focal

“One of the reasons why it's hard for home builders to take advantage of material science advantages or new products, or even new practices is because it's too expensive to take the risk.” Hear more from our CEO and co-founder Marc Minor from his recent conversation with Daniel Darling at focal where they dove deep into the future of home building! They discussed everything from housing reimagined, the construction cloud, data-driven designs, virtual home buying, automatic permits and of course Higharc. 👉 Check out the episode below! Apple: https://lnkd.in/gWENGNDH Spotify: https://lnkd.in/ggtukSj8 Youtube: https://lnkd.in/gRApJyy6 #5YF #Higharc #realestate #construction #homebuilding #GenerativeDesign #tech

“One of the reasons why it's hard for home builders to take advantage of material science advantages, or new products, or even new practices is because it's too expensive to take the risk.” Marc Minor, the CEO of Higharc, discusses this and more on the latest episode of Daniel's 5 Year Frontier podcast 🎙️ In it, they chat about housing reimagined, the construction cloud, data-driven designs, virtual home buying, automatic permits, and the future of building new and affordable housing. #5YF #Higharc #HomeBuilding #ConTech #RealEstate

We are VERY excited to announce our latest investment in Harmonyze ⚡️. Franchisors spend way too much time on operational and compliance tasks. Harmonyze lets franchisors control network-wide franchise operations with ease. Their AI-first system that gives franchisors superpowers by freeing up teams for strategic work that builds more profitable businesses. For more on the round and startup, check out Techcrunch's coverage in the comments 👀. A huge congrats to Gary Liskovich and Jonny Greenspan on the announcement. We, focal, are proud to partner with you on your pre-seed round alongside Bowery Capital, as well as individual investors (CXOs at franchisors, AI companies, and private equity firms). With Harmonyze, we’re backing two long-time friends based in New York who have experience building and selling AI software from inception to $MM+ in revenue. If you’re a franchisor and looking to centralize your operations, contact us or Harmonyze directly! Congrats again Gary and Jonny 👏 Daniel | Pascal | Sydney

"So I think of the enhanced games a lot like Formula one. Formula one is a combination of the athlete and the engineer working together. Enhanced games are the athlete and the scientists working together." Aron D'Souza, the President of Enhanced Games, discusses this and more on the latest episode of Daniel's 5 Year Frontier podcast 🎙️ In it, they chat about the quest to be superhuman, making biological enhancement mainstream, cyborg athletes, human longevity, endeavoring to build the biggest sporting spectacle the world has ever seen, and the future of human potential. #5YF #EnhancedGames #futureofpotential #superhuman #formulaone

Are you a B2B software startup founder at the very start? Then you have to meet this early-stage investor! This week's findfunding.vc spotlight is on Dominic Lau from Ripple Ventures. He: 🇨🇦 Is Vancouver and Toronto based 🎣 Loves to fish 🎶 Founded the RippleX Fellowship - a platform to help underrepresented founders access mentorship, intros, and the tools to get from idea to revenue to funding Amongst founders, Dominic and his team at Ripple Ventures, including Matt Cohen, are known for being hands-on partners who open valuable networks, navigate challenges together, and assist in closing crucial revenue and funding deals. Make sure to: ✉️ Pitch him at dom@rippleventures.com 👀 Look into the RippleX Fellowship - they take 10 companies 2x a year through the Founder Fellowship program and also back companies through the Fellow Fund For more, check out our funder spotlight card below along with Ripple Ventures' profile on findfunding.vc (link in comments).

Building an "unsexy" consumer / SMB business? If so, here's an investor you have to know! This week's findfunding.vc spotlight is on Eric Ong from Lightbank. He is: 🏙️ NYC based 💪 The youngest to be promoted to partner in Lightbank's history (associate to partner from 2016 to 2021 🤯) Amongst founders, Eric and his team at Lightbank , including Bill Pescatello, Matt Sacks, Jyothi Vallurupalli, and Dwight Greenhouse are known for being a founder's first call and answering ready to roll-up their sleeves. ✉️ To get in touch, make sure to pitch him over email or LinkedIn For more, check out our funder spotlight card below along with Lightbank's profile on findfunding.vc (link in comments).

If you're a founder building an enterprise / B2B software company - here's an awesome pre-seed / seed investor for you. This week's findfunding.vc spotlight is on Shawn Merani from Parade Ventures. He: 🌁 Is Bay Area based ☀️ Grew up in Cupertino, a true local 🧵 Is a part-time lecturer at Berkeley Haas 🏋️ Equal parts tonal & fantasy sports fiend Amongst founders, Shawn is known for being very collaborative and wanting to be the first call for all things (good and bad). ✉️ Make sure to pitch him at shawn@parade.vc (though warm intros are best!) For more, check out our funder spotlight card below along with Parade's profile on findfunding.vc (link in comments).

If you're building a startup that helps closing the access gaps health and wealth wise in overlooked communities, you probably know this investor already. But just in case.... This week's findfunding.vc spotlight is on Sydney Paige Thomas, founding general partner at Symphonic Capital. She: 🌊 Is San Diego based 🧵 Launched Symphonic Capital in 2022 after 7 years of investing and being in the trenches with founders 🖋️ Still writes in cursive and says that "it's so messy, it serves almost as a secret code for myself that nobody else can decipher!" Amongst founders, Sydney and her team at Symphonic Capital, including Shruti Shah, are known for taking a very hands on approach and working directly to build out KPIs and metrics that make sense. They are also there to support founders in achieving them! You can think of them as part investor + part coach + part outsourced COO! Make sure to: ✉️ Pitch her at sydney@symphonic.vc 🎥 Subscribe to the new Symphonic Youtube channel where they are going to share more founder insights! For more, check out our funder spotlight card below along with Symphonic's profile on findfunding.vc (link in comments).

"If you're relying on the model not becoming 100x better, you're about to get steamrolled." Jason Warner, the CEO and Co-Founder of poolside (former CTO GitHub), discusses this and more on the latest episode of Daniel's 5 Year Frontier podcast 🎙️ In it, they chat about AI eating software, specialized models winning, billions of coders, synthetic data, NVIDIA and the Hyperscalers, and the future of code ⛱️💻 #5YF #PoolsideAI #code #futureofsoftware