Venture Validator

Venture Validator provides startups with primary research that transforms hundreds of survey responses into curated data from 50-200+ respondents who accurately represent a company's customer population. 

Our insights deliver results that clarify a client's: 
•Ideal Customer Profile
•Top Value Propositions & Customer Objections
•Profit Maximizing Price Point

Director of Research

Market Research Consultant

Alchemist Accelerator

The Alchemist Accelerator is a venture-backed initiative focused on accelerating the development of seed-stage B2B ventures. Backers include GE Ventures, Khosla Ventures, next47 (Siemens), Salesforce, and US Venture Partners among others. 

Funds that have invested in Alchemist companies include Andreessen Horowitz, Felicis Ventures, Founders Fund, Greylock Partners, Redpoint, and True Ventures.

As a Startup Mentor, I hold regular office hours with Alchemist founders who want clarity on their core business opportunity, path to product-market fit and subsequent GTM planning.

Startup Mentor

John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center at The University of Iowa

Iowa JPEC's Venture Mentoring Service uses the Team Mentoring methodology licensed from the MIT Venture Mentoring Service (MIT VMS) to link entrepreneurial ventures with experienced mentors. Entrepreneurs meet with a team of volunteer mentors in ongoing, confidential meetings. 

Mentors commit to avoiding conflict of interest and strict confidentiality. The MIT VMS model believes an entrepreneurial venture supported by an objective team of mentors has a greater chance of success.

Venture Mentor

Intention

Primary research & timeless resources for creative professionals who want to eliminate daily distractions.

Chief Researcher

YaizY

While working on a powerhouse team of ex-McKinsey partners, NYU post-grads and several international advisors, I spearheaded the research and development behind YaizY's US outreach in Q1 of 2022. 

The responsibilities of this task included:
•Identifying target states + schools based on key partner criteria 
•Building the lead list of school district leaders
•Piloting the first email outreach to these leaders

The results of this research & pilot included (see photos below):
•>50% higher open rate than the industry average
•>330% higher clickthrough rate than the industry average
•>4 reshares of our key deliverable per each recipient who opened our outbound

Director of Partnerships (US)

Whales English

Over the course of ~3 years with Whales English, I:

•Delivered courseware that retained over 90% of students within associated ESL verticals
•Led webinars that improved methodology and morale among new instructors
•Cultivated intercultural understanding during one of the most tense eras of US-China relations ever

As the courseware and teaching methods mentioned above became widespread, the company raised $30M+ Series B rounds in 2020-2021.

Product Management Consultant

Pitch Genius Co, LLC

Over the course of four months, I directly assisted the Pitch Genius founder in her efforts to help other startups share their best story with potential investors. Our client roster included everything from premium streetwear brands to innovative machine learning startups. 

Typical work included: 

•Mastering the principles of a compelling pitch deck

•Conceptualizing and outlining an attractive storyline based on our client's positioning

•Receiving client feedback and reworking content to optimally articulate their company's vision

Startups associated with my tenure at Pitch Genius have raised over $100M since Q1 of 2019.

Junior Pitch Deck Specialist

Every summer, the UI's John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center admits 20 students into its Startup Accelerator Program for an eight week practicum on Lean LaunchPad methodologies. 

As a member of 2018's cohort, I helped a student startup (Worthy Buck): 

• Research industries, competitors, and potential partners in the nonprofit sector

•  Create copy for the home page & 'About Us' sections of a Worthy Buck subsidiary site (The School Spirit Project)

• Conceptualize promotional materials and slide decks for Worthy Buck pitches to business leaders around the Midwest

Summer Student Accelerator Consultant

ActWorthy

While handling content creation & community development for Actworthy (AW), I:

• Managed all AW social media platforms (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, and Medium)

• Wrote original content for the AW Medium publication

• Conceptualized a video campaign for AW's social strategy on Twitter & Facebook

Some significant metrics from my time at ActWorthy included: 

• 422% growth in page likes & 400% growth in page followers on our Facebook property

• Created AW's most successful tweet with an impression rate 14x higher than its Twitter following

Content Strategy & Community Development Consultant

Iowa City Area Development Group

This position resulted from a slide deck I pitched to ICAD Director, Mark Nolte, on how the MERGE Innovation Space in Iowa City could better engage members of the surrounding community. 

During the subsequent internship, I: 

•Updated ICAD site with most recent demographic & business data on cities around the Iowa City-Cedar Rapids metro

•Wrote a profile on one of the entrepreneurs operating out of the MERGE Innovation Space in Iowa City

•Collaborated with ICAD staff as well as UI students to create and support new programming at the MERGE Innovation Space

Links to the pitch deck that lead to the creation of this opportunity as well as the profile I wrote are included below.

Community Outreach & Content Strategy Intern

I've crafted copy at an NYC ad agency, built investor presentations for a design firm in West LA, and developed curriculum & partnership efforts at two international EdTech companies. 

Companies associated with my work have raised over $150M across Seed-Series B rounds since 2019. 

At Venture Validator, I use target market research to help pre-seed founders clarify their path to product-market fit. 

The result? Our clients can raise their first investment round from a position of strength. 

Feel free to review the Recommendations section of my LI profile to learn how this work has benefitted past coworkers, collaborators and clients.

Zach Harris

"Soooo, how the heck did you end up as a ghostwriter?"

I get this a lot - 

And I get it, it's not something you think about when you're growing up.

But I love it anyway. I get to spend time speaking with the people at the forefront of construction. And I get to help more people bring their voices online. 

I was frustrated and wanted to figure out how I could solve some of most pressing issues of our time. Living in SF, the most common complaint I heard was "the rent is too high!" or "there's so many homeless people!" Guess what? 

That's the same problem!

So I dove deep into the construction world and what I learned fascinated me. 

How in the world could construction be a $13 Trillion industry, yet be one of the oldest and outdated? How could so many people work in construction, yet most people still use pen, paper, and email, as their main workflows?

It's clear that construction needs an upgrade. 

And I found out that there were a lot of great people working on startups. But no one knew they existed! So I realized that I could help them make a name for themselves.

So what does this mean for you?

Well, I help you and your startup generate and capture attention at scale. Using LinkedIn and Lead Magnets to help educate the industry on who you are and how you help. You can see an example below. 

Feel free to send me a message, I'll respond within 24 hours and it's always me (not automated).

taplio

The Battle

Zach Harris

Derek Wong

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