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For the last episode of Season 2, Mark was delighted to host Steve Hoffman, CEO of Founders Space and author of three startup-related books (links below).

The conversation between the two CEOs is far-ranging, lively and entertaining - Steve's energy and enthusiasm for what he does are infectious.

From early ambitions to be an architect, filmmaker or games designer, Steve admits he never expected to end up being a venture capitalist, entrepreneur and writer.

Founders Space - the Platform for Startups

Steve's platform - Founders Space - is a startup accelerator, focusing primarily on software startups.

The goal is to help promising tech startups raise funding and connect with strategic partners, marketing people, lawyers etc. \\u2013 whatever they need to grow their business.

Steve's Four Rules for Startups

1. Go out into the market and look for unmet needs - Don't just think of an idea and fall in love with it. Then, later on, find that nobody cares about it.
2. Find your "A-Team" - Don't try to go it alone or be a solopreneur. Nobody builds a billion-dollar company by themselves
3. When presenting to potential investors, keep it visual - Slides should have no more than 6 words but better still, create a video. Investors don't want to read. Just like everybody else, they want to be entertained.
4. Never tell an investor you're going to sell via partners - This is the "Kiss of Death". If you're relying on partners to sell your product, your investor is gone.

On a Mission to Help Startups

Founders Space is an early-stage investor whose mission is to help startups progress into the venture funnel, where they can seek additional funding from investors on the Founders Edge platform.\\xa0

Startups also have access to a huge network of business mentors, across marketing, legal etc. They can work with experienced mentors over a period of weeks, rather than paying to have these skills in-house full-time.

Founders Edge is currently working with around 100 companies in the US and overseas - with 5 locations in China.

Links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/foundersspace/\\xa0
https://www.foundersedge.com/

First Book: Make Elephants Fly
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Make-Elephants-Fly-Process-Innovation/dp/0349418837

Second Book: Surviving a Startup
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Surviving-Startup-Practical-Strategies-Overcoming-ebook/dp/B08BYZXWDY

Latest Book: The 5 Forces that change everything
https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/9781953295040?gC=5a105e8b&gclid=CjwKCAiAlfqOBhAeEiwAYi43FzQiFbvRWrOic7oAxLz5exuJPBD3HXUMJ4ziMSFFLpyjx3msA3skJBoCTHUQAvD_BwE