Are You Actually Working a Strategy—Or Just Staying Busy?

👋 Hey Founder,

Let’s talk about one of the most common traps founders fall into: activity masquerading as progress.

In this issue:

✅ Who got funded last week—and what they’re doing right
✅ Why your “we tried it” mindset might be the problem
✅ How to build strategy that actually works (or clearly doesn’t)
✅ What to do instead of juggling 5 half-baked plays at once

Let’s get into it 👇

💸 Who Got Funded – Week of May 5, 2025

Early-stage funding is still rolling, with standout deals in AI, fintech, infrastructure, and vertical SaaS.

Here’s who stood out:

🟢 Seed Rounds

🚀 Fastino – $17.5M
✅ What they do: High-speed commerce infra
✅ Why they got funded: Clear technical moat + backers with deep infrastructure conviction
✅ Investors: Khosla Ventures, Insight, Valor, top angels

🧠 CueZen – $5M
✅ What they do: Personal health AI platform
✅ Why they got funded: Precision health is the next frontier for consumer wellness
✅ Investors: Point72 Ventures, Pack VC, Fortson VC

🏗️ Kind Designs – $5M
✅ What they do: Sustainable construction via 3D printed living seawalls
✅ Why they got funded: Climate + infra innovation = major investor appetite
✅ Investor: Overlay Capital

📊 Una Software – $4.4M
✅ What they do: Data infra for smarter decision-making
✅ Why they got funded: Investors love tools that simplify enterprise complexity
✅ Investors: Staircase Ventures

📚 Operand – $3.1M
✅ What they do: AI productivity tools
✅ Why they got funded: Great team, YC pedigree, and a wedge into workplace SaaS
✅ Investors: Felicis, Y Combinator, SV Angel

🔵 Series A

🧩 Glide – $15M
✅ What they do: No-code backend for apps
✅ Why they got funded: The no-code movement isn’t a trend—it’s infrastructure
✅ Investors: Acrew Capital, Pear VC

🕹️ Sett – $15M
✅ What they do: Social games for competitive mobile players
✅ Why they got funded: Gaming + community = sticky growth
✅ Investors: Bessemer, F2 VC, Saga VC

💸 Ravio – $12M
✅ What they do: Compensation benchmarking + planning tools
✅ Why they got funded: HR stacks are overdue for innovation
✅ Investors: Spark Capital, Blackbird, Cherry Ventures

🧠 Strategy ≠ Doing a Lot

Let’s be honest:
A lot of founders fall into a pattern that feels like progress but isn’t.

Here’s how it sounds:

• “We tried outbound. It didn’t work.”

• “We ran ads for 2 weeks—no results.”

• “We tried partnerships, no traction.”

But what actually happened?

❌ There was no clear plan
❌ No success metric
❌ No iteration process
❌ No reflection
❌ No real commitment

Just a sprint, some motion, then the next shiny thing.

⚙️ What Real Strategy Looks Like

Here’s how to tell if you’re actually running a strategy:

1. Define the Play

• What are you trying to achieve?

• What does success look like in 30–60–90 days?

2. Commit to the Plan

• Are you giving it the time and people it needs?

• If it needs 8 hours/week, who’s doing the work?

3. Instrument It

• What metrics will you track weekly?

• What questions will you ask at each checkpoint?

4. Set Failure Triggers

• At what point do you pivot, pause, or double down?

• Don’t just hope—it’s OK to say “it didn’t work” when you prove it didn’t.

🧨 Juggling Kills Execution

If you’re early-stage, your resources are limited.
Trying to run 5 plays at once with a 4-person team?

You’ll get motion. But not momentum.

Your goal isn’t to do more. It’s to do less—better.
Pick one play. Run it like your next round depends on it.

Because it probably does.

Until next week,
Apryl Syed
Founder’s Edge

P.S. Want help pressure-testing your GTM or marketing plan? Book a 1:1 with me here: calendly.com/aprylsyed/30-minute-coaching-session-newsletter