Interview With Jeff Wallace, Co-founder of Silicon Valley in Your Pocket

In this edition of the founder spotlight interview, we have Jeff Wallace, the co-founder of SVIYP, a virtual incubator and accelerator program based in Silicon Valley that provides startup coaching to entrepreneurs globally. Jeff takes us through the amazing journey of SVYIP and how it turned out to be the ultimate place for startup founders.

Can you provide a brief overview of Silicon Valley in Your Pocket and the programs it offers to startups?

Silicon Valley in Your Pocket provides a variety of ecosystem-building and startup studio programs that help optimize startups’ chances for long-term viability, market readiness, investor ROI, and even job creation. Our acceleration and innovation platform combines in-person, virtual, and on-demand coaching with a data-driven assessment framework and a deep set of tools, templates, checklists, and calculators that help put startups and their ecosystems on the right track. We built our program around the Nine Vital Signs of Startup Success, allowing partners to get detailed evaluations of startup portfolios, with clear, actionable feedback for startups on needed areas of improvement. Once a vetted company is flagged as investor-ready, we begin introductions to the right capital markets.

What inspired the creation of Silicon Valley in Your Pocket, and with whom do you primarily work?

While leading another startup accelerator that I was a co-founder of, I frequently met with non-US founders who had trekked to the Silicon Valley/Bay Area in search of the entrepreneur’s dream – investment, partnerships, etc. I found myself thinking and saying “I wish you were a bit further along in your business. I could have made your journey here a bit more productive. It would have been great if you could have accelerated at home (wherever home was for that founder).” At one point, sitting with a wonderful South African founder, I pulled my mobile phone from my pocket after saying this to him and said, “if you have one of these, it is like having Silicon Valley in Your Pocket. You can learn the best practices, techniques and methodologies of Silicon Valley from home.” To make a long story short, that founder became my cofounder, along with my co-leader of the other accelerator, as we formed a virtual accelerator with the same name. Now, we support thousands of founders of early-stage companies (pre-seed/seed mostly) from over 40 countries across the world.

Could you share some insights into the Nine Vital Signs of Startup Success framework and how it helps evaluate startup portfolios?

Here are our Nine Vital Signs of Startup Success. When we evaluate startups, we use these Nine Vital Signs to assess the overall readiness of the venture to align with investors’ expectations for companies they would be interested to invest in. We require startups to score over an 80% in order to be willing to facilitate investor introductions.

• Product-Market Fit – A genuine market problem, offering a needed & scalable solution with a clear customer value proposition, and with a consistent, compelling revenue model.
• Sustainable Competitive Advantages – A clear & persuasive articulation of the competitive advantages and key differentiators, with a strategy for long-term defensibility.
• Go-to-Market Plan – A thorough and accurate assessment of the company’s short- and long-term target markets, and a credible, bottoms-up plan for market share growth.
• Credible Revenue Model – A revenue model with strong margins, a “sticky” business model that promotes customer acquisition and retention, and a competitive, sustainable pricing strategy.
• Compelling Team – A strong leadership team, including a strong CEO, C-Suite, and board of advisors, with excellent communication skills, a deep understanding of the subject matter, relevant skill set, and strong team chemistry.
• Backed by KPIs – Credible market validation of key assumptions, quantifiable KPIs such as CAC, LTV, ARPU, Margin, etc., and realistic revenue projections for at least 3 years, along with a reasonable burn rate.
• Validated Traction – validation through customer acquisition, monetization, partnerships, IP, and product development, with a path to sustained future growth.
• Validated Fundraising Terms – Investment terms consistent with actual/projected revenues and profits, clear future milestones, with an understanding of the potential acquirer landscape and “fit”.
• Compelling Story – A pitch deck that reinforces a compelling story that engages the audience and compels them to seek more information, and a presenter who is a compelling, credible leader.

What are some of the tools, templates, checklists, and calculators that Silicon Valley in Your Pocket offers to startups?

We have nearly 100 such resources that we make available to our member companies, including a full Data/Deal Room that we provide for investor due diligence. These include financial models, pitch decks, beachhead market prioritization tools, introduction request templates, advisor agreements and many more.

Once a startup is flagged as investor-ready, how does Silicon Valley in Your Pocket facilitate introductions to the right capital markets?

Once we receive a properly submitted request for an introduction, our mentors proceed to add a personal cover note on top of the founder’s request and send the message, along with the founder’s note, to the investor requesting a connection and/or a brief call with the mentor first. If that call goes well, the next step is the mentor introducing the founder and the investor.

What value do founders gain from participating in Silicon Valley in Your Pocket programs beyond traditional accelerator offerings?

We provide a very high touch offering with tools and techniques that last a lifetime. Founders can become part of the broader Silicon Valley in Your Pocket online/WhatsApp community to always have a source for ongoing support as their startup journey progresses.

Can you share a success case of a startup that has benefited from Silicon Valley in Your Pocket?

We have assisted many startups in forming top notch advisory boards. We know from our vast experience that having highly credible advisory boards makes the investment conversations much smoother and more efficient. We have placed globally recognized C-suite level advisors on pre-revenue startup advisory boards, changing the trajectory of the business. Also, we have one company we worked on pivoting the business model that went from 5 figures of annual revenue to 8 figures of annual revenue in under 24 months.

With many global startups looking to enter the US market, what key considerations should they keep in mind, and what common mistakes do founders tend to make?

When companies seek to enter the US market, a couple things that many don’t always consider is the competitive landscape within the US. We have had companies from other parts of the world doing rather well in their home country decide to enter the US market. When we helped them to complete a competitive landscape analysis, they identified 32 players within their direct competitive space. We encouraged that company to continue growing their non-US market to continue strengthening their business before reconsidering a US market entry. Also, from our experience, 75-80% of startup founders fail to do sufficient customer discovery. This is critical to ensure that the market you believe exists, actually does exist in reality. This work can be done prior to relocating or opening an entity within the US. Thirdly, companies need to consider the IP matters and sustainable advantages within the US marketplace. And lastly, founders need to make sure to form the appropriate US legal entity and banking relationships. It is always easier to research this with trusted resources and doing it right the first time versus moving too quickly or not seeking proper advice and then having to fix things later.

While the US market is attractive for startups, are there any situations or scenarios where you would actually discourage startups from entering or landing in the US?

As noted above, we have in fact discouraged founders from relocating or entering the US marketplace. Our primary objective is to help founders identify the marketplace that holds the “highest and best” opportunity for their innovation. Sometimes that is the US and sometimes it is not the US. Helping founders navigate this decision is very important and could quite possibly be existential to a company if the wrong decision is made.

Looking ahead, what are the future goals and plans for Silicon Valley in Your Pocket regarding expansion and innovation?

Our future plans are to continue serving the needs of the global startups by working with governments, NGOs, chambers of commerce, universities, accelerators, investor groups (be they angel networks, venture capital firms or corporate venture capital groups) to provide battle-tested, high-touch startup acceleration programming and coaching (group and individual) to founders. Furthermore, we are continuously adding more curriculum to our offerings and are currently working on some very exciting artificial intelligence programming and data monetization strategies modules to assist in these emerging areas. Lastly, we have developed a tranched, performance-based startup studio investment model that invests in startups using a data-driven, KPI-focused methodology. We seek to simultaneously invest in founders that demonstrate execution capabilities while mitigating investor risks typically associated with early-stage investing.