Had a lot of fun at Prologue startup weekend with my friends at @paragraphventures
No pitch decks. No polish. Just early ideas, real conversations, and founders building in the open.
Your first 10 customers will teach you more than your next 1,000.
Your first handful of customers will tell you:
Where your onboarding breaks.
What they actually value versus what you thought they valued.
What language resonates.
What they are willing to pay for.
Where your product creates friction.
They will use the product wrong. They will ask for things you didn’t anticipate. They will expose the assumptions you didn’t realize you made.
And the good news is, that's not noise, it's clarity.
We build companies by going deep before we go wide. The first 10 customers are not just revenue. They are your roadmap.
#startups #founders #productmarketfit #venturestudio #buildinpublic
We’re still beaming after a great night with IU Ventures here at the Paragraph Studio. It was an incredible way to kick off Innovation Week—connecting with friends, meeting new founders, and hearing stories from people who are building bold ideas right here in Indiana.
#IUVentures #InnovationWeek #Startups #Founders #VentureStudio #BloomingtonTech
6. Founders don’t need people to root for them. They need people to build with them.
→ Our take:
Cheering from the sidelines may help for a moment, but it doesn’t move the work forward. What truly makes the difference is having someone in the trenches with you.
Burnout is real, and the startup road gets steep quickly. Two heads (or more) really are better than one.
Founders don’t need more applause. They need true partners who are willing to build alongside them, share the load, and show up when it matters most.
#buildtogether #founders #venturestudio #buildwithparagraph
When one of our portfolio companies has a big challenge or a big opportunity, we don’t just send advice over email.
We get in the room.
We put ideas on the screen and flesh it out.
We treat it like it’s our own startup because in many ways, it is.
Recently, we spent the afternoon with the Bereave team, workshopping ideas to help them navigate their next stage of growth. With laptops open and everyone moving in the same direction, you can feel the momentum start to build. This is what makes venture studios different. We’re not just investors, we’re builders alongside our founders.
#VentureStudio #Startups #Founders #Bereave #Collaboration
Momentum won’t fall into your lap.
In a startup, it’s earned—fought for with passion and grit.
The days feel tough because you’re pushing through what made others quit.
Keep going.
You’ve got this.
5. A great product isn't enough.
→ Our take:
It’s easy for great products to exist in obscurity—never even seen by the people who desperately need them. A great brand is more than a sharp logo. It’s a visual and literary framework, a layer that tells the story of why your product exists and why it matters. Great brands build trust before someone ever clicks “Sign Up.” They turn features into feelings, transactions into relationships. And they become a multiplier on hiring, fundraising, sales, and retention.
Your brand is the story people tell when you’re not in the room.
Start telling it early—and tell it well.
pre·cept
/ˈprēˌsept/
—
a general rule intended to regulate behavior or thought.
#paragraphprecept #paragraphventures #branding #startups
The REVelry GTM cohort made the trip down to the Paragraph Studio to meet with founders and dig into the early days of building and selling. Our panel shared stories of scrappy beginnings, founder-led sales, and the sometimes slow but satisfying path to early traction.
There were no slides. No frills. Just real conversations about what it actually takes to build something from zero.
Thanks to our discussion panel for taking time out of your day to encourage these aspiring sales professionals and share your experiences.
Ravi Bhatt
JR Ricker
Chad Main
#gtm #salesmotion #founders #paragraphventures
Monday evening we had the pleasure of hosting a fireside chat with Nealesh Patel, CRO of Crunchbase and Venture Partner at Paragraph. Hearing his perspective on early-stage growth, go-to-market strategy, and the lessons learned scaling Crunchbase was a real highlight.
Even better? Getting to share that conversation with friends, investors, and supporters from the broader Paragraph community.
We’re lucky to be building this venture studio with the support of smart, generous people who believe in founders—and know how to help them grow.
#VentureStudio #EarlyStage #Crunchbase #GTM #StartupCommunity
Keep swinging.
We recently co-hosted an event in Chicago with our friends at Visible—an evening focused on strengthening syndicate relationships, spotlighting great Midwest startups, and educating investors on the early seed stage.
A cocktail hour and a Cubs game made the perfect backdrop. Because let’s be honest—building in the startup world is a lot like baseball. You show up every day, swing hard, miss sometimes, but keep grinding until you drive in the runs. (Just like the Cub's pitcher driving home two runs in the bottom of the ninth for the victory! ⚾ )
We’re grateful to Visible for teaming up with us, and to everyone who came out to connect and keep building momentum in the Midwest venture scene.
"My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging."
—Hank Aaron
#paragraphventures #visiblevc #midweststartups #seedinvesting #venturestudio
“Keep me in the loop.”
It’s a simple phrase—but in startup life, it’s everything.
At Paragraph, we move fast. Our projects evolve daily, and the industries we work in shift just as quickly. Half a day of silence can mean missed context, blocked teammates, or wasted effort.
That’s why working with a partner like @motionsportsinc and Jay Townsend has been such a great fit. Their team gets it—responsive, proactive, and always in sync with our pace. We share a bias toward action and a belief that good communication isn’t optional—it’s foundational.
#movefast #startups #motionsports #communication
4. Ideas are a dime a dozen.
→ Our take:
All studio founders have their own startup ideas. We have plenty of our own. But ideas are worthless without focus and tireless dedication. We don’t start businesses and then look for founders to run them. We look for founders who share our passion for a particular problem and then work together to find a solution. We like to call it “pre-idea investing”.
pre·cept
/ˈprēˌsept/
—
a general rule intended to regulate behavior or thought.
#venturestudio #paragraphventures #buildtogether #midweststartups
