AI Startups Must Master Unit Economics to Survive
🔥 AI startups are burning cash faster than you think. You see Series A AI companies burning $500K/month on GPUs while showing zero profit margins. More users = more GPU usage = bigger losses. But the survivors won't have the coolest tech or biggest funding rounds. They'll be the ones who solved unit economics before their runway disappeared. You can charge more for your AI tool and use fewer GPUs per user interaction if you include other features that are not compute heavy. Like analytics. Or editing capabilities (that don’t require reprompting). If you're building in AI: • Obsess over unit economics from day one • Find defensible data moats • Be honest about your path to profitability 👉 Want more playbooks like this? Sign up for the Founder Playbook and get actionable strategies straight to your inbox: https://lnkd.in/gTVFhQJA
Brace for a Major M&A Wave Within Six Months
Here’s why I say we’re going to see a “major M&A moment” in the next six months. There’s a business-friendly administration in the White House. (Everyone knows the President LOVES DEALS… he wrote a book about it.) $GOOG got off...
NVDA‑OpenAI Agreements Are Merely Non‑binding Letters of Intent
We’re reading the fine print on those $NVDA/@OpenAI “deals”… and they’re not EXACTLY deals. It turns out, at least according to Nvidia chief Jensen Huang, either company can essentially walk away at any time, and it’s more of an aspirational...
Great Startup Ideas Feel Like Bad Ideas at First
The intersection of “seems like a bad idea” and “is actually a good idea” is the sweet spot for startups. "If a good idea were obviously good, someone else would already have done it. So the most successful founders tend to...
Purpose‑Driven Founders Outperform Fame‑Seeking Entrepreneurs
This is my single biggest disagreement with YC. Starting a startup to get famous, or to do better than those around you, or for vanity, or yes even just to get rich, is worse for society and worse for founders. It's...
Founder Update Discipline ≠ Success; Execution Drives Results
We had our Precursor Ventures AGM this week in SF, so Mia and I were able to record in person! The first topic we covered was founder update emails, specifically how valuable they are for both founders and investors, especially...
A16z Leads, Top Four Funds Dominate Seed and Series A
Top 10 Most Active Investors at Series A: Out of the 90 mega-funds we looked at, @a16z, @generalcatalyst, @lightspeedvp & @sequoia all remain in the top 5 across both Seed and A - with a16z far outrunning the pack at...
Who’s Driving Seed Deals: Top 10 Active Investors
Top 10 Most Active Investors at Seed: https://t.co/2pB2bbv0yP
Boutique Seed Funds Dominate Sub‑$10M Rounds, Mega‑Funds Rarely Lead
🔹Boutique, dedicated Seed funds continue to lead <60% of priced seed rounds in the sub-$10M range, which account for the gross majority of deals done. 🔹~90% of priced Seed rounds happen below $20M - where dedicated funds maintain a clear advantage. 🔹Nearly...
Megafunds Dominate Series A Rounds Above $20M
🔹The majority of Series A activity now clusters around $20M, but this isn’t where the power dynamics are shaping the market. 🔹At sub-$20M, dedicated A funds lead most rounds, and mega-fund involvement stays below half. 🔹Once rounds cross $20M, the megas come...
Boutique Seed Leaders Thrive Amid Mega‑Fund AI Hype
In Aug, I wrote “Is Venture Broken?” – a data-driven look at whether the growing spread in fund sizes at the early stage was pushing venture to a breaking point. We found that while mega-funds are moving earlier, dedicated-stage, boutique...
Venture Market Thriving: Opportunities for High‑Growth Startups
🧵Is the venture market “healthy”? “The highest order way I think about it is: ‘Is there opportunity?’ Is there opportunity for high impact, high growth, high scale businesses being born right now? And the answer to that is unequivocally yes.” @kirstenagreen,...
Graphite: The Ultimate Test for Any Code
Whether the code is being written by a human, a computer, or a hybrid, the moment of truth is Graphite
Experience Meets Open‑Minded Imagination in Uncharted Era
Great to be on the Library of Minds with @daraladje. 13 yrs into Forerunner, experience is an edge. But open-mindedness is equally critical. This era is about the courage of imagination. Eyes wide open and genuine bravery are needed when...
Bluma Automates Short-Form Video Ads Like Canva
Bluma (@getBluma) is building the Canva for short-form video ads. They automate your entire consumer marketing strategy with content templates, generating on-brand videos on autopilot. https://t.co/Jeoc521iea
Venture Capital Enters a New Era Beyond Deals
SEE YOU THERE! Beyond the Deal: The New Era of Venture Capital • Hunter Walk, Homebrew • Samara Mejia Hernandez , Chingona Ventures • Mario Ruiz , Infinity Ventures
Seeking Japan‑focused Founders Ready to Go Global
We're looking for ambitious Japan-focused founders ready to go global. Apply and work with our team
Lux LP Unveils Fresh Insights in New Letter
1/ New Lux LP letter...
Why Homebrew Went Evergreen: Founder‑Driven Funding Shift
"Homebrew → Forever -- why Hunter and Satya moved from an LP-backed seed fund to a self-funded evergreen model—and why they accelerated the shift in 2022." So fortunate to back founders who build companies via Homebrew and founders who build...
Profitable AI SaaS with 50% YoY Growth Listed
Supercool SaaS listing JUST dropped on @acquiredotcom. No-code app for launching secure AI-driven web apps fast. > $300K TTM revenue > $100K TTM profit > 50% YoY growth High-margin, vertical SaaS with real enterprise upside. Listing: https://t.co/BATq3sxB2V https://t.co/BMo7n13wQQ
Cursor’s $30B Valuation Fueled by Explosive Revenue Surge
Why $30BN for Cursor Is A Good Deal: "The pro side is revenue and revenue growth rate. If something's gone from $1-$100M in a year, and then $100M to $1BN this year, with Newton's laws of motion, it is going to $3BN-$4BN...
Automat AI Secures $15.5M to Replace Legacy RPA
Congrats to @automat_ai on their $15.5M Series A! They're building AI agents that operate computers like people do. Instead of fragile RPA workflows, operators show Automat what to automate, and their forward-deployed team handles the rest. Already replacing legacy RPA...
YC Funds the Underdogs Most, and They Thrive
YC is funny because for everything we get hate for, we fund those and fund of that kind by #'s than anyone else Solos Non-traditional background Anything not B2B SaaS Almost any category, we do the most # of anyone, and the ones we...
AI Voice Staff Boosts SMB Clinics Revenue 83×
Simbie AI (@simbie_ai) gives SMB medical practices AI voice staff that answers, returns calls, and handles clinical tasks. Since launching in January, they've grown revenue 83x with $0 CAC, operate nationwide with zero churn, cut staff-to-physician ratios by one-third, and...
AI‑Powered Azure Fuels Predictable Microsoft Growth
Azure drives a meaningful share of Microsoft’s revenue growth. The company reports the specific impact of AI on Azure’s expansion each quarter, and the contribution has grown steadily over the past year. This gives a concrete view into how AI...
Microsoft’s Platform Play: Azure Powers the AI Era
Deep Dive: A Primer on Mag7 (Part 7 - Microsoft) Microsoft has spent fifty years building platforms that sit underneath the modern economy. BASIC made early computers usable. MS DOS and Windows standardized personal computing. Office became the core productivity layer for...
Tech Democratizes Finance: AI, Tokenization, and New Investor Mindsets
Uncapped with @vladtenev, CEO of Robinhood. We talked about the evolution of online brokers, how today's younger generations think about finance, the rise of prediction markets, tokenization of private company stock, and how AI will impact personal finance. Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (00:27) History of...
QuindarSpace Raises $18M to Automate Satellite Ops
Congrats to @QuindarSpace on their $18M Series A! Most companies still build ops software in-house, which takes years. U.S. government programs often require a new interface every time, forcing teams to rebuild ground systems again and again. Quindar manages satellites like flying...
Tiny Early Funding Can Launch Billion‑dollar Companies
A few that >almost< bootstrapped, i.e. did raise a little but < $10m in primary venture: The Trade Desk, worth $26B Klaviyo worth $9B Veeva, worth $44B Sometimes the most valuable capital is just that smidge early on And you can skip the rest
Tech Funding Boom: VC Surge, Private Giants Thrive
The only podcast you have to listen to every week. No politics. Just tech. - Cursor Raises $2.3BN: Who Wins the Coding War - Peter Thiel and Softbank Sell NVIDIA: Analysed - Why Venture Capital Will Hit $1TRN and the Opening of Retail - Why...
London AI Meetup: 150 Experts Gather for State of AI
t-2 weeks til we're back in london for @airstreet state of ai meetup, ft: - @rosstaylor90 of @genreasoning - @youssef_a_mejj of @synthesiaio and yours truly on @stateofaireport! come hang with 150 ai friends across big tech, ai labs, startups and academia https://t.co/ELPmczmd31
AI Generates Ready-to-Use Antibodies in Weeks
Push button, get antibody therapeutics. The future of AI x Bio is here, folks. Nabla Bio unveiled JAM-2, a model capable of generating de novo, developable, antibodies against extremely hard, novel targets. With no lead optimization! These are zero shot therapeutics...
Build AI Moats with Workflow, Data, UX—Start Now
The real moats in 2025: specific workflows, proprietary data with real switching costs, distribution, and UX that makes AI disappear into the job-to-be-done. Simultaneously: we are early (only a % are using AI properly) so this is an amazing time to...
Revenue Soars While Headcount Growth Stalls
Headcount growth has hit the brakes... In our latest *private* company benchmarks report, we're seeing median headcount growth of just 3–5% vs. revenue growth of ~20–25%. Sub-$25M ARR companies might not be *firing* employees, but they’re certainly in “one-in, one-out”...
Replace Legacy Giants: Build Faster, Smarter Service Providers
I have spent the last 14 days inside some of the largest companies in the world. 90% of them will die. Their market cap will slowly erode to innovators over a 20 year period. The lesson though: Their buying processes and...
Top‑tier VC Managers Make 5x Returns Three Times More Likely
Great data from VenCap analyzing 1,900+ VC funds (2000-2019): ☹️22% lose money (return <1x) 👇64% never hit 2x 🚀Only 6% return 5x+ 🔥Just 2% hit 10x Translation: A randomly selected VC fund is 3.7x more likely to LOSE money than return 5x. But here's what changes...
Cursor Hits $1B ARR in Two Years, SaaS Record
New!! Cursor Hit $1B ARR in 24 Months: The Fastest Scaling SaaS Ever? https://t.co/kV5BNeeW4m
Space‑grown Artificial Retinas Could Restore Sight Worldwide
Proud to welcome @LambdaVision to the @sevensevensix family, @katelin_cruse's newest addition to our spacetech portfolio. They’re designing artificial retinas in space using microgravity. If successful, they could help restore sight for millions on Earth. Incredible work from the LambdaVision team, can’t wait...
Early @Function User Now Part of Its Cap Table
I was an early @function customer in 2022 and still am. Stoked to be a small part of their cap table with @vedikaja_in. https://t.co/1gnKQa149t
Entry Price Matters in Uncertain TAM; Winning Dominates Huge TAM
Entry price counts when TAM is unclear. Winning is the only thing that counts when TAM is huge.
Meta Escapes FTC, Data M&A Set to Surge
It seems $META dodged the FTC’s antitrust lawsuit… and I couldn’t be more pleased. Meta is certainly a major player in the world of social media, with both Facebook and Instagram hosting hundreds of millions of somewhat satisfied customers. But...
Subject AI Shifts From Video Platform to Teacher‑Assistant AI
Why Subject AI pivoted from being the “Netflix of Education.” On today’s TWiST, Mike Vilardo from Subject AI joins the show to talk about his educational tech startup, Subject AI, and explains their shift in strategy. The company first launched...
Palo Alto Buys Chronosphere for $3.35B to Boost AI Observability
1/🚨Palo Alto Networks (PANW) today revealed acquisition of Lux family co @chronosphereio for $3.35 billion in cash Chronosphere’s data observability platform is built to scale for the AI era the founders worked in our Lux NYC office + we funded Chronosphere’s Series...
High Agency Means Testing Ideas, Not Just Acting Fast
High agency is often mistaken for speed. People assume it belongs to the ones who decide quickly and move without hesitation. That version looks impressive, but it is not what actually drives results. The real marker of high agency is quieter....
Secondary Market Hits $95B, Still Below IPO/M&A Levels
ICYMI: @PitchBook’s latest secondary market report is out, showing record deal flow: $95B across direct secondaries & continuation funds. While a viable liquidity path for some, impt to note it’s still < IPO ($104.7B) & M&A ($107.1B) exits this year. Standout stats: ...