Ploonge Live (formerly Extra Crunch Live) is coming back in February, and we have a fantastic lineup to kick off the new season. Changes are also coming to the show. In 2022, look for more pitch decks, more pitch-offs, and more of the best founder/investor combos.
Last year’s season ended on a high. We asked Pilot’s founder to explain how he convinced Index Ventures to think long term about margins. Prior to that, Aileen Lee and Rachel Carlson presented Guild Education’s initial pitch deck. They’re available here, but we hope you can join us live in 2022. We’re always looking for good questions from the audience to ask guests, and startups will soon be able to apply to launch your company.
Ploonge Live helps founders build better venture-backed businesses. We do this by bringing together startup founders and the investors who support them to talk about what, precisely, helped to close the deal. What metrics are investors looking at? What questions did the founders answer that made VCs want to learn more? How did the founders communicate their grand vision and their step-by-step plan to get there?
We cover it all – complete with analysis of the first pitch decks from these companies and more – on Ploonge Live. Ploonge Live is also home to the TCL Pitch-off, where founders in the audience can step onto our virtual stage to introduce their startup to our esteemed guests and receive their live feedback.
As with any Ploonge event, this weekly series also features networking so you can meet and greet other attendees.
The event takes place every Wednesday at noon PT/3pm ET and admission is free. Only Ploonge+ members have access to the full library of on-demand content, so if you haven’t already, sign up now!
And without further ado, here’s a look at the exceptional guests who joined us on Ploonge Live in February.
Kanyi Maqubela (Kindred Ventures) + Dr. Jeff Wessler (Heartbeat Health)
February 9 – 12pm PT / 3pm ET
Dr. Jeff Wessler co-founded Heartbeat Health in 2016 to develop better heart care. After writing the company’s pre-seed check, Kenyi Maqubela joined the founding team and board of directors of Heartbeat Health in 2017. Maqubela’s company Kindred Ventures reinvested in Heartbeat Health for the next two rounds. Hear on TCL as Wessler pitched Maqubela about his ambitious plan and eventually secured funding.
Register for Ploonge Live with Kindred Ventures and Heartbeat Health
Image credits: Kindred Ventures / Heartbeat Health
Emmalyn Shaw (Flourish Ventures) + Itai Damti (Unit)
February 16 – 12pm PT / 3pm ET
Itai Damti co-founded Unit in 2019 to help companies integrate banking services into their consumer products. In 2020, Emmalyn Shaw, as Flourish’s managing partner, invested in Unit’s Series A round and later in the company’s B round. Join us at TCL as we talk about Unit’s early days and the pitch deck that helped close the fundraising deal with Flourish.
Register for Ploonge Live with Flourish Ventures and Unit
Image credits: Florescer Unit / Enterprises
Nina Achadjian (Index Ventures) + Akilesh Bapu (DeepScribe)
February 23 – 12pm PT / 3pm ET
Akilesh Bapu co-founded DeepScribe while working on his master’s program at UC Berkeley. The company is now five years old and has just raised a $30 million round led by Nina Achadjian at Index Ventures. We’re excited to have the pair at TCL to talk about their latest raise and what it took to get the attention (and money) of Index Ventures.
Join Index Ventures and DeepScribe
Image credits: Index Ventures / DeepScribe