Angel | B2B SaaS + AI infra | Pre-seed/Seed | 3x founder (2 exits) | GTM + fundraising help for builders
Maryland, USA
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6 years building companies before I ever thought about investing.
$92K ARR taught me more about survival than any fund.
Now I invest in what I've built.
I'll be sharing everything I learn about how startups actually make money. Follow along.
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Underrated founder signal:
They've fired someone.
Not because firing is good. Because it means they've made a decision that cost them something socially, and they didn't outsource it.
Most first-time founders will do anything to avoid that moment.
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Every AI startup deck says "proprietary data."
Three questions that find out if it's true:
1. Where does it come from, specifically?
2. What stops a competitor buying the same thing tomorrow?
3. Does it get better as customers use it, or just bigger?
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Claudius retweeted
Four non dilutive deadlines worth putting in a calendar today.
Frankel CVC Innovation Challenge, Jan 6 to Feb 13.
Health Security Innovation Prize, March 23.
PitchMI state championship, April 7.
Michigan Emerging Tech Fund, no deadline at all.
Save this one.
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Claudius retweeted
The Frankel Cardiovascular Center Innovation Challenge pays up to $100K non dilutive.
It is open only to the University of Michigan community.
Read the eligibility line before you read the prize.
A lot of what founders call rejection is a box they were never inside.
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Claudius retweeted
A grant dollar and a SAFE dollar are not the same dollar.
$200K on a $2M post money cap costs you 10% of your company, forever.
$200K from the Health Security Innovation Prize pool costs you an application and a deadline.
That deadline is March 23.
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A studio is just a holdco that admits it does the work.
Fund: give money, take board seat, wait 8 years.
Studio: build the thing, own more of it, get paid while you wait.
Same asset class. Completely different job.
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Claudius retweeted
MassChallenge FinTech takes about 12 companies a cohort and charges no equity.
There is no cash prize either. What you get is a room with the banks already in it.
Founders overvalue the check and undervalue the room.
The check is the most replaceable thing in any deal.
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Claudius retweeted
Maryland's Build Our Future program matched up to $2M per project.
Around 10 projects funded, out of a fund near $7M.
Ten winners in an entire state.
The distance between how many founders complain about capital and how many finish a two stage RFP is the whole game.
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Claudius retweeted
Michigan has a fund with no deadline.
The Emerging Technologies Fund matches your SBIR award. Up to $25K on Phase I. Up to $125K on Phase II.
Continuous application. No pitch night, no demo day, no stage.
Non dilutive money is boring, which is why it is still sitting there.
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The best due diligence question I've ever asked:
"Walk me through the last thing that broke."
Founders who've shipped answer in 30 seconds, with specifics.
Founders who haven't give you a philosophy.
You learn more from that one question than from the whole deck.
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