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

Builders Press

A content agency built for the construction tech world

Founder

TheGuarantors

Insurance for leases. It's so straightforward, you wonder how this didn't already exist. It's cool, we're growing a lot, which is rare in this economy and I get to work remotely. 

My proudest achievement? A customer from North Carolina called me "sweet" and offered a job to work for her because I was so helpful.

Customer Success Analyst

Unicorner

Writing company profiles of early stage startups. This is where I got my feet wet in the writing world. Probably the best place for any student to get started in their career.

Construction Writer

I write a blog that's like if Tim Urban and Jack Raines had a baby in Silicon Valley. It's about work, technology and the future. Everyone's talking about how AI is going to change the world. I kinda talk about AI, but also other aspects of life, like how much we work, my favorite authors and what the future might look like. If you wanna know more, you can follow it here!

Owner & Writer

Fundable Startups

After the FBI didn't work out I started working for my dad. I did a little bit of everything since it was just us two for the longest time. Ads, analytics, event planning and everything in between. 

My proudest achievement? I spun up Google Ads that brought in leads at half the cost of a consultant. It was pretty cool

Customer Success and Operations Manager

Suitemate

Started a company for a business class. Got to meet some cool people and build a website. Of course we never realized how difficult it was build a functioning product.

Co-Founder

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

I had a summer internship that got cancelled by covid. I had applied, got drug tested and met multiple FBI agents. It was the best experience I never had

Summer Intern

Bay Area Christian Church

We partnered with a local Boys and Girls club and I worked with kids who are way cooler than me.

"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).

Derek Wong

We're in the middle of ConTech 3.0. Here's what AEC founders need to know about navigating AI and construction. 

Construction tech is in the middle of an explosion.

I recently had a conversation with 2 founders who aren't from the industry, who asked, "Is it good to get into ConTech? We don't see a lot of investment in the industry."

Well, if FieldAI raising a $405 Million Series A leaves you with any doubts, then I can't help you. 

But part of understanding how to navigate the landscape is understanding where the industry has been to understand where it's going. 

So let's start with ConTech 1.0.

Modern day ConTech started in 2002.

Yes, Autodesk has been around for multiple decades longer than Procore Technologies, but Procore's founding is a significant landmark in construction technology. Founded in 2002, right after the dot-com rise and crash, Tooey founded Procore out of his own frustration to digitize the paper and pen processes he saw everywhere. This marked the first significant time contractors started shifting from pen and paper to technology. 

It took many decades, but now Procore has become ubiquitous when mentioning ConTech. 

ConTech 2.0 was born in 2011 with PlanGrid, an Autodesk company.

Founded by Tracy Young, Ralph Gootee, Ryan Sutton-Gee, & Kenny Stone, Plangrid was one of the first to take advantage of iPads, which were just released the previous year. Suddenly, it became much easier for field teams to take a piece of technology with them. 

At this point, more and more of the construction industry had come online. Now, they were trying to get connected with others (see BuildingConnected).

A common thread has emerged.

When a wider technology breakthrough had occurred (the internet, mobile), founders quickly came in to build solutions that were previously impossible. 

Which brings us to ConTech 3.0.

In November 2022, ChatGPT was released. 

It turned the whole world upside down. It was the fastest app in history to 100 million users (it took them just 60 days), while it took apps like Instagram 2.5 years. And AI has evolved even faster since then. 

AI Coding tools have become commonplace. What used to take a team of 15 engineers can be accomplished by a team of 3 and copilot. 

There are more startups in construction than ever before, and I suspect more people will continue to pile in. But with product and engineering having a lower barrier to entry, distribution becomes the most important moat. Especially with so many contractors having "point-solution fatigue".

So what does this mean for AEC startups moving forward?

Nail your sales and marketing teams. 

Trust is the one commodity that AI can't spit out for you. There's so much noise, people have no idea who to trust. So build out content for your customers, hire great salespeople, and thank me later. 

~
P.S. If you're looking to grow your voice on LinkedIn, shoot me a message. That's what I do

Founder @ Builders Press | I Make AEC Founders Into Thought Leaders Through Ghostwriting | Founder-Led Branding for Seed-Series B CEOs

I don’t typically do this, but Suffolk Technologies Demo Day was the best event I’ve been to in a long time…

Hosted at their HQ, we walked into a huge auditorium. Easily 250-300 people there, and the energy is buzzing like a bee. You can feel the American pride with the flags in the background.

Jeevan Kalanithi opens with a great keynote about the story of Openspace. The many ups (and many many downs) of trying to run a startup through the pandemic. 

But, I’m trying to take after Jeevan and take myself less seriously (“The worst thing that can happen is the company fails 🤷‍♂️”)

 We then get to the pitches.

ARKI (Natalia Bakaeva) - Too many architects waste time looking for details.

Cyphra Autonomy (Sean Ward) - Why do people carry materials on job sites when we have robots?

Dig Energy, Inc. (Dulcie Madden) - A radically cheaper, quieter, and easier way to drill.

Hardline (Alena Tuttle) - Turning calls into organization so well, superintendents reach out on LinkedIn.

MOD (Yashar Moradi) - Open-source to help developers get access to the best local pre-fab.

Neuron Factory (Salil Pandit) - How can you 2x a GC without increasing overhead? Let’s talk with the pre-con stakeholders.

Ouros Materials (Teresa Liu) - Preventing the next wildfire disaster with fire-resistant materials 🔥🔥

Puppet Robotics (Gabe Rodriguez) - Stop putting your best talent in danger. Use a robot instead.

—

Big shout out to Parker Mundt, Carly Joos, and the rest of the Suffolk Tech team. What an awesome event that was a great experience. I can’t imagine the work that went into all this.

There’s so much more I want to write about Boston Built Week, but this is a good place to start.

I apologize if I made any mistakes when describing the companies. I’ve been up too long and I need to go to bed.

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The Battle

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