It’s been five years since we launched Startup Happy Hour in January 2017. Kicking off our sixth year and 50th Happy Hour we welcomed another of Sacramento’s most accomplished startup founders, Grin CEO Brandon Brown.
Brandon and his co-founder launched Grin in 2017. They’ve built an incredible team, now exceeding 300, on a mission to reinvent the way brands reach consumers through influencer marketing. In the last 13 months Grin has closed a $110 million funding round, seen ~200% ARR growth, 320% headcount growth, hit $1B valuation, and more. And they’re just getting started, with more exciting startup success planned for 2022.
In an engaging session Brandon shared his insights and experiencing in launching and running Grin, including; the background story of Grin, how it has pivoted from its initial idea, raising external funding, the challenges of rapid growth, and more. As usual, we recorded the session. Watch the video below for Brandon’s tips and insights for startup founders. Here are a few quick quotes from the session to pique your interest.
Know what type of company you are trying to build
“The first question I would ask myself is what type of company, are you trying to build — because venture capital only works if the outcomes are monster.”
Fundraising is hard
“Fundraising is just incredibly hard…it’s a very hard thing to do… the early days of fundraising, and even not even long ago, it’s just constant rejection, it’s just constant nos — like hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of nos in a row.”
On Using Growth as a Compass
“Growth is a very useful compass, because it filters through all of the subjective opinions, decision making feedback, like it’s rooted in data.”
“Really investors are investing growth. And so you can overcome major objections around your market, your skill set ,your ability to run a company. You can honestly have kind of a bad story — if you can show growth.”
Check out the video for more great insights.
