LinkedIn под ноябрьский Leap: 14 постов за девять недель

Leap #6 is done. 10 founders, 10 investors, 100 one-on-one meetings in 80 minutes.

The numbers this time:
– [N] applications, 10 selected
– [N] investors in the room, from [funds]
– [N] founders already have follow-up calls booked for next week

[One observation from Denis — what stood out this time. Example of the kind of line that works: "Almost every investor asked about competitors. If you can't name yours in one sentence, you lose 2 of your 7 minutes."]

One founder told us: "[quote]".

Next Leap: second half of November. Why November — I'll explain next week. Applications are already open: p2s.vc/leap

If you're a VC and want the list of selected startups, drop "VC" in the comments and I'll reach out.

If you're 60–70% through your round and need the last checks before the holidays, apply by mid-November. Here's why.

Venture has a clear seasonality. The active phases for new deals are January–May and September–November. Investors are people too: summer is slow, December is when everyone rushes to close what's already in progress.

A deal almost never closes in 2–3 weeks. So if by late November you don't have an investor who has taken you to their investment committee, you're closing in January and getting money in February–March.

But here's the pattern I see every year: by the end of November most rounds are either closed or stuck at 60–70%. The founder has the lead, and needs 2–3 more investors to close. [❓ Denis: replace with your typical picture.]

That's exactly what our November Leap is for. Ten investors who haven't met you yet, in one 80-minute session, 7 minutes each. For the last 20–30% of the round — or for the first warm conversations before January, without cold emails.

The startups we're looking for:
– Full-time team with a Hacker & Hustler on board
– Registered company with an active bank account
– Working MVP, first traction
– B2B/SaaS, FinTech, AI, Future of Work, Productivity Tools, Digital Health, or HR Tech
– US as your main market

Apply: p2s.vc/leap

A signed check usually takes months. At Leap it starts with 7 minutes.

Cielara AI pitched at our very first Leap in June 2025. A few minutes of conversation — and they secured an investor who was in that room. [❓ Denis: confirm the investor came from Leap.]

Guide.AI was in the same room that day. Same outcome.

In total, 5 startups have found their investors through the event so far. [❓ update after Leap #6; add any named case from sessions 2–6 if one can be disclosed.]

What most founders don't see: the session is only the start. After Leap, every selected startup goes to a private community of 100+ early-stage investors. And once you've pitched at Leap, we're watching. The conversations don't end with the event.

Next Leap: November [date]. Applications: p2s.vc/leap

We approve only 5% of the startups that apply to Leap. Here are all five reasons, so you don't waste your time or ours.

1. Full-time team with a Hacker & Hustler on board. Founders still at their day jobs is one of the first reasons for a "no". Not because we doubt you. Because a pre-seed check can't compete with a salary. [❓ Denis: your wording.]

2. Registered company with an active bank account. Fast-track means a check can follow in weeks, not months. It needs somewhere to land.

3. Working MVP and first traction. Building a prototype has become cheap. What investors pay for now is proof that someone wants it: pilots, design partners, first revenue.

4. US as your main market. Simple reason: US investors invest in US startups. Before the pandemic there was even a rule of thumb — 150 miles from the office. It's looser now, but the market logic hasn't changed. Every investor in the room writes checks into US-market startups.

5. B2B/SaaS, FinTech, AI, Future of Work, Productivity Tools, Digital Health, HR Tech. That's where the four P2S funds actually write checks.

Five yeses? Apply: p2s.vc/leap

Three or four? Apply anyway and tell us honestly which one is missing. Sometimes "not today" turns into "let's talk in 3 months." [❓ Denis: only if you want these applications.]

At Leap we deliberately don't show pitch decks during the session. 7 minutes on camera, conversation only.

Why: investors get a package on every startup before the event — deck, market study, competitor analysis prepared by our team. So the 7 minutes aren't spent on "what do you do". They're spent on "why you".

A founder from a previous Leap put it well: "In this format it becomes crystal clear what really matters to people, because they don't have time to ask many questions. Almost everyone asked me about competitors."

What to prepare:
1. One sentence on what you do and for whom. If it takes longer, it's not ready.
2. One number that proves traction. Revenue, pilots, retention — whichever is real.
3. One specific question for the investor. Not "are you interested" — something like "what would you need to see in 3 months to lead?"

And remember what the investor is actually thinking. You're thinking "I need $500K to cover the next 12 months." The investor is thinking "how much will I make on this, and when." Answer that question before it's asked.

Next Leap: November [date]. Applications: p2s.vc/leap

A founder told me he'd talked to 120 investors over 9 months and hadn't raised a dollar. I asked one question: how many of those 120 got an update from you afterwards?

Zero.

Nine months of meetings, and not one line to the people who already knew the company. Every investor who said "not now" became a dead contact instead of a warm one.

The opposite mistake I also see: a founder who writes me every month that "60% of the round is committed". For a year. After a year I stopped believing the round existed.

What works instead:
– A short update every 4–6 weeks to everyone who took a meeting. Numbers, one win, one ask. [❓ Denis: your recommended cadence.]
– Honest status of the round. "We have $300K soft-committed, looking for a lead" beats a fake 60%.
– A simple spreadsheet of every investor you've talked to: date, status, next step. Yes, a Google Sheet is enough.

A July 2026 OpenVC survey of 67 VCs: 91% subscribe to founder updates, and 37% say an update directly led to an investment.

If you're raising this fall and want 10 warm conversations instead of 120 cold ones: p2s.vc/leap

10 investors. 10 founders. November [date]. Here's who's in the room.

[Investor 1] — [Fund]. Portfolio: [2–3 names]
[Investor 2] — [Fund]. …
…

The most valuable asset at pre-seed is not money. It's the network. Every investor at Leap is someone we know personally and have worked with. No random people.

Format: 80 minutes online, 7-minute one-on-ones with each investor, no slides. The winner by investor vote gets a fast-track to the P2S investment committee — one week instead of four.

Applications close November [date]: p2s.vc/leap

"We have a term sheet from another fund, so we need your decision by Friday."

Here's what happens next on my side. Right after the call I text the partner at that fund. It takes 5 minutes to find out there's no term sheet.

Founders do this because someone told them investors need FOMO. Real FOMO works. Invented FOMO costs you the deal and the relationship — and the venture world is small.

What creates real urgency: [❓ Denis: replace with your own examples]
– "Two funds are in second meetings, one asked for the data room." True and checkable.
– "We're closing the round by December 15 because we start hiring in January." A real deadline tied to the business.
– "If we don't hear back by Friday, we'll assume it's a pass — no hard feelings." Respectful, and it works.

And if an investor doesn't reply for a week, it's usually not a "no". It's a hundred unread emails. Send a short follow-up.

Next Leap: November [date]. 10 investors in one session: p2s.vc/leap

The first meeting with an investor is a qualification call. They check whether you fit. Few founders remember it works both ways.

Six questions to ask in the first 3 minutes, right after the investor introduces themselves:
1. Do you lead rounds, or follow? (The round only forms after a lead sets terms.)
2. Are you actively investing right now, or raising a new fund? (The second answer can cost you months.)
3. What check sizes, stages and types of companies do you invest in?
4. Do you do follow-ons? What exit horizon do you plan for?
5. Any specific terms — board seat, target ownership?
6. Any conflict of interest — have you invested in a direct competitor? (Check before the call; ask anyway.)

Three questions for the last 2–5 minutes:
7. What are the next steps, what do you need from me, how long does each stage take?
8. What do you bring beyond money? (If they start listing ideas — there's interest.)
9. What do you think of the deal? Does it fit your mandate, what are your objections?

Only a few percent of founders ask question 9. Investors won't tell you everything, but you'll hear "at this revenue, startups usually don't pass our committee — but let's talk in 3–6 months" instead of silence.

At Leap you'll have 7 minutes with each of 10 investors. Prepare these questions. Apply by November [date]: p2s.vc/leap

The Leap winner gets a fast-track to the P2S investment committee: one week instead of four. Here's what happens in those four weeks. Most founders never see this side.

Normal path: a partner meets you → likes it → takes it to the committee. From that moment the partner's reputation is on the line. They start selling you inside the fund: answering the other partners' objections, collecting references, building the case. [❓ Denis: this description of the committee process is a reconstruction — confirm or rewrite what can be said publicly.]

That's the part that takes 4 weeks. The fast-track compresses it because 10 investors have already seen you, voted, and the package (deck, market study, competitor analysis) is already on the table.

What the P2S model looks like after a "yes":
– First check from four funds at once — AltaIR, Yellow Rocks, Smart Partnership Capital, I2BF
– A partner as your curator through the program, not a cohort
– Up to 50% of your next round committed for companies that prove traction

[❓ Denis: one honest detail about the committee — e.g. what kills a deal at the last step, or the pre-mortem exercise the committee runs.]

Applications close November [date]: p2s.vc/leap

Applications for the November Leap close on Thursday. Three things that tripped applicants last time — check before you submit:

1. [Real mistake #1 from Leap #6 applications — e.g. "US is your main market" answered with "we plan to enter the US in 2027"]
2. [Real mistake #2]
3. [Real mistake #3]

[❓ Denis: three real patterns from the Leap #6 application pool.]

We approve about 5% of applications. Most of the other 95% aren't bad companies — they're a stage or a market away. [❓ Denis: confirm.] If that's you, apply anyway and say so. The 10 seats for November are decided this week — but P2S reviews applications year-round and doesn't wait for events to write a check.

Apply by Thursday: p2s.vc/leap

Applications for the November Leap close tonight.

10 founders, 10 US investors, 7-minute one-on-ones, November [date]. Winner gets a fast-track to the P2S investment committee.

If you're raising and you fit — full-time team, registered company, MVP with traction, US market — this is the last investor session of the year. P2S keeps reading applications after tonight, but the 10 November seats don't wait.

p2s.vc/leap

Out of 100 investors you talk to, two or three will say yes. That's not a bad run — that's the base rate.

This week we sent "not this time" to [N] founders who applied to Leap. [❓ Denis: only if a reply went out to everyone.] Some of them will be in the next cohort. A few will get a check from us without any event — because the pipeline doesn't close.

What "no" usually means:
– Not this stage. Come back with revenue.
– Not this market. Not fixable for a US fund, and that's fine.
– Not this round. The investor liked you but the timing on their side is wrong.

What to do with a "no":
– Ask what would change it. You won't always get the real reason (I wrote about why in August: investors don't burn bridges, and honest feedback takes effort) — but you'll usually hear the stage or the metric they want to see.
– Put them on your update list. The founder who sends a 5-line update every 6 weeks is the one who gets the call when things change.
– Don't argue. Venture is small; the next round is a year away.

Leap #7 is tomorrow. Recap on Thursday.

Leap #7 is done. [N] applications, 10 selected, 10 investors, 100 meetings in 80 minutes.

[N] follow-up conversations are already booked. The investor vote went to [startup] — they're on the fast-track to the P2S committee next week.

"[Founder quote]"

Since June 2025: 7 Leaps, [N] startups funded after them.

One thing I want to say clearly: P2S doesn't wait for events. We review applications year-round. If you fit — full-time team, MVP with traction, US market, B2B/SaaS, FinTech, AI, Future of Work, Productivity Tools, Digital Health or HR Tech — apply now and we'll review your application within two weeks, not in February. [❓ Denis: real reply time.]

p2s.vc/leap

VCs who want the list of selected startups — drop "VC" below.