Community Newsletter #51
What’s new: build AI agent with us, save your spot for Leslie x Springbank, dive into our BHAG playbook, plus a standout opportunity for underrepresented founders
Hi Friends 👋
We’ve got a jam-packed lineup this week. Here’s what’s inside:
🤖 AI Agents for Founders: Build an Agent that Works for You this Thursday!
🔥 Live with Leslie & Springbank Collective — join a conversation on solutions for care, career, and consumer on Sept 4
📉 ICYMI: Live with Leslie & Peter Walker on what’s REALLY happening in VC
💡 Paint a big vision. Even if it terrifies you. Why ambition plus accountability wins every time.
✨ Plus: details on an exciting opportunity from AWS Impact Bootcamps you won’t want to miss.
🤖 Workshop: AI Agents for Founders
A 60‑minute, hands‑on workshop where you’ll leave with a production‑ready lead‑tracking and enrichment agent.
👉 Featuring: Jacob Bank – Founder & CEO, Relay.app
👉 Format: Live build, step‑by‑step. No fluff, practical automation you can ship.
👉 Who should come: Founders drowning in manual lead triage, GTM operators automating busywork, and investors helping portfolios operate lean.
🔥 Leslie x Springbank Collective: Where venture meets care infrastructure
Join Leslie Feinzaig with Elana Berkowitz and Courtney Leimkuhler, co-founders of Springbank Collective.
Springbank Collective an early-stage investment firm that focuses on the infrastructure that supports women and working families. The team invests in solutions for care, career, and consumer.
🗓️ Thursday, September 4th
⏰ 11:00am PT / 2:00pm ET
📍Register now
📉 ICYMI: Highlights from Leslie x Peter Walker, straight from Carta’s dataset.
Last week, Leslie sat down with Peter Walker, Head of Insights at Carta, for a no‑spin look at what’s really happening in venture.
Top takeaways for founders?
The sub‑$5M round is not dead. Smaller, faster, cleaner raises are still getting done when teams are precise on milestones and use of proceeds.
The bar is higher, not closed. Lean teams that show real customer pull, efficient growth, and tight cap‑table hygiene are clearing it.
Your job: de‑risk the next check. Treat every update as a mini‑investment memo. Translate progress into clear metrics that move a future round from “maybe” to “must‑do.”
🧠 Venture with Leslie — What’s your BHAG??
Leslie’s latest essay argues that “pitch bigger” isn’t a call for bluster, it’s a call for inspiration. Venture prices upside, teams join missions, and customers buy outcomes. So your job is to make the destination unmistakable and the path credible.
Reframe ambition as an operating system: pair a bold, named BHAG with near‑term proof points, cap‑table hygiene, and updates that de‑risk the next check. The smartest move in the essay is her own modeling—she names her north star out loud, acknowledging the discomfort, and shows founders how conviction and accountability can coexist.
👉 Read it on Substack: Paint a big vision. Even if it terrifies you
💸 Calling all underrepresented founders: AWS Impact Bootcamp!
We are excited to share that AWS Impact Bootcamps, in partnership with Techstars, are now open for applications.
If you’re a self-funded or early-stage startup (up to Series A) looking to scale or prepare for your next raise — this program is designed for you.
What you’ll get:
🔹A chance at up to $50K in non-dilutive funding
🔹A chance to be selected for the AWS Founder Retreat
🔹Up to $5K in AWS Activate credits
🔹Hands-on technical training
🔹 Real-world business advice
🔹 Access to mentors, investors, and strategic partners
Locations: London | Mexico City | Berlin | Tokyo | Atlanta | New York
You can learn more and apply here!
🚀 More Funding Opportunities on the Founder Hub
Don’t miss our full roundup of grants, programs and accelerators!
See ya later! 👋
Graham & Walker is an early-stage venture fund backing pre-consensus founders and ideas that break the mold.