Sapna Shah

I invest in women’s sports, fan engagement & sports as community. Previously: investor in retail/consumer, founder @RetailXSeries. 3x founder & strategy exec

[Sapna Shah @RedGiraffe]

Calling early stage founders! Check out my latest post "How to Find Angel Investors" with all the info you need to start raising a pre-seed round from angel investors. https://t.co/ynpt3ffLnv #startups #fundraising

[Sapna Shah @RedGiraffe]

This was a great convo with one of my portfolio companies - if you're considering moving to a 4-day workweek (or even just trying to reduce meetings in your week), this episode is a must-listen!

[Sapna Shah @RedGiraffe]

Looking for a really thoughtful approach to customer experience? This podcast is for you. Louisa talks about building a brick and mortar company with a laser focus on the target customer and their needs. Worth a listen for all founders building consumer facing businesses

[Sapna Shah @RedGiraffe]

I really enjoyed talking to @jurhyu on this topic. For all those considering exiting their businesses at some point in the future, Ju has some great advice and learnings that are worth a listen.

[Sapna Shah @RedGiraffe]

This was a fun one. @MichelleRazavi gets into the nitty gritty of selling into a huge retailer, with only a two-person full time team. If you're a founder considering big-box wholesale, this is the episode for you!

[Sapna Shah @RedGiraffe]

Calling all consumer brand founders - this episode is for you - especially if you’re currently fundraising

[Sapna Shah @RedGiraffe]

If you're an apparel founder looking into selling into Nordstrom, this is the episode for you! 👇

[Sapna Shah @RedGiraffe]

This was a fantastic, transparent conversation w/so much detail. It’s a step-by-step guide with bow’to’s and specific resources. Ann shares how she raised and even how much. A must-listen!

[Sapna Shah @RedGiraffe]

Great attendance at tonight’s @NYTechAlliance’s #NYTechMeetup at Civic Hall

[Geri Stengel @Ventureneer]

Delighted to see women I know quoted in BUILDING A BOARD AT AN EARLY-STAGE COMPANY article: @_howwomenlead @RedGiraffe. Nicely done @mvlerner https://t.co/JmN4wpO2rm

[Sapna Shah @RedGiraffe]

@jefielding @mentorafrika Where do they compare to enterprise retail sales cycle (which I had thought were some of the worst)?

[Sapna Shah @RedGiraffe]

This was a fun one - we talked about a wide array of startup subjects. Highly recommend a listen for all early stage founders - lessons for not just consumer products but ones that can be applied to all sorts of startups

[Sapna Shah @RedGiraffe]

@aubriepagano The Vaster Wilds. So beautiful. Also second Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow - my fave book of this year

[Sapna Shah @RedGiraffe]

Calling all women-led b2! Retail tech startups! Apply now to this fantastic program 👇🏽

[NY Fashion Tech Lab @nyftlab]

Applications for the 2024 Lab are ✨NOW OPEN✨

The lab focuses on women-led, b2b, retail technology startups.

Visit https://t.co/zA11JkVhBT to apply & contact [email protected] with any questions! 🩷

[Sapna Shah @RedGiraffe]

Was so fun to record this and get Monica’s take on all things retail tech. Highly recommend for founders looking to sell tech into DTC brands

[Sapna Shah @RedGiraffe]

@jefielding That would work too! Let me know who

[Sapna Shah @RedGiraffe]

Looking for a photographer for new headshots in NYC, preferably downtown. Any recommendations?

[Sapna Shah @RedGiraffe]

Cap tables are important but most founders don't spend nearly enough time on them. @jefielding's deck on this is a must-read: https://t.co/94v8aK9qa2. I also did a @retailxseries podcast on this for even more on the topic: https://t.co/UTYWhUuIUS

[Elizabeth Yin 💛 @dunkhippo33]

It's been about a year since the markets crashed for startups and VC funds. In the past year, it's been incredibly hard for both funds & startups to raise $$.

I'm no crystal ball, but here's what is happening from my standpoint & where I think the mkts are going.

More >>

[Sapna Shah @RedGiraffe]

This!!! For LinkedIn as well.

[Aubrie Pagano 🦙 @aubriepagano]

I check DMs for founder pitches but many miss the mark.

My advice? Be very succinct and to the point. No mystery clues to try to get me on the phone or “learn more”. Just use the DM as the pitch, tell me exactly what your business solves, and I’ll ask more if I’m interested. 🪄

[Hadley Harris @Hadley]

Why seed valuations haven’t fallen (yet)

At @EniacVC, we’ve been studying recent changes in the seed market — and what we’ve found surprised us, especially when it comes to valuations.

To understand the market, we pulled deal data on recent quarters from @PitchBook, as well as conducting our own Seed Sentiment Survey. Some of the changes are obvious: The market has slowed, with seed capital deployment falling 39% in Q1 2023 compared to two quarters earlier. In addition, the number of deals tracked by PitchBook at every stage has fallen by more than 45% year over year (the biggest drops are at Series C and D).

What’s surprising, however, is that seed valuations don’t appear to have reset, especially when you compare them to later stages — in Q1, seed valuations only fell 4% year over year, compared to 42% for Series A and 51% for Series C.

We received similar comments in our Seed Sentiment Survey, with one respondent writing, “Despite broad repricing across the sector, pricing in the seed market still hasn’t adjusted.” Another noted that while they’re seeing more “realistic” pricing at the A and B rounds, “pre-revenue seeds can still be expensive.”

Why is this? We believe there are a number of factors at play, ranging from the activity of multi-stage funds to hype around AI. But we also believe that all of these factors should diminish over time.

The first factor relates to pricing changes trickling down through the VC ecosystem. The current data already hints at this: The later the stage, the bigger the decline in valuations. Of course, the price reset really starts in the public markets, which then affects later stage private deals. Over time, as C rounds get priced down, this pushes B valuations down as well, and then A — if a typical B valuation goes from $200 million to $100 million, then it stops making sense to value a company at $90 million in the A. So it takes time for pricing trends to reach seed rounds, but they will trickle down eventually.

Second, multi-stage funds who deployed capital too quickly in the bull run now need to respond to the macro environment by reducing the amount of capital they invest. Yet they need to remain active, so they’re shifting their attention from later stage deals to smaller seeds. These funds tend to be less price sensitive than seed firms (one Seed Sentiment respondent wrote, “The larger funds continue to be problematic with their willingness to pay higher prices at the seed”). As the macro environment changes, we expect their focus will eventually return to later stage investments.

Third, many seed funds were raised during the bull run of the past few years — frankly, too many. Some of these new funds will succeed, but others will be unable to return capital to their LPs and will struggle (or are already struggling) to raise new funds. So we expect to see less competition in the seed market over time.

Finally, there’s Generative AI — because it’s so novel, the most exciting opportunities are found with new companies raising seed rounds. But as those companies mature, the opportunities to invest in AI will move into the later stages — again, relieving some of the upward pressure on seed valuations.

Altogether, we believe this will lead seed valuations to correct over the next 12 or 18 months.

And irrespective of valuation trends, we see the next few years as a unique opportunity for seed investments. AI is likely to fuel a new wave of technological disruption, the longer hold times for seed mean that our new investments will be maturing and exiting in a different macro environment, and the reduced supply of capital in the market will mean there’s less competition for the best deals.

It’s a commonplace that the best companies are founded during downturns, from long-time giants like GE and IBM to newer icons like Airbnb and Uber. For the reasons outlined above, we believe that’s going to be more true than ever. And because we were more disciplined than our peers during the recent bull run, we’re well-positioned to bet on the next wave of winners.