Aakash Jain
Associate Partner
@ VU Venture Partners
Overview
Bio: Associate Partner at VU Venture Partners investing early in exceptional founders looking to change the world by building transformational companies solving massive problems.
Sector Focuses: AdTech, Agriculture, Alternative Energy, Artificial Intelligence, AR / VR, Blockchain / Digital Assets, Cannabis, ClimateTech, Consumer – Retail, Consumer – Tech, Cybersecurity, DeepTech, Education, Enterprise SaaS, FinTech, Food / Alternative Protein, Future of Work / Productivity, Gaming, Hardware / HardTech, Healthcare – Digital Health, Healthcare – Medical Devices, Healthcare – Pharma & Drug Development, Human Resources, Impact, InsurTech, IoT, LegalTech, Marketplace, Materials Science, Media, Mobility, PropTech / Real Estate, Sustainability, TravelTech, Supply Chain / Logistics, SpaceTech, Robotics, Social Networks / Apps, SportsTech, RegTech
Stage Focuses: Pre-seed and earlier, Seed, Series A, Series B
Geography Focuses: USA, Canada, Latin America/Caribbean, South America, Europe, Africa, Middle East, East Asia, India, Southeast Asia, Australia/Oceania
Business Model Focuses: B2B, B2C
Expertise: Financial Modeling / Budgeting, Pricing / Business Model, SaaS Metrics, Startup Valuation, Term Sheets & Agreements, Board Formation, Exit Preparation, Pitch Coaching, Market Sizing / Domain Knowledge, Fundraising, Talent / Hiring, Strategy, Market Dynamics
Connect with Aakash and discuss your startup.
* Meeting is 30 to 60 minutes (minimum 30 minutes).
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BASIC
$275/month
- 1 Guaranteed Meeting a month
- Access to entire marketplace
- Access to tech login and feedback portal
- Access to filters for easy searching
BLITZ
$475/month
$428/month
- 2 Guaranteed Meetings a month
- Access to entire marketplace
- Access to tech login and feedback portal
- Access to filters for easy searching
Best Value
BOOM
$875/month
$788/month
- 4 Guaranteed Meetings a month
- Access to entire marketplace
- Access to tech login and feedback portal
- Access to filters for easy searching
Best Value
BLAST
$1,675/month
$1,508/month
- 8 Guaranteed Meetings a month
- Access to entire marketplace
- Access to tech login and feedback portal
- Access to filters for easy searching
Limited Time: Use code 10off for 10% off all blitz, boom, and blast plans.
Monthly membership auto-renews at the end of every monthly billing cycle. There is no lock-in period. You are welcome to pause or cancel the subscription at any time. You will still benefit from the remaining time on your existing cycle.
You are guaranteed a conversation (call or meeting or reasonable alternative). However, the scheduling of these conversation(s) happen at a time of mutual convenience between you and the respective Supercharger, which may occasionally fall outside of the monthly billing cycle.
Billing and Logistics
How does the process work?
- Sign up in under a min
- Pick the VCs and angel investors you want to talk to
- Schedule a meeting at a time of mutual convenience
- Grow your business and get funded
How do I access the entire marketplace?
Enroll onto a neonVest plan, and you’ll get access to the entire marketplace where you can see the profiles of and book meetings with ALL of our active investors/superchargers.
How soon can we get a meeting after signing up?
Pretty fast! We make a warm intro via email immediately after you pick who you want to talk to, after which you’ll schedule a meeting at a time of mutual availability. Typically, we’ve seen meetings take place within 1-5 days.
How does the monthly cycle work?
The monthly cycle is based on when you subscribe.
- Example 1 – if you begin on January 25th, then the billing and renewal(s) occur on January 25, February 25, March 25, etc.
- Example 2 – if you begin on June 7th, then the billing and renewal(s) occur on June 7, July 7, August 7, etc.
Does the monthly plan renew automatically?
- Yes it auto-renews, but like any other subscription you’re familiar with (i.e. Netflix, your gym) it’s super flexible. You have the ability to pause or cancel anytime.
- If you want to just try neonVest for 1 month, then you can pick a plan and email us to cancel before the cycle is up so that you’re only billed once, and not further.
We only want to do this one-time, not be billed every month. What do I do?
- If you want to just try neonVest for 1 month, then you can pick a plan and email us to cancel before the cycle is up so that you’re only billed once, and not further.
How long are the meetings?
Minimum 30 minutes but some will stay a whole 60 minutes or even longer. Expect 30-60 minutes.
Is it a call/zoom/physical meeting?
Any of the above. That’s decided by you and the investor.
How do you do vetting on investor side? How warm are your relationships there?
- We ask each investor to apply and then we interview them.
- We have periodic check-ins and interactions with them.
- We’ve spoken to every investor on our platform and so we have warm relationships with them.
Can I pitch directly to the Superchargers for fundraising?
- No, the Superchargers are not looking to be pitched directly. That’s too transactional. This is so much more than that. Treat this like a friendly coffee chat. Build relationships with powerful people and you’ll see the results.
- A supercharger, as defined by neonVest, is someone who helps move the business forward for founders in the following ways:
- Treats the conversation like a coffee chat by talking about the founder’s business and seeing how they can genuinely help
- Provides feedback and input on a variety of topics including the topics of expertise that he/she already indicated (i.e. fundraising, strategy, pitch, go-to-market, hiring, etc.)
- Makes referrals and introductions (at own discretion of course; no obligation) to other investors, portfolio companies, potential hires, partners, etc.
- May provide funding based on interest, though there is no guarantee or promise. Remember, they are not looking to be pitched directly. With that said, we do have plenty of success stories.
What are these results? Our users have seen it all.
- Raising funding, from pre-seed to Series B
- Getting into Y-Combinator
- Receiving world-class feedback and input
- Onboarding an advisor
- Getting referrals
…keep an open mind and you’ll be blown away by what neonVest can do for you.
Can I get more meetings than what my monthly membership limit allows?
- We realize you may want to go above your monthly limit in some or all months.
- The Basic, Blitz, and Boom packages are defaults for every month. You are not limited to only 1 meeting or 3 meetings or 5 meetings per month if you’d like the opportunity for more.
- You can “top-up” by requesting additional meetings on demand. We don’t set any limit on the number of “top-ups” you can request, making this truly customizable to your needs. We provide the request link for the top-up meetings once you’ve subscribed.
About neonVest
What is neonVest?
neonVest is the first platform connecting startup founders with elite VCs and founder-operators on-demand. neonVest allows founders to supercharge their networks in a fraction of the time – and at a fraction of the cost. Pick and choose who you want to speak with and schedule guaranteed 30-60 minute meetings on demand.
Keep in mind, this is NOT for founders to just pitch. That’s too transactional. This is so much more than that. Treat this like a friendly coffee chat. Build relationships with powerful people and you’ll see the results.
What are these results? Our users have seen it all.
- Raising funding, from Pre-Seed to Series B
- Getting into Y-Combinator
- Receiving world-class feedback and input
- Onboarding an advisor
- Getting referrals
…keep an open mind and you’ll be blown away by what neonVest can do for you
Who should use neonVest?
Any and all startups. We have investors from Pre-Seed all the way up through Series C.
Is neonVest for specific industries/stages of startups or everyone?
Startups anywhere from Pre-Seed to Series C can use neonVest, across a wide-range of sectors. We have hundreds of investors across a wide-range of sectors from Pre-Seed to Series C.
The beauty of this is that every founder can choose hyper-relevant and curated folks to speak with.
Example 1: A U.S.-based Series-A Medical Device founder wanting to talk to VCs can filter and choose to speak with U.S.-based Series A VCs that invest in Medical Devices.
Example 2: A Brazilian pre-seed Future of Work/SaaS founder wanting to talk to angels and operators about fundraising and U.S. market expansion can filter and choose to speak with pre-seed angels and operators that look at Future of Work/SaaS companies, globally.
Give me some history on the company.
- neonVest is backed by prominent VCs and angel investors including 7BC Venture Capital, Dan Ciporin (Former General Partner @ Canaan Partners), Aakash Jain (Associate Partner @ VU Venture Partners), Naveen Choudary (CIO @ Stoka Global), and several other investors. These backers have been early investors in numerous early-stage tech startups that have gone on to surpass $500M and unicorn-level valuations, including Lending Club, Superhuman, Daily Harvest, NexHealth, Nylas, and more. Read the press release here.
- Originally incorporated in 2018, the neonVest founders spent significant time building up their investor base and learning about the core needs of startups, iterating until they found the right problem to tackle for the two-sided market. They launched the neonVest offering to startups in 2020 and have seen tremendous interest and traction from both startups and investors since then.
- The founders have a blend of Wall Street, VC, and Startup experience. You can look up Aakash Shah and Surya Viswanathan on Linkedin.
What problem are you solving for founders?
LIMITED NETWORKS
You simply don’t have large enough networks, personally or professionally to compete with the top 1%.
LIMITED TIME
Time is money. You’re wearing a lot of hats with limited resources. You don’t have time to attend conferences and send cold emails that get ignored.
LIMITED EXPERTISE
You can be a jack of all trades, but it’s hard to be a master of all. Our superchargers can help fill that gap with 360 degree coverage.
What is neonVest’s mission?
We’re operating in a world today where “who you know”, fortunately or unfortunately, is a large determinant of success. The reality is that “who you know” is ultimately biased towards the small percentage of the population that graduates from Ivy Leagues or works at the right companies.
Currently, there is no infrastructure built for the 98%. The current support infrastructure – accelerators, venture studios, micro-VCs – all focus on 1-2% of companies. Our mission is to democratize access for all founders to build their networks, get the capital they need, and refine their strategies in order to build world-class tech titans.
Superchargers – More Information
What is a “Supercharger”?
A supercharger, as defined by neonVest, is someone who helps move the business forward for founders in the following ways:
- Treats the conversation like a coffee chat by talking about the founder’s business and seeing how they can genuinely help
- Provides feedback and input on a variety of topics including the topics of expertise that he/she already indicated (i.e. fundraising, strategy, pitch, go-to-market, hiring, etc.)
- Makes referrals and introductions (at own discretion of course; no obligation) to other investors, portfolio companies, potential hires, partners, etc.
- May provide funding based on interest, though there is no guarantee or promise. Remember, they are not looking to be pitched directly. With that said, we do have plenty of success stories.
Who are the Superchargers?
- Mostly senior (Partner/MD or Principal/VP level or equivalent) venture capital investors at established VC funds.
- We have well-reputed angel investors as well as founder-operators who’ve raised at least $1M in funding or founders who’re alum of prestigious accelerators like Y-Combinator, TechStars, etc.
- We also have accelerators, family offices, and corporates.
- Note we have shown some profiles publicly. To unlock complete access, please sign up for a plan. However, you can see tag/filter level information on sector, stage, geography, type, and expertise for all of the superchargers on the website.
How many Superchargers are on neonVest?
We have hundreds of superchargers on neonVest. Approximately 80% of them are VCs and the remaining 20% or so are angel investors, founder-operators, etc.
*As of Q2 2023
How senior are the Superchargers on your platform?
Predominantly senior (Partner/MD or Principal/VP level or equivalent) venture capital investors at established VC funds. We may also have some Senior Associates/Associates if we deem them to be high quality and a good fit for our platform.
Miscellaneous
How come you don’t do success fees, why is it a monthly subscription?
- We’re not an investment bank or broker-dealer, we’re here to facilitate meaningful meetings with hyper-relevant folks. Funding may very well be an outcome, but our core KPI is the meetings we are delivering to you.
- Think of it like a Hubspot, Chargebee, Calendly, or Carta for startups.
Why do the investors/VCs join your platform?
- Our investors/VCs are primarily motivated by having a structured way to have coffee chats with entrepreneurs, build relationships, and help out. They very much enjoy this and find it to be a refreshing change from just being pitched too all day and having people begging them for money.
- They also genuinely gain satisfaction from helping and imparting their knowledge to founders. They know that by doing so, they can potentially have a significant impact on a startup’s trajectory, providing them with immense joy. An article written by Integrity Research Associates talks about this in more detail.
- In addition, we have a couple of other perks for the superchargers we onboard, including: compensation for supercharger meetings to justify time spent outside their core job, vetted deal flow, and co-investor networking matching, among others.
I’m pre-revenue. Am I too early?
- No you are not too early. In fact, if you are pre-revenue, you arguably stand to benefit the most from our platform. The earliest stages are where the uncertainty is highest and the risk factors have yet to be eliminated, or even discovered, in some cases.
- Use the wisdom of our superchargers to maximize your chances of reaching the next stage so that you don’t fall into the valley of death.
- If you don’t want to talk to VCs/investors, then talk to our elite founder-operators (who’ve raised at least $1M+), who can give great feedback and input on product, idea validation, go-to-market strategy, and more. They have been in your shoes before, are one-step ahead and know exactly the tricks needed to get to where they are.
- Not to mention, you’re developing relationships with investors that will come in handy at the appropriate time. See our article here.
We just raised a round of financing? Why do we need this?
- Most funding runways last about 12-18 months. The investor engagement cycle is never ending. Even if you’ve raised money, you’ll want to build relationships for the next round as well as get feedback, input, and referrals from investors themselves in order to optimize results in the future. There’s no better time to start than now. See our article here.
- If you don’t want to talk to VCs/investors, then talk to our elite founder-operators who can give great feedback and input on product, idea validation, go-to-market strategy, and more.
We’re looking to raise capital in a few months. Should we wait till then?
Your best bet it to start now if you want to raise capital 3-6 months from now. You need to start your relationship building early on and have the conversations beforehand to get a leg up. See our article here.
