Founders Plead: Send an Email, Not 30‑minute Invites
Founders in 2025: “I am literally begging you to just send an email instead of a 30 minute calendar invite” https://t.co/3iEEBRXuTv
I’m Unable to View the Linked Tweet, so I Can’t Generate a Headline.
https://t.co/AiXIkG4BHK
IPO Valuations Dwarf Typical ARR Multiples
Times are good But Navan IPO’ing at ~$5B at ~$800M ARR run rate And JAMF selling for ~$2B at 3x ARR Well, they do make me wonder about some VC rounds these days
China Leverages State Power to Forge Global Monopolies
China is a conglomerate willing to use its GDP and power to cross-subsidize any internal business that benefits from scale economies and network effects, until that business achieves a global supply monopoly.
AI Hype May Be a Bubble, yet Results Prove Usefulness
It’s quite possible there is a bubble in AI… But looking at the last week’s results you’d have to be just completely delusional to claim that none of this works, none of it is useful and no-one is using it.
Consumers Redefine Products, Embracing Raw AI Power
The “pure consumer” debate shows how outdated our categories have become in today's market. We’re measuring success by yesterday’s playbook while the future is being built with new rules. ChatGPT reached 100M users faster than any product in history —...
Stability for Early Hires Boosts Retention, Not Motivation
I will respectfully disagree here. This allows for early employees to achieve stability - housing, bills, etc. I don't think it removes motivation. It removes anxiety however and creates longevity for your top talent.
From Amazon Carts to Startup Funds: Impulse Investing
Some people have a problem impulse buying on Amazon. Others impulse invest in startups (now in 15 secs).
Top CEOs and Tech Leaders Headline Cerebral Valley AI Summit
Box & Vanta CEOs Join Cerebral Valley AI Summit Lineup + Kirsten Green, Parag Agrawal & Many More To Lead Discussion Groups https://t.co/87vOV5dqLa
Unified API Lets You Trade Across Prediction Markets
Dome (@GetDomeAPI) is a unified API for prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi. Trade and analyze data across multiple platforms with one simple API. https://t.co/YsZk6Elw2Y Congrats on the launch, @kurushdubash & @princeofbothell! https://t.co/MxUm8aAQEE
Steady SaaS: $1.9M Revenue, 30% Growth, 1% Churn
This one’s as steady as SaaS gets. Live on @acquiredotcom: Salesforce native SaaS powering human services agencies with automated case tracking and compliance infra. > $1.9M TTM revenue > $467K TTM profit > 30% YoY growth > 1% churn Full listing: https://t.co/qcO6uCJvdC https://t.co/PvFgsCdfGH
Top Angels Fund Before You Perfect Your Deck
The best angel checks get written before the pitch deck is polished.
Fundraising Split: Easy for Some, Tough for Others
Fundraising today is like a Tale of 2 Cities: easy for some and hard for others. Especially at the Pre-A and Series A. More >>
Founders Must Navigate AI IPO, $10B A16z, Series B Risks
We're back!! @HarryStebbings @rodriscoll + me! 1/ Three seismic shifts hit venture this week that every founder needs to understand: 1⃣OpenAI's $500B restructuring clears path to $2T IPO 2⃣A16z raises $10B (but it's more matchable than you think) 3⃣66% of Series B investments...
AI Agent Clones Recruiters, Boosts Hiring Speed Tenfold
AI didn’t replace recruiters, it cloned them. Serra is an AI recruiting agent that learns how you hire - your tone, your judgment, your style - and works 24/7 to find and engage the right candidates, both across the web...
AI‑Driven Prosumer Firms Outperform, Command Triple Prices
• Prosumer companies match Consumer Tech performance at IPO • New AI-powered prosumer cos already show 3x higher willingness to pay ($78 vs $25 median price point) • 50%+ of consumers use prosumer tools in their personal lives Our latest research! https://t.co/gc69lrVMC6
VC Backs Breakthrough Computational Chemistry Platform Launch
If this isn’t what venture capital is for, then nothing is. Congrats to @GillVerd and @trevormccrt1 for working on a hard, interesting, and important problem. Computing revolution loading… I thought I had left Gibbs behind in college chemistry. Everything in...
Tech Weekly: Fund Raises, OpenAI Shakeup, VC Insights
The only podcast you have to listen to every week. No politics. Just tech. - a16z Raises $10BN in New Funds - Mercor Raises $350M at $10BN - OpenAI Restructuring: Who Wins & Who Loses - Why IRR is a BS Metric - 3 Ways to...
Legora Secures $150M Series C, Hits $1.8B Valuation
Congrats to @MaxJunestrand, @siggelabor, and @WeAreLegora on their $150M Series C at a $1.8B valuation! Legora is the collaborative AI platform helping lawyers review and research faster, draft smarter, and advise with precision. In just six months, they've grown from 250 to...
People‑first Software Finally Eases DMV Appointment Headaches
When was the last time booking a DMV appointment didn’t make you want to scream? Exactly. We need modern, people-first software for the public services we rely on – that's where @thekaizenlabs, our newest @sevensevensix co, comes in 💪 https://t.co/rnJQwEuJ1a
Enterprise AI Fails because Big Firms Can’t Build It
MIT's new State of AI in Business report went viral for claiming that 95% of enterprise AI projects fail. But the real story isn't that AI doesn't work — it's just big companies can't build it. On the @LightconePod, @garrytan, @harjtaggar,...
European Investment Council Ranks #4 in Sifted’s Top 50
In another magnificent piece of work by Sifted 🤣 I would like to congratulate… The European Investment Council On being a top 50 performing investor. They are #4 according to Sifted. You can’t make this s*** up. 🤣 Too good Sifted....
Build Workflow Moat, Expand TAM with Viable Vertical AI
My favorite vertical AI startups: • Create a 10x workflow that feeds into a marketplace moat • Increase TAM by making something financially viable for new markets
SaaStr AI VC: Massive Startup Data & VC Connections
SaaStr AI VC. Try it free -> https://t.co/XzJ5d0OqGr 🧮548,709 start-up valuations 🖥️1,657+ VC pitch decks graded 🧖♀️1,200+ active founders now 🫂503 VC connections made It's pretty darn cool https://t.co/nXGlRNz6mC
First‑time Founders Ship the Impossible; Veterans Over‑analyze
First time founders ship the impossible while experienced ones often are still explaining why it won't ever work!
AI Turns Photo Into Instant Marketplace Listings
SellRaze (@SellRaze) uses AI to sell your stuff from just a pic. It identifies it, prices it, and lists it across marketplaces automatically. What used to take 30+ minutes now takes seconds. https://t.co/WQVEySzxV9 Congrats on the launch, @JeffMao_ & @TylerMa_! https://t.co/Kc21QX1mCu
Founders Can Keep Seed Money, Leaving SAFE Investors Empty
So far I've watched 3 VC seed deals this year where the founders just decided to keep the money for themselves and not build the product. All were on SAFEs, and they took the position they owed investors nothing and that...
Fixpoint Streamlines Hiring Vetted Experts for AI Training
Fixpoint (@gofixpoint) automates hiring vetted experts—doctors, lawyers, PhDs, coders, etc—for AI training data and evals. They handle sourcing and vetting so customers can focus on creating quality data and benchmarking AI. https://t.co/Wg6Ilo4W8V Congrats on the launch, @dbmikus and @jakubonchain!
Hire AI Generalists: Young Talent Beats Experience
" Companies underestimate 23 and 24 year-olds. The new playbook for these AI startups is actually gonna be much more about hire the AI generalist, this 23, 24, 25-year-old who's really native in AI." @DavidCahn6 Do you agree and how do...
Lockheed Invests $50M in SAILDRONE Autonomous Missile Platform
Next-gen autonomous maritime defense leader SAILDRONE accepts $50M investment from legacy prime Lockheed partner for weaponized missile launchers 🤖+⛵️+🚀 = 🇺🇸 https://t.co/E9NrWbePNv
Partnering to Build Globally Competitive LFP Production
Excited to work with @ChEMcShane Evan and the team @ElectroflowTech on building globally competitive LFP production as part of our overall storage gap thesis
Deep Dive Into AI Valuations and Infrastructure Costs
Trying to address all the questions on AI valuations, margins to AI vendors and infrastructure, huge investments in data centers, chips, circular economics, robotics, energy and more with @akshay of @theinformation: https://t.co/0qKruLwEvv
Leverage Competitors' AGMs to Meet LPs Fast
The single best way to meet a lot of high quality LPs fast. Find out when your competitors AGMs are. Reach out to their LPs knowing they will be in town on those dates. They always want to fill their...
Software Will Define Medicine's Next Decade, Says Commure CEO
Tanay Tandon (@tanay_tandon) is the co-founder and CEO of Athelas/Commure, the AI operating system for healthcare. Commure powers 20M+ appointments annually and processes $25B+ in claims volume, helping clinicians and health systems work faster, smarter, and spend more time on...
Nvidia Hits $5 Trillion, Ushering Airstreet’s New Era
a day to remember: a new @airstreet epoch begins as @nvidia becomes the first 5t company fortuitous timing? i think not!
Buy Anthropic and OpenAI to Enforce AI Governance
Regarding Public Benefit Corporations: shareholders can insist on upholding the public benefit (cf my speech from 12 years ago after it was signed into law in Delaware). So if you care about AI governance and can afford to, you should...
Ship First, Storytelling Improves with Each Iteration
So many on X say founders need to be “great storytellers.” Hogwash. And it leads to founders selling bulls**t. Look, you gotta tell the story. But no matter what, if you are successful, you’ll get good at the story by...
Collectibles‑First Strategy Propelled Whatnot to $11.5B
Congrats to the @Whatnot team on raising at $11.5B A few unknown facts about this amazing cofounder duo @GrantLaFontaine and @loganhead13 1/ They launched in 2020 right before COVID hit. 2/ in the early days, they even funded payroll for some of the...
Margins Reveal Product Depth on Foundation AI Models
" I do think margins matter in a world of AI. They're a directional indicator of how much product you've built on top of the foundation models." @DavidCahn6 Do you agree and how do you think about margin in the...
OpenAI Targets $1 Trillion Annual Compute Spend
OpenAI clarifies it has about 30GW of infra committed now. And aspires to a run-rate of one new GW/week at $20bn/GW, meaning (say) $1tr/year
Unsexy Contractor SaaS Generates $26K Profit, 84% Margins
SaaS + large unsexy market = gold Live on @acquiredotcom: Referral SaaS helping contractors (plumbing, HVAC, roofing etc) share & track jobs. > $32K TTM revenue > $26K TTM profit > 84% margins Turning WOM into recurring income. Full listing: https://t.co/NqMh8TRUsA https://t.co/hiQW7jDrXJ
Support Young Founders: Stay the Course When Wrong
Often it turns out that when backing very young founders it isn't as much about being right early, it's more about staying in the room when you're wrong…
PARIMA Becomes First European Approved Cultivated Meat Brand
today, @airstreet portfolio co PARIMA (fka Gourmey) has become the first european company to be granted regulatory approval to market a cultivated meat product! the first approval within PARIMA’s global regulatory pipeline was granted in singapore for its cultivated chicken. https://t.co/yCJcg3rH9d
Rebooting US Semiconductor Supply Chains for National Resilience
Rebooting semiconductor supply chains is a moonshot silicon valley needed to take on for US resilience. GC backed Substrate 3+ years ago. Stoked to see this unveiled today. America invented semiconductors. We will lead again.
Parrot's TikTok‑style App Disrupts Duolingo, $715K ARR
🦜Parrot (https://t.co/Vp7Z5oZ6Zj) is taking down Duolingo. Parrot is the TikTok for language learning - $715K ARR, doubling every two months. They're turning scrolling into learning. https://t.co/KR8mBvZS29 Congrats on the launch, @byAmirHanna, @TheErikDahl, and @JuliAndreeaH!
Celebrating Chris Ovitz: The Unsung Second Believer
We don't praise angels enough. I'd like to take a moment to really shine a light on @ChrisOvitz. He was the true second believer in @substrate. He had so much conviction in them and @jamesproud. He deserves every minute today...
Whatnot Doubles Valuation, Secures $225M Funding
Congrats to @Whatnot on raising $225M at an $11.5B valuation—doubling their valuation in less than a year. Whatnot has built the leading US livestream shopping platform, with $6B+ in goods sold (2x 2024's total). Users now spend 80+ min daily on...
AI Procurement Platform Secures $5M Seed, Boosts Quote Speed
Congrats to @NelsonRay18966, @benrk100, @szymczyk06, and @salespatriot_ on their $5M seed! SalesPatriot is building the next-generation procurement platform for defense and aerospace – replacing decades-old systems with an AI-native platform that helps suppliers quote 7x faster. https://t.co/w4SUzjaqRh
Celebrating Our Fund-Defining Milestone and Future Freedom
Today is the day. https://t.co/pemXFmUb3A May our flag and our freedom forever wave. Thank you @jamesproud, the whole team @substrate, @ChrisOvitz and the whole team at @LongJourneyVC! Another fund defining moment for us. https://t.co/ND8TXNRbL2