We sit down with Nate Williams, the founding partner of Union Labs Ventures. This episode dives into the complexities of startup success and the role of sales in ensuring a startup's longevity and growth.

Nate Williams begins by discussing common pitfalls in startups, particularly the tendency to over-feature products, which can hinder finding a true Minimum Viable Product (MVP). He emphasizes the importance of focusing on one customer segment and use case, and securing payment for it as a foundation for success.

We then explore the problem Union Labs aimed to solve in the venture capital industry. Nate, drawing on his experience as an Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) at Kleiner Perkins and a veteran in running successful startups, shares insights into the evolution of venture capital, particularly in deep tech. Union Labs was conceived to assist entrepreneurs from day zero, focusing on two key aspects: de-risking the product-market fit and addressing the crux of product development in deep tech.

Closing the episode, Nate offers insights into the broader implications of deep tech investment for venture capital funds and Limited Partners (LPs). He stresses the importance of understanding the unique nature of deep tech, which often involves a higher level of technical risk and requires specialized knowledge and approach from investors.

This episode is brought to you by VSC Ventures, a leader in supporting and promoting climate and technology startups.

About VSC Ventures:

VSC Ventures is an early-stage venture capital fund led by Jay Kapoor and Vijay Chattha where we invest in industrial automation and climate adaptation startups and support our founders with hands-on PR, storytelling, and go-to-market work with help from our award-winning PR agency VSC

Our fund has invested alongside Lowercarbon, NEA, Uncork Capital, Left Lane, Alley Corp, Obvious Ventures, Third Sphere, and other leading early-stage funds.

Through our weekly conversations on our show CLIMB by VSC, we're excited to share our work with innovative companies like Paintjet, Glacier, Concrete.AI, Presso, ⁠⁠Ample⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Actual⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Sesame Solar⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Synop⁠⁠, ⁠and Vibrant Planet⁠⁠ in addition to highlighting companies and leading voices across the early stage ecosystem