Itay Forer
Serial Entrepreneur, Coach & Mentor | YC alumni
Our session with Itay was chock full of actionable, time (and life?) saving suggestions and insights. I think people like Itay, who do not hold back what they've learnt and experienced and generously give are what makes both growthmentor, and life in general worthwhile. Got so much value, and we are really looking forward to having many conversations with him as we develop our idea. Thank you Itay, it was a pleasure to meet you!
Itay provided great insight into our fundraising strategy and gave us alternate scenarios to consider regarding our true objectives. I appreciated his thoughtful analysis and willingness to share his own fundraising successes and learnings. He also offered to make some well-placed industry introductions, which we certainly appreciated. I would definitely have another call with Itay, and I think he provides terrific feedback.
Itay is resourceful and has a lot of startup experience to share with me, especially to help with my fundraising journey. I look forward to furthering our conversion in the future. Thanks Itay!
Bio
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about what I do❣️ I'm a happy father, deliberate optimist, and entrepreneur with over 18 years of experience. I built a business from day 1 with an initial team of 3 to managing a 400+ person workforce. I am proud to be a YCombinator alum, and I've raised millions $$ from venture capital firms and angel investors. I have also successfully merged my startup and acquired other companies, giving me a unique perspective on business growth and development. I supported, mentored, and coached 300+ founders, entrepreneurs, and professionals with a diverse range across multiple industries, including B2B, B2C, B2B2C, D2C, and C2C business models. I work with mentees on everything from bootstrapping, decision-making, and positioning their careers to personal growth and feeling less anxious. My areas of expertise are👇: ✔️Bootstrapping ✔️Growth/Marketing ✔️Fundraising ✔️Product-Market-Fit ✔️Product Strategy ✔️Business Strategy ✔️Leadership & Management ✔️Personal & Career Development I also like to build products, and here is my latest side project: https://2slash.ai/ Here is my Product/Market Fit course on Maven: https://maven.com/itay-forer/find-product-market-fit
Expertise
Advice on funding
I had many different experiences with fundraising, from Angles to VC, to private equity investors. I have raised $20M+ for my previous startup. I learned a few interesting fundraising lessons through my experiences, which I would love to share with you. We can also practice your pitch deck, help decide on the approach and when to go and raise.
Bootstrapping
I have bootstrapped my startup from 0 to 1.2M in yearly revenue in less than a year. I learned many different techniques, found some interesting tools, and created my own systems to do a lot with little, and I would love to share it. If you are at the beginning of your journey, I highly recommend starting bootstrapping.
Go to market strategy
I worked in the past with several startups on one of the KEY business components - go-to-market strategy. GTM strategy is a complete action plan that details how a new product or a service would reach the end customers. Go-to-market strategies have the following core components: + Target Market + Value Proposition and Product Messaging + Pricing Strategy + Distribution Plan
Growth marketing
For me, growth hacking is almost like 0 to 1. Growth hacking is nothing but using a set of marketing channels (or hacks, you might say) that will take your startup from level zero to significant traction. In my experience, you always start with the things that don't scale to learn about the customers; then, you figure out many opportunities to reach them.
Product market fit
I've learned the hard way about product-market fit on my previous startup, where after a $2.5M seed round, I needed to change the whole business model. I thought I got it, but the market showed me differently. I often talk to founders who believe they’ve found product-market fit when they haven’t. This is a problem because they start to increase the burn and optimize their product before discovering what needs to be built. Finding product-market fit = focusing on the market first.
Venting frustration
I know the road is always hard and full of surprises and frustration. I know how it is to work 24/7, hit walls, and feel like you are against the world. I was lucky to have 2 co-founders, family, and few advisors who helped me go through those hard times, so now I want to be here for you.
Toolkit
Asana
15 years of experienceI managed most of my projects and my employee's projects on Asana for years now. I have different templates and different strategies for using the tool within a team to be productive.
Industries
Service Industry
In my last startup, we had a B2C product that provided services. I have about 10 years of experience doing it. I've learned much about the section and how to deliver value to the end user.
SaaS
I've created and own different SaaS products that are direct to consumers. I also mentored many founders that have tools and products in this industry.
B2B
I've created and own different SaaS products that are B2B software & tools. I also mentored many founders that have tools and products in this industry.