Sidebar: How a San Diego Tech Founder Raised $13 Million from Silicon Valley Investors
An exclusive interview with Lexy Franklin, a former product manager at Meta and founder who spent the last decade building generational products in Silicon Valley.
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Lexy Franklin, a San Francisco-based founder who moved his startup to San Diego roughly two years ago, said he bootstrapped seven different products before founding his company Sidebar, which he hopes will embody his life’s work.
In October last year, Sidebar announced closing $13 million in seed funding despite being one of the toughest periods for early-stage startup financing.
Backed by San Francisco-based venture capital firms and billionaire Evan Sharp, who helped co-found Pinterest. The company’s big vision goal is to make a positive difference in more than one billion people's lives.
“The goal is to make a positive impact on a billion people's lives in my lifetime,” Lexy Franklin, Founder and CEO of Sidebar. “And that might happen in the next 10 years.”
Franklin, who spent the last five years working at Meta before leaving that job to become an entrepreneur, agreed to chat about Sidebar’s founding story and why he decided to build his startup in San Diego.
Founding Story
After graduating from Stanford University, Franklin spent the last decade gaining industry experience in gaming, fitness, and social networking.
More notably, he spent the last 5 years working at Meta in product management.
After leaving his job at Meta, Franklin joined Foundation Capital’s entrepreneur-in-residence program which provided him the opportunity to launch 7 different product ideas, validate assumptions and meet seasoned venture capitalists.
“Since I was young, I’ve always wanted to start something of my own,” said Franklin, who recalled learning humanities, specifically modern thought and literature.
“I've always been super interested in one big question: What is it like to be alive on this planet? Specifically in this lineage of so many amazing women and men who have come before us. And how do you make the most of it as much as you possibly can.”
Helping Career-Focused Professionals
Sidebar is a technology company focused on creating an innovative way professionals can coach and advise each other on a global scale.
The technology platform helps users match with like-minded peers and helps them build out their own “personal board of directors,” according to the company.
More than 10,000 business professionals already signed up to test its initial product offering, according to Franklin.
Its founding members have previously or currently work at Microsoft, Stripe, and Nike, among others — who are looking to advance their careers, find accountability.
While Sidebar is heavily tech-focused as of now, it also want to cater to teachers, doctors, lawyers and small business owners, said Franklin.
“During my time at Meta, I was surrounded by the smartest people in technology,” said Franklin. “It was the best place to learn, but everyone is busy working on many different things — there simply wasn’t a best-in-class platform that allowed people to talk about their craft or teach it in a way that everyone can learn from.”
Silicon Valley Bets Big with Seed Investment
In October, Sidebar announced it had closed $13 million in a Seed Round led by Palo Alto-based Foundation Capital who invested roughly ten million into the company.
Foundation Capital, which has been around for nearly 30 years, shared that the early investment into Sidebar is the largest seed check it has made in its history.
“While there are lots of professional networks out there, whether they are oriented around a specific vertical or around people with specific roles or positions, there aren’t any programs or platforms that are focused on the programming, specific skill building, the workshops and the content,” said Steve Vassallo, general partner at Foundation Capital who led the deal.
The funding will be used to improve features, grow its member base and expand its 20-person team, according to Franklin.
Notable angel investors on its cap table include Tim Kendall, former president of Pinterest, Alex Schultz the chief marketing officer at Meta, and Will Cathcart, head of WhatsApp, to name a few.
Growing in La Jolla, San Diego
Sidebar’s founding story began in San Francisco, but the next chapter is San Diego.
Franklin, who now calls La Jolla his home and works out of an office near Bird Rock, said he appreciates living minutes from the ocean and being surrounded by nature.
“San Diego is known as the best city to be outside,” said Franklin, adding that whether it’s going on a hike, a bike ride, or going surfing — the push to be outside, instead of being indoors working all the time has been most energizing for him.
“I grew up in California and I always loved being by the ocean,” said Franklin. “San Diego is an incredible place to start a company — you're surrounded by all of this nature and the unknown — it's an amazing place to take risks.”
I also asked him what San Francisco-based investors' thoughts were on San Diego.
“San Diego wasn't on a lot of people’s radar,” he said. “Most people just haven’t spent a lot of time building businesses here and even considered it.”
As we continue to grow, I have gotten to see people fall in love with it out here,” Franklin said. “San Diego has the exciting opportunity to recruit amazing people.”
What a great article! Well articulated Lexy and Fred.
This is a great article and a lot of new details on an incredible founder and startup story. Rooting for Lexy and team Sidebar as they continue to build in Birdrock!