NYA FOUNDER SPOTLIGHT ‒ ALEX LIRTSMAN, CORRALDATA CEO & CO-FOUNDER
As the CEO and co-Founder of CorralData, Alex Lirstman is focused on leveraging AI to democratize data access and helping organizations become data-driven overnight. CorralData combines human data expertise with AI to make it simple for non-technical teams to analyze and act on their data. The platform allows users to unify disparate data sources and surface insights using natural language. CorralData’s client roster includes category-leading organizations such as Sweetgreen, American Museum of Natural History, Just Salad, John Elliott, Brightfin, Lanvin, and St. John Knits. Alex discusses how NYA Members quickly executed the deal, the valuable mentorship from their Board Observer – Alyssa Tam, and why early-stage investors should stress test the founding team more than anything else.
How did you first meet New York Angels?
We were introduced through NYA Member Bill Pertusi, who was an initial investor and mentor for us. Bill is a great guy and active in the investing community through NYA, HBS Alumni Angels of Greater New York, and NYU's Endless Frontier Labs accelerator program. Bill was very helpful as we were doing our raise again.
What were you looking for in investors when you were fundraising, and why did you choose to work with New York Angels?
We wanted to partner with the right investor who would be great to work with long-term. We sought proactive engagement and insightful feedback pre-due diligence. With NYA, we met Ed Levine early on, and he really helped us enhance our fundraising readiness. His feedback helped us ensure we developed the right story investors. While we met with several other investor groups, NYA’s support stood out. NYA offered unique partnership opportunities and were generally more collaborative during the pitch and due diligence processes. They also understood and worked with us within our timelines.
What was the process like for you when you were fundraising?
We were 3x oversubscribed during the fundraising process. We had to say “no” a lot more than we said “yes,” both to other funds and to individual angels. NYA members acted swiftly, allowing for quick transition to execution. They also helped manage expectations of other NYA members, who may not have been able to participate.
What have you enjoyed most about working with New York Angels?
First and foremost, we appreciate the valuable mentorship from our Board Observer, Alyssa Tam. Alyssa has helped us navigate challenges and prepare for scale. She literally agreed to read a multi-hundred-page MSA/SOW from a major enterprise client. Overall, the relationship with NYA is truly collaborative – everyone authentically wants to help and ensure we’re successful!
What advice would you give other founders who are looking to fundraise?
First off, you are not trying to please your investors – you are trying to find the right partners that believe in your vision and will help you succeed alongside them. No one knows or believes in your business like you do, so make sure that comes across.
Also, as you are going through the fundraising process, create a due diligence deck as a proactive measure based on questions that are being asked. Then when you do make it to your due diligence meetings, you’ll be prepared for the common tough questions. You can walk the investors through the deck and control the narrative and show that you’ve already thought about many of their potential concerns.
What advice would you give other early-stage investors who are looking to invest in companies?
The founding team matters more than the tech, the business model, and definitely more than the TAM. All of that can pivot, but the founding team can’t. Investors should stress test the founding team much more than they stress test anything else. Furthermore, if an investor wants to help their companies – provide access to possible clients. Early on – regardless of how good the tech is, if the founders don’t have relationships with potential clients, they don’t have a business.
What has driven CorralData’s success?
There have been three keys to our success-to-date.
1) We have a stellar team with prior collaborative successes. Almost every single employee is someone I’ve worked with in the past. This reduces risks 100x in someone not working out. You know exactly what you are getting and how they plug in, and most importantly, that trust is already built.
2) We leaned really massively into going above bleeding edge tech and focused on making our tech frictionless. We are obsessed with and are the simplest way for any enterprise marketing organization to have access to AI capabilities without any engineering.
3) I’ve been building relationships with enterprise clients for close to 20 years – not as a sales person, but as a practitioner. This is how we brought on Pfizer, AAA, Lacoste, Sweetgreen, etc., which were important to signal to the next tier of clients that we didn’t have relationships with, that we should be taken seriously.
