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July 2022

Hello, friends! As you enjoy the season's balmy 100+ temps and excessive heat warnings (and hopefully figure out a way to escape to cooler climes a time or two), Next Coast Ventures is back with some cool news and ways to chill in our latest ATXnology.

Here are the highlights of what’s been going on with our firm since the last ATXnology newsletter in April:

Audience announced it raised a $10M Series A investment round. We were thrilled to lead the round for the platform combining robotic handwritten notes, precision-targeted lead generation and digital marketing follow-up. Read more →
Submittable announced its $47M Series C to accelerate the expansion of its social impact programs. We were excited to participate with follow-on investment in the round, led by Accel-KKR. Read more →
Amy raised $6M in Seed financing to grow its platform helping enterprise sales through AI. Next Coast Ventures led this round alongside Lorne Abony, with additional participation from other investors. Read more →

Colorcast closed a $3.5M Seed round and announced plans to expand into sports betting with major sports book partners. Next Coast Ventures led the round, with participation from Tribeca Early Stage Partners, Capital Factory. Harvard Business School Angels, among others. Read more →

CoreChain announced $4.2M in Seed Financing to continue building the first digital B2B payments network built on blockchain. With Ulu ventures leading the round, Next Coast participated alongside Connecticut Innovations, Bloccelerate VC, New Form Capital, Motivate Venture Capital, SaaS Venture Capital and Angeles Investors. Read more →

Trending Now: Customer Success

Next Coast Ventures' recent webinar with Mike Smerklo and Gainsight CEO Nick Mehta rewarded portfolio company founders and their teams with deep insight from two customer success OGs at a time when customer retention is at the forefront many minds.

This event was invite-only to our portfolio, but the insights were so strong that we wanted to share them with the entire entrepreneur community. 

📖 5 Things Every Company Must Do Right Now for Customer Retention

🎧 Then, listen to Nick's advice for scoring customer health on Soundcloud 

👀 Stay In The Know

Austin is now the Gen Z capital of America, where entry-level hiring grew by 21% from 2020 to 2021. #Austin

Speaking of hiring, Next Coast Ventures is seeking a talented accounting manager to join our team and work closely with firm leadership. This is a highly impactful role with a significant opportunity for growth. Learn more here#NextCoastNews🌀 #Austin

Self-awareness at the leadership level is crucial to building a great business. That's just one of the takeaways Mike Smerklo shared with Misfit Entrepreneur Podcast host Dave Lukas during their recent chat about what it takes to build a billion dollar company. #NextCoastNews🌀

Could banking Bitcoin be good for your health? CrowdHealth members can give it a go, thanks to a recently announced partnership with Swan Bitcoin#NextCoastNews🌀 #Austin

Austin tech workers' salaries make up 91% of what their San Francisco Bay Area counterparts bring home, yet the cost of living is 49% lower in ATX vs. SF. #NextCoastNews🌀 #Austin

Got Moxi? A handful of hospitals around the country that do are loving how Digital Robotics' Moxi "co-bot" supports nurses and helps them spend more time with patients. #NextCoastNews🌀

As part of their first time ever joint event, Austin Startup Week is joining November's worldwide Global Entrepreneurship Week and accepting applications for local Community Organizers.  #Austin

Next Coast Ventures portfolio company ICON is proof additive construction has finally made it into the mainstream. #NextCoastNews🌀  #Austin

Looking ahead, join Everly Health's Julia Cheek, ICON's Evan Loomis and our own Mike Smerklo at the National Venture Capital Association's one-day Board Service Excellence Forum event at Austin's Capital Factory on Sept 15th. #NextCoastNews🌀  #Austin

😎 Stay Trendy

🎟️ Check out Bat Fest 2022 August 27th for Congress Ave. festivities against a musical backdrop from the Toadies, Chamillionaire, Fetty Wap, Bun B and more.

🎧 Listen to Austin guitarist Eric Johnson's two new albums (but maybe not simultaneously), both planned for release on July 30.

🍽️ Eat at the newly opened Austin location of Honey Pig, the East Coast Korean BBQ joint doling out bulgolgi, bibimbap and brisket you can grill yo'self.

🍹 Grab a coffee, kombucha or cocktail at Buzz Mill to start or end your day (you can do both on the same visit at the 24/7 Riverside location) 🤪 

📚 Read a book (or three) from an author on the recently announced lineup for the Texas Book Festival, returning in November after a two-year hiatus. Your choices include well-reviewed new releases from the likes of Omar Epps, Sandra Brown, Angie Cruz and many more.

🤔 Stay Curious

🌮 Here's something to taco 'bout: Austin's iconic Tex-Mex restaurant El Rancho is celebrating its 70th birthday. First opened in 1952 as a 40-person home-cooking spot, it now endures as one of Austin's largest, with seating for up to 500.

⛷️ Feeling the heat? News for your chill factor: Austin is getting a new direct flight to Vail come December. 

🐝 Austin officially became a Bee City USA affiliate this year, a recognition of the City's commitment to protecting pollinators.

💃 In other B-related news, The Bachelorette is back -- and an Austin tech exec is already rumored to be one of the season's final four hopefuls.

⭐ Stay Humble...NOT!

Here are some of the awards our portfolio companies secured in the last few months. Congrats to all the founders and teams that work hard day in, day out.

🏆BOXT is named best boxed wine delivery service of 2022 by Food & Wine.  #NextCoastNews🌀  #Austin

🏆 TrustRadius received its official designation as a Great Place to Work-certified company from Great Places to Work. #NextCoastNews🌀  #Austin

🏆 Speaking of great places to work, Next Coast Ventures portfolio companies AlertMedia and FloorFound both took home honors in Austin Business Journal's 2022 Best Places to Work awards. #NextCoastNews🌀  #Austin

🏆 The team at Zapier named Next Coast Ventures portfolio company Enboarder a top 5 Best Employee Onboarding Software tool for '22. #NextCoastNews🌀  #Austin

🏆 Stoplight was recognized as a Market Leader and API Design Momentum Leader in the recently announced G2 Summer API Grid Report#NextCoastNews🌀  #Austin

Entrepreneurship Checkpoint:

Beware 👏of 👏False 👏Positives 👏

Every early stage entrepreneur dreams of the day they can announce (and celebrate) the first big, early sales win.

But what happens when that big win is actually not repeatable in a way that will allow your company to scale? We call that a false positive, a result the science community defines as “a test result which incorrectly indicates that a particular condition or attribute is present.”

Wait, hold on. Isn't that early big sales win a sign that everything's finally working and your team is on a roll that ends in certain success? 

It might be -- but it also might be a sneaky false positive in disguise. Here's the good news: Mike Smerklo's latest post on the Next Coast Ventures blog will help you evaluate your next big win and learn how to up-level from false positive into repeatable sales.

📖 Is that Early Sales Win a False Positive in Disguise?


👋
See you in the fall (mops brow) 
Until then, follow along with us on social:
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