Podcast•Nov 11, 2025•41 min
Founder10x - From $500M Exit to Reinventing Software - Shay Levi, Co-Founder & CEO, Unframe
In this episode, Shay Levi recounts his journey from co‑founding Noname Security, which sold to Akamai for $500 million, to launching Unframe—a venture that promises to build custom software for free and charge only when it delivers measurable impact, leveraging AI to deliver solutions in days. He explains Unframe’s unique business and pricing model, the AI tools and team structure that enable rapid development, and how the company secured $50 million in funding while emerging from stealth. Levi also shares hard‑earned lessons from his previous startup, emphasizing the role of relentless effort, learning from failures, and crafting a defensible moat through a platform‑centric approach.
By VC10X
Social•Nov 11, 2025
AI-Enabled Finance: Mapping Vendors and the Messy Middle
It's (finally) here: I’ve emerged from the wilderness with a 59 page report, a herniated disc, and a better understanding of AI's impact on finance. I’m proud to present to you our most comprehensive report yet. What follows is a...
By CJ Gustafson
Social•Nov 11, 2025
Master AI Transformation and Agent Building at Web Summit
Tomorrow I'm speaking twice (in the space of just 90 mins 💅🏻) at Web Summit . Talk 1: Becoming an AI Company, 10:35am, Stage 5. (this is largely about transitioning a business from one world to the next, if you're...
By Des Traynor
Podcast•Nov 11, 2025•27 min
How to Get Funded Now: VCs Reid Hoffman, Aileen Lee, and Stacy Brown-Philpot, with Van Jones
In this Masters of Scale session, Reid Hoffman, Aileen Lee, and Stacy Brown-Philpot discuss how venture capital strategies have shifted in 2025, emphasizing a more selective, founder‑centric approach amid rapid AI growth. They outline the key green‑lights—clear product‑market fit, defensible...
By Masters of Scale
Podcast•Nov 11, 2025•26 min
E649 | Mariette Roesink, Curie Capital: Backing Life Sciences, Unicorns & Zero Bankruptcies
Mariette Roesink, co‑founder of Curie Capital, explains the firm’s biotech‑focused VC model that seeks both outsized financial returns and meaningful patient outcomes. She showcases a track record of two unicorn exits, €200 M raised in a single year, and zero bankruptcies...
By The European VC (EUVC)
Social•Nov 11, 2025
Datadog CEO Discusses $100M ARR Milestone Pre‑IPO
Ahead of SaaStr AI London on Dec 1-2 (See you there!) we're taking a look back at some of our favorite sessions from our European events. It was so great when Olivier Pomel, founder CEO of Datadog, joined us as...
By Jason Lemkin
Social•Nov 11, 2025
Tiger Global Poised for Higher Returns via Databricks and OpenAI
Why Everyone is Wrong About Tiger Global Returns: "I think Tiger's gonna end up much better than anyone thought. They got a big stake in Databricks. They were early into OpenAI and Scale. They will benefit from liquidation preferences and preferred stock."...
By Harry Stebbings
News•Nov 10, 2025
VC Jennifer Neundorfer Explains How Founders Can Stand Out in a Crowded AI Market
January Ventures co‑founder Jennifer Neundorfer told TechCrunch’s Equity podcast that in the crowded AI‑driven market, investors are looking for founders who use AI to create entirely new experiences or workflows rather than incremental improvements. She emphasized the need for clear...
By TechCrunch Venture Feed
Social•Nov 11, 2025
AI SRE Companion Automates Alert Investigation, Cuts Firefighting
Deeptrace (@deeptraceai) is an AI SRE and debugging companion that automatically investigates every production alert and surfaces a clear root cause, so your engineers spend less time firefighting and more time building. https://t.co/CAQGUInYRE Congrats on the launch, @srinth32 & @andys_lee!
By YCombinator
Social•Nov 11, 2025
Limited Seats: Join My Tokyo Founders & Investors Talk
Limited seats for founders and investors, for my Tokyo talk here: https://luma.com/cm0x90mk
By Jason Calacanis
News•Nov 10, 2025
TRIP Raises $40M in Funding
TRIP, a New York‑based drinks brand that markets calming beverages and supplements, secured $40 million in a funding round backed by celebrities Joe Jonas, Alessandra Ambrosio, Paul Wesley, Ashley Graham and consumer fund Coefficient Capital. The capital will be used to scale operations, broaden...
By FinSMEs
Social•Nov 10, 2025
AI B2B Sales Teams Halved, Efficiency Soars
AI B2B companies do need sales teams. Almost all of them. The question is just … how large of a sales team? It’s a question no one fully questioned until recently. But now founders & CEOs are asking: - is...
By Jason Lemkin
Social•Nov 11, 2025
Treat Series A as a Stepping Stone, Not A
Non-AI founders who treat Series $ A like their last meal somehow keep getting invited back to the buffet. Those asking for seconds often starve.
By Niko Bonatsos
Blog•Nov 10, 2025
It’s Not Just You. Everyone Is Paying a Lot More for AI Engineers. Especially Equity.
In this SaaStr AI episode, Jason Lemkin highlights Carta’s data showing AI engineers’ equity grants soaring up to 40% while salary growth remains modest, driven by an "AI or Die" mindset, big‑tech poaching, and perceived massive upside. He warns founders...
By Jason Lemkin
Social•Nov 10, 2025
AI Travel SaaS Hits $345K Revenue, 300% Growth
Big fan of AI plays like this. Vertical AI SaaS built for travel customer experience. > $345k TTM revenue > $265k TTM profit > 300% YoY growth High-margin + Lean ops Check out listing @acquiredotcom: https://t.co/W8PNmLJqTD https://t.co/xuUCVn0BpK
By Andrew Gazdecki
Social•Nov 10, 2025
Polymarket Bets OpenAI IPO at $500‑750 B
When is OpenAI going to IPO? And how much will it cost? PLACE YA BETS! In this brand new TWiST clip, me and Alex Wilhelm revisit their ongoing wager about OpenAI’s public offering, and check in on how things are...
By Jason Calacanis
News•Nov 10, 2025
Sapphire Sport Spins Out, Rebrands as 359 Capital with $300M AUM
Sapphire Sport, the sports‑media‑entertainment venture fund of Sapphire Ventures, is spinning out and rebranding as independent firm 359 Capital. The new firm inherits the fund’s $300 million in assets under management, including a $181 million second fund that is halfway deployed, and will...
By TechCrunch Venture Feed
Social•Nov 10, 2025
Western Startups Increasingly Rely on Chinese AI Models
this is a great piece that captures the current love affair that western startups and even some bigger companies have with chinese ai the models are intelligent, accessible, and open weight turns out some of your fav sf startups are built on...
By Nathan Benaich
Social•Nov 10, 2025
True Product-Market Fit Means Market Pull, Not Just Value
What exactly IS Product Market Fit? And how do you know when you have it? Alex Wilhelm favorite way to define PMF: “You don't have true product market fit until it feels like you're wearing a meat suit in a...
By Jason Calacanis
Podcast•Nov 10, 2025•1h 25m
From Yext to Roam: Howard Lerman’s Second Act
In this episode, Howard Lerman reflects on the challenges of launching a second venture after Yext’s success, describing how he founded Roam as an AI‑augmented "Office of the Future" that lets people work from anywhere. He discusses the solitude that...
By Grit (Kleiner Perkins)
Social•Nov 9, 2025
SaaS Achieves 90% Profit Margin with Minimal Overhead
A margin this high for a task and workflow SaaS is insane. Live on @acquiredotcom: > $423k TTM revenue > $384k TTM profit > 5,000+ paying customers 20+ years in the market. Near zero overhead. Full listing here: https://t.co/Bu8ma6ccSD https://t.co/Y2sadhLoRe
By Andrew Gazdecki
Social•Nov 10, 2025
Listen to Buyers: Align Messaging with Their True Priorities
Sometimes the most impactful synergies are not that obvious. We once kicked off a process selling a company to a major strategic buyer, with the initial thesis that the company's product represented a potential upsell opportunity. Further into the process,...
By Michael Lyon
Podcast•Nov 10, 2025•1h 25m
20VC: Benchmark's Newest General Partner Ev Randle on Why Margins Matter Less in AI | Why Mega Funds Will Not...
In this episode, Benchmark GP Ev Randle argues that traditional profit margins matter less for AI startups, emphasizing growth, data advantage, and network effects over short‑term profitability. He warns that mega‑funds will struggle to deliver strong returns because capital scarcity...
By The Twenty Minute VC (20VC)
Social•Nov 9, 2025
Kestrel Automates Kubernetes Ops and Security with One-Click Fixes
Kestrel (@kestrel__ai) is the agentic platform that unifies Kubernetes ops & security, replacing manual triage and on-call firefighting with autonomous investigations and one-click fixes. https://t.co/rcusxrmmmP Congrats on the launch, @ramanv_ & @Evanj80! https://t.co/i8lW9R9nAj
By YCombinator
Social•Nov 10, 2025
AI-Native Status Now Essential, Even for Legacy Firms
Today, legal software @goclio announces a round at $5B and presentation software @GammaApp at $2.5B valuations What do they have in common? Both were around well before the AI Era. Clio in 2008, Gamma in 2020. Being “AI Native” is critical to...
By Jason Lemkin
Social•Nov 10, 2025
Exit Tax Threatens $200M UK Investment and Jobs
I have invested $200M into the UK in the last five years. If @RachelReevesMP implements “Exit Tax” all that funding will go overnight. That is countless jobs, companies and people who will lose out. Rachel, you have managed to steal our...
By Harry Stebbings
Social•Nov 9, 2025
AI-Powered Real-Time Tracking Cuts Nursing Facility Costs
Norra combines real-time tracking and AI to give nursing facilities the operational intelligence they've never had. No more overpurchasing or scavenger hunts, just instant answers, streamlined operations, and lower rental spend. https://t.co/lVxWk71pgk https://t.co/yNQSy8ERfV
By YCombinator
Social•Nov 10, 2025
Youthful Belief in the Impossible Fuels Founder Success
The best VCs remember: at 22 y.o., not knowing it's impossible *is* the superpower; those founders could be very right.
By Niko Bonatsos
Social•Nov 10, 2025
Lux Backs Majestic Labs with $100M for 1,000x Memory
Latest investment revealed from Lux Majestic Labs with $100M💰––from the team that ran silicon at Meta + Google... ...🧠💻1,000x the MEMORY of typical enterprise server
By Josh Wolfe
Social•Nov 8, 2025
Nice CTOs Stifle Innovation and Halt Growth
A VP mis-hire is always tough. A VP Sales mis-hire can set you back a year in sales. A VP Marketing mis-hire can lead you down massive time and money ratholes that don’t get you any more customers. But,...
By Jason Lemkin
Social•Nov 10, 2025
Last‑minute YC Application Turned Into $11M Startup
Five minutes before the deadline, @itsCathyDi applied to YC with @dedaluslabs. Months later, she's now running a company that's just raised $11M. The deadline to apply for the winter batch is tonight at 8pm PT - there's still time to get...
By YCombinator
Social•Nov 10, 2025
Root Ventures Launches $190M Fund for Early Wonky Startups
EXCLUSIVE: Root Ventures Raises $190 Million Fourth Fund for Early Bets on Wonky Startups https://t.co/9yvP8hW7oF
By Eric Newcomer
Social•Nov 10, 2025
New Funding Raises Expectations, Work Never Stops
PSA for Startups: Every new funding round raises the bar for your outcome. That’s why the news mostly excites investors. They just got a markup or won the deal. For everyone on the team, it’s a reminder that expectations just went...
By Hiten Shah
Social•Nov 10, 2025
Help Founders Grow Into Unicorns, Not Just Grab Coffee
The surest way to break into VC isn't asking your favorite VC for ☕. It is advising and referring founders who become 🦄 a few years later.
By Niko Bonatsos
Social•Nov 10, 2025
Peter Fenton Excels by Trusting Founder Conviction over Stages
What Makes @peterfenton So Good? " Peter does an amazing job following his founder conviction. He doesn't think about stages. When he finds a @howietl @btaylor that's what guides him." @EverettRandle What have been your biggest lessons from working with Peter @howietl...
By Harry Stebbings
Social•Nov 11, 2025
Predicting 2026 AI Valuations and Investment Priorities
we are going to survey Cerebral Valley attendees ahead of a discussion of the results on stage. these good? what am I missing? OpenAI has said it would top $20 billion in annualized revenue this year. What will its revenue be...
By Eric Newcomer
Social•Nov 10, 2025
AI Agents Cut IND Filing Time From Months to Days
Scoop uses AI agents to speed up drug trials, starting with IND filings. They automate this entire process, transforming scientific data into continuously updated regulatory documents ready for submission— compressing what used to take months into days. https://t.co/DiztbjPdiq
By YCombinator
Social•Nov 10, 2025
Helping 2–3 Founders Secure Daily Acquisitions
We help 2–3 founders get acquire’d every day on @acquiredotcom. Life changing moments for everyone involved. Pretty awesome to see it happen daily.
By Andrew Gazdecki
Social•Nov 10, 2025
Exonic Launches First Internet-Native Crowdsourced Drug Discovery
Exonic (@exonicai) is crowdsourcing drug discovery. By bringing biological AI and wet lab access to users around the world, Exonic is the first internet-native drug discovery company. Congrats on the launch, @thebrimacombe! https://t.co/d5EANW135H https://t.co/lHOPjDzvZh
By YCombinator
Social•Nov 10, 2025
Mega Funds Prioritize Capital Velocity Over Early-Stage Deals
Why the Mega Funds are Focused on Capital Velocity: "The North Star for @generalcatalyst @lightspeedvp is investment velocity. Talk to the principles and Jr Partners at these firms.... It does not matter what @ravi_lsvp @htaneja are saying; when you are writing $BN...
By Harry Stebbings
Social•Nov 10, 2025
Winter Batch Applications Due Tomorrow – Submit Your Idea
The deadline to apply for the winter batch is tomorrow, November 10th, at 8pm PT! All you need is an idea: https://t.co/9hUZ0buEiU https://t.co/CNdCJWqtU7
By YCombinator
Social•Nov 9, 2025
Free AI Reviews 2,000+ VC Pitch Decks Instantly
This week we’ll cross 2,000 (!) VC Pitch Decks reviewed for FREE on SaaStr AI Try it here -> https://t.co/hVolcGvbUt - Real time scoring - Real time valuation based on 5,000+ rounds - Exact odds of funding based on top VC rounds this...
By Jason Lemkin
Social•Nov 11, 2025
Lux Backs Tenzai Labs' $75M AI Pen‑Testing Platform
Lux is thrilled + lucky to back Pavel Gurvich (@PashaGur) + team in their new company @Tenzai_Labs $75M w/friends @ Battery, Greylock, Swish amazing cyber geniuses 🦸💻building agentic penetration testing platform that continuously hacks, exploits, + fixes vulnerabilities…
By Josh Wolfe
Social•Nov 10, 2025
Align Incentives: Invest With Partners to Test Conviction
The Biggest Investing Lesson from Peter Thiel: "Peter creates incentive structures to test the conviction level of partners. For example, you can personally invest alongside the fund in a deal you are leading. If you do not, he will ask, do...
By Harry Stebbings
Social•Nov 9, 2025
AI Customer Support Flooded with Billion‑Dollar Funding
One market I cannot figure out in a world of AI is customer support. You have: Sierra Decagon GigaML Parloa Forethought Kore Cresta All of these have raised over $100M. and then oldies like Intercom Zendesk Help me out, how does this market shake out?
By Harry Stebbings
Social•Nov 9, 2025
Meghan K. Reynolds Clarifies Current LP Sentiment
For those wondering the LP sentiment @MeghanKReynolds does a great job explaining… 👇
By Beezer Clarkson
Social•Nov 10, 2025
Root Ventures: Celebrating Top Hacker-Founder Engineer Investors
Huge congrats to Root Ventures, such a great team of hacker founder engineer investors - the best kind
By Garry Tan
Social•Nov 10, 2025
Forge Makes Welding Robots Autonomous for Broader Manufacturing Automation
Forge (https://t.co/M1ZPbDXxAm) turns dumb, human-programmed industrial welding robot arms into autonomous members of the workforce, enabling manufacturing companies to automate much more of the human tasks in the fabrication process. https://t.co/zUOu2hzYkg
By YCombinator
Social•Nov 8, 2025
From UIUC Cornfields to SF Startup: Leap Possible
.@sauravml was studying CS at UIUC just a few months ago, surrounded by cornfields and lecture halls. Now he's in San Francisco building Fleetline, a place where being ambitious and taking risks feels completely normal. Anyone can make that leap. https://t.co/gNl84ElBrq https://t.co/DQ43vW8HGW
By YCombinator
Social•Nov 8, 2025
Skip the Competition Slide if You Claim Uniqueness
Many startup founders claim they are building something nobody else sees yet, but their pitch deck comp landscape slide has 7 companies doing the exact same thing. Easy fix: remove this slide from your pitch deck.
By Niko Bonatsos