Very True by Verissimo

In this conversation, Alex Oppenheimer of Verissimo Ventures and Nick Fitz of Juniper Ventures discuss venture math, seed investing philosophy, building and fundies AI companies, selling secondary and much more. Just two emerging VC managers talking shop during a spontaneous car ride in San Francisco.  Keywords startups, venture capital, investment strategies, AI talent, liquidity, fund management...

In this episode of Very True , Alex sits down with Avi Moskowitz, Founder and CEO of PDQ , to explore the evolution of e-commerce from a simple "copy-paste" of retail to a data-driven, personalized experience. Avi shares his unique entrepreneurial journey—from bootstrapping an ISP and selling medical software to managing a craft beer business in Israel—and how those diverse "chapters" led him to t...

From the high-pressure grind of logistics to a strategic exit in AI: Neri Bluman joins Alex to discuss his journey from Avo to XFunnel. They dive into the "generalist" superpower, the vital importance of taking a career break, and how Neri and his co-founder Beeri built a lean, profitable engine that was acquired by HubSpot in under a year—all without sacrificing their sanity. ____________________...

Alex delves into the complexities of raising venture capital in today's market. Despite the abundance of available funds, the process remains challenging due to market idiosyncrasies. Alex shares valuable frameworks and strategies for founders to navigate the fundraising landscape effectively, emphasizing the importance of understanding the different types of conversations with venture capitalists...

What actually matters in building your career? What is the best place to start? How do you navigate this?  I have had many conversations with young people over the years on this subject, and I am happy to share some insights here. 

Startup valuations get discussed like baseball player stats, but they're much less well-defined. When primary capital is at stake, the calculations are different. Happy to share here some of those nuances and how founders and investors should approach startup valuations.  Check out the fundraising framework here https://verissimo.vc/resources-for-founders

Startup success stories are usually stories of unique circumstances and personalities - each one like a snowflake.  Startup failures fit into a handful of categories. That's what we're talking about today.  Companies with high potential that avoid the pitfalls are the ones that find success - either small, medium or large. But if you can't avoid the unforced errors, you haven't even given yourself...

We are amidst yet another swing of the pendulum when it comes to the software vs. services debate. Is it possible to have high value, low touch software? Are we better off just offering high end consulting services using custom tools?  I am excited to share my conversation with Gabi Steele, CEO of Preql who has done both as she discusses the opportunities and challenges presented by the current ar...

Legendary Silicon Valley episode illustrates this question so well, I just have to leave it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzAdXyPYKQo (Contains expletives).  How are startups valued pre-revenue? Is it better to stay in that zone as long as possible? 

Happy to share a discussion with Yaakov Carno, founder of Valubyl, which is a leading PLG consulting agency focused on the specific bottle neck of user activation. He shares stories from the trenches of working with dozens of companies and helping navigate their product and growth optimization.  Follow Yaakov on social media to get his latest tips and ideas on how to maximize user activation: http...

Is ARR dead with the advent of AI companies? Do we even know what ARR is? Why does it matter? Why is everyone so confused about it?  Nerding out on tech finance finance, yet again.  related posts:  https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1CUxLWt16Ky5eulArPm4cTSubkZWQ8rkBDPVZWHwJxUU/edit https://alexoppenheimer.substack.com/p/inventing-arr https://alexoppenheimer.substack.com/p/calculus-in-saas  

Want to be the next $50Bn startup? Maybe... maybe not.  How the economics change the reality on the ground, even at the early stage.  Subscribe to our monthly updates here: https://verissimo.substack.com/

Today I discuss the painful reality of venture: investors are wrong a lot. They lose money. But are all mistakes created equal? Or is there a better way to be wrong. I dive in here to review a market take that I had ~3 years ago to see how things have developed in the market and in my one portfolio when it comes to the less fortunate situations in early-stage investing.  As always, feel free to re...

In this episode, I break down the Financial Operations Flow. This is targeted towards CEOs (CFOs can also listen if they want), to help business leaders better understand how to quantify the resource allocation they need to be doing all the time.  Every business needs a digital twin... Good news: for most of them, Excel is a sufficient tool to have a huge impact - it just needs to be used correctl...

🎧 New on the Podcast: The Evolving Role of a CTO This episode dives deep into how the CTO role evolves—from early-stage coding to scaling teams, making strategic decisions, and integrating AI without losing your technical edge. Featuring: Michael Stoppelman, Former SVP Engineering at Yelp Gustav Rydstedt, Chief Architect at Chegg, former CTO & Co-founder of Verbling Moderated by Nitay Joffe,...

🎧 New on the Podcast: Legal Essentials for Founders In this episode of the It’s All About Everything series, we dive into the legal foundations every founder should get right from day one. From filing your 83(b) on time to guiding your legal team through negotiations and keeping a clean cap table, our expert panel breaks down the critical legal decisions that can make—or break—your startup's futu...

🎧 New on the Podcast: Tax Strategies and Wealth Management In this episode of the It’s All About Everything series, we break down the financial essentials every founder should understand before—and after—a liquidity event. From QSBS and 83(b) elections to trust structures and the family office mindset, our expert panel shares real-world strategies to help you protect your upside and build long-te...