GroupMe and Splice founder Steve Martocci: VCs can detect bad start
Steve Martocci knows a thing or two about making money.
Martocci and his co-founder claimed $ 11.5 million for text messaging app GroupMe before selling to Skype for $ 85 million. Splice, a music creation platform currently run by Martocci, increased $ 57.5 million in a C finance round earlier this year, and raised the investment to $ 107 million.
His private floating service, Blade, scored $ 38 million in his Series B round in 2018.
Read more: Co-founder of GroupMe was 27 when the text messaging platform sold for $ 85 million just one year after its launch. Now he has raised $ 1[ads1]07 million for a music start that could make him even more successful. Here are his lessons for pitching, managing and building a company.
Martocci said part of the secret to his fundraising success is really believing in all his ventures. When asked how soon entrepreneurs should think about selling a company, Martocci said to think just about money could be a recipe for disaster.
If an entrepreneur is just for the money, venture capitalists will come back, Martocci Business Insider reporter Shana Lebowitz told.
Martocci said he aims to build Splice into the most "iconic" company in music history. As both someone who raises money and English investment, Martocci said venture capitalists are turned off by a creator who primarily aims to sell the company.
"If you're doing that," Oh, I can sell this for a few million dollars, "you go wrong," Martocci Business Insider told. "They'll sniff it out."
Although Martocci not only built Splice for the money, he still faced other challenges, such as showing the VC's existence of a market.
"The market is the most difficult to convince VCs," Martocci said. "I think we have some of the best market data about this room, but if you have to convince someone about a market [and] your plan, you're in an uphill."