Jumpstart Foundry welcomed the final five additions to the 2018 portfolio in Nashville last week! Kip Health, UptimeHealth, Music City Med, Welcome Home Software and TheraB have joined the other 13 companies (who were onboarded back in May) thus wrapping up the 2018 Portfolio with a total of 18 investments.
Jumpstart invests twice a year (Q2 and Q4) and after each round of investment will host a two-day “Onboarding Session” for new portfolio companies. In the coming months, Jumpstart will evolve the “Onboarding Sessions” into “Jumpstart Summits” which will include both new and alumni portfolio companies.
“It’s important to us to get to know the companies in person and for them to get to know us and our fund.”
— Vic Gatto, CEO Jumpstart Foundry
Onboarding opens with Jumpstart’s history and value-added services then shifts to how the fund can be of strategic help to the companies with 1:1 meetings.
“We learned about different ways to strategize for our capital raise, how to approach different target customers in the market, the best ways to leverage the resources that Jumpstart Foundry provides, and much more” -Jinesh Patel, Uptime Health
A notable session was held by Dave Vreeland, Managing Director of Jumpstart Capital, Jumpstart’s sister and growth fund.
Vreeland spoke about “Suggestions for Success,” which are his explicit recommendations that can take a startup to a scaling company.
A few candid points:
Buy Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist by Feld & Mendelson. You’ll make better decisions if you understand the world you’re entering.
Learn how to sell or get someone who can onto your team
Always accept: a compliment, a breath mint, and a microphone (professionalism)
(To view the complete list, you’ll have to join our portfolio to gain access to The Refinery)
Dave Vreeland’s session was followed by a Q&A session. Portfolio companies had the ability to ask the vulnerable questions that they might not ask in a true fundraising meeting without losing confidence in the investor.
“Almost all of our portfolio companies will go on to raise additional capital, so it is valuable for our founders to talk candidly to a follow-on investor, like Dave, about the do’s and don’ts of fundraising. We try to provide as many opportunities for companies to ask their burning questions without the risk of us losing trust or confidence in them.”
— Eller Mallchok, Managing Director
“I really appreciate the candid conversations at the JSF Summit. It all can be confusing because it’s a new world and a new language for us. Jumpstart pulled back the curtain and helped us unpack“- Alphonso Harvey, Music City Med
The time the new portfolio companies and the Jumpstart team spent together allowed JSF to understand how to provide individualized value to each company. Jumpstart is bent on providing strategic value to each company and Onboarding at the Jumpstart Summit is the first of many.
“The JSF Summit far exceeded my expectations. It was a very worthwhile 36 hours, from the experience sharing and bonding with fellow entrepreneurs to the one-on-one sessions with the team members and advisors” – John Lariccia, Welcome Home Software
