Stella Garber’s Post

1. What specific features or functionalities does Hoop offer that differentiate it from existing task management tools like Trello, Asana, or Monday.com? 2. Can you elaborate on how Hoop’s AI-powered solution addresses the workplace distractions mentioned in the post? 3. How does Hoop’s integration with communication tools like Zoom and Slack enhance its usability and effectiveness for users? 4. Are there any unique AI-driven capabilities within Hoop that set it apart in terms of task organization and productivity improvement? 5. Can you provide examples of how Hoop’s advanced automation and predictive task prioritization features benefit users in real-world scenarios? 6. How does Hoop’s vision for AI-first task management align with current trends in workplace productivity and collaboration tools? 7. In what ways does Hoop aim to revolutionize the task management space, particularly in terms of addressing the needs of modern work environments? 8. What strategies does Hoop have in place to effectively communicate its value proposition to potential users and investors amidst a competitive market landscape? 9. How does Hoop plan to leverage its recent funding round to further enhance its product offering and market presence? 10. Can you share insights into Hoop’s roadmap for future development and innovation, particularly in terms of expanding its AI-driven functionalities and integrations?

It is a great privledge to be backing Stella Garber for a second time, as well as her sensational co-founders Brian Schmidt and Justin Gallagher. It’s also great to working with Index Ventures again, too. One thing I have learned in my venture career is that humans are lazy, and software that does simple things can feel like magic. Hoop uses AI to automatically harvest to do items from all of your communication channels. Today it’s single player, and in the future it will be your whole team. Read more about why we invested: https://lnkd.in/geTy-kyZ

✨Hey guys!! I know I keep major updates a little too under wraps, but I'm excited to share that I've started a new role at Drive Capital as an Office Manager, and since I've settled in, I think it's time to talk about it a little! It's crazy to see how far I've come on my journey into venture, and now I'm not only at a fund, but at one of the best in the Midwest! If you're not familiar with Drive Capital, here's a quick rundown: Drive Capital is a venture capital firm that invests in innovative companies outside of Silicon Valley, focusing on the Midwest. They believe in the potential of this region and aim to help startups grow and succeed. As a midwest girlie, I truly cannot think of a better place to start! I want to thank the entire Kaplan Institute (Especially Niharika H. and Maryam Saleh) team for teaching me about this world and giving me so many amazing opportunities to connect with the ecosystem. A special shoutout to Joey Mak and Salvador Dueñas over at Chicago:Blend - working with you both was incredible, and I learned so much about bringing people together, and how to throw some killer events. Make sure to check out their events (especially the Pride event!!!)! While I might not be a check writer yet, I am so excited to grow and continue building community at Drive Capital! 🚙 Stay tuned for more events we are hosting or partnering with for TechWeek! We also have some co-working days in our office, so if you're building something cool let me know! #NewBeginnings #VentureCapital #DriveCapital #CommunityBuilding #TechWeek

Raising capital for your early-stage startup is harder than you think. The 5 most common mistakes I see founders commit: (That make the difference between scraping by and an 8-figure project) 1. Their pitch decks are weak 2. They think it takes less time 3. They get too optimistic 4. Their data room structure is messy 5. They don’t think they need help (Read the carousel below for the solutions). 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗻? — If you enjoyed this post: → Repost to help someone else raise capital. → Follow me Abdu Khol for more content like this.

I’m thrilled to share that we’ve raised a $5M seed round for Hoop! 🎉 The irony of modern work is that we have more apps than ever to boost our productivity. And while they individually streamline aspects of communication and collaboration, in aggregate, they often end up overwhelming us with distractions and creating too many places for us to check. This makes time for focused work a rare commodity, and I think we'd probably all agree that we'd love some more time for focused work. Years ago I wrote a post on the Trello blog about the system I rigged up to attempt to solve this problem for myself as a busy exec at a tech company. I was using Trello, of course, and Zapier to integrate with a bunch of other apps. The system served me well for years, but it had three shortcomings: 1. I still had to manually trigger which things went onto my list. For example, I had to "save a message for later" in Slack, or star an email in Gmail to get those things onto my list. This meant I had to remain diligent about always checking all the things, and sometimes things fell through the cracks if I missed them.  2. I had to manage and move all of the cards myself to keep things up to date. If I ever got behind, things piled up or got stale and I had to declare todo-list bankruptcy and start over several times.  3. It wasn't collaborative. I couldn't share or delegate certain tasks without sharing all of my tasks. As a manager and leader, this wasn't possible because some tasks might have been sensitive or private. Since that time, AI has made it so that software can do things that we wouldn't have been able to come close to doing even just a couple of years ago. These advancements present an opportunity for us to rethink how software can actually help us spend less time on the minutia of work and more time on the focused and creative aspects of our jobs. This is where Hoop comes in... Hoop uses AI to automatically capture tasks from chat, meetings, and email, ensuring that it all ends up centralized in one spot and nothing slips through the cracks. Some of our early users like Abby, a Senior PM, call it a “lifesaver” and “magical” for streamlining workflows and saving countless hours. Others have told us that they've been amazed how many things they would have missed before that they're now on top of because Hoop is there for them. And finally, others have remarked that they appreciate the opportunity to be more present and attentive in meetings because they don't have to rapidly scrawl down notes and tasks causing them to miss bits of the conversation. With the money we raised, we plan to deepen our AI capabilities so Hoop can do more and more of the busy work for you, integrate with additional platforms so we can centralize all of your tasks and give you just one place to check, and build out our collaboration capabilities because not many of us work alone. Excited for you all to try Hoop and experience the future of task management!

What do you do after selling a startup for $130M? Get back to work and build Remotely.works 🚀 — so the best global talent gets connected to the best opportunities. More on our founding story in the podcast below 👇

Top lessons I learnt working with a YC startup... - Asking the right question is a skill For every feature request, suggestion or even bug, the user has an underlying motive, and that shouldn’t be overridden by our prejudice/ love for our product. - Choose the right feedback in the sea of comments not every feedback will drive growth; taking feedback from the right customers is key. Resonating with Rahul Vohra's PMF strategy - "Our job is to build a great product, not to raise funds" the most common phrase founder used at the end of every fundraising discussion - Customers will talk about your product if you talk about them People naturally gravitate towards people with similar interests - Find the most common interest of your top 20 users and build a community around it: give your customers food for thought, and they will talk about your product and their interest. (also helps immensely with the referral) - Product Hunt can give you wings- IF you rank #1. It’s hard for the first time, but with the community and evolving customer base, it gets easier consequently. Repeat every 6 months. - Be the best friend of your customer You should know what they do, they like, love basically, everything. You can never stop asking questions Lastly, working hard is important, being creative is important, but having fun is most importante Kudos to Akiflow 💜 and many thanks to Nunzio Martinello

To all startup fellows. Revenue is the lifeblood and the best $$$ your company can get. — nothing beats it. Prioritize driving revenue over chasing VC’s. If your LinkedIn is flooded with fundraising experts instead of sales and product pros, you’re heading in the wrong direction.

What do you do after selling a startup for $130M? I sat down to talk about this with Pau Sabria, co-founder of Olapic and Remotely.works. With Olapic, Pau raised over $22M and then achieved a $130M exit. Now, with Remotely, he and his co-founders have focused on maximizing freedom and sustainable growth. Here are three key insights from our conversation: 1. Transitioning from Venture Capital to Sustainable Growth: Discover how Pau shifted focus from raising $22M for Olapic to bootstrapping Remotely for a balanced approach. 2. Creating Equitable Co-founder Dynamics: Get tips on maintaining fairness and motivation among co-founders with diverse backgrounds. 3. The Importance of Founder-Market Fit: Learn how Pau’s previous experiences gave him and Remotely a unique edge. Don't miss out on this episode filled with actionable insights! 👇 🎧 Listen now: https://buff.ly/3S19yLR ✉️ Subscribe for more stories on finding product-market fit: https://buff.ly/3XLOm0f