EP31 – Matt Jonns – Founder + Lightning | Nothing Ventured Podcast

📅 September 1, 2023

About This Episode

Matt Jonns is the founder & CEO of Founder and Lightning. Founder and Lightning have helped build over 30 companies in the last 8 years and have a portfolio valuation of £100m+

👂 Listen to the Primer Episode here – https://youtu.be/Y1EojfHjxYs

🕒 Time stamps –

0:00 – Intro – Who is Matt Jonns?
01:06 – Tell me about Founder + Lightning and what it does.
02:32 – What was Matt's first job?
03:04 – What was Matt doing before he got into the tech ecosystem?
04:29 – How did you get into building Founder + Lightning?
05:47 – What kind of founders does Matt work with, and what sectors does he focus on?
08:07 – Is Matt looking for venture-scale small businesses, or does he prefer smaller exits?
10:57 – What are some of the challenges and misconceptions founders face when chasing unicorn valuations?
13:31 – Are there any ventures that Matt is really excited about inside or outside your portfolio?
17:32 – What are the most common mistakes made by non-technical founders when building their startups?
19:08 – How do you address the challenge of founders spending too much money on MVPs and taking too long to launch?
21:03 – What advice does Matt give to founders about building successful products, especially when big corporates can create their own versions?
21:23 – What mistakes do many founders make when developing their solutions, and what should they focus on instead?
22:07 – What are some of the reasons why founders struggle to raise investment for their startups, as mentioned by the speaker?
22:45 – What advice does Matt give to founders regarding choosing the right co-founder and maintaining control of their startup?
35:20 – How would Matt describe himself – an accelerator, incubator, venture builder, or a fund?
36:02 – Is Matt looking for unicorns or zebras when investing in companies?
39:00 – With the explosion of generative AI and no-code tools, is software still a moat for startups, and how should founders approach this?

🔗 Matt's links –

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-jonns/
Web – https://www.founderandlightning.com/

Watch on YouTube: EP31 – Matt Jonns – Founder + Lightning | Nothing Ventured Podcast