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Sure Shot Entrepreneur Newsletter

Mistral, K9, TrustLayer: The Sure Shot Entrepreneur Newsletter

Published 11 months ago • 2 min read

Hello Reader,

Your attention is valuable, and we never take it for granted, even when you've chosen to open this email. In this edition, venture investor Pablo Srugo shares his insider playbook for founders looking to capture (and keep) investor attention.

While I have your attention, don't miss an eye-opening analysis on AI adoption trends from researchers Peter Zemsky and Ricky Wong, who've mined Github data to uncover which companies, regions, and industries are leading the AI revolution.

– Gopi Rangan, Host of the The Sure Shot Entrepreneur podcast​

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Startup Corner: TrustLayer

​TrustLayer and Nationwide have joined forces to simplify and secure insurance verification for commercial customers. This innovative partnership enables real-time validation of insurance policies, eliminating outdated, paper-based processes.

Rob Chenoweth, VP of National Technical Underwriting at Nationwide, explains, "This relationship with TrustLayer is designed to simplify the insurance verification process for our customers and distribution partners."

TrustLayer’s AI-powered platform ensures businesses can securely automate verification for insurance, licenses, and compliance documents—addressing a significant pain point for enterprises across industries.

Now on to the new podcast episode!

New Podcast:

Look for Early Believers, Not Just Capital Providers

​My guest in Episode #158 was Pablo Srugo, partner at Mistral Venture Partners and host of The Product Market Fit Show, shares his journey from co-founding startups like Gymtrack to becoming a venture capitalist focused on seed-stage investments.

Pablo reflects on the lessons he learned as both a founder and an investor, including raising $6 million for a wearable tech company and facing the challenges of a failed acquisition. He emphasizes the importance of founder passion, solving top-priority customer problems, and understanding the "why" behind ventures. With only 10% of first meetings turning into investments, Pablo offers an honest look at what makes founders stand out and succeed.

Connected Insights: How Venture Capital Drives Real-World Change from Sandhill Road

​In episode #111, my guest was Manu Kumar, founder and partner at K9 Ventures, who invests at the "frighteningly early" pre-seed and seed stages. Manu explained how his solo GP model enables him to build deep, high-conviction relationships with founders during the inception of their ideas. Like Pablo Srugo, he emphasizes the importance of founder conviction and solving meaningful, impactful problems.

Manu highlighted the transformative potential of venture capital when paired with founder passion and a clear vision. His investments in Twilio and Lyft exemplify the power of high-conviction bets. Reflecting on Twilio, he shared: "I ended up sitting next to a Twilio co-founder at a dinner. He described how they were putting telephony in the cloud. Having worked with expensive hardware for the same problem, I knew instantly that this was brilliant."

His story with Lyft (originally Zimride) underscores the value of persistence. Although he couldn’t align on terms with the founders in 2009, Manu stayed in touch for over a year. Impressed by their determination, he joined their seed round when the opportunity arose.

Community Involvement: AchieveKids

For more than a decade, I have volunteered as a board member at AchieveKids. For over 60 years, AchieveKids has created opportunities for students between the ages of 5 and 22 in special education through exceptional schools and collaborative educational services. They enable students with special needs to achieve the maximum possible self-reliance and quality of life, and look to the future with confidence.

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Sure Shot Entrepreneur Newsletter

Gopi Rangan

Enable Peace of Mind for all. We believe in mission-driven entrepreneurs at the earliest stages before the rest of the world realizes the impact of their visionary ideas. This newsletter pairs well with our podcast that shares all the funders and founders' knowledge to startup and scale your ideas. All the best, Gopi

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