2024 was a consolidation year for Fulcrum. After our 7th cohort of Fundraising Mastery competed late last year we took a step back and moved into a more bespoke model of advisory services for entrepreneurs raising larger seed rounds. After 5 years of working with mostly pre-seed entrepreneurs, creating the GetFunded program and lots of events, we decided to focus on fewer founders working on bigger ideas. 

This hyper-selective approach provided space to work with some truly inspiring companies. Here are some of the companies and founders we got the chance to work with this year: 

Calorify – CEO Hari Mix is building a revolutionary metabolic testing company. Metabolism is a key vital sign that is shifting our understanding of the largest and most expensive diseases we face as a society, including obesity, diabetes, Alzheimers, Parkinsons, and more. Calorify has perfected the only accurate and inexpensive measure of human metabolism and have a very bright future ahead.

Lockwell – CEO Emerson Rayvn is creating the Dropbox of cyber-security for small and medium businesses. Born through a bottom up approach, Lockwell is doing cybersecurity in a way that most cyber folks don’t understand but that vastly outperforms the competition. By building a shared database of security threats, Lockwell is able to provide multi-million dollar cybersecurity at a fraction of the cost of existing players. Without safety, growth and development are severely limited, which is why I believe deeply in Lockwell and their mission. 

Kadeya – CEO Manuela Zoninsein is spearheading the greatest revolution in the packaged beverage industry since the advent of the bottle. Kadeya is one of those companies that will seem obvious in hindsight, similar to Tesla’s reusable rockets, but that seems risky and a little crazy now. Kadeya’s technology significantly reduces the supply chain costs of the entire beverage industry without displacing any of the current players, and so I expect them to fully disrupt and transform this industry over the next 10 years. 

AizTech Labs – CEO Mohammed Sheta has created technology that has to be seen to be believed: an iPhone app that can scan your face and predict various diseases with ultra-high accuracy. As soon as we tested the app, we were sold. This kind of advance in technology that directly impacts human health and well-being is rare and ultra-valuable

Trellus – CEO Adam Haber has created the solution for small local businesses to compete with Amazon. Same day delivery from all the local businesses you love seems like a no-brainer because it is. And the cherry on the cupcake is Trellus helps keep the character of our communities alive. It was a joy working with Adam & Trellus this year. 

I expect big things from all of these companies and if you are an investor I encourage you to take a long look at them all. We see A LOT of companies at Fulcrum and these founders are the cream of the crop. We’re very excited to be shareholders and get to follow along for the ride. 

As 2024 draws to a close, we will continue to work with a very limited number of founders who have already raised over $1M in investment capital and are targeting a Seed or Series A round. Will is also testing a new venture called Creator’s Circle, an accountability community for artists. 

In the meantime, for every founder working on closing their next round of financing, I wholeheartedly recommend the GetFunded program. I believe this program is the best of its kind anywhere on the planet and is not only unrivaled in its depth, but also in its breadth. 

Thousands of founders have gotten value from GetFunded and it typically allows founders to accelerate their fundraising results by 2 to 5 years in just a couple weeks or months. 

I would also urge Founders to check out our Events page where you can watch high value events that discuss common pitfalls to early stage fundraising success. We also have resources on YouTube here.

Raising investment capital is one of the hardest things you’ll do in your career (at least the first couple times you do it) so please get as much help as you can. 

And if you are a founder who has raised more than $1M, and would like to save time raising your next round, please reach out to us.