Flybridge

I attended Flybridge Founders week alongside some of the fastest growing early stage start-ups and I would sum the conversations up with 1 word.... Tactical---> Here are 3 tactical learnings from Builders on the frontlines of growing early stage technology companies. Zach Shefska at CarEdge talked about leveraging youtube as video-first approach to growing a brand and ultimately generate demand with 'negative CAC'. After his talk, I had a great 1 to 1 convo with Zach on the approach to creating partnerships with other creators, as has a meaningful following on Youtube (only 20% of CarEdge, these guys are pros!) but we've been wrestling with this question internally. They had the same question at our scale and tried it all. Their conclusion, simply direct message from 1 creator account to another is the highest yield. No intermediary, no agencies, just an old fashion direct reach out. That tip saved me a lot of future experimentation and we've already put this into effect. Andre McGregor and the amazing team at ForceMetrics (quick break, Dad, AKA--Dr. Robert E.--you gotta share this with the folks you know in Law Enforcement Leadership positions, this company is making a safer world for all of us, end break) got very real about the Series A fundraising environment, and how you had to nail both the metrics and the storytelling to get it over the goal line. Andre McGregor also demonstrated his ability as a storyteller live, so it was a live example of what great looks like. Finally, on brand and in true Harvard Business School Professor fashion, Flybridge Co-founder Jeffrey Bussgang, led an interactive case study on 3 start-up with the founders in the room as a part of it, where a group of 50 operators collectively worked through the challenges they we're working through. The collective takeaway: Taking an AI-Native approach to company building within every vertical (not just your own product) has the power to led to an unforeseen levels of velocity. Thanks to the additional folks I was able to learn from this week including Nick Ornitz, Ashley Moser, Matt Mireles, Elias Torres, Tim Delisle, Jesse Middleton, Chip Hazard, Shiza Shahid, Christina Heggie, Pierre-Olivier Lepage, Julisa Salas, Will Greene, James Theuerkauf, Anada Lakra, Dennis Crowley, Emily Dong, Tom Mulvey, Michael Aiken, Brendan Cronin, Zachary Zaro, Hassan W. Bhatti, Paul Sizaire I was happy to provide a small amount of value back to this group by giving a talk on how Blitzy can dramatically increase product velocity. My calendar is full next week with follow up calls with folks who we're eager to learn more on how we will get their 6 month product road map completed in 1 month by leveraging Blitzy's solution. Message me if you're a product leader and want to do the same.

$350+ billion in transactions touched. 100M+ in capital markets terms indexed. Referenced daily by the best firms in the world. and… $22M Series A These are things I couldn’t have imagined writing when we launched the Noetica AI platform under 1.5 years ago. Our goal at the outset was clear: provide best-in-class capital markets insights and data to our customers and focus relentlessly on the product—no gimmicks, no marketing, no frills—function over form. This commitment, and the tireless effort of our incredible team, has led to a platform that has quickly become one of the most relied on data sources for deal data across the market. We’re humbled and energized to expand our ability to meet the demand for our platform with this new capital. Thank you Lightspeed, Bling Capital, Thomson Reuters Ventures, Flybridge, Company Ventures and The LegalTech Fund for the partnership. https://lnkd.in/erk4ByWS

𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐍𝐨𝐰: 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐀𝐈 𝐒𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐫 𝐑𝐢𝐬𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐫𝐮𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧? In september Flybridge AI Index update we deep dive into ServiceNow GenAI strategy. ● ServiceNow has outperformed the NASDAQ by 3x and its nearest competitor, Atlassian, by 5x since 2023. ● Under Bill McDermott leadership the company expanded from IT service management to a comprehensive workflow automation platform, now pursuing a $275 billion market opportunity. ● They are rapidly developing and launching GenAI-powered products, including NowAssist which became the fastest growing product in the company's history ● ServiceNow's access to cross-functional data through various enterprise systems could provide unique advantages in developing powerful GenAI applications. ● AI poses a risk of disruption if processes are reimagined. ServiceNow could face an innovator's dilemma in balancing AI adoption with maintaining profitability of existing products. In September, the Flybridge AI Index returned 8%. For the prior 12 months, the Index has returned 43% to its current level of 120% since January of 2023. We thank Aiera (Bryan Healey) an AI-powered equity research platform, for accelerating our data and insight extraction process. Also, special thanks to Cherae Robinson, Jeffrey Bussgang and Chip Hazard for their constant contributions and feedback. Full analysis: https://lnkd.in/evqRbKMJ

Some interesting insights from Cerebras Systems S1. • 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀: Estimated TAM of AI training infrastructure to be $72Bn in 2024 (62% of total), growing to $192Bn in 2027 (39% CAGR), and TAM for AI inference to be $43Bn in 2024 (37% of total) and $186Bn in 2027 (63% CAGR). Highlighted OpenAI’s chain-of-thought reasoning process and the need for intermediate steps as a future driver of further growth and demand for their solution. • 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿: During H1-24, the company generated $136M in revenue compared to just $8M a year ago. In addition, they have an agreement with G42 (their largest customer, representing 87% of revenues) to purchase approximately $1.4Bn of high-performance computing systems, with pre-payment due before February 28, 2025. • 𝗔𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗮𝗱𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘆 (𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲): Through their Cerebras software platform (CSoft), they aim to seamlessly integrate with PyTorch and other ML frameworks, automating the complex process of mapping AI models to Cerebras hardware through advanced tracing and optimization techniques, eliminating the need for low-level programming, and enabling easy migration from other platforms. Hopefully, the first of many AI-related IPOs in the next few years. We will be adding to the Flybridge AI index when they go public

It's time! Episode 029 of The Feedback Loop, featuring Jesse Middleton of Flybridge fame and 3 ambitious startup founders trying to change the way the earth spins. As Jesse pointed out after hearing the first founder take his turn, giving a 1 minute pitch is super hard. But it's almost never the case that you're actually giving a 1 minute pitch, or that you wind up stuck in an elevator with a money printer. Instead, it's about using the lens of a 1 minute pitch to understand the essentials of a story and the hooks of interest that can push a conversation forward. And so, after each of these founders gave their best 1 minute pitch, Jesse and I gave them unfiltered feedback in the hopes of pushing them forward on that narrative journey. Links to see the thing in the comments! A shout-out to Yoeven D Khemlani, Sai Nanduri, CSM, PMI ACP, and Christopher Truong for getting up on stage in front of the live NYC crowd. Go founders, go!

“𝘞𝘦’𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘰, 𝘢 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩 𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯” Harmonic helps Flybridge run an incredibly efficient firm. A 10-person team, with six investment team members, managing $1B+ across 300+ companies. Pretty impressive math. Highlights from the case study: 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀 “𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘶𝘴—𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘰𝘥𝘦.” 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲  “𝘸𝘦’𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘐/𝘔𝘓 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘴. 𝘈 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴, 𝘴𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘴.” 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝗺𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗖𝗥𝗠 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 “𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘴.” Click the link for the full story and learn how Harmonic augmented a strong network, leading to Flybridge's investment in Acree. Huge thanks to Daniel Porras Reyes, Julia Maltby, and the rest of the Flybridge team.

Flybridge AI Index August update is out! The index reversed July's decline and gained 3% in August. The compute/base layer accounted for the largest portion of the returns, increasing by 6.8%, compared to the infrastructure and application layers, which grew by 1.2% and 0.8%, respectively. In this latest edition, we share a new mapping of how we are dividing the constituents of the index across verticals. We also share some thoughts and insights around the expected growth of AI-capable PCs and smartphones in the coming years. We thank Aiera (Bryan Healey) an AI-powered equity research platform, for accelerating our data and insight extraction process. Also, special thanks to Cherae Robinson and Chip Hazard for their constant contributions. Link in comments

In Gen AI, experimentation is key to success. To build continuously improving systems, evaluations must be a central pillar—after all, you can't improve what you don't measure. Evaluation systems should be tailored to each company and adaptable based on real user interactions. In the latest Flybridge article, we deep dive into the characteristics of a good evaluation system, types of evaluations, and human vs. AI-based model evaluations. We also discuss current areas of research in the space and the strategic role evaluations have for generative AI systems beyond reliability. Massive thanks to Julia Neagu from Quotient AI, Ian Cairns from Freeplay, Yi Zhang from Relari, and Zhao Chen for the insights, feedback, and quotes for the article. As always, thanks to my colleagues Chip Hazard and Jeffrey Bussgang for their contributions. https://lnkd.in/emndRkXt