Dear Founder,
Marko here from Berlin, Germany. I'm a first-time tech startup founder with an MSc in architecture. I want to share a story on why I decided to help other early-stage AI & Robotics founders get noticed by my network of ~5K VCs and angel investors through the Bytes&Bolts Newsletter.

Feeling the Pain of Fundraising
Raising money for my startup was a nightmare at first. I had zero connections with investors and no clue how fundraising worked. I did almost everything wrong, from researching VCs and angel investors, to sending cold emails, and LinkedIn messages. It was rough, ineffective, and honestly embarrassing.

After months of trial and error, we finally secured a 100K EUR equity-free grant. Not a VC but it’s free money!

The Startup Fundraising Struggle
Fundraising is like dating; there are lots of meetings where you put yourself out there before you score.

If I'm facing these issues, other founders are too. Being deep in the startup community, I've seen many struggle to raise money, especially in the pre-seed and seed phases. No traction means no money unless you have a strong background or pedigree, like an ex-BCG consultant. Honestly, I don't get it. I've talked to many of these guys, and they're often boring and uncreative. Yet, they bring value somehow.

The Origin Story:
I was already giving feedback to investors through a newsletter when I had an idea: why not include fellow founders and help them get funded? I decided to focus on the fields I love, AI and Robotics, and shine a spotlight on the startups I find interesting. I thought, why not flip the game and have investors reach out to startups?

The idea was to create a newsletter that is both humorous and informative, with a playful jab at the VC lifestyle—think Patagonia vests and biohacking. I started featuring friends from Antler and Xpreneurs accelerators, but soon word spread, and I began receiving inbound requests. Turns out, poking fun at VCs while showcasing amazing startups was a hit! PSA: Germans might miss the humor, but everyone else loves it!

It all began as a fun hobby but I knew I was onto something when the founders told me investors reached out after reading my newsletter.

For founders:
If you're an AI or robotics startup founder raising your pre-seed or seed round and want to be featured for free in my newsletter, just send me the answers to these questions:
- Name + Link to the website
- What would be the problem you are solving?
- What are you doing? Max 3 sentences blurb
- Segment (i.e. B2B, SaaS, FinTech) and the market size (TAM)
- Who is your ideal customer persona?
- Name of the founders and their background summarised + LinkedIn links
- At what stage are you?
- Did you raise money? Are you raising money and how much?
- MRR? ARR? if not, what other traction do you have (in bullet points)
- Official email
- Calendly or any other booking link.
- Location of the startup

For investors
If you have any cool startups in your portfolio that are raising their next round, let me know, and I'll give you a special price.

Here's my ask:
Let's bring in some awesome sponsors for the newsletter! Think biohacking tools, cold plunges, saunas, 8sleep, and more—stuff VCs will love. With the right sponsors, I can keep focusing on featuring the best early-stage AI & Robotics startups to VCs and Angel investors.

If you have a great sponsor idea or know someone who fits the bill, let's connect and make this a win for everyone!

Feedback Needed
P.S. Do you think this angle brings any value? Your feedback could help me shape the direction of this newsletter.