|
Hello, friends! In effort to beat the holiday promotions and end of year deadlines that are sure to flood your inbox, Next Coast Ventures is back with the final ATXnology for 2021. The next time this short, smart, and yet incredibly engaging newsletter will grace your inbox is in 2022.
Here are the highlights of what’s been going on with our firm since the last ATXnology newsletter on September 9:
|
|
|
Julie Dodd joined Next Coast Ventures as Venture Partner. Julie is the former COO, CSO, and General Manager at Ultimate Software and has led industry-leading tech companies for 20+ years. We are thrilled to have her on board. Read more →
|
|
|
|
Tenfold was acquired by LivePerson (LPSN), a global leader in conversational AI. Next Coast Ventures invested in Tenfold four years ago, alongside other great investors, Andreessen Horowitz, Salesforce Ventures, Geekdom Fund, and Pat Condon. Read more →
|
|
|
BOXT celebrated its one year birthday and announced a $9.35 million raise to expand its luxury brand of fine wine offerings. We were thrilled to lead the round and invest alongside WX Brands and Silicon Valley Bank. Read more → |
|
|
BrainCheck raised a $10M series B. We were thrilled to lead this round joining existing investor S3 Ventures as we partner with Founder Dr. Yael Katz and the team to transform cognitive health assessment and care for Alzheimer’s and related dementias. Read more → |
|
|
Osano raised $11M and launched an AI-driven data discovery tool, as well as, the industry’s first “No fines, no penalties” pledge. We invested alongside new investors Jump Capital, TDF Ventures and existing investor, Live Oak Partners. Read more → |
|
|
UpEquity raised a Series B. With S3 Ventures leading the round, Next Coast Ventures also invested, alongside BP Capital Management, Alumni Ventures, Gaingels, Launchpad Capital and Early Light Ventures. Read more → |
|
|
ABLE joined the Next Coast Ventures portfolio. ABLE is the first income management platform designed for the new economy of independent workers. We invested alongside Elefund, Signal Peak Ventures, Moonshots Capital, and LocalGlobe. Read more → |
|
|
We're growing the Next Coast Ventures team! Specifically, we are looking for a Head of Platform, Associate, and Senior Associate to join us in Austin. Interested applicants can learn more on our careers page. See our open roles → |
|
|
|
👇
Now, enough about us...
Well, not actually...we're going to keep going. We are just so excited to tell you all about what's been going on at Next Coast and in the city of Austin.
|
|
Trending Now: Next Coast Reveals New & Refreshed Investing Themes
|
|
|
Since the start of Next Coast Ventures, we have chosen to invest in themes, not sectors. Our ongoing evaluation of themes means that our firm’s list will inevitably change. This year, we once again took the opportunity to deep dive into some new themes.
We are proud to reveal Next Coast Ventures’ newly defined themes, and you can explore them all on our brand new website.
|
|
|
Austin grew +33.0% from 2010-2020, ranking us as the fastest growing large metro. #Austin
BOXT, wine membership startup, hired Steve Ryan as the new Chief Operating Officer. #NextCoastNews🌀 #Austin
Everly Health hired healthcare industry veteran Cindy R. Kent as the new Chief Operating Officer. #NextCoastNews🌀 #Austin
Next Coast portfolio company, ICON was #1 on the top funding deals in Q3 in Austin. #NextCoastNews🌀 #Austin
Texas is the 4th largest market for VC investment in the US. #Austin
Everly Health acquired Natalist, a women's health company, to further modern, accessible care for women’s reproductive health. #NextCoastNews🌀 #Austin
In Q3, Austin startups generated $2.9B + in exits and had the biggest quarter for exit value recorded since 2014. #Austin
Michael Dell tweeted about a new company in the family. His brother, Adam, is launching Domain Money...of which, we are proud investors. #NextCoastNews🌀 #Austin
Lennar, ICON, and BIG's announced their plans to build the world's largest neighborhood of 3D-printed homes in Austin. #NextCoastNews🌀 #Austin
BOXT announced their upcoming Austin tasting room. #NextCoastNews🌀 #Austin
|
|
🎟️ Check out Pat Green at the Nutty Brown Amphitheatre November 26-27. Grab a cowboy hat and get ready for some real Texas country. Yeehaw, y'all.
🎧 Listen to Pat Green to prepare for the concert. Just trying to help you out here.
🍽️ Eat at InterStellar BBQ. Recently ranked #2 BBQ in Texas, its worth the drive outside of downtown.
🍹 Grab a drink at Cosmic Coffee...you can get a coffee or a cocktail. Depending on how you like to start your day 🤪
📚 Read Greenlights, a memoir by Austin's sweetheart, Matthew McConaughey. Read it, and you too could be the narrator of that next viral car commercial.
|
|
Introducing the S.P.A.D.E. Toolkit by Gokul Rajaram, a technique for making difficult decisions formed by his time at Google and Facebook, and widely deployed at Square.
S.P.A.D.E. was built for hard decisions only - meaning, the decisions you make as a founder that would have real consequences for your entire company. In Gokul's words, "Hard decisions need sharp tools...meet the S.P.A.D.E. toolkit."
S.P.A.D.E. is an acronym that stands for:
1️⃣ Setting
2️⃣ People
3️⃣ Alternative
4️⃣ Decide
5️⃣ Explain
Read the full framework →
Have a framework you can't live without? Reply to this email and let us know, so we can share it. |
|
⭐ 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.
|
|
🏆Everly Health was named one of Inc. Magazine’s 250 best-led companies in America out of 10,000 public and private companies...go Julia and team! Well deserved.
🏆Five of our portfolio companies took home an A-LIST Award from the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce + SXSW this year. Congrats to Aceable, AlertMedia, BOX, Stoplight, TrustRadius + the many other Austin companies that brought home a victory. |
|
Entrepreneurship Checkpoint:
Standardize 👏Your 👏Company 👏Name 👏
|
|
|
Is this your company? You have an official company name, but your domain name and social media handles are all different variations of it, making your company near impossible to find online.
This grave mistake can lead to brand confusion...and even, decreased brand equity and customer loyalty.
Oftentimes, purchasing an expensive domain name is not be a good investment for an early stage venture. So, there are two steps to avoid making this mistake:
- Select one (and only one) official handle. Many brands with names that are more "common" words, will add a relevant verb in front of their name...shoutout to @DrinkBoxt.
- Standardize it across all social media platforms. Here's a quick checklist to see if/where you need to standardize your brand name:
✓ Domain name (Snag similar ones too! Keep your options open.)
✓ Medium
✓ Twitter
✓ LinkedIn
✓ Facebook
✓ TikTok
✓ Pinterest
✓ Instagram
✓ Google My Business Page
✓ Angelist
✓ YouTube
Forward this email to your Marketing/Ops person, then copy and paste this into the body: “Can you standardize our names across...well, everything? Thanks.”
|
|
|
👋
See you in 2022! (Wow, 2022...)
Until then, follow along with us on social:
|
|
|
|
|
