Social•Oct 20, 2025
Biannual Mock Fundraises Sharpen Founders' Reflection
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.
By Ryan Hoover
Social•Oct 20, 2025
Join SaaStr Fund: Fast-Track Venture Deal Experience
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...
By Jason Lemkin
Social•Oct 19, 2025
Angel Fundraise Details Reveal Top 1% Founders
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...
By Harry Stebbings
Social•Oct 19, 2025
Innovation Quest Launches: 70+ Founders Ignite AI Ventures
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 &...
By Tina Sharkey
Social•Oct 19, 2025
Bootstrapped Screen‑mirroring App Nets $1.8M Profit
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
By Andrew Gazdecki
Social•Oct 19, 2025
Incumbents Erode OpenAI Share; Coding Tools Decline
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...
By Chamath Palihapitiya
Social•Oct 19, 2025
Four Free AI Tools to Accelerate Fundraising
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 insights....
By Jason Lemkin
Social•Oct 19, 2025
Startups Funding Peers: Warning Sign of a Bubble
Startups investing in other startups... is this peak bubble behavior? https://t.co/1paenKbhQh
By CJ Gustafson
Social•Oct 19, 2025
Speed Is a Feature of the Best
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.
By Harry Stebbings
Social•Oct 19, 2025
Get Pre‑Screened Dealflow Directly on Our Waistlist
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
By Jason Lemkin
Social•Oct 19, 2025
Executive‑Retail Dialogues Redefine Market Dynamics
Back at Reddit, we saw how powerful real conversations between companies & communities could be. That same energy is reshaping markets. @StakeholderLabs , a @sevensevensix co, just launched @Marketopolis with @Benzinga to help execs talk with retail investors, not at them.
By Alexis Ohanian
Social•Oct 18, 2025
Solo Founder Sells $144K ARR CAD SaaS for $740K
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
By Andrew Gazdecki
Social•Oct 18, 2025
AI Funding Surge Leaves Traditional SaaS Exits Stalled
樂 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 ARR,...
By Jason Lemkin
Social•Oct 18, 2025
Startups Use Proxy Metrics to Fake Early Traction
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...
By Andrew Chen
Social•Oct 18, 2025
Top NBA Owner Calls ATHLOS Conference Best Ever
The Friday Morning of ATHLOS, we held our first STARTING LINE CONFERENCE to bring together the best builders, owners, and investors at this intersection of emerging sports x tech. As always, we followed up with everyone to get feedback on how...
By Alexis Ohanian
Social•Oct 18, 2025
Treat Founder Attention Like Cash: Say No
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.
By Andrew Gazdecki
Social•Oct 18, 2025
Originality Gives Innovators Edge Over Mere Copycats
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...
By Paul Graham
Social•Oct 18, 2025
First‑Check Investors Celebrate Big Dreams and Community
Reminiscing on the @sevensevensix investor community event a few weeks back! Team-bonding, founders dreaming big and a room buzzing with possibility. Nights like this remind us why we love being the first check into founders with BIG ambitions. Some of us...
By Alexis Ohanian
Social•Oct 17, 2025
Bootstrapped Agency Sells for $1.6M, Defying VC Need
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
By Andrew Gazdecki
Social•Oct 17, 2025
Choose the Right Location for Your AI Agents
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. Now...
By Tomasz Tunguz
Social•Oct 17, 2025
B2B Influencer Fees Need Tiered Pricing, Not Flat Rates
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...
By Jason Lemkin
Social•Oct 17, 2025
AI Success Lies in Resegmenting, Not Creating New Categories
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...
By Hiten Shah
Social•Oct 17, 2025
Consumer Software Thrives on Community Co‑Creation and Feedback
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...
By Kirsten Green
Social•Oct 17, 2025
Software OS Boosts VC Firm Accountability and Transparency
The best part of building an operating system to run your VC firm is all the accountability and transparency it brings your org - all thanks to the magic of software. https://t.co/42TuNDK2Dx
By Alexis Ohanian
Social•Oct 17, 2025
Kushner Brothers Leverage Billionaire Status for Tech Deals
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"
By Elad Gil
Social•Oct 17, 2025
AI-Designed Enzymes Boost Carbon Capture, Powered by LLMs
Incredible work by one of our 776 fellows, applying AI to engineer better carbon capture enzymes. Wild to see LLM's driving climate innovation already @hla_michael Check it out ⬇ https://t.co/YXyQUseoj3
By Alexis Ohanian
Social•Oct 17, 2025
Small SaaS Apps Can Yield Real Exits
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...
By Andrew Gazdecki
Social•Oct 17, 2025
Top Startups Hoard Cash, Rarely Spend Raised Funds
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.
By Paul Graham
Social•Oct 16, 2025
Navigating Friend Investments and Staying Top‑of‑Mind
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,...
By Charles Hudson
Social•Oct 16, 2025
AI Automation Startup Achieves 326% YoY Growth
Solid AI automation startup listed on @acquiredotcom. Mind blowing 326% YoY growth! 🤯 > $2.9M TTM revenue > $961K TTM profit > 5000+ customers > Inc. 5000 ranked > $10M prior valuation Check it out here: https://t.co/YNOfwS36HJ https://t.co/6mEIjy6Wf5
By Andrew Gazdecki
Social•Oct 16, 2025
Your Biggest Customer Is Your Biggest Vulnerability
While many think having a "largest customer" is an asset, it's actually a company's biggest weakness. If you can feel a single customer leave, you're in a delicate spot. If you have a customer you can't afford to lose, you're...
By Jason Fried
Social•Oct 16, 2025
Deel Secures $300M Funding, Valued Over $17B
Today @Bouazizalex announced that @deel have raised $300M at a $17BN+ valuation. He only did one podcast to announce the round and discuss the last 12 months. 20VC… coming on Monday 👇 https://t.co/n4ezdUmA5A
By Harry Stebbings
Social•Oct 16, 2025
Unlock Existing ChatGPT Auth, Not New Sign‑In Layer
Huge if true. Wrote a bunch about the Sign in with ChatGPT opportunity back in April. “Today, there’s no secure way to link a ChatGPT account to another tool. No OAuth. No scoped tokens. No way to persist context responsibly. What’s needed...
By Hiten Shah
Social•Oct 16, 2025
AI-Powered SaaStr Instantly Confirms Fund Fit
With the next version of SaaStr AI VC, you won't wonder if you are a fit for any given fund anymore We'll just tell you. Right there, right now. https://t.co/ONomUsL4kw
By Jason Lemkin
Social•Oct 16, 2025
Funding General Intuition to Advance AI Spatial-Temporal Reasoning
Super excited about funding @PimDeWitte on this exciting journey towards AI understanding the physical world !
By Vinod Khosla
Social•Oct 16, 2025
Tech Deals Surge: Meta, Goldman, SoftBank Drive 2025 Venture Landscape
The only podcast you have to listen to every week. No politics. Just tech. - Thinking Machines Co-Founder Joins Meta for $3.5BN - Goldman Sachs Acquires Industry Ventures for $665M - Softbank Borrows $5BN Against ARM Holding to Invest More Into OpenAI. Spotify 👉 https://t.co/FMWC2UfrVG Youtube...
By Harry Stebbings
Social•Oct 16, 2025
Y Combinator and A16z Dominate VC Under Stellar Leadership
Two brands in VC that are crushing right now more than any other: 1. @ycombinator: Under @garrytan leadership. Another level achieved. 👏 @t_blom is one of the greatest early stage investors right now. 2. @a16z: @martin_casado is a true OG....
By Harry Stebbings
Social•Oct 16, 2025
Early Product Versions Mislead; Deel’s Massive Evolution Proves It
Deel added $300M in funding at a $17.3B valuation. When investing in early stage, it's a trap to judge v1 of a product. The co has evolved a ton since we invested. Here's @Bouazizalex's intro to Deel on Product Hunt, six years...
By Ryan Hoover
Social•Oct 16, 2025
Outrageous Optimism Is Essential for Founders' Success
Huge honor being featured by @bigthink this week. We talked about why “outrageous optimism” is a required skillset for founders. Startups are built by people who believe just enough to keep going when everything says stop. When the odds are 1000...
By Andrew Gazdecki
Social•Oct 16, 2025
Invest in Studio, Scale YouTube: Distribution Wins
Distribution is crucial. Founders-as-Creators trend is only gonna keep growing.
By Alexis Ohanian
Social•Oct 16, 2025
Good Cofounder Beats Solo, Bad Cofounder Hurts
Good cofounder > no cofounder > bad cofounder. This may seem obvious but a lot of people don't seem to grasp it.
By Paul Graham
Social•Oct 15, 2025
New Riverside Session Delivers Startup Advice and War Stories
Just wrapped a Riverside session with the Intro folks. Cannot wait for you to hear this. Dropping all kinds of startup advice and war stories. https://t.co/9l04HG9cYC
By Alexis Ohanian
Social•Oct 15, 2025
Acquired.com Launches New Seller Insights and Analytics
New seller insights and analytics coming soon to @acquiredotcom! https://t.co/V2mQKaoOFj
By Andrew Gazdecki
Social•Oct 15, 2025
Product Fit and Partnership: Keys to Seed Success
Two reasons why 99% of seed stage companies don’t make it to Series A: 1. They don’t build something people want. 2. Co-Founder breakup. Avoid these two and you are the 1%.
By Harry Stebbings
Social•Oct 15, 2025
Boss Talk Returns, New Episodes Now Live
Boss talk is back: https://t.co/RJR1ph1oAS
By Ben Horowitz
Social•Oct 15, 2025
Trust Intuition, Even when It Defies Explanation
This part in this piece on @JoshuaKushner really rings true to me. I'm a gut-driven, intuition-first person, so I know exactly what he's saying here: --- “My deepest insecurity is that I have these intuitions about things that I cannot explain to...
By Jason Fried
Social•Oct 15, 2025
Unsexy Plumbing Profits While Others Chase Shiny Trends
"Boring" businesses print money while everyone is distracted chasing the next shiny thing. The unsexy plumbing always delivers.
By Niko Bonatsos
Social•Oct 15, 2025
AI Takes 20 of Top 30 Secondary Spots
Just seen @SetterVC's latest report on the most in-demand secondaries for private companies in Q3: Top 3 Risers in the Top 30: 1. @canva up 8 places to #12 2. @CrusoeAI up 7 places to #11 3. @AnthropicAI up 2 places to #1 and...
By Harry Stebbings
Social•Oct 15, 2025
Sequoia’s Roelof Botha on Leadership, Decision-Making, Tech Outlook
This week's Uncapped guest was @roelofbotha, who runs Sequoia. We talked about his psychology leading the firm, how Sequoia makes decisions, and his views on the state of technology markets today. Unsurprisingly, I learned a ton. Hope you enjoy listening. https://t.co/07mb26KEBC
By Jack Altman