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Reid Hoffman, alongside Erik Torenberg and Alex Rampell, explores how AI will transform work, science, and humanity, emphasizing that the most impactful breakthroughs will arise beyond obvious productivity tools. They discuss current AI’s reasoning limits, debate whether consciousness is required for true intelligence, and argue for designing systems that augment rather than replace people. Hoffman also reflects on LinkedIn’s lasting relevance, the rise of AI‑native companies, and the role of friendship and purpose in an era of increasingly human‑like machines.
How do you build AI systems that scale? On Nov 12 in SF, I’ll host Calvin French-Owen (Co-founder & former CTO @Segment, led @OpenAI's Codex launch) for a Theory Ventures Office Hours conversation on scaling intelligent systems. We’ll dig into: ⚙️ Building...
How long should a transaction process last? Though there can be significant variance, a well-structured transaction process typically takes 3-6 months. From when you officially start marketing the business to when you close the deal, 3-6 months should give you...
In this episode, Victor Riparbelli, co‑founder and CEO of Synthesia, explains how his AI‑driven platform lets anyone create video without cameras, cutting production time by up to 95% and opening new possibilities for content creators. He and Kleiner Perkins partner...
It's time. 🏃♀️It's time to get ahead of the pack in AI + B2B. At SaaStr AI London Dec 1-2 -> https://t.co/ufOgU4yrs6 The companies that figured out AI + GTM this year already are now scaling aggressively—closing bigger deals, reducing...
"I would have most liked to have @Alfred_Lin on my board. He is one of the best investors in the world. He understands the business he invests in a lot more deeply than other board members." @Bouazizalex What have been...
The 20VC newsletter (Oct. 19, 2025) distills three podcast episodes featuring Atlassian CEO Mike Cannon‑Brookes, investors Rory O’Driscoll, Jason Lemkin and Roger Ehrenberg, and Warp CEO Zach Lloyd, highlighting how AI will expand software development, reshape pricing models, and leave...
this time last year post-@stateofaireport we heard lots of “is ai a bubble” chatter, just like we do today we wrote a piece on @airstreetpress arguing that ai is not like the dot com thinking of writing up a v2...
I’m hiring an Associate at SaaStr Fund ($200m AUM) The job: 1️⃣ Screen 50+ inbound deals/week, find the 2-3 worth the deep dive. 2️⃣ Help manage the new https://t.co/D1x4RaX5t7 which over 5,500 founders have used in 5 years anywhere else for...
The EUVC podcast recap highlights four recent summit episodes, with the lead focus on Francesco Di Lorenzo’s Nordic CVC insights, while also covering Kristaps Ronis’s take on structured secondaries, Alper Oner’s Turkish gaming success story, and Seb Agertoft’s founder‑coaching perspective. Across the episodes, listeners learn...
got to chat about the @stateofaireport on @tbpn last fri w/@johncoogan @jordihays, incl. bits on financing dynamics, how today's ai is magical vs. 12 years ago when i started, ai bubble (yes, no?), nvidia's dominance, ai search/agent experience, industrial policy...
I fricking hate podcasts where the guest does a podcast tour to promote something. @Bouazizalex just raised $300M+ at a $17BN+ valuation. He did one podcast to discuss the round and the crazy last 12 months. 20VC. - Raising $300M from Ribbit, a16z and...
The EUVC podcast episode E634 explores how European venture capitalists can maintain global ambitions amid rising sovereign‑first regulations, with insights from Christian Tang of Acme and Claus Gregersen of Augustinus Fabrikker on cross‑border investing, deal structuring, and founder strategies in...
Uplane (@uplane_com) is building software to replace marketing agencies. Their AI generates ads with matching landing pages and steers them across Meta, Google, TikTok, and others. https://t.co/WEay29YNYx Congrats on the launch, @juliuskoerfgen, @Marvin_A_M & @vollmer_lukas! https://t.co/CBq2rxJqTp
Congrats to @albacoreinc on their $6.5M seed! Albacore is building underwater drones for the military. Their first product, Ghostfin, is an 8ft modular autonomous submarine designed to patrol undetected for 1,000+ nautical miles & support special ops. https://t.co/j9Ud89JdDQ
In this episode, host Harry Stebbings talks with Zach Lloyd, founder and CEO of Warp, about the startup’s rapid growth—adding $1M ARR each week—and its battle against AI coding assistants like OpenAI's Codex, Anthropic's Claude, and Google's Gemini. Lloyd explains...
🤔 Who Will Buy The SaaS Companies? We’re sitting on a problem many don’t want to talk about: the traditional SaaS exit playbook is breaking down. Even for very good SaaS companies For years, it was predictable. Build to $20M-$50M...
Most founders waste time trying to look like they have traction. When traction’s real, you don’t need to choreograph it. It shows up when people return, pay again, and bring their friends. Customers end up doing the advertising for you.
The post previews the EUCVC Summit 2025 episode featuring Anne C. Fleischer (Novo Nordisk) and Henrijette Richter (Sofinnova Partners) on health‑sector innovation, and then recaps three recent EUVC podcast episodes that dive into structured secondaries in venture, a Turkish gaming...
These are the kinds of businesses you never hear about but they print money. Now live on @acquiredotcom: CAD + calculation SaaS for building engineers. > $144K ARR > $140K profit > Solo founder > Asking: $740K Full listing: https://t.co/WAQyftmp01 https://t.co/h9PkXiqvj7
Raising can be a grind, but it’s a good forcing function to reflect. Founders (and VCs) might benefit from doing biannual mock fundraising prep.
2025 USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy Founders Bootcamp 🚀 Friday we kicked off the annual Innovation Quest with our 2025 Founders Bootcamp. Standing-room only & filled with energy, insight, & community. Over 70 IYA undergraduate & graduate founders...
It’s 9:30 AM. Do you know where your agent is? As we enter the era of agentic AI, this is an increasingly important question. ChatGPT launched the consumer use of AI, compressing all of human knowledge into a single model....
SaaStr.ai just launched four FREE AI tools that can save founders 100+ hours in fundraising prep. And maybe even get you funded: 1️⃣ AI Start-Up Valuation Calculator. Get VC-grade valuations using data from 5,000+ recent rounds, public comps, and AI...
You can tell a top 1% founder purely from how they structure the angel component of a fundraise. The blurb they suggest. The forwardable email they send for each. The specific angels they want in. All says so much about their...
Dear CMO: Thanks again for offering me $800 to write 10 X and LinkedIn posts for you as a “B2B Influencer”! I do think these programs make sense. (If and until algos kill them.) Every B2B marketer seems to think...
Startups investing in other startups... is this peak bubble behavior? https://t.co/1paenKbhQh
Just sent a deal to a dear friend and mentor who is one of the greatest of our time. Sent at 8:12AM PST and response provided to me and founder by 8:18AM. Speed is a feature of the best.
Most AI products aren’t creating new categories. They’re resegmenting existing ones. Understanding the difference shapes everything about how you build, market, and scale. Resegmentation means taking a job people already understand and making it faster, clearer, or more accessible. Category creation means...
AWS down for you? 👉Take a break and try our StartUp Valuation Calculator! -> https://t.co/jvgsU2zIKA It only takes seconds, it's super cool, and ... it's still up!! https://t.co/lVUsOvUCJR
SHOWING TRACTION BEFORE YOU HAVE TRACTION Everybody knows that startups thrive when they have “real” traction — that is revenue, active users, great retention curves, and a fast growth rate. However, startups also find themselves in a catch-22 where they're not...
Tom Ulman (@TomUlman) acquired two small SaaS tools (Text Run and Waitlist Email) that already had users, traffic, and potential. Then he did what great founders do best: executed. > Focused on paying users > Simplified the product > Improved support > Let SEO and...
Founders: if it’s not a top priority, it’s a "no". If it might be later, it’s still a "no" for now. Protect your attention like cash. That’s how you win.
It's easier to innovate when you're the original of something. People copying you can only copy a snapshot of your current state. They don't know which aspects of the snapshot are essential and which are random things you'd been about...
Congrats to @CentralHQX on their $8.6M seed! Central is the AI-native platform that eliminates back-office work for startups. While HR/payroll platforms give you software to figure it out, Central actually does all the work using agents and human experts across payroll, benefits,...
Some mobile apps are crazy profitable. This one generates $1,800,000 per year!🤯 Now live on @acquiredotcom: Top rated iOS apps for screen mirroring and remote control. > 570K monthly users > $3.5M revenue > $1.8M profit > Bootstrapped Full listing: https://t.co/T7kDgxkfQp https://t.co/p6BkZYUyqN
VCs: Want more dealflow? With deals pre-screened, selected, and analyzed for you? Get on our waistlist here -> https://t.co/t0woGMPLz6 https://t.co/LWckPofGUm
Semble AI automates fire-system design for construction companies. It used to take billions of dollars and thousands of hours of manual drafting, building code lookups, and back-and-forth with permitting authorities. With Semble AI, it takes 5 minutes. https://t.co/fJLjwfMRYN https://t.co/qDiY9vmn4d
1/ I want to state plainly: in all industries, especially in AI, it’s important to back the good guys. Anthropic is one of the good guys. More thoughts about why we need to fuel innovation and talk safety at the same...
Nice way to end the week at @acquiredotcom. We just closed an agency for $1,600,000 cash. Completely bootstrapped. More proof you don't need venture capital to win. https://t.co/RMGykfRnMP
Everest (@_everestai) builds AI support engineers for outsourced IT providers, who service IT for 90% of SMBs. Everest helps them resolve tickets faster and increase margins. Congrats on the launch @yolandaaacao and @spenmcke! https://t.co/bnClbudy5Z https://t.co/wtB2VTMMaM
“Curiosity is the best guide. Your curiosity never lies, and it knows more than you do about what’s worth paying attention to.” Paul Graham on How to Do Great Work: https://t.co/Tv7W8Lqx0v
Must be tough being a Kushner kid @JoshuaKushner - "Just raised $25B and invested in OAI, Stripe, Databricks" @jaredkushner - "Hold my beer, am heading to the Middle East"
This is common among the most successful startups. It may seem wasteful, but it's a good idea to have some extra money in the bank as insurance against disasters, and the most successful startups have that luxury.
Congrats to @zeptonow on the $450M round at $7B valuation! Zepto is dominating India's quick-commerce market with 1.7M daily orders (up from 500k five quarters ago). They're now operating 1,000+ dark stores across 80+ cities, with 10M+ new monthly users. https://t.co/XI4ZhfiTHd
We’re back with another deep dive into the shifting landscape of venture capital, and this week we’re joined by a legend who’s seen it all—Roger Ehrenberg. Roger founded IA Ventures in 2008, building one of the most respected early-stage portfolios...
I've certainly had the experience of opening LinkedIn, TechCrunch, Axios, or Term Sheet, only to read that someone I know well has started a new company or raised a round that I wish I had seen. It never feels great,...
Here are two very important charts about the current AI boom. Chart 1: Distribution Matters Open AI is still the clear leader but, interestingly, they are loosing percentage share as the market grows. This is normal for a category leader but...
Nine out of ten people might tell you you're crazy. The tenth might see what you see. This week on the Lightcone, @garrytan, @harjtaggar, @snowmaker, and @sdianahu discuss contrarian bets — the ideas that look impossible until they work. From Uber...
Loved hosting this off-the-record talk w/ @southpkcommons founders about what’s next in consumer software. The beauty of consumer is a community that builds w/ you—immediate feedback loops, use case evolutions, evangelism. No better time than this current period of creativity and...
