Yellow

🚨Coming in Hot🚨 💛 We’re excited to continue the Yellow Founders Series with Steve Anavi Co-Founder of Qonto After Jean-Charles from Alan and Oscar from Glovo, this week we sat down with Steve 📈 Qonto now serves 500,000 businesses across Europe and has raised +$700m ever since its launch in 2016 I originally met Steve and his co-founder Alexandre in 2017 when they had just raised their Series A. Over the years, I have been impressed by Steve's relentless product obsession and his ability to continually reinvent himself throughout Qonto's scaling journey ➡️ Swipe left to find out more about his entrepreneurial journey and how he and Alex transformed their frustrations into a revolutionary B2B banking solution 💡Through the Yellow Founders Series, we share real stories of fellow entrepreneurs - their challenges and insights - and aim to inspire the next generation of founders 🙏 Stay tuned for the next one!

🔥 4 Takeaways from Sequoia Capital’s Generative AI’s Act o1 🫵 This is one of the best articles we've read about the current state of AI (incl. its opportunities and challenges). We know finding time can be challenging while you’re busy building, so here are our 4 key takeaways: 1️⃣ The next frontier in AI development is moving from quick, general statistical responses to more deliberate reasoning and problem-solving capabilities 2️⃣ The notion of one dominant AI model for all industries and multiple use cases has been debunked. Cognitive architectures are now emerging, allowing AI to be customized for specific tasks and industries, creating a more specialized and effective application layer 3️⃣ Cloud transition brought the generational change to Software-as-a-Service; AI transition has impulsed a revolutionary shift towards ‘Service-as-a-Software’. Cloud companies sell software (per seat); AI companies sell outcomes (per result). The real opportunity for startups isn’t replacing existing software; it’s automating entire pools of work 4️⃣  Initially, it was believed that AI wouldn't disrupt cloud incumbents due to their data and distribution moats. But rising uncertainty suggests AI could trigger a shift similar to the on-premise to SaaS revolution, creating a new category that may ultimately replace traditional software models Link to full article: https://shorturl.at/jytE6 👋 If you are a founder / thinking about building in the space, give us a shout! Adam Oscar Sacha Victor Camille 💛

🌟 Last 2 weeks in London, Munich, and Torino have been super inspiring 🌟 Just wrapped up an exciting two weeks attending Creandum & BOOOM💥 gathering in Munich and Exor N.V. Tech Gathering in Torino 🙏💛A huge thanks to  - Peter, Felix, Julius, Nicolaus, David, Dr. Christian on the 🇩🇪 side - Noam, Michael and Diyala on the 🇮🇹 side 👯♀️ We are in a business fundamentally driven by human interactions. The value you unlock by meeting founders or fellow investors in person is nowhere near what you get by hopping on regular video calls Also, as we invest at the inception of projects with Yellow, most founders are busy building or meeting customers so we love traveling to meet with them I’m truly impressed by the high caliber of founders we have across Europe and by the level of ambition they show from day 1 🚀 👋 If you are a founder / thinking about launching something, give us a shout!

🥨🔥 Only two days to go until Bits & Pretzels 2024!! 🇩🇪 We have been spending a lot of time in Berlin and recently made our first investment in Germany, Conlio! Now it's time to double down on the fastest-growing tech city: Munich! Couldn’t be a better excuse than Bits and Pretzels! Can't wait to reconnect with our closest friends and meet new founders and investors!! 👋 If you are a founder / thinking about launching something, give us a shout!

🚨 Great read on AI applications in professional services from our friends at Index Ventures ➡️ Ross McNairn, founder of our portfolio company Wordsmith AI, shares his insights on how AI-driven automation is revolutionizing back-office operations in professional services, starting with legal workflows. 💡 At Yellow, we love meeting with founders building solutions to make professional services run smoother, so if you’re interested in the space, feel free to reach out to any of us! Cc: Robbie Falkenthal Volodymyr Giginiak Hannah Seal TravelPerk Carlos Gonzalez-Cadenas Adam S. Lasri Oscar Pierre Sacha Michaud Camille Cros Victor Navarro

🚨 Job opening alert!   We’re excited to share a selection of job openings from the amazing entrepreneurs, we’ve been lucky to partner up with at Yellow! 🔎 Want to be part of an amazing team shaping the future of European tech? Check out these exciting job opportunities! 🇫🇷 Open positions in Paris Certalis, started by Henri: Building the go-to platform for ensuring employee safety in logistics and construction → Customer Success Manager: https://shorturl.at/jMZYq  → Software Engineer: https://shorturl.at/geGQz  → Operations Intern: https://shorturl.at/0wPjT Paladin, started by Jonathan and Quentin: Reinventing occupational health (médecine du travail) to make it simple and useful → Founding Engineers: Apply with your CV to bonjour@paladin.fr 🇪🇸 Open positions in Barcelona Livo, started by Carlos and Adnane: Addressing the staffing shortage crisis in healthcare → Head of Account Management: https://t.ly/eQCT9  → Account Executive: https://t.ly/-0J7w  → VP Business Development: https://t.ly/mTPKC  → Operations and Marketing Intern: Apply with your CV to ricardo@getlivo.com 🇬🇧 Open positions in Edinburgh Wordsmith AI, started by Ross McNairn: Creating an operating system for in-house legal teams → Product Engineer: https://t.ly/m56k9  → Sales Executive: https://t.ly/_M9-f 🇩🇪 Open positions in Berlin Conlio, started by Claudio: Launching a platform automating freight audits and optimising payments for the logistics industry → Founder’s Associate: https://shorturl.at/pPDKa → Head of Engineering: https://shorturl.at/JYozC → Founding Engineer: https://shorturl.at/HCWSB

💛 We’re excited to continue the Yellow Founders Series with an exclusive interview featuring Jean-Charles Samuelian-Werve, Co-Founder and CEO of Alan! 🧑⚕️ Jean-Charles shares his journey from creating the world’s lightest aircraft seat (still flying on many airlines!) to revolutionizing healthcare. He also discusses his role in co-founding Mistral AI and his vision for how AI will transform healthcare. ➡️ Swipe left to uncover insights on his early days, the power of company culture, what makes a great (and a bad) VC, and Alan’s future. 💡 As a pre-seed investor, we engage with founders at the very start of their journey. Through the Yellow Founders Series, we aim to uncover the insights and challenges that other entrepreneurs have faced, offering powerful lessons and inspiration from their experiences. 👋 If you are a founder / thinking about launching something, give us a shout! Read the more extended interview with Jean Charles here: https://shorturl.at/eNQZy 

⛱️ As many of you take a well-deserved break in the coming days, we wanted to share some inspiring reads that have captured our interest lately…tech-related but not only 🤓! Whether you're lounging by the beach or enjoying a quiet evening at home, we hope these resources spark new ideas or trigger entertaining debates at the dinner table! 📖 Happy reading! 💛🙏 Tech: 1️⃣ Tech Is Going to Get Much Bigger - https://shorturl.at/PABqC → Ever increasing weight of tech in the global economy 2️⃣ AI Is Like Water - https://shorturl.at/4Xhrv → Must read for AI application builders 3️⃣ VCs Innovate on Distributions - https://shorturl.at/WEIsA → VCs’ distribution challenges / creative solutions 4️⃣ Hatching Twitter (book) - https://shorturl.at/OBr3v → (For those who want to go deeper) How Twitter was founded and hyperscaled Non Tech: 1️⃣ The Death of Summer - https://rb.gy/44ukwb → Thoughts on when & where we might be taking our annual leave in the future 2️⃣ How Hot Is Too Hot for the Human Body? - https://rb.gy/losy06 → Climate change is testing our limits 3️⃣ Has Europe Already Reached its Demographic Tipping Point? - https://rb.gy/e8o6di → If demography is power, where is Europe heading? 4️⃣ The Solar Industrial Revolution Is the Biggest Investment Opportunity in History - https://t.ly/kzcwr → A deep dive on why solar energy could be one of the greatest opportunities of this century

⚔ I met with Oscar in 2016, back then we were competitors in the on-demand delivery market... While we wrapped up the operations at Jinn, Oscar persevered and continued! His founder journey at Glovo was incredibly challenging, navigating one of the toughest markets with fierce, better-funded competitors. I have always been impressed by how resilient and calm he has remained, even when facing company's life-threatening challenges. In 2022, Glovo was acquired by Delivery Hero for over €2B! Oscar remains CEO. Glovo is now operating in +25 countries across Europe, Asia, and Africa. 💛 Fast forward to 2023, after several years of investing with Atomico, when I decided to launch my own vehicle, it was clear to me that I wanted to partner up with Oscar. So along with Sacha, we launched Yellow. At Yellow, we invest at the pre-seed stage, supporting founders at the very beginning of their journey, and helping them navigate the challenging path from 0 to 1. 🆕 Understanding that this stage can often feel lonely, and that founders benefit from hearing the experiences of those further along in their journey, we are excited to launch a new interview series starting with Oscar. Stay tuned for more insights in the weeks to come! 👀 (Slide all the way to the right for some bonus early beginning pics)

🚨 Exciting news! Wordsmith AI comes out of stealth to empower lawyers to scale their work with AI 💛 We’re super thrilled to be partnering with Ross, Volodymyr, and Robbie to build an AI-empowered lawyer-in-the-loop to transform the working lives of in-house legal teams 💡 Coming from Meta, Travelperk, Skyscanner, and law firms, the founding team has a clear and compelling vision for how AI can boost the capabilities of legal teams 🚀 Wordsmith AI is truly redefining how professional services are delivered, and we are proud to support them at the very beginning of their journey alongside Index Ventures, General Catalyst and Felix Capital Lets go!!   https://shorturl.at/72yeH