Kelly Wiarda

VC Marketing, Ops & Events @grandvcp Wife, mom x 3 + 🐶, lover of travel, the outdoors, meaningful conversation, ☕️ caffeine & Jesus.

[Kelly Wiarda @KWiarda]

I’m in Toronto for the @CollisionHQ Conference 🇨🇦 Kicking off the week with an Insiders event at DMZ. Looking forward to meeting many startups and investors in the city this week. Let me know if you’re here!

[Camila Noordeloos @cbnoordeloos]

Arriving in #Toronto and already feeling the exciting energy around the city. Looking forward to meeting so many old and new VC, startups and LPs in and outside @CollisionHQ.

[Kelly Wiarda @KWiarda]

@M25vc @lalayak @TechPointInd @kbirge @be_authenticx @skyepack Love that dress @kbirge 🤩

[Kelly Wiarda @KWiarda]

@cbnoordeloos Yes! 🙌

[Camila Noordeloos @cbnoordeloos]

Packed house at our Startup/VC happy hour in Denver a couple of nights ago.
Thanks for everyone who came and contributed to an incredible time.

[Kelly Wiarda @KWiarda]

@Amanda_Jenn Best of luck. You’ve got this 💪

[Grand Ventures @grandvcp]

Happy International Women's Day to our own @cbnoordeloos, @KWiarda and @JacqueLensing along with the amazing female founders, executives, and business professionals we work alongside. May you feel empowered today, and every day, because the work you do matters.

[Grand Ventures @grandvcp]

Yesterday @JacqueLensing and @KWiarda took place in Conquer Grand Rapids' Investor Connect Event.

It was great to see so many other Michigan VCs and hear from founders in our area. Thanks to @msuresearch for the invite.

[Kelly Wiarda @KWiarda]

Do yourself a favor & give this a read. It’s loaded with great advice for how to start & maintain a great company- both from a growth & culture standpoint.

Thanks @firstround for being such a great resources to entrepreneurs!

[First Round @firstround]

Today's new article is a big one — because we're marking the 10-year anniversary of The First Round Review. 🍾

To celebrate, we've curated a list of 100 of the best bits of company-building advice we've heard in the last decade. We'll share 10 of our faves here, but check out the piece for the full list (link in the comment):

→ "If you personally want to grow as fast as your company, you have to give away your job every couple months." @molly_g

→ "There are decisions that deserve days of debate and analysis, but the vast majority aren’t worth more than 10 minutes. It's important to internalize how irreversible, fatal or non-fatal a decision may be. Very few can't be undone." @davegirouard

→ "Can you say with confidence that each report would want to be on your team again? If you aren’t sure that the answer is yes, it’s probably no—much like how if you have to ask, “Am I in love?” you’re probably not." @joulee

→ "It sounds so simple to say that bosses need to tell employees when they're screwing up. But it very rarely happens. Picture a basic graph divided into four quadrants. If the vertical axis is caring personally and the horizontal axis is challenging directly, you want your feedback to fall in the upper right-hand quadrant." @kimballscott

→ "Your customers or patrons make sweeping judgments when first interacting with your creation. The first mile of your customer’s experience using your product cannot be the last mile of your experience building the product." @scottbelsky

→ "Sharing the good, the bad and the ugly in your company and investor updates provides accountability and is a forcing function. If you see numbers that are less than great, you’ll be tempted to make an excuse, point to another bright spot, or hold off on sharing until things improve. But you can’t afford to do that." @collinmathilde

→ "Delighting the customer always yields better returns than countering or copying a competitor. It’s just a lot harder to do." @arachleff

→ "Whatever the idea is, blow it out of proportion and see where that takes you. Come back to me when you've thought about that times 100. Create an environment where people can see a glimmer of something and basically throw dynamite on it." @jgebbia

→ "The longer someone works for you, the harder it is to change their behavior. The longer you don't deal with something, the less likely you can fix it." @rands

→ "A lot of people say they want to found a startup, but they don’t know what they want to do. You can’t force it. But you can be thoughtful about building an audience while you’re waiting for the right idea. If you want people to listen to you eventually, you have to build trust over time." @rrhoover

Tons more from @drewhouston, @stewart, @lennysan, @natsturner, @pattymccord1, @alexisohanian, @DavidSpinks, @dcancel, @fosslien, @EstherPerel, and too many others to name here.

P.S. Here's what The Review homepage looked like circa 2013 👀

[Kelly Wiarda @KWiarda]

@hpierrejacques @jarridvtingle @wallstreetpaper @gabbycazeau @nic_detommaso @melodyhahm @HarlemCapital Those are some genuine smiles!

[Kelly Wiarda @KWiarda]

@kbirge @M25vc WTG 👏🏽

[Kelly Wiarda @KWiarda]

@AvenueTP @grandvcp @JacqueLensing @msuresearch Same! I left so inspired by the talent in our community.

[Kelly Wiarda @KWiarda]

@cbnoordeloos @AllRaise Looks so fun! 🤩 Enjoy.

[Grand Ventures @grandvcp]

We've got some BIG news! Today, Grand Ventures announced our $50M Fund II! 🎉

“We are thrilled to grow our investor base & see the trust we’ve built both with our new and long-standing limited partners,” @timstreit_

Read more: https://t.co/snOdbfY0xG
@cbnoordeloos @nathan_owen

[Grand Ventures @grandvcp]

Last night, @wesley_jeff @cbnoordeloos & @nathan_owen co-hosted a VC Happy Hour during #techweekgr. 🍻

200+ VCs, Founders, Investors, @CityGrandRapids representatives & tech enthusiasts joined us for an energizing night of networking.

[Grand Ventures @grandvcp]

This morning @cbnoordeloos hosted a “Women in Tech & Finance” breakfast as a part of Tech Week GR.

We had a great turnout & loved making connections within the Founder, Investor & CEO community of Grand Rapids.

Thanks @SxanPro & @AristaNetworks for making this possible.

[Kelly Wiarda @KWiarda]

Open houses, school supplies, fall sports schedules.. while I’m actually excited for the return of routine, these last few weeks of summer are a bit overwhelming (am I right?).

Thankful to @getmanatee for some helpful advice for parents & kids alike:

https://t.co/5xRKta7xt9

[Kelly Wiarda @KWiarda]

@DarrelFrater @HustleFundVC Darling! 💗

[Grand Ventures @grandvcp]

🗓Save the Date! 🗓
We're co-hosting a VC Happy Hour🍻in Grand Rapids on September 20th during Tech Week GR. 🎉
If you're an entrepreneur, investor, or VC in the area, REGISTER today to reserve your spot!

https://t.co/N8t9ji503M

[Kelly Wiarda @KWiarda]

I somehow managed 3rd place in bowling but, more importantly, had a great day with my work team yesterday!

[Grand Ventures @grandvcp]

Twice a year, we schedule time to get offsite for a day of strategy sessions & we always add in some fun! 🥂

After a great morning of meetings yesterday at Spartan Innovations, we played Duckpin Bowling. 🎳

It was a day filled w/ great conversation, laughter & team building.