Storytime Capital

I’m beyond thrilled to share that Blanka has been recognized as the Private Label Service of the Year by Beauty Innovation Awards! 🏆🎉 Our mission is to empower anyone to bring their dream beauty & wellness line to life with accessible, easy-to-use technology that offers high quality products, custom-branded services, and on-demand delivery. This award is a huge validation of the work we put in every day to support our clients. A big shoutout to our incredible team, our inspiring partners, and of course our amazing clients—this recognition wouldn’t be possible without you. 🙏 LFG!!!

Is there a better way to kick off a keynote? Kicker's CEO, Renae Farough, hit the SAAS NORTH Conference stage this morning with some 𝗺𝗮𝗷𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆! With baby mama dance moves, Renae set the tone for a powerful session on getting fierce about sales: 1️⃣ 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲, 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗙𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀 Sales isn't about listing features; it’s about 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲. 2️⃣ 𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 Not everyone is your buyer, and that’s okay! Finding those who truly need your product brings better results—and higher conversions. 3️⃣ 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗩𝗼𝗹𝘂𝗺𝗲 A volume approach to leads comes with significantly lower conversion rates across the entire sales cycle versus leveraging high-value leads. Focus on 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 and increase your conversions at each step. Psst.... this is exactly what we do at Kicker 🔮 try the magic for free! https://lnkd.in/gUEXW65u 4️⃣ 𝗛𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗶𝗽: 𝗣𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗶𝘁 𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗸! Have sales candidates 𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 to get a real sense of their caliber. Sales takes heart, hustle, and a work ethic. 5️⃣ 𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗜𝗥𝗟 Spend time in 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱, not just collecting feedback virtually to refine your approach and strengthen your sales strategy. Ready to bring that energy to your sales? 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗞𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱—it’s time to 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝘂𝗽! https://lnkd.in/gUEXW65u

🎃 Trick or Treat! Our new website is live, and it’s as tempting as the candy you “borrowed” from your kids’ Halloween haul last night! 🍬 Kicker snags your favourite high-value, highly-accurate leads just like you pull your favourite candies from the bowl after bedtime! Check it out: https://getkicker.ai/en-CA #SalesTreats

This was a fantastic chat with Neil Grunberg the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of ⁠Storytime Capital! Storytime Capital is a VC focused on early-stage (Pre-Seed & Seed) investments. They primarily focus on technology solving the Future of Work. Previously Neil was a Co-Founder at AlayaCare (~$300M raised) and was at Workbrain and part of the "Workbrain Mafia". Maybe a Workbrain episode soon? We discussed... -What made Workbrain so special and Neil's experience there. -Genesis story of AlayaCare. -What made AlayaCare's culture so strong and leading with empathy. -Building and maintaining Co-Founder relationships. -Fundraising insights (AlayaCare raised close to $300M) -Checking your ego and Neil's experience working on product, strategy, corp dev, etc. -How a founder's role changes throughout the life of a company. -How to build a strong corp dev function. -Why start a VC firm and what it is like having perspective as an operator, founder and now investor. -Why the future of work thesis. -Major shift in software solutions. CC Stephanie Curcio, Kelsey Hahn, Kaylee Lieffers (Astle), Renae Farough, Tim Lett and Daniel Debow

The moment we’ve all been waiting for is finally here! 👀 After all the teasers (we know we’ve kept you on the edge of your seat 😉), we’re excited to officially launch our newest addition to the NLPatent platform: NLPatent | Monitor - the world’s first truly intelligent patent monitoring tool that delivers highly tailored and context-rich alerts straight to your inbox! To develop this truly intelligent patent monitoring tool, we leverage a system of patent-specific large language models, continuously refined by our top AI engineers. Our team designed NLPatent | Monitor to offer full transparency - each contextually-relevant alert is accompanied with clear explanations on its significance. But we didn’t stop there! NLPatent | Monitor was built with functionality in mind, equipped with features that make it highly customizable and easy to share with collaborators. Listening to our customers is at the heart of what we do. We’ve quietly been beta testing NLPatent | Monitor with a select group of clients from top law firms, corporations, and research universities. And guess what? It proved to be an invaluable tool to organizations across various IP and business operations.💡Want to learn more? Check out our press release linked in the comments to hear directly from our friend and valued client, Peter Finnie, on how NLPatent | Monitor has unlocked a new workflow for his clients. If you missed your chance to secure early access to NLPatent | Monitor, don’t worry! You can head to our website now to schedule a demo. This release is just the beginning - we look forward to having you on this exciting journey with us as we continue to build and shape the future of IP! 🥂 #NLPatent #PatentMonitoring #NewProduct #Launch #AI #IP

The moment we’ve all been waiting for is finally here! 👀 After all the teasers (we know we’ve kept you on the edge of your seat 😉), we’re excited to officially launch our newest addition to the NLPatent platform: NLPatent | Monitor - the world’s first truly intelligent patent monitoring tool that delivers highly tailored and context-rich alerts straight to your inbox! To develop this truly intelligent patent monitoring tool, we leverage a system of patent-specific large language models, continuously refined by our top AI engineers. Our team designed NLPatent | Monitor to offer full transparency - each contextually-relevant alert is accompanied with clear explanations on its significance. But we didn’t stop there! NLPatent | Monitor was built with functionality in mind, equipped with features that make it highly customizable and easy to share with collaborators. Listening to our customers is at the heart of what we do. We’ve quietly been beta testing NLPatent | Monitor with a select group of clients from top law firms, corporations, and research universities. And guess what? It proved to be an invaluable tool to organizations across various IP and business operations.💡Want to learn more? Check out our press release linked in the comments to hear directly from our friend and valued client, Peter Finnie, on how NLPatent | Monitor has unlocked a new workflow for his clients. If you missed your chance to secure early access to NLPatent | Monitor, don’t worry! You can head to our website now to schedule a demo. This release is just the beginning - we look forward to having you on this exciting journey with us as we continue to build and shape the future of IP! 🥂 #NLPatent #PatentMonitoring #NewProduct #Launch #AI #IP

🌟 Our team woke up to a special surprise today! Blanka has been selected by BC Living and Jennifer Landrey as one of BC's most innovative start-ups! 🎉 And while my face might be plastered all over their article, it really should be a huge picture of every single one of our amazing team members at Blanka. Here’s a shoutout to the other incredible companies recognized: 👉 Boardssey: Co-founded by Anca Bujor, they support board game developers from concept to tabletop sensation. 👉 eEPIC Events: Founded by Juliana Morais, they provide a one-stop platform for booking event services, celebrating diversity in the community. 👉 Legible: Founded by Kaleeg Hainsworth, this digital platform offers access to ebooks and audiobooks with a focus on accessibility. 👉 Orca Water: Founded by Kerry Chin, they develop non-intrusive technology to measure water usage and prevent leaks. Thank you, BC Living, for this recognition! Looking forward to continuing to push boundaries and innovating in the province.

Calling all people and culture leaders! Join me @Tech Talent North Eastern Edition on October 28 to share and learn the latest trends and solutions to help your tech organization scale talent, stay competitive and build a reputable employer brand that will attract, engage and retain top tech talent. Link: https://lnkd.in/gxwkMNhC #techtalentnorth Feel free to use my discount code for 25% off: NGrunberg25

Pumped to moderate this panel... Fun fact... My 1st Founder:Investor 1:1 of SAAS NORTH Conference 2022: Kaylee Lieffers (Astle)... we ended up investing in Blanka. My 1st Founder:Investor 1:1 of SaaS North 2023: Marc Gingras... we ended up investing in Bloks... I'm bringing a term sheet to my 1st 1:1 this year... More importantly, come sit in as I moderate Kaylee, Marc and the incredibly talented Andre Charoo. Use this discount code: NGRUNBERGSN24 and get in on the Early Bird sale which ends October 9th! See you in Ottawa!

Super excited to announce the closing of Bloks' SEED round. Pumped to have Storytime Capital and MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund join the dream team! Time to overhaul the tech stack used by the venture world! cc Mistral Jeff Bonforte Sebastien Marineau Scott Roberts Pierre Donaldson Frederic Boulanger Louis Kearns Mike Potter Mike Gagnon, CPA, CMA Dan Cardamore Stéphane Marceau Arndt Brockmann Mark MacLeod Ace Martin Fayrouz A. Mohammad H. Neil Grunberg Code Cubitt William Ma, CFA Emil Savov Kathryn Leslie Colin McDonald Jean-Philippe Lespinasse Rian Robertson Chadwick Carlson Claudio Silva Lucas Silva de Andrade https://lnkd.in/eg6A_UCt