Fidelity Private Shares’ Post

Austin Tech Week, and the sessions hosted by Capital Factory, challenge me to think deeper. They are reframing the way I think about growth and how KPIs and ROIs are more than transactional. Yesterday, Gordon Daugherty's and Tycely Williams' sessions hit something deeper in me: my aha moments! Gordon explained how to work backwards from outcomes when planning a fundraising round: 1) First, define the specific aims. 2) Then, calculate what it actually takes to reach them. (And note to founders: adding personnel isn’t a specific aim or outcome; it’s part of the how.) For me, it reframed how defining outcomes to an investor mirrors an elevator pitch. They invite the question, “How will you make that milestone happen?” Then Tycely's session added a deeper layer to the meaning of Return of Investments (ROIs). She highlighted the moral integrity that connects social identities and builds trust. While ROI often seems transactional, she showed how values themselves can also drive ROI. Tying moral integrity and values to outcomes using Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and ROIs to measure the outcomes brings meaning back into the equation and reinforces how to build a successful solution. So here’s my question for you: When you try a new tool or habit system, do you measure its success by the results you see or by how aligned it feels with who you are and what matters most? #BizOpsNinjas #AustinTechWeek #ATW #CapitalFactory #SanAntonioStartups #AustinStartups #FounderLife

How do you build better products without breaking the people behind them? Kris Nicolaou (Founder & CEO, Brain Box Labs) took the stage to remind us that great software starts with great people. 💬 “Before you scale your product, scale your humanity.” From avoiding founder burnout to choosing what really matters, Kris broke down the art of minimum viable everything, building what’s essential, not excessive. It’s not just about shipping features; it’s about creating products (and teams) that last. #SAASNORTH #ProductLeadership #StartupLife #HumanCenteredTech #CanadianTech

After a week of TechCrunch + SF micro-meetups: the clearest bubble signal isn’t valuation, it is the gap in critical thinking. Try it yourself, just ask anyone at a SF startup event: Which parts of the system you are building must be deterministic, and which are model-generated? If you replace the model with rules or templates, what breaks and what still works? What metric proves lift on the core task, and how does it compare to a deterministic baseline? The answers get vague fast.

Tough Tech is solving our world's greatest challenges — yet turning breakthrough science into scalable impact takes more than an idea. It takes a home with the resources to bridge the gap. At The Engine, we equip early-stage Tough Tech companies with the infrastructure, programs, and ecosystem they need to move from discovery to deployment — faster, stronger, and with lasting commercial impact. Watch our new brand video to see how The Engine is empowering the next generation of world-changing #ToughTech companies.

Big ideas don’t matter if they don’t solve real problems. Brad Husick, founder of Helix Earth, talks with Dean Indot about what it takes to start something bold – and why listening to customers can be your most powerful technology. Million Stories in partnership with ProfitHub #entrepreneurjourney #startupstory #businessownertips

Building and managing a board on autopilot can only get you so far. Ticking off the basics, like procedure, attendance, size, and equity, has long-formed the basic recipe for good governance. But building a high-impact board requires you to dig deeper.   Chemistry is a key ingredient that’s missing from many startup and mid-stage boards today. In our Global Board Report Series, we analyse the traits that some of the highest performing boards share, and explain how founders can build a board that’s intentional, and more likely to generate innovation. Launching the first week of November, we’re releasing three deep-dive regional reports covering: 👉 The United States 👉 The UK & Europe 👉 Asia-Pacific and Japan Each report includes a Global Snapshot of the trends reshaping start-up and scale-up boards worldwide. This is a resource you really can’t afford to miss. Join the waitlist: https://hubs.li/Q03NQlrG0 Jonathan Jeffries (JJ) Anthony Sochan Katie Rose Hester Paul Mitchinson Jacqui Rowlands Robert Bryant Stuart Kelly Elisia Retsas Tim Clark William McCahey Simon Robinson Lucy Chisholm Bevan Hornsby Ophelia Basgal Peter Needle Jay Allardyce #GlobalBoardReportSeries2025

Want to thrive in the life sciences arena and not just survive? Think of the industry as a chessboard, not a game of checkers. ♟️ Knowing who the power players are (and how they move) can be the difference between checkmate and getting benched. Whether you’re eyeing the giants or watching the startups rewriting the rules, this guide breaks down how to: 🔍 Identify market movers 📈 Analyze their strategies 🧠 Spot your next opportunity before it hits the mainstream Ready to map the maze? 👉 https://bit.ly/47uKXYb #LifeSciences #BiotechStrategy #PharmaMoves #CompetitiveIntel #IndustrySavvy #GeneCoda

The ScaleNL Accelerator East Coast is already transforming mindsets! 🤯 🚀 Scaling a tech company to the US is a massive undertaking, and you don't have to do it alone. That's the power of the right community. 🤝 During the Program Kick-off, founders experienced a real shift in perspective, and the impact was immediate. Hearing their takeaways firsthand is the best proof of what can happen in just a few days. So what resonated most? • The critical mindset shift required for the US market. • Clear, practical steps toward a bulletproof Go-to-Market strategy. • The non-negotiable value of a peer founder community. Watch to hear their insights! 👇 💬 What's the biggest mindset shift you had to make when scaling to a new market? #EC25 #DutchTech

What not to do during Tech Crunch week (or at any other event). Lots of people will share how great conferences are, but rarely will you get one extreme example of what NOT to do as a founder. This post is that. I happened to attend 3 conferences this week in Silicon Valley. On the 3rd day of Tech Crunch, I happened to be a volunteer SOCAP Global 2025 and a door greeter. I watched as a founder wandered over from Tech Crunch to our event down the street and it’s a warning to founders that, we as VC are always watching. This founder proceeded to try to get in free and upon that failing, he sought to get our insider info on which people were investors. I advised him to pay the daily fee for the conference and he proceeded to tell me that $600 was too much to invest. I understand founders budgets are stretched thin, but seeing him clearly try to milk the system was appalling. I recognized him as someone who had reached out for a meeting to seek investment from Plus Ultra and his actions said more than any cold DM could. If someone can’t invest in themselves or to be in rooms with investors, then how can I, as a VC, justify dropping millions to fund their startup. Another VC may see his resilience and persistence as a positive and reason to invest in him, I saw the opposite. I advised him to walk around the outdoor tables and read badges of our attendees to see who was a VC. That was obviously too much for him as he didn’t even bother to see my volunteer badge clearly had my investor status listed. Side note: take the 2 seconds to look at someone’s badge to see who they are. While he doesn’t know that I observed this behavior and feel lucky I dodged a bullet to even take an intro call, let it be a cautionary tale to pay attention outside your tunnel vision as a founder and be in awareness. #readtheroom #justsayno #movebeyondtransactional #buildingrelationships #trust

An MVP proves the idea, but it’s rarely built for users at scale. At Hygge, we help teams turn those first, scrappy MVPs into stable, scalable products ready for real users, investors, and growth. Our approach: Rebuild for performance and usability Preserve agility Prepare for scaling and funding readiness Because validation is just the beginning, what comes next determines success. What’s stopping your MVP from becoming a real product? #MVPDevelopment #StartupTech #WebAppDevelopment #ScalingProducts #TechLeadership