Cold Outreach Done Right, Turning Accelerator Rejections into Offers, Defining North Star Metrics, and the Dark Art of Pricing, with Patrick Utz of Abstract

The VITALIZE Podcast: Venture Capital | Startups | Angel Investing

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Patrick Utz (@PatrickUtz), Co-Founder & CEO of Abstract, the premier platform and database for working with California state & local legislation that’s bringing lobbying and advocacy into a new era by increasing government transparency. Abstract streamlines how you research and track bills, organize notes, brief stakeholders, and collaborate over legislation in real-time. More than just a bill tracker, Abstract provides the tools necessary to influence legislation and keep stakeholders aligned, all in one place.

Abstract is a VITALIZE portfolio company that recently raised $2.5M from several notable investors, on their thesis of becoming the gateway for understanding messy government data.

Website: Abstract

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/patrick-utz/

Twitter: @PatrickUtz

Show Notes:

• How Abstract is increasing government transparency
• Abstract’s origin story as a university senior project
• The evolution of Abstract’s product development
• Leaning into their mission to get an alumni from their university to build Abstract’s front-end for free
• Early customer acquisition through cold outreach
• Determining their ideal customer base and what Patrick would have done differently
• Securing funding after 60+ rejections: all while still attending university
• Defining their early north star metric
• How they run pilot programs to construct a product road map
• Structuring Abstract’s business model and the dark art of pricing
• The huge market opportunity for Abstract
• What puts Abstract above their competition
• Hiring to elevate not to delegate, and leveraging their mission to win over tech talent
• What’s next for Abstract
• The decision to build a mobile app
• The big vision for Abstract

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series.

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors.

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital.

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/