👋🏾 Hi friends!

This week I sit down with Kiran Mehta, investor at Mercia Ventures, we talk about everything from the changing VC landscape to why decks and financial models aren’t the be all and end all and why founders might want to think about them differently.

In other news, I’ll be joining a panel of CFOs hosted by Vertice and Pleo to discuss:

• How to balance daily tasks with tech management

• Identifying and preventing tech overspend

• Tips for conducting tech audits

• How to decide on tech contracts

And plenty more… So if you’re a finance pro working in a high growth venture, join us on the 27th June at | 10AM BST | 11AM CEST | 3PM EST.

Register here to watch live or to get the recording 💪🏾

I’m well underway writing about all the things I’ve learned from the last couple of decades as founder, CFO and CEO, so sign up for early access to Off Balance - The Book and feel free to share with anyone else you think might enjoy it 😄.

Now let’s get down to business…

𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗸𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝘂𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀 💡

In this week's episode of Nothing Ventured, I sat down with Kiran Mehta, Investment Manager at Mercia Ventures, a national venture capital provider, which has been closing the funding gap across the UK, partnering with exciting start-up and scaleup businesses.

Prior to joining Mercia, Kiran worked at Lloyds Bank and the Real Estate Equity Fund.

My top takeaways:

1️⃣ 𝐅𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐃𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐀𝐭: Kiran noted the importance of pursuing something you enjoy and excel in. He highlighted the significance of prioritising working with smart people and how venture is chaotic yet rewarding. Good founders will always have a chance in any market, regardless of the challenges they face.

2️⃣ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐄𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐉𝐨𝐛 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭: Kiran discussed the rapid changes in the job market and the evolving landscape of education. He highlighted the need for students to prioritise their interests and skills, especially if they aspire to head into the world of venture capital. The discussion shed light on the importance of adapting to changing job cycles and market conditions.

3️⃣ 𝐁𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐄𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲: The conversation touched upon the shift towards capital efficiency and the intersection of venture-style growth with financial prudence. Kiran highlighted the challenges faced by founders in deciding between pursuing profitability or continuing to raise capital. The discussion provided valuable insights into the evolving dynamics of venture funding and the need for sustainable growth strategies.

We also touched on:

🪐 How you can’t live in a parallel universe, do what you love and what you’re great at.
🧠 Why you should prioritise working with really smart people.
🦋 How venture is chaos.
💪🏾 Why great founders will have a chance in any stage of the market
📈 Why founders need to internalise that growth is still very important even as they have to be more capital efficient.
👩🏼‍🏫 Decks and financial models are great, but they aren't everything.
💥 The disproportionate effect that investors can have by driving support.

Check it out!

Else listen on Spotify or Apple

If you have any feedback, or if there’s something you’re desperate to see me include, just reply to this mail or ping me online - I’m very open to conversations.

If you like what I’m putting out, do give me a follow on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.

(If you are trying to connect with me on LinkedIn, maybe read this post I wrote and make sure to start your request with “Off Balance” and, more importantly, tell me why you’d like to connect 💪🏾)

Don’t forget to like, rate and subscribe to Nothing Ventured on Apple, Spotify or YouTube, it really helps more people see what we’re doing - you can find links to these (and more including my Office Hours) right here!

As always, my office hours are open, if you’d like to chat about anything finance, tech or venture releated, just grab some time 😊.

I hope you found Off Balance #40 valuable. As always, I’d love to get your feedback and understand the sort of topics you would love to hear about.

Just hit reply to this mail or drop me a line at [email protected] and let me know 😊

🚀And that’s a wrap for this edition of Off Balance - I’d appreciate your feedback so just reply to this email if you’ve got something you’d like to say.

📨 If you think someone else might love this, please forward it on to them,

🎧 Finally, if you’re a fan of the Nothing Ventured podcast, please don’t forget to like, rate and subscribe wherever you get your pods - it really helps us spread the word.

That’s it from me so until next time…

Stay liquid :)

Aarish

With Deal Sheet you get curated, actively investable startup opportunities sent once per week

High upside startup investments used to be reserved for big funds and billionaires. Now we’re reserving them for Deal Sheet members. Subscribers have gotten access to deals alongside Sam Altman, Google Ventures and a16z. Join to get the hottest startup investment opportunities emailed to you every week.

Click to book a call to learn more.