Long Time, No Match!

It’s been 7 months since I’ve written a newsletter and it probably feels like I fell off the face of the earth but the truth is - I’ve been going through some sh*t. I’ll touch on it below but for the most part we have been making progress - even if it’s slower than expected. A LOT has changed including our target market, the team, the product etc. Some good, some bad, and even a little sad but hey - when life gives you lemons - you make lemonade (which I’ve literally been doing as a side hustle).

So, here’s whats crackin:

• Results from our last Matchmaking Session 👀

• Event membership ⚡️

• Upcoming events 🤝

• BLKBOOK updates 🐺

• GAME CHANGER update 🚀

• Life updates 🗞

And, the results are in! 👀

Last Thursday’s Founder + Investor Matchmaking Session was a Success! Check it out👇

⚡️Introducing our Event Membership

At our last matchmaking event, VIP founders met more than half of the investors in the room. That's not luck - it's what VIP access is built to do. Now it's available every time, not just when you remember to upgrade.

BLKBOOK Membership — $99/mo (Founding Member price - locked in for as long as you stay a member)

• Unlimited VIP access to every session, no paying per event

• Priority placement - when multiple people want to meet the same person, members get first in line

• VIP badge, pinned to the top of the attendee list at every event

• Early access to registration, before public tickets go live

• Access to member-only sessions & opportunities

• Private member directory & discussion feed to stay connected between sessions

Grab it on the event page when you register!

🤝 Upcoming Events

🐺 BLKBOOK Updates

Earlier this year I was working with 2 amazing developers that were volunteering their time to help build BLKBOOK. In February, one of them took a paid gig with another startup and I was down a lead developer. In March, I started working with a friend who I had known for awhile. We made a lot of progress but after about 1-2 months of working together, I realized it just wasn’t going to work out. At that time, I had reached back out to the lead developer who was previously working on the project for advice and he let me know he wasn’t working the paid gig anymore and would work on the project if it was paid or there was equity. So, we went back n’ forth negotiating for about a month and the terms just didn’t sit right with me.

At the same time, an accelerator in San Francisco had found me on TikTok. They loved what I was doing, invited some founders and investors to a matchmaking session and wanted to whitelabel it. I told her my situation with not having developers to build out what she needed and she offered to utilize her dev team. Then, that kicked off a whole new deal discussion. My attorney and I presented her with a proposal that basically included a 3 year license, some development and rev share. They presented it to their investors and came back wanting the IP so obviously that wasn’t going to happen.

For the past couple of months, I’ve been stuck trying to solve this tech issue with no capital and while a lot of people have offered to help, I just don’t want anymore quick fixes. It’s waste of time and resources to keep negotiating contracts and giving access, revoking access and I’m just not about it anymore. So, I’ve been looking for someone who can join the team long-term, see the vision and move fast. Now, I don’t want to get anyones hopes up or disclose anything prematurely but, I do have something in the works and I’ve got a good feeling about this one so stay tuned!

Side note: I think we’re getting closer to product-market-fit. In working with the accelerator, it really broadened my perspective on how BLKBOOK could be used so our new target market is accelerators, VC funds, Private Equity, and B2B orgs. Collectively, we could help them get a better grip on the relationships within their portfolio companies and accelerate deal flow.

🚀 GAME CHANGER Update!

Speaking of deal flow, I became a Deal Flow Partner for LvlUp Ventures! Submitted 17 deals last week, 2 are in due diligence, 2 have offers, 2 got into accelerators and 1 CLOSED!!! Like WTF!?!?! 🤯 I knew I was matching founders and investors in my little matchmaking sessions but I’ve never seen deals move this fast before. All of this happened in ONE week! Like what!?!?

Anyways, yea - this happened and I couldn’t be more stoked! If you’re fundraising, I’ve included a link to apply below. And, if you’re a decent human being - give me a little credit. On “How did you hear about us,” select Deal Flow Partner and enter my name — Chelsey Moter — and [email protected], so I can track where you’re at in the pipeline.

🥹 Life Update

Now for the hard part. I’m going to try to keep it together. For the past year, I’ve been fighting a brutal custody and jurisdiction battle in two different states and pro se because we’re obviously bootstrapped. For context, I have two kids - my girl who’s 18 and my son who’s 4 (yea, I know - it’s a gap). Nonetheless, it’s pretty obvious who this one is for.

Starting my life over, being a single mom and trying to keep this delusional BLKBOOK idea going has been anything but easy. Between my sons behavior issues at school and having to pick him up early every week because the teachers couldn’t handle him to taking him to weekly therapy sessions and trying to create stability while also being served left and right with new false allegations in court that I’d have to defend - it nearly broke me. I was drowning and started to throw the towel in but as mom, I couldn’t give up that easy. At least, not without a fight. Last month, I lost that battle.

It had nothing to do with me being a bad mom and everything to do with being self-represented and not knowing “procedure”. It’s been extremely difficult and I don’t know if it’ll ever get easier. Ironically, I met a VC the other night who’s going through the same thing and he asked me “how do you do it?”. I told him all I know is that I have to keep moving, give myself a little grace and time to heal, and then - game ON!

Everything I do, what I am trying to build, the sacrifices I make - it’s all for my kids. In the end, all you have is your legacy and what you leave behind. For me, I just want to make is easier to find the right people and help businesses grow by connecting them faster than anyone else in the world. And now, I don’t have anything holding me back. In fact, I think I’m off to a pretty damn good start. So here’s to BLKBOOK! 🥂