---
type: meeting
category: fundraising
attendees:
  - Jamie Patel
  - "Mike Johnson (Velocity Ventures)"
date: 2026-01-07
outcome: positive
next_step: partner_meeting
tags:
  - investor
  - fundraising
  - meeting
---
# 2026-01-07 Investor Call

Intro call with Velocity Ventures

Date: 2026-01-07 2:00pm PST
Duration: 30 minutes
Attendees: [[Jamie Patel]], [[Mike Johnson]] ([[Velocity Ventures]] - Associate)

## Background

Velocity Ventures:
- $100M seed-stage fund
- Focus: B2B SaaS, data infrastructure
- Sweet spot: $250K-$500K checks at seed
- Portfolio: 12 companies, 3 exits

Mike Johnson:
- Associate (worked with 3 current portfolio companies)
- Former product manager at analytics startup (acquired)
- Referred by Tom Chen (our angel investor)

## Call Summary

### Our Pitch (10 min)

Jamie walked through:
1. Problem: Analytics tools too complex (Tableau) or too simple (spreadsheets)
2. Solution: MetricFlow - sweet spot for SMBs
3. Traction:
   - 1 paying customer ([[DataDriven Co]] - manufacturing)
   - 1 trial ([[GrowthStack]] - SaaS)
   - $499 MRR, growing
4. Ask: $500K at $3M post-money valuation

### Mike's Questions

**Q: [[What]]'s your unfair advantage?**
A: Speed to [[Value]]. Customers create [[First]] dashboard in <30 minutes (vs days for Tableau). Plus, Alex's [[Technical]] background (7 years [[Building]] analytics infra at scale).

**Q: How do [[You]] compete with PowerBI / [[Google Data Studio]] (free)?**
A: Those [[Are]] DIY - require [[Data]] [[Team]]. We're [[Managed]] analytics - customer gets up and running without hiring.

**Q: What's your CAC and LTV?**
A: Too early for real data. Estimate: $200 CAC (founder time), $6K LTV (12 months at $499/mo). 30x ratio.

**Q: Why now?**
A: Post-COVID, SMBs finally investing in data. Market timing + our team's experience.

**Q: Biggest risk?**
A: Scaling technical infrastructure for larger customers. We learned this with [[InsightHub]] churn. Roadmap includes caching layer (Q1).

### Mike's Feedback

**Positive:**
- "Love the market timing"
- "Traction is early but promising"
- "Team background is strong"

**Concerns:**
- "Would like to see 3-5 paying customers before partner meeting"
- "Competitive landscape is crowded - need clearer differentiation"
- "Valuation feels slightly high for traction level"

### Next Steps

**Immediate:**
- [ ] Jamie: Send deck + data room access
- [ ] Jamie: Schedule partner meeting for late January (after we close [[GrowthStack]]?)
- [ ] Jamie: Send customer reference (Sarah from [[DataDriven Co]])

**Before Partner Meeting:**
- Need: 2-3 paying customers ($1K+ MRR)
- Nice to [[Have]]: 1 case study with ROI metrics
- Critical: Clearer competitive differentiation

### Partner Meeting Details

If we hit [[Milestones]]:
- Partner: [[Lisa Chen]] (focuses on data/analytics)
- Format: 45-60 min [[Deep]] [[Dive]]
- Attendees: [[Both]] founders (Alex + Jamie)
- [[Location]]: Their office or Zoom

**Decision [[Timeline]]:** 2-3 [[Weeks]] [[After]] partner meeting

## Fundraising Strategy Adjustment

Based on [[This]] call:

**Before raising:**
1. Close [[GrowthStack]] trial → 2 paying customers
2. [[Book 2]] more trials → aim for 3 paying by Feb
3. Create [[DataDriven Co]] case study (savings: 8 hrs/week)
4. Sharpen competitive positioning (speed + managed service)

**Timeline impact:**
- Originally: Start raise in Feb
- Revised: Start raise in late Feb / early Mar
- [[First Close Target]]: April (still [[On Track]] for [[Hiring Plan]])

## Valuation Feedback

Mike suggested $3M post might be high. Comparable companies:
- Similar traction: $2M-$2.5M post
- With 3-5 customers: $3M-$3.5M post

**Decision:** Hold at $3M for [[Velocity]], [[But]] be [[Ready]] to negotiate down to $2.5M if needed. Angels will likely accept $3M.

## [[Related]]

- [[Fundraising Tracker]]: [[Investor Pipeline]]
- Customers: [[DataDriven Co]], [[GrowthStack]]
- Hiring dependency: [[Hiring Plan]] ([[Need]] seed closed for Q2 hire)
- Product: [[Q1 2026 Roadmap]] (competitive differentiation)

## Follow-up [[Email Template]]

```
Subject: MetricFlow - Deck + Data Room

Hi Mike,

Great chatting today! Here's what we discussed:

📊 Pitch Deck: [link]
📁 Data Room: [link]
📞 Customer Reference: Sarah Johnson, Head of Analytics at DataDriven Co

We're focused on hitting 3 paying customers by end of Feb. I'll keep you posted on progress - aiming for that partner meeting late Jan / early Feb.

Thanks again for the intro from Tom!

- Jamie
```

## Handoff Note

Automation: [[Track]] this in [[Investor Pipeline]] - move Velocity to "[[Stage 2]]" (had call, sent deck)
