NYA FOUNDER SPOTLIGHT ‒ THOMAS KRAMER, MEASURE STUDIO, C0-FOUNDER & CEO

Thomas Kramer, Co-Founder & CEO of Measure Studio, launched the social analytics startup to offer high performance data tools that are accessible to huge companies like Disney. Measure Studio provides next generation social media content intelligence and AI-powered data analytics for media, brands and agencies. Thomas is also an angel investor at Kaukus. Prior to these roles, Thomas was the Co-Founder & COO at Paladin Software, a global influencer marketing platform. Thomas also served as the VP of Product at Bent Pixels, where he oversaw product development and managed a global team. Earlier in his career, he worked at The Walt Disney Company as Senior Director of YouTube Content Strategy + Optimization and at Channel Factory as Manager of Ad Operations. Thomas shares his experiences fundraising with angels and VCs, why he’s enjoyed NYA Member Dan Zitting on his board, and why founders need to take care of themselves in addition to their companies.

How did you first meet New York Angels?

I joined a local entrepreneurship group named Bucks Built, which is based out of Bucks County, where I live now. During a call, there was a representative from New York Angels present, and I conducted a mock pitch at a very early-stage of my business. Through this, I connected with NYA Members Seth Masters and Michael Costa. It was somewhat serendipitous, but it was nice to have these conversations.  I touched base with Seth occasionally throughout our pre-seed stage, and ultimately that bore fruit.

What were you looking for in investors when you were fundraising, and why did you choose to work with New York Angels?

When we were fundraising in early-2023, it was an interesting time for businesses to be raising because a lot of capital frankly dried up.  Angel investors became important to us early on because we could get their attention, and New York Angels proved particularly attentive. They were invested in the idea.  I liked that the syndicate had a diverse perspective featuring a number of highly successful individuals, who brought something valuable to the table or had domain expertise in markets that were relevant to our customer or in developing technology businesses.  I think a lot of VCs write a check with minimal curiosity about the business and provide minimal support to their businesses, so New York Angels certainly stood out as good partners.

What was the process like for you when you were fundraising?

Initially, we took the traditional route, attempting to work with institutional VCs. However, they effectively pressed pause on most check-writing activities. What I didn’t like about that process was it really felt like a cattle call. It seemed like unless you were going to be the next Amazon or Facebook, it was very difficult to capture people’s attention. We didn’t garner the attention that I had hoped for even though I felt like our business has a large market opportunity – it’s a high growth space, and it’s innovative touching AI and data science.  Creator economy businesses are experiencing tremendous growth with millions of professional digital content creators who can benefit from a product like ours.  Our business is also appealing to pretty much every brand and media company out there.  Ultimately, I was somewhat disappointed with VC’s overall level of enthusiasm for our idea and concept. Consequently, we began exploring funding options in other areas, and angel investment became notably interesting.

What have you enjoyed most about working with New York Angels?

It has truly been a collaborative experience so far, and I've enjoyed having NYA Member Dan Zitting on our board. His career track and domain experience are very relevant for us, and he has played a significant role in guiding the business both operationally and strategically in a really positive way. I'm not sure a standard VC would provide this level of hands-on support, such as offering specific guidance on forecasting and advising on the appropriate capital expenditure for software at your current stage. This level of engagement has proven to be tremendously beneficial. There are other NYA Members who have contributed by providing introductions or generously spending time with me to discuss our business and where we’re going. NYA’s collaborative support has been fantastic.

What advice would you give other founders who are looking to fundraise?

You need to figure out how to communicate your vision in the most concise, distilled version possible. A significant part of my process involved refining the story. The core concept or target didn't necessarily change, but I continued to craft my story until it was most clearly defined. When you’re fortunate enough to engage with an angel group that might have a slightly larger attention span or more hands-on expertise than a VC, it's still very generous of them to give you their time and attention, so you should focus your story very intentionally.

Another piece of advice is to over-serve when people have questions. I’ve been fortunate enough to experience an exit, and I've received a number of startup pitches since. The biggest weakness I observe in those pitching, from the perspective of someone sitting on the other side of the table, is that when there's a question, people tend to provide lazy answers or skate around it or send you a bunch of collateral that you don’t have time to sift through.  Delivering exactly what someone's asking for in a low-labor way helps a lot in building relationships.

What advice would you give other early-stage investors who are looking to invest in companies?

Invest in what you know. Personally, when I receive pitches from startups, they often don't align with my domain expertise. It becomes challenging for me to have a sense of industry benchmarks or realistic growth for something I don’t know, such as consumer packaged goods.  I know digital media, the creator economy, and SaaS business models. On occasion, I receive pitches for things like sustainable personal care products, which are outside my expertise, and I'm unlikely to write a check for.

Connecting with founders working on businesses within your areas of expertise is helpful. I joined a syndicate focusing on creator economy businesses and what good and bad performance looks like.  I'm familiar with benchmarks for social media and can easily assess performance metrics in terms of platform performance and sales conversion. This allows me to follow my instinct on those things, so I can confidently make informed investment decisions in that arena.

My final piece of advice is to invest in people.  I have lifelong partnerships with some of the founders in my last business, and it’s easy for me to mutually support them because I’m betting on the person, not necessarily the idea. So if you have outstanding individuals in your professional network, it's a safer bet to bet on somebody who's outstanding than somebody who has a great idea and isn't of the same caliber.

What has driven Measure Studio’s success?

Any software journey, at least in my experience, is building a sum of the parts. This quarter, we've been fortunate enough to experience record levels of growth for our business.  We built incrementally.  When we were 50% to market fit, sales were hard; and then we were 80% to market fit, sales were still hard. Suddenly, you reach this magical point where things start to click and the friction points are reduced.

I've been intentional about addressing feedback in the prospect and sales stages.  If there’s a friction point in the product, I want to eliminate that friction point.  This takes time, and it can be difficult, but once you’ve eliminated enough friction points, everything starts to click.

I think approaching your business like a product is really beneficial.  As a business, we holistically look at where our customers sit in the funnel and how to plug leaks in the funnel, and what are the highest value, lowest cost ways to do that.  It's a constant process of fine tuning.  We're at a point where this approach is really starting to pay dividends, and that's exciting. Fundamentally, you have to keep putting one foot in front of the other, show up every day, and keep refining, refining, refining.

Do you have any other advice as a founder?

Every business is a marathon, not a sprint.  People aren't machines, and I think a lot of founders treat themselves like machines. They neglect families or personal care. With this business, I've tried to be a lot more intentional about not doing that. I work from home, so I make time to go and see my daughter, even if it's for 5 or 10 minutes, a couple of times a day. I'm present. If I eat well, if I don't burn the candle on both ends, and things like that, I'm a better leader and I feel better throughout my workday. Taking care of yourself is really important as a founder.