Michael Vega-Sanz
@MichaelVegaSanz
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Customer Obsessed | Co-Founder & President of @lula_____ | Crazy | @Babson | 🦄 | 🇵🇷 | 🇨🇺
Boston, MA & Miami, Fl
Joined May 2017
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It has been the craziest journey, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.
Today, we announce a $35.5 million Series B that is co-led by
@NextViewVC
and
@khoslaventures
with follow-on from
@foundersfund
and more.
I always say that a company can be one of four things:
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Exactly 2 years ago, I had an idea 😌
@MattVanzz
and I’s first attempt at a startup had failed, and we just couldn’t accept giving up.
The business/vision has slightly changed and evolved since then, but it all started with this text thread
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Initially rejected by our school’s accelerator, 47 insurance companies declined working with us, 500+ investors passed on us, rejected by YC several times
Today,
@foundersfund
,
@khoslaventures
,
@SoftBank
,
@NextViewVC
, and
@BillAckman
are all on our cap table.
From "most rejected founders of all time" to completely oversubscribed 💰
Founders, if you're ever feeling discouraged about getting rejected while fundraising then bookmark this clip from
@MattVanzz
and
@MichaelVegaSanz
and watch it daily:
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I always tell
@zebulgar
that he’s like an immigrant parent. He’ll rip you apart face to face & tell you all the reasons you should be doing better…but will also be your biggest supporter.
@lula_____
wouldn’t be where it is today without his partnership. Super well deserved!
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I can probably name 100+ investors that passed on Lula through the years, and the exact reason that they gave for passing.
I think about those comments every single day, and I have an obsessive desire to make them look like fools
CHIPS on shoulders put CHIPS in pockets
"i worked as hard as ever... to prove the[m] wrong"
Mike Bloomberg...
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Thank you
@BillAckman
!! Your support through the years has been priceless. I appreciate it more than you can imagine
I have been really impressed with
@MichaelVegaSanz
and
@MattVanzz
ever since I met them and invested in Lula’s Series A. Kudos to them on a successful fund raise in an extremely challenging market.
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Between
@MiamiHackWeek
and a happy hour we did in Miami last week, we’ve successfully recruited incredible talent to LULA
@lula_____
will be hosting a happy hour in SF & NYC next week. If you’re a developer interested in building the Stripe for Insurance, slide thru! DMs open
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a VC mocking founders 🙄
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LULA’s growth has gotten even crazier since we partnered with
@foundersfund
,
@khoslaventures
+
@SoftBank
We are aggressively adding world-class talent to keep up with the demand
Get a sneak peek at how we are propelling insurance forward at our NYC + SF Happy Hours this week!
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One of the best parts of my job happens to be that I get to work with extremely talented individuals like this! Even better when it’s your twin brother
Not long ago, no one cared about LULA’s mission to modernize Insurance
There are no words to express my gratitude to the early few who believed in the two kids from a small farm in Kendall
It’s always day 1
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After a few false starts,
@lula_____
quietly rolled out our commercial trucking offering during the summer.
We surpassed 50 trucking companies as customers this weekend!
Customer obsession goes a long way!
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🚨 ANNOUNCEMENT 🚨: Casa Lula will be the most lit house at
@MiamiHackWeek
🔥🔥🔥
Come join us as we build the “Stripe for Insurance” and build the insurance infrastructure for the modern economy 😎
🚨Announcing Casa Lula🚨
Come build & chill with the
@lula_____
team at Casa Lula. This state-of-the-art villa features an amazing GYM, outdoor pool & other amenities.
🛠 Hack on insurance & fintech-themed projects at this house.
Apply Now:
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Rejection and Entrepreneurship go together like peanut butter and jelly.
Though the rejections can be Rough, they are also part of the fun. They allow for a better story.
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Pumped to announce that Lula will be give employees the opportunity to get paid in crypto through
@rollfi_xyz
in 2022!
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Thanks Nancy! I still remember bugging you for coverage in the early days of the journey
FUNDING NEWS! Miami-based Lula rides in a $35.5M Series B to expand insurance platform. "This is a startup that has been firing on all cylinders." Read more about Lula's amazing growth in the past year and what's ahead
@mattvanz
@michaelvegasanz
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As a founder who has previously failed, I have a tremendous amount of respect for anyone who steps into the arena in pursuit of building a company regardless of whether it is a success or not.
For those at
@fast
, we at
@lula_____
would love to connect with you. DMs open
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As
@LulaRides
nears its official launch in August, watching
@miketrap
to finalize create our go-to-market strategy, and all involved with that.
One of the most insightful people I’ve found online to learn from. Would highly recommend to any founder.
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@lula_____
will sponsor Work Visas for tech talent from Russia and Ukraine.
If you, or anyone that you know is interested, please reach out via DM or michael
@lula
.is.
US and Europe should open the borders for the tech talent in Russia and Ukraine. This could be the largest talent migration comparable to exodus on 2M Jews in the 1990ies. What do you think?
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I am beyond excited for the future, but more than anything I am grateful to to the many people that supported and assisted us on this journey.
Now, let’s get to building Miami’s first decacorn! 😎
@zebulgar
@rabois
@NikitaShamgunov
@MattVanzz
Thank you to everyone who helped two kids from a small South Florida farm in turn their dreams into reality
We have such a long way to go before being successful but I couldn’t be more grateful for where we’re at today
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~2 years ago,
@lula_____
launched & got its first customers through cold calls, emails, door to door selling, doing customer setups ourselves, & getting contracts physically signed when necessary
As of yesterday, 1000+ companies now use Lula’s APIs to power their insurance needs
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One of the best pieces of advice for a founder/entrepreneur comes from
@jgebbia
, he says,
“SW^2 + WC = MO”
Some Will like it/Some Won’t + Who Cares = Move On
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Few people understand enterprise SaaS like
@Marell_Evans
, pumped to have him and
@SoftBank
on our team!
I had the great privilege to visit
@MattVanzz
and
@MichaelVegaSanz
who’s building the future of insurance
@lula_____
.
Continue to inspire my bros!
Yo->
@bunsen
@ChrisLyons
let’s add these two to the Miami Tech Basketball Run….. they got GAME.
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My favorite thing about this - we worked with tutors for the insurance exams to help train “GAIL’s brain”
GAIL and one of the tutors had different answers for 14 questions. GAIL explained its logic and the tutor flipped his answers to GAIL’s on all 14 questions
Have kept it under wraps for a long time but happy to finally announce it:
LULA's AI is the first to ever pass an Insurance Licensing Exam😁
Have genuinely never been this excited for a product! 100% believe this is the product I'll be remembered for
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One of the best pieces of advice I ever received was from a professor, who said “Don’t be afraid to share your business idea with others, that’s one of the best ways to see if people would use your product/service”
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Would say
@lula_____
but $30b outcome is too small imo
What companies are valued between $100m and $1b today that you’re bullish could be a $10b-$30b outcome?
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Early stage founders shouldn’t be taking vacation imo
If an early stage founder in your portfolio is taking off the next week to go to burning man you should just write that investment down to $0
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As a student founder that raised capital, I often get asked by other people for tips on raising money.
My thought, DON’T even think about raising capital until you’ve built a tangible product, & have received some traction. Do this, and raising capital will become much easier.
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All that we have we owe to our parents, grandparents, and anyone who helped them flee from Cuba when Castro took over. My thoughts are with those in Ukraine who are fighting for their families and their safety, as well as those who are worried about their loved ones from afar.
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Cold emailing literally changed my life 10x over
It is shocking how little people do it
Easiest business arbitrage: the risk/reward of a well-written cold email is so wildly favorable, and yet so few people will actually send one
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Overheard at Babson...
“Are children considered assets?”
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Who are the best website/marketing materials designer that you know?
Please send them my way!
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“Stop bragging about successful advisors that didn’t invest. Doesn’t look great that your rich advisor didn’t believe enough to sling a $5k check” ‼️‼️
Sat in on some pitches recently and quickly realized a lot of Founders could benefit from these 10 tips:
Learned this all in my transition from most rejected founder in April 2019 (531 rejections out of 532 investors) to having 40+ firms fight for our Series A last year
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One of the coolest things I’ve experienced is knowing
@michaelsayman
since we were 4 years old, and seeing him level up through the years.
I spent the weekend playing with Cosmic, and it’s going to be huge. Michael is truly a master of social apps, and I can’t wait to see how
Thrilled to introduce Cosmic — a groundbreaking dating app that is the first of its kind.
Every ounce of my passion and dedication has gone into crafting Cosmic. Eagerly looking forward to our journey ahead. ✨
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For any startup founders/marketers/product developers, one of the best books I’ve ever read! Would 10/10 recommend! Thanks
@drkleiman
for the recommendation!
@yegg
@jwmares
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Whenever I hit a challenge, I remember that my grandparents & parents had everything taken from them by the Cuban government & worked in labor camps so I could be where I am today.
Impossible to accept defeat/failure when you’re trying to make their sacrifices worth it
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“Whatever comes, just don’t stop.
That’s the precocious, prescient, urgent advice I managed to give myself, out of the blue, and somehow managed to take. Half a century later, I believe it’s the best advice - maybe the only advice - any of us should ever give.”
Phil Knight
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If I was building a Web3 application,
@QuickNode
would have to be the default platform to which I’d build on. It’s a no brainer.
Truly a customer obsessed and innovative organization…couldn’t be more excited for the team and
@bunsen
So news broke a day earlier than I had hoped, but it was super fun chatting with
@leomschwartz
from Fortune about the vision for
@QuickNode
Marketplace. Wanted to add a bit of context about what it means...
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Proud to be an early customer! 10/10 recommend
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As a founder whose only job before this was a holiday position at Nordstrom in freshman year and working on the family farm…
Reading biographies + shareholder letters +
@paulg
essays have been the best tools to speed up the learning curve and learn about building a business,
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Insurance today is often done the same way it was done 400 years ago, to insure pirate ships.
Come learn how
@lula_____
is changing this by building the
@stripe
for insurance.
Tomorrow on the Insurtech Hour I'm having
@MichaelVegaSanz
&
@MattVanzz
from
@lula_____
to talk about how they're building the Insurance Infrastructure for Today's Economy
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I don't know
@aprilkoh_
, but she sounds like a fucking badass.
By default, startups are dynamic, fast-paced, and filled with unknowns which often result in panic and fear.
These consistent attacks on female founders for building a fast-paced & intense culture are absurd.
April Koh is the youngest woman running a multibillion-dollar startup.
@thisisinsider
talked to 31 people close to the company, including former and current employees. Insiders say Koh’s inexperience and some missteps led employees to quit. 👇
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It’s okay if you’re a founder that doesn’t work weekends. But, you’re likely going to be competing against someone who does work weekends. Those two extra days a week compound over time.
I know which founder I’m betting on.
Founders not working weekends is basically quiet quitting
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~ 3 years ago to the date, we had an idea to build “Stripe for Insurance.”
We launched in late-2020.
Today,
@lula_____
supports the insurance stack for almost 3,000 companies, powering millions of transactions annually.
These texts are actually how it started 🤣
Exactly 2 years ago, I had an idea 😌
@MattVanzz
and I’s first attempt at a startup had failed, and we just couldn’t accept giving up.
The business/vision has slightly changed and evolved since then, but it all started with this text thread
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Disruption truly occurs when mainstream customers, start adopting the newest entrants’ offering.
Therefore, in order to change what someone does, you must change what they feel, and not just what they think.
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Solve a real problem, be customer obsessed, have a strong bias for action & velocity, and be ruthlessly persistent
🤔 Asking for a founder: what's your best advice for a first-time founder?
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44 months to beat Amazon 🚀
Time it took to reach $1 billion in annual revenue:
Amazon: 5 years
Google: 5 years
Apple: 6 years
Facebook: 6 years
Spotify: 7 years
Twitter: 8 years
Netflix: 9 years
Walmart: 13 years
Microsoft: 13 years
Nike: 17 years
Starbucks: 25 years
Disney: 45 years
*inflation adjusted
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One of the kindest things someone has ever done for me was when Lula 1.0 had just died.
@MattVanzz
& I were broke, & my card got rejected for $3.87 at McDonald’s
Cashier saw the exhaustion in my face, & gave me the burgers for free, along with some cookies
Startups are hard
I don’t think most college kids realize how broke the average seed stage founder is
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@lula_____
has added a crazy talented
@TimoPervane
to join us as CFO!
Before LULA, Timo was CFO of Logistics
@Shopify
where he helped build out their logistics division while leading a $450 million investment into
@flexport
.
Before that, Timo was a Partner at
@OliverWyman
with
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I am so grateful to
@NextViewVC
and
@leehower
for being our first backers and the amazing partners they’ve continued to be.
We wouldn’t be here without them
Congrats to
@lula_____
🥳
From pre-seed NextView accelerator startup to $35.5M Series B company, it's been a treat to watch
@MichaelVegaSanz
&
@MattVanzz
build the next gen insurance platform for businesses. We’re honored to co-lead this round with our friends
@khoslaventures
🚀
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More than anything, I just want to build really great product and a really amazing company as a result
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Today,
@NextViewVC
announced the third installment of their virtual accelerator 🚀
@NextViewVC
was our first investor, and without them,
@lula_____
wouldn’t be where it is today. To all early-stage founders, be sure to check it out and apply!
It’s back & better than ever (hello $400K)🥳
Announcing the third cohort of NextView’s Everyday Economy Virtual Accelerator program 🚀
Applications are open TODAY - Feb 14. Be sure to check it out and apply ⬇️
We can't wait to accelerate with you!
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KP is one of the best people that I’ve come across in venture, and Lula would not be where we are today without his efforts.
Any venture firm looking for to grow their team should certainly reach out.
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Since sending this tweet out, I’ve been working with
@KKAlexandra
and we’ve received more inbound than we can hire.
Any founders or companies, willing to work with Ukrainian/Russian tech talent, please reach out to either of us to get connected
@lula_____
will sponsor Work Visas for tech talent from Russia and Ukraine.
If you, or anyone that you know is interested, please reach out via DM or michael
@lula
.is.
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@lula_____
swag has arrived
If you want to be a part of the next big thing in Miami Tech, happy to chat. We are hiring
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Lula’s first offices (my dorm room) in
@babson
versus our new offices...Pass by and say hi if you’re ever in Miami! 😬
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On two separate occasions, I asked the analyst from
@PitchBook
that reached out to me to correct some information.
He declined. So now, I troll them by intentionally giving incorrect information and they publish it without any questions
Is
@PitchBook
on drugs
We haven't even raised a Series B and it's claiming Varda raised its Series C last week
I mean if that's true I wanna shake the hand of whoever got it done, nice work
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One of my favorite podcasts I’ve ever done! Thanks for having us
⚡️New episode with
@MichaelVegaSanz
and
@MattVanzz
from
@lula_____
is live!
- Lula's origin: from farm life to startup life
- Behind their big pivot to insurance
- Raising money in Miami
-
@MiamiHackWeek
- & more! 👇🌴🚀
🔊:
📺:
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@MattVanzz
and I reached out to 532 investors, and the 526th finally was the first VC to say yes
We spent 2+ years fighting to raise $620,000 in our first attempt at a startup…Crazy to me that people think convincing someone to give you money is supposed to be easy
My first company's seed round took me 9 months to raise and I barely scraped together $500k
When I hear founders complain about today's financing environment I have no sympathy
I was born into the darkness, you are merely adapting to it
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Thanks Michael! Debi
@drkleiman
referred me to you, and I’ve been watching ever since...But quick question...
When reflecting on the customer, is it better to create a customer profile, or figure out why someone hires your product/service and figure out who that would be?
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Value propositions cannot merely be objective, but instead must be seen as emotional.
Emotions drive decisions, and creating an Emotional Value Proposition guides people towards, or away, from what you’re selling.
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Thanks Delian! Wouldn’t be here without your support
Congrats to
@MichaelVegaSanz
+
@MattVanzz
on raising their $35.5m Series B
They've made outstanding progress since we led their A in Summer '23
When building an atoms + bits company, you can now use Lula instead of building your own insurance stack
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Extremely fortunate to have
@bloomvp_
join us on this journey!
@BartMacdonald
and
@k17ubha
have been nothing short of spectacular partners
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One of the primary reasons that we chose to partner with
@zebulgar
and
@foundersfund
was because they consistently speak out against the stupidity and hypocrisy that’s become so commonplace today
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For all those “I’ll handle the business side” people...The day you have an idea for a piece of software/app, drawing it out and visualizing it should be one of your first steps. Will be much easier to begin. This
@balsamiq
mock-up was done shortly after drawing it out on paper.
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Ideating a product
@lula_____
that would make sure that 100% of funds would be insured…Insuring your money should be part of your insurance stack.
Any SWEs with fintech backgrounds please reach out. This could be a product that ends up being used by every company in the US.
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Serenity is pleasant but it lacks the ecstasy of achievement
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Thanks Nikita! You’ve been an awesome partner
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One of the best people I’ve ever met. Still wish we could’ve figured out a way to get him involved with us.
Founders, Earnest is a must pitch VC. Hit him up!
👋🏿Hey, Twitter community! A little about me:
🏠:
@CityLittleRock
native
🎓:
@Columbia
&
@KelloggSchool
😓: former equity researcher & humbled founder
Now I'm
@GreatPointVC
searching for 🚀 in these areas . Founders, angels, & seed investors reach out! 🗣️
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“The world is a very malleable place.
If you know what you want, and you go for it with maximum energy and drive and passion, the world will often reconfigure itself around you much more quickly and easily than you would think”
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How I feel about
@lula_____
Giannis is "scared" to lose the life he's created and uses it as his motivation 😤📈
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IPO party will be there
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Congrats to
@BartMacdonald
! Among the most helpful, kindest, and brightest people I’ve met in the startup world...If you are a SaaS founder, he is a must have on your pitch list
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@lula_____
is hosting a hiring event in SF on Thursday & Friday of this week!
In ~2 years since launching, Lula has grown to work with 500+ companies to power their businesses and have no signs of slowing down. We grew 21% MoM in July, and have 5x monthly revenue since February.
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🚀
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Interesting observation:
Most millionaires that I’ve met don’t ready very often, if ever
100% of billionaires that I have met are voracious readers
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As we close this funding round, we’re growing our marketing & development teams
Lately, we’ve received many more applications from men than women & want to change this
So, if you’re a badass woman marketer or developer, we especially want to hear from you! michael
@lularides
.com
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Any startups/companies in SF or Palo Alto looking to sublease
@lula_____
some office space?
Lula has ~ 20 people in the area, and we are looking for an affordable option to get people in office.
Key word, affordable. Has to make financial sense
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