The Founder's edge in high-stakes meetings

Plus upcoming NYC Fintech Week events

Author

Michael Morgenstern
April 22, 2025

Happy Tuesday Brex community,

Some founders build products. The great ones build belief. One of my favorite takeaways last week after meeting a successful VC was treat the first meeting like the fifth. That means showing up with uncommon preparation, knowing more than anyone else in the room, and signaling that you’re already operating at altitude. Whether that be in investor pitch and diligence meetings or customer meetings, uncommon prep gives you the edge to win. That kind of focus and gameplay is magnetic. It shortcuts the trust curve and makes partnerships obvious. When raising, hiring, or selling, lead with the kind of intensity that rewrites how people see you. Most people are winging it. Don’t wing it!

Growing together, Michael Morgenstern

  • Brex Baseball Club in SF 4/21

    Suite at the Giants game for seed+ & Series A founders

    Apply Here: Brex Host: Jonathan Chang

  • Brex Social Club in NYC Fintech Week 4/22

    Designed for top finance executives, investors, and fast growing founders
    Apply Here: Brex Host: Shai Goldman

  • Brex Supper Club w/ IVP in SF 4/22

    Designed as a private conversational dinner for founders

    Apply Here: Brex Host: Jonathan Chang

  • Brex Social Club in SF 5/7

    Designed as a founder and investor mixer at Newmarks 42nd Floor Skybar

    Apply Here: Brex Host: Anshul Shah

  • Brex Social Club in SF 5/14

    Designed for finance leaders in the Bay Area
    Apply Here: Brex Host: Anshul Shah

  • Brex Founder Fuel Up New York Tech Week 6/4

    We know NY Tech Week can feel like a marathon so come fuel up at our Coffee Truck in Union Square.

    Apply Here: Brex Host: Ilias Benabdallah

Adam Spector is the CEO of Chore

Chore is the ultimate solution for startup founders who want to focus on what matters most—growth, fundraising, and product development. The reality of managing back-office operations can quickly overwhelm even the most seasoned founders. You could try doing it yourself, but the time wasted on tasks and constant context-switching will slowly drain you. Hiring a full-time ops person is tough, expensive, and risky—and they might not even be fully utilized.

Enter Chore: a team of ops experts that takes full ownership of your back-office operations, from payroll and compliance to equity management and HR. Chore acts as your fractional Chief of Staff, handling it all at a fraction of the cost of a full-time hire. You only pay for what you need, and unlike an employee, we never get sick, take vacation, or leave unexpectedly. With Chore, you get a team of experts on demand—so you can get back to running your business.

Ambassador’s Perspective: Running a startup is hard enough without worrying about back-office headaches. Chore’s flexible, high-quality operations support is 61% cheaper than hiring in-house, and you can scale services as needed without the risk or overhead. Founders trust Chore to handle the tedious tasks that don’t drive growth, so they can focus on building the next big thing. Your time is valuable, stop spending it on ops.

 

The financial stack you can bank on. Trusted by 1 in 3 US startups, Brex allows you to manage your spend from MVP to IPO. Interested? Sign up here using the referral code NEWSLETTER and get 25,000 bonus points, $5K AWS credits, $2.5K OpenAI credits and up to $150K in SaaS discounts.

Don’t hesitate to reach out,🦾!