Adam Torres and Aaron Golbin discuss scaling businesses.
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Show Notes:
What is currently going on in the VC world? In this episode, Adam Torres and Aaron Golbin, Managing Partner at LvlUp Ventures, explore startups, scaling and raising money.
About Aaron Golbin
Aaron is a seasoned entrepreneur and venture capitalist with over a decade of experience at the intersection of early-stage and growth-stage startups, venture capital and venture building, emerging technology, strategy, and innovation. He has built, funded, and accelerated transformative consumer, enterprise, and government-focused emerging technology startups now valued in the 9-figures as well as led, spurred growth, and achieved success within large enterprises and arms through deep expertise in innovation-oriented strategic planning, growth, corporate development, strategic investments, partnerships, and program management.
About LvlUp Ventures
LvlUp Ventures is an early-stage value-add fund, investing in great teams with strong initial market validation and bringing startups to the next level through NextUp, a revolutionary hybrid startup accelerator-venture studio. They don’t just “accelerate” – They “upcelerate” businesses. LvlUp also helps startups with their investor pitch decks and helps raise capital. If you are looking for an investment, assistance going-to-market, pitch deck or have any questions please reach out to us, their team is here to help.
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and if you’d like to apply to be a guest in the show, just head on over to missionmatters. com and click on be our guest to apply. All right. So today’s guest is Aaron Goldman and he’s managing partner over at Level Up Ventures.
Aaron, welcome to the show. Adam, thanks for having me. So Aaron I know that you were referred over to us from Brandon who’s been on the show before. And he tells me that you’re definitely not an entrepreneur as entrepreneur, like you have never been in the entrepreneurship world, right? Yes. Never, never.
Give us that background, man. That’s awesome. So I’ve been telling Brandon, I wanted you on the show. Give us your background briefly so that we can get into this. We’re going to talk and for everybody listening, we’re going to get into scaling businesses. We’re going to get into some of the work they’re doing over at Level Up Ventures and really just the current state of the market in VC world.
So give us that background though. Yeah, absolutely. So, I mean, I’ve been an entrepreneur for quite a while. I started my 1st company, which I dubbed King sports entertainment when I was 8 years old in elementary school, grew that thing to, you know, business with dozens of volunteers under my belt.
Helping get a lot of stuff done. They’re really efficiently and cost effectively. exited that business at the end of 5th grade, and I’ve always loved technology. Then a big programmer you know, very shortly after that, when I started to learn how to program at that time, and I said, okay, you know, now have these skills.
I want to actually do something with them, which I think is always important. And so 7th grade came along. I was 12 years old. I’ve always loved debating been a big debater. And I found a debate on dot com, because there was no place to casually debate online. So why not make it? that put the beta.
Started at the casual online based platform, the 1st of its kind, and you can’t really go on social media or read it for that because things are gonna get very out of hand. It’s not built for debate. And so the platform specific for that. And then we really spend it just tremendously pretty quickly in the 1st, 2 years grew it to millions of page views annually.
lot, a lot of users and then how were you when that took place? Cause you’re, how old were you roughly? Yeah. So I was 12 when I founded it. And you know, the growth really happened primarily when I was obviously middle school and high school. Wow, that’s absolutely amazing. I’m like, I can’t, how many people are listening to this right now?
Like, I want my current website to be millions.
Come on, man. Go ahead. Continue, please. No, no, it’s definitely, you know, it takes a lot of hard work. But if you love it, you love it. I mean, it’s not even a job. It’s just so much fun. Program during school, I would, you know, do all the business stuff during school. I would do it after school is working crazy hours, but I love that.
I wouldn’t want to do anything else. It’s the most fun thing to me even now, really working on you know, the things that I work on in the business and now investment world. And so. You know, took it into the world, created a bunch of really cool product that we’re really 1st of its kind. We call their suite of a product.
Deborah. A. I effectively can do anything from predicting the winners of online debates on debate island with extremely high accuracy, providing incredible analytics and other things to help people debate better and become better critical thinkers and writers. And then we, you know, we really went to the EdTech world.
So we became the largest EdTech solution provider for DeBase globally using over 70 countries as well. We were directly endorsed by the United Kingdom Department of Education, trusted by Microsoft, Pearson, and others as well in that space. So, yeah, it was really an incredible journey. I left DeBate Island last year, transitioned leadership there, founded a lot of other companies, like the American Post and the Media World.
You know, and, and that deal wins, which was, which did not be, which was not successful, which always happens. That’s totally normal. And so that taught me a lot of lessons as well founded lost cry as well, which was, which is basically a repository for people to post their ancestor stories of hardship from the Holocaust immigration to others, which was really a testament to the strength of 98 years old, that she was a Holocaust survivor.
Wow. You gave me your diary entries and I said, look, this has to be online. There are probably many others who have a similar story that we want to preserve. So there’s a lot of stuff in the startup world and I’ve always loved investing. I’ve been an investor since I was also very young, doing, you know, investment analysis for public equities and startups since I was in school for fun.
And now I’m in the VC side of things, which I’m really, really loving. Yeah. And so that’s that’s why I’m excited to talk to you and have you on the show to kind of get into like just the current state of what’s going on for startups and scaling and like the VC world. Not, not doing all that great, right?
This exact moment. I mean, me about what you’re seeing. Yeah, you know, we have a really, really good grasp on the startup ecosystem because we see about 5, 000 deals come in our pipeline a year. Ooh, that’s a lot of deals. It’s a lot, yeah, it’s a lot of startups to review, which, which we really love doing.
And so overall right now, traction is one of the most important things when we’re looking at a startup, right? And that, that’s the case with most VCs and institutional investors. Because. It will decrease your risk when you’re writing a check or taking on a company and your accelerator incubator as well.
So, right now, the name of the game is obviously high returns with lower risks. That’s where. VC is that, and that’s why traction is really setting up as a critical, critical point to have as a startup when you’re applying for funding. talk a little bit about level of venture, just for some context for the listeners.
Is there a specific, you said 5, 000 deals, is there industries that you’re looking at versus other sectors? I mean, give it, give us a little bit of a flavor there. Yeah, we’re generally pre industry agnostic, but I’ll give some background level up. I mean, I think it’s extremely, truly unique, which is why I love our firm so much.
You know, both Brandon and I come from entrepreneurial backgrounds. And so that gives us a very unique perspective. Our team has over 20 25, I guess, and IPOs combined. And we’ve, we’ve, you know, raised 150 million a day for startups and all that good stuff. And so we saw all of that stuff. In terms of how to actually operate and scale a venture and then brand went on to co found capital.
Which is now, you know, Forbes rank T stage fund over investments today to really became very successful and then went on to found level up where I was so lucky to join in last year and. You know, grow it in terms of now we have an accelerators and incubators arm and the fund is just so much more robust as well.
We’re doing a lot of serious and serious things, but our whole thing is we want to add a ton of value to your startup. And if we can’t, we’re not going to invest. So we come in and the mature seed stage companies that have had, you know, really meaningful traction has been in market for at least 3 months.
They have substantial month over month growth. And we know that we can come in there, grow their revenue, grow their user base, grow everything tremendously, and then get them to their serious A in the next, hopefully, 12 to 14 months. Really decreasing again that risk because when you have that timetable, the startups generally do better and your investors have returns that are better, faster.
And so that’s our prime thesis across every industry. Except biotech, anything highly regulated, anything hardware related and we’re really looking to expand. Lp capital as well, right? Their their value, especially this environment. So we have accelerators incubators, which take a whole new approach as well.
I absolutely despise accelerators. I hate them. I have never been part of 1. It’s just a waste of time, I think, for most founders, and that’s why we created. Which now is next to pre launch for pre launch companies, next to scale for post launch companies. And our whole approach is we’re a bespoke accelerator.
There’s nothing like this. We’re taking your company from day one. When you have your MVP or when you have a launch day, your next round, whatever it really is, and through an individualized, highly strategic and hands on approach, I will work directly with you. My teams work directly with you every single week or every other week or more, depending what’s necessary.
To get you to that next level, whether it’s getting you a launch faster and better, it’s getting you to scale with really great, you know, much greater stats around you in a much more powerful company. And so far in the past seven months, we’ve seen amazing results. On average companies have had five X revenue growth within the six months joining our program.
They’ve had five X valuation growth, 25 percent ahead of schedule launches for pre launch companies has been the name of the game for over 90 percent of our companies. And we’re now approaching about 275Million dollars across the firm and portfolio market. You know, caps, market caps, so really, really great results that we’re seeing, which we’re beyond excited about.
It’s a totally new approach to accelerating companies. What do you look for a founder? Like you’re seeing a lot, a lot of, you say a lot, the numbers, everything else, assume all things being considered with the product you’re excited about or otherwise, like what are you looking for in the founder and or the management team?
Like what, what makes it work? Oh, yeah. that’s the most important thing, because you can have a great idea, but if you’re not a founder, you don’t have a strong team. That’s very complimentary to you. You’re not going to really go anywhere most times and so we want founders that have tremendous, tremendous visions.
They can really execute because of their grit. Because of their ability to think out of the box and have operational expertise to really scale. And we don’t care about their backgrounds in terms of education. We don’t care about their age because we’ve seen that for example Gen z, well, of course, hold on.
Hold on. Aaron. Aaron. Wait a minute other people say we don’t care about their age, man I would have put my money on you when you were 12. So you you better not be ageist out there when you were 12, man Yeah Did you ever consider that that’s why you don’t care about their age you know, it is it is a part where because I I A lot of young entrepreneurs have done great things.
I mean, I felt like I could do less than anyone else when I was you know, an entrepreneur out there either. Right. So I don’t want to be ageist or anything. I think there’s a lot of bias in that actually with, with a lot of VCs. So our whole thing is, our whole thing is like, look. Gen Z is so under looked, for example, about historically the same age group that Gen Z currently belongs to will belong to the next few years over half of unicorns, billion dollar plus companies have been founded by that age group.
Most companies that you think of, you know, that are the huge companies, the Microsoft. Are actually were founded by people in their 20s And so a lot of vcs look away from that, but we look towards it We embrace and we say look we have a really great, team that includes gen z and we we understand that market We want to help you with a strategy, to release within it.
So we’re really proud of that as well Yeah, mean, I asked you the question from the VC standpoint in terms of what you look for in a founder. kind of flip it. So what should a founder be at either in a VC or anyone that they choose to accept investment from? Yeah, you want a VC that will support you?
And not fight against you for the betterment of their of their dollars because ultimately they think that they’re bettering their investors, but they’re not. They’re actually screwing them. Where can you give an example of that? Like, just in general, like, it doesn’t have to be on a specific company that you’re working on or whatever it could be.
I don’t mean, it’s up to you, but just an example, just to put some clarity on that. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. So a lot of VCs really look at companies where, okay, how can we get these guys to X point without caring about anything else and without adding value? All we really want to do is just get a board seat and then go and run with it.
And that’s not the right approach because the problem is they could get to wherever they want to be, but they could have a lot of weaknesses and pain points that come up because of that and their investors end up losing out. And most importantly, so they could be winning and still lose. Really? Yeah, exactly.
they might think it’s the best option, but it’s not. So, for example you know, I’ve had many case scenarios with our portfolio conference where they’re like, look you know, what should we do? Should we basically raise this money now? Which would be great. I guess, because then their valuations go up.
That’s good for us. Or should we wait 6 months and get this and this done and then race? And I’m like, look. Yeah. I look at it so objectively, we should do what’s best for your business. And so if I tell you, no, go out and raise six months, it’s going to be a little bit of a delay, but you’re going to have a much larger raise in my opinion.
You’re going to be a more successful company and a happier founder, which is better for the company and our investors. That is much better. And so again, I think everything is around helping startups and maximizing returns with equal importance because they go hand in hand. And you’re going to do both even more as you focus on each one.
That’s a great point. And I think it’s interesting because especially for those those first time, you know, founders or let’s just say, you know, I’ve, I’ve, I’ve found at least, you know, many founders maybe they’ve, they’ve been in business. Maybe they bootstrapped in the past, and maybe they’re thinking about going out there and, and, you know, You know, raising capital for the first time.
And, you know, they didn’t have the traditional entrepreneurial background, but they finally have their hit and, or their one, their idea that has some traction, right after all those duds. and it can be a tricky thing, right? Like entering the, going the VC route and entering that world and thinking about who to make your partners in this.
it’s a very intimate thing, in my opinion. Oh, definitely. it’s really important because you’re going to be working with these people or not. Because it’s a pet VC, right? If you’re a value added focused fund, then you’ll be working with us quite a bit. If you are Actually, that’s a good point.
Can you, do you want to juxtapose that real quick? So value add versus like, you know, another, there’s other models. Like, can you want to juxtapose that? Yeah, absolutely. So you know, with us, we work with our fund companies a biweekly or monthly basis to get them to that next level. That is very different from a lot of other companies.
I’m sorry, other firms that are in V. C. where they’re just like, look, give us our investor updates. We want to see, but give us every 6 months. If you need something, I’ll try to help you. And the problem is that for their investors, right? They’re not getting the most bang out of their box because your V. C.
Is not actually helping the company when they could. And open up their expertise and community, so you’re not getting as far as you could. And that just harms everyone and that’s why value. You know, value orientation is so important, and I think that’s where VC is going. Even if you look at the landscape, right?
Accelerators incubators and adventure studios are. You know, about 2 decades ago, even 10, 15 years ago, that was not a big thing for VCs to have. Usually, you were just a pure direct investment fund today. We’re seeing that multiply every single year. We’re now more and more VC firms that used to just be funds are getting into the accelerator and incubator landscape.
Because they see that I can extend healthy capital dollars and that can help create more fruitful companies where you’re super involved because you’ve seen so many companies succeed and fail that you can guide the startups much, much better. It’s great. Well, I just have to say that Brandon was not wrong in, in introducing us.
When I was interviewing Brandon, Brandon’s like, Oh, Brandon, you got to talk to Aaron. You got to talk to Aaron. Yeah. Brandon, you were right. You’re right. Okay. Okay. Aaron’s amazing. So that’s good. Kicking our pants kicking our butts at 12 or 13 and like all this stuff. I’m like, what? This is amazing.
That being said, Aaron about time out of time for this particular episode, if somebody wants to, you know, learn more about level up, Your journey. How do they do that? Yeah, absolutely. You can always, you know, catch me on LinkedIn. Follow me on Instagram. If you want to follow along what we’re working on and if you want to, you know actually get involved with what we’re working on or you want to apply to be a portfolio company, please go ahead and reach out to Brand or I or apply or contact contact us on our website, level Up vc.
That’s L-V-L-U-P and trust me, spelling, I wish a little bit innovative vc. Amazing. And for everybody listening, we’ll, put the, obviously the info in the show notes so that you can just click on the, on the buttons and head right on over and speaking of the audience, if this is your first time with Mission Matters or engaging in an episode and you haven’t hit that subscribe button yet, Hey, this is a daily show.
We’re bringing you rock stars from business and industry each and every day. We don’t want you to miss any of those episodes. So check it out. Definitely hit that subscribe button. And if you’re a long term listener and and haven’t left that review yet, you already know my feelings and thoughts on that because you’ve heard this before.
So just come on, go push the button, write that review. There we go. Come on. And Aaron, again, seriously, thanks so much for coming on the show and it’s been a pleasure working with you. So thank you for all you’re doing for us and for the founders out there, man. So thank you. Oh, absolutely. Adam, thank you so much for having Brennan.
It’s been absolutely amazing.
