In their own words.
Tell us about Rhythm.
I'm Tommy McNulty. Historically I've been a revenue and go-to-market leader at various stage tech companies in New York City. The vision for Rhythm was to unbundle Workday and have a sales-specific people-operating platform.
What stood out in your first meeting with MVP?
When I first met the MVP team, Alex really knew his stuff. I know that's a very simple thing to say, but in the first 30 minutes of our conversation he'd done his research. He knew what I was talking about, understood the business, had very specific questions. It wasn't like "what's your TAM" stuff — it was a very thoughtful line of questioning that showed me he understood the product-market-fit stage in the grand scheme of things.
What changed your perception?
I was a very tiny fish in the MVP portfolio — both from the size of my company and the size of the check they gave us. But it didn't feel like that. It felt like they were a lead investor — which as a founder, you can use all the help you can get. That changed my perception for the better. Grayson got me in front of 10 people right away. Whether or not they could be buyers at that moment, they were in the sphere of people who would buy the product. It supercharged product feedback for us.
What was it like working with MVP when things didn't go as planned?
This is not a fun process to go through. As a founder you have a lot of anxiety when you make that call or send that text. I called Alex and shared it with him, and he couldn't have been more supportive. He was grateful that we'd given it our all, very kind about the whole thing — and there was no pressure. It wasn't like "I need to be all up in your business to make sure we get our percentage back." He trusted us to run the process. In those moments, kindness is important.
Why does it matter who your second or third investor is?
Every VC markets themselves a certain way, but it doesn't always tend to be true on the other end. The proactive nature of how MVP approached us actually gave me the signal that I could go to these people for things. Generally that second or third biggest check in your round is very quiet money — you don't really hear from them again, you get the check and that's it. MVP is actually getting compounding value on your lead investor if you can have them as your second or third investor. I'd highly recommend it to founders.