Hey y’all — what do you do next if you co-founded your last startup with Tom Brady and raised $200M for it?
That sounds like a crazy hypothetical but, for Josh Payne, it was reality.
And what he’s come up with is already off to the races, with a $9M seed round for Coframe co-led by Khosla Ventures and Nat Friedman.
This week I’ve got TWO great stories for you:
The podcast interview with James Evans, who just sold his Y Combinator-backed startup Command AI
A case study on why Josh decided to go the VC route again and his fundraising strategy
Enjoy both below!
On the Pod: James Evans
James’s Y Combinator-backed startup JUST got acquired.
He had raised $23 million and grown it to over 20 million users.
You might remember the piece I wrote after first interviewing him last year. I was pumped he came back for the pod — he has some great, contrarian insights on things like:
How to get the most out of YC
How to recognize when to pivot
How to secure big logo partnerships early on
Why you don’t need to create a new category
Why “do things that don’t scale” should be updated
Whether anyone can and/or should become a founder
Check it out below on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.
What’s Next After Raising $200M?
Please briefly introduce yourself and your startup.
My name is Josh Payne and I am the founder of Coframe.
The thesis for Coframe is self-improving, living digital assets or user interfaces.
Every piece of copy out there and every piece of UI should have a KPI that is actively optimizing itself for that specific person who is on it.
I am a serial entrepreneur with some of my other startups being Autograph — raising over $200M — and AccessBell which was acquired by Tata Group.
Please share what you can about the fundraising journey for the company so far.
We most recently raised a seed round of $9M. From demo day to first term sheet was a couple of days. We reviewed our offers and decided within a week.
Fundraising Strategy
How did you determine when to raise, how much to raise, and at what valuation?
Become a member to get full access to our case study library, private founder community, and more.
We can also help your startup in a few other ways:
Content Creation
Let my team and I ghostwrite for your newsletter, X, or LinkedIn.
Growth
Grow your audience + generate leads with my growth service.
Fundraising
Share your round with hundreds of investors in my personal network.
Advising
I’ll help solve a specific challenge you’re facing with your startup.
Advertise in my newsletter to get in front of 60,000+ founders.
Get Lifetime Access as a Founding Journey Member
You're missing out on more insights
Join NowBenefits include:
- All fundraising case studies
- Weekly tactical deep dives
- Private founder community
- $60k+ in discounts
