had some amazing insights around this transition. It took him over a decade to get back in the saddle as a founder again, but he's managed just fine. His life wasn't over. 

But he was practically unemployable outside of sales. He was "over qualified"

So he dropped his ego and aspiration for a VP role and took a mid level sales job and grinded. It was tough, but it worked for him.

In this episode of $100M Exits, James breaks down:

- The emotional toll founders don’t talk about
- Why identity gets dangerously tied to the title
- How this moment reshaped how he builds today

I felt this was an important story to share as most founder don't know what's next after a failure. James's story is a ray of hope for the hopeless founder wondering what to do next. 

See the full episode in the article.

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

Watch the full video here This is not a story we discuss often on this podcast, but I felt Jame's story of having to "get a job" after scaling a multi

Open article: From CEO to employee, the pivot no one prepares for by Jason Kirby • 2 min read

From CEO to employee, the pivot no one prepares for

If your CAC is rising, your only defense is LTV.
Brian Ree built one of the highest-LTV businesses in fashion & sold for $700M

Here’s the playbook that led to a ~$700M outcome:

- Make LTV your North Star (not revenue).
- Improve gross profit per order before scaling traffic.
- Control supply chain via private label.
- Track 52-week cohort spend religiously.
- Use AI to predict product-level expected value.
- Optimize retention before increasing paid spend.

My takeaway from Brian, especially in the world of DTC today, growth doesn’t fix broken unit economics. It magnifies them.

While competitors chased top-line revenue, DailyLook engineered durability.
The result? Stronger margins, better retention, strategic leverage in M&A.

Watch the full episode below.

Watch the full video here Brian Ree’s journey with DailyLook is a reminder that survival precedes scale. When growth stalled and capital dried up, he 

Open article: How Brian Ree Turned a DTC Crisis Into a $700M Exit to Victoria's Secret by Jason Kirby • 2 min read

How Brian Ree Turned a DTC Crisis Into a $700M Exit to Victoria's Secret

When Kris Rudeegraap raised $100M from SoftBank for Sendoso, it didn’t start with a term sheet.

It started with a coffee.

SoftBank came inbound in late 2021.

Within days, that coffee turned into partner pitches.

Two weeks later, he was told:

“Block your entire calendar. We’ll tell you the day before Masa is ready.”
No private jet to Japan, like he was told, just a Zoom grid with a dozen SoftBank partners and Masa Son at the center.

Masa wasn’t casual.

He knew the numbers.

He asked pointed questions about growth velocity.
He grilled the US partners about how big this could get.

Then: silence.

A couple weeks later, Kris got the term sheet.

But the wire? Delayed for months...MONTHS because of international transfer reviews.

But once that $100M was real, expectations changed overnight.

Not subtly. Overnight.
At the time, Sendoso was around ~$50M ARR.

They had already raised roughly $65M prior.

With $165M+ in preferred capital stacked, the thinking wasn’t defensive.
It was:

“How fast can we double again?”

So what did they do?
They hired. Aggressively.

Kris said they ramped up to roughly 30 recruiters just to fuel hiring across go-to-market.
SDRs. AEs. Marketing. Post-sales support.

Because in 2021, the math felt simple:
More heads = more revenue.

Top-down target said “double.” Bottoms-up math didn’t get them there. So they changed the inputs. Turn on the hiring flywheel.

In hindsight, that wasn’t irrational, but tt was consistent with the rest of the market raising stacks of cash.

But then 2022 hit.

And the same company, with the same strategy, suddenly had to pivot. Growth at all costs pivoted to conserve and generate profit. He hired all those people and before they could generate a dollar of revenue, he had to lay them all off 😬 

The board conversations change when capital isn’t cheap anymore.
Which leads to two uncomfortable truths:

1️⃣ Mega-rounds distort decision-making
When you have $100M in the bank, the pressure to justify it shapes behavior. You optimize for scale, not resilience.

2️⃣ Capital amplifies strategy, it doesn’t fix it. If your go-to-market motion works, capital accelerates it. If it’s fragile, capital magnifies the fragility.

I talk to founders everyday wanting to raise capital, but they often don't realize the burden that comes with it. 

But kudos to Kris, he took the medicine, built an advisory board of over 100 experts, and navigated the storm to acheive amazing results being a leader in his category. 

If you want to hear the full story, check out my latest podcast on $100M Exits.

Watch the full video here Raising $100M doesn’t solve your problems; it magnifies them. Kris shares what founders rarely talk about: the operational w

Open article: How Sendoso Raised $100M From SoftBank by Jason Kirby • 2 min read

What color box are you in? 

If you're not in the green at the very least...I don't think we can be friends. 

I'm in the redbox  🦞 

This also explains the mega valuations we're seeing in AI. Real revenue is being generated at a scale and speed never seen before, and we're barely scratching the surface.

🗣️ Shana Kim is an entrepreneurial leader in animal healthcare and the pioneering CEO of BLOVO Animal Health. Driven by a passion for using technology to improve pet health, she leads BLOVO with a clear mission: to provide globally scalable solutions for predictive and preventive animal healthcare. 

💼 BLOVO's value proposition is to provide innovative services that enhance the accessibility and affordability of pet healthcare by offering personalized health solutions using advanced AI and machine learning technologies to predict and prevent health issues in animals.

💡 BLOVO effectively manages pet health through accurate diagnosis and preventive approaches, delivering a convenient and efficient healthcare experience to customers. This approach distinguishes BLOVO from traditional animal healthcare models, focusing on improving the quality of life for pets through preventive and personalized care solutions. 

📌Our approach involves the integration of AI-driven algorithms that analyze vast amounts of health data—such as diagnostic test results, genetic information, and lifestyle factors—to identify early signs of potential health concerns. 
BLOVO is focused on providing innovative solutions in the animal healthcare industry by building systems that enable early detection and prevention of diseases, supporting pets and their owners in living better lives.
 
📞 For more information or inquiries, you can reach us at 247W 38th Street, New York, NY, email us at shana.kim@blovoanimalhealth.com , or call us at 646-923-0361.

📨 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗺𝗲 – 𝗜'𝗱 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝘁

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Jason Kirby

Shana Kim

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The Battle

Jason Kirby

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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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