The Four Skills Every Founder Must Master (Before Anything Else)

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Welcome to The Good News Newsletter—proudly serving over 4,094 founders! Here, we break down the latest insights from our weekly Investor Office Hours sessions and equip you with tools to help you secure capital for your business.

Missed the live session? Listen to the recording here.
Want to join the next session? Check out the full list of investors here.
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🌟 Building In Public - MeetAnyone.co

This week, a big part of the journey was tackling something every marketplace founder eventually faces: the Cold Start Problem. Most platforms struggle because they launch into an empty room — no users, no trust, no momentum. MeetAnyone is taking a different path.

A quick refresher on what we’re building:
MeetAnyone is a platform that helps founders and investors get high-quality introductions without the friction of cold outreach. It’s a warm introduction engine — fueled by verified profiles, shared context, and a community of people who genuinely want to help each other succeed.

Because MeetAnyone is built on top of an existing network — years of Office Hours, countless introductions, and a culture of generosity — we didn’t start from zero. We started from relationship capital.

What We Learned This Week:

• Community eliminates the cold start. Trust accelerates adoption far more than marketing ever could.

• Warm networks > cold acquisition. A single meaningful introduction is worth more than a hundred passive sign-ups.

• Every new member increases the platform’s value. Each founder or investor added to the Directory strengthens the entire ecosystem.

MeetAnyone is growing not because of a growth hack, but because it’s built on connection, trust, and service — the things that make any ecosystem thrive.

👉🏾 If you want better introductions and deeper relationships in your entrepreneurial journey, join us at MeetAnyone.co.

🙏🏽 The Good News - Investor Office Hours

Office Hours Recap:
It’s been a little over a month since we started using Chatter Social for Office Hours and the experience keeps getting better and better. Seeing founders and our VC guests via video has made the conversations and pitches much stronger and better practice for the real thing. Be sure to join us on Chatter for the next session.

💼 Session #1 - Damian Murray, Investment Analyst at Level Up Ventures

Stage: Pre-Seed & Seed

Industry: FinTech, HealthTech, LegalTech (especially AI-enabled solutions)

Check Size: $100K – $500K

How to Apply: You can apply directly through Level Up Ventures’ website or reach out to Damian with a concise overview — they welcome inbound and pride themselves on giving founders thoughtful feedback even when they pass.

Connect with Damian through our Directory on MeetAnyone.

Key Takeaways from Session:

1. Investing in Underestimated Founders:
   Level Up Ventures focuses on backing founders who have historically faced barriers to capital, looking beyond pedigree and prioritizing grit, lived experience, and unique insight into real-world problems.

2. Product Differentiation > Early Traction:
   Unlike many firms, Level Up is less concerned with early revenue and more focused on whether the product has a clear moat, defensibility, and a sustainable competitive advantage in the market.

3. Deep Expertise Wins:
   Damian highlighted their preference for founders with strong domain expertise and technical leadership — ideally a standout CTO or CPO who can execute quickly and build high-quality product from day one.

💼 Session #2 – Arian Ghashghai, Founder & Managing Partner at Earthling VC

Stage: Pre-Seed

Industry: AR/VR, AI, Robotics, and frontier digital technologies

Check Size: $50K – $100K

How to Apply: Arian emphasized that outreach works best when founders focus on aligned investors rather than volume; he responds well to concise, thoughtful pitches that show deep fit.

Connect with Arian through our Directory on MeetAnyone.

Key Takeaways from Session:

1. Investing at the Fringe:
   Earthling VC loves being the first or second check into founders exploring unconventional, paradigm-shifting ideas — the kinds of opportunities most people overlook.

2. Founder-Led Differentiation:
   At pre-seed, Arian underwrites people, not companies; he looks for resourceful founders with extreme commitment, obsessive curiosity, and a unique insight others in the industry haven’t yet discovered.

3. Strategic Fundraising > Spray and Pray:
   Arian reinforced that founders should only pitch investors already investing in their category, stage, and geography — you will never convince someone to invest outside their thesis, so focus your time where alignment naturally exists.

Funding Resources:

💰 Resources of the Week:

The WIN AI Challenge - $2.5M - $5M | Startups Innovating the Workplace | Deadline: 12/11/25

D-Prize Challenges Global Competition - Up to $20K | Founders Addressing Poverty | Deadline: 12/14/2025

Visible Hands VHNYC 2026 Fellowship - $10K | Overlooked Founders in NYC | Deadline: 12/31/2025

AI Unleashed: Industry Disrupters Challenge - $10K | AI Founders | Deadline: 12/31/2025

The Sage Impact Entrepreneurship Program - Up to $50K | Deadline: 1/5/2026

Google Play Apps Accelerator - Early Stage App Companies | Deadline: 1/7/2026

NewSchools 2026 Grant - Up to $250K | Edtech Founders | Deadline: 1/8/2026

Tulsa Remote - $10K | Rolling

💸 Alternative Funding Sources:

Access up to $2M in non-dilutive debt financing. Request information here.

Raise up to $5M in equity capital through a Community Round. Request information here.

Interested in 1 on 1 support from Darrel? I am opening my schedule to meet 1 on 1 with a select group of founders. Interested founders can book time here.

🎙️ Podcast of the Week: How AI Created the Fastest Product Cycle in History | a16z Show

Summary:
In this episode, a16z General Partner Anish Acharya breaks down why AI is creating the fastest and most explosive product cycle in tech history. He explains how distribution has changed, why consumer tech is re-accelerating, and how the Apps SDK, MiniApps, and group chat integrations are about to open entirely new channels for builders. The conversation digs into founder psychology, market timing, the trap of thinking “I’m too late,” and why today’s AI landscape mirrors the early mobile and social waves — just at a much larger scale. Anish also unpacks how voice AI, creator tools, and AI-native networks are setting the stage for the next generation of breakout companies.

Why I recommend it:
This episode is pure fuel for builders. Anish makes a powerful case that right now is the best moment in decades to start something new — not because it’s easy, but because the opportunity surface is massive and expanding daily. If you’re a founder, engineer, or creator, this conversation reframes the noise around AI and replaces it with clarity, optimism, and first-principles thinking you can put to work immediately. You can listen here.

✨ Inspiration

💬 Tweet of the Week

🎵 Song of the Week

🙏🏽 Scripture of the Week

That’s all for this week’s edition of The Good News Newsletter. We hope you found these insights valuable as you continue your journey to securing funding.

What’s next?

We are back this Friday with more investors!

For session #1 we have Chris Davis, COO & Managing Partner at RightShift Ventures.

​RightShift Ventures is the venture arm of Intuitio Labs, a product studio with 65+ designers, engineers, and product experts who build fast, scalable solutions from no-code to custom development.

For session #2 we have Ebony Bogui-Akinyi, Founding Partner and Managing Partner at Think Forward VC.

​Think Forward VC is a early-stage venture fund and studio backing bold, underestimated founders building for Africa across fintech, healthcare, and agriculture.

If interested in joining and/or pitching, please register here.

You can see the full list of past and future VCs on this Calendar.

Be on the lookout for our newsletter next week where we’ll bring you more actionable advice, resources, and success stories.

Let’s All, spread ‘The Good News’

Best,
Darrel Frater
Co-Founder
The Frater Family Foundation
Linkedin | Twitter/X | 609-804-5999

P.S. - If you enjoyed this newsletter, forward it to a founder you know who could benefit from these insights!

P.S.S. - Fundraising and need intros to investors? Try our new tool, MeetAnyone.co.

About TFFF: The Frater Family Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the family office of Darrel and Roselly Frater, dedicated to promoting human prosperity through entrepreneurship. To learn more, reach out to Darrel Frater directly.