PIN (Power in Numbers)

Did you know Babson College alumni have raised $16B and founded 1,200 companies collectively? There's no doubt that Babson’s entrepreneurial ecosystem is one of the best. So this week we’re highlighting founders & companies to keep an eye on from Babson’s alumni group. (Part 2 dropping next week) Key facts about Babson: 💰 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨𝐩-𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 💰 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐮𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐡𝐮𝐛 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐚𝐭 𝐁𝐚𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐧 💰 𝐁𝐚𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 Here are 10 companies founded by Babson College alumni: 📌 1. Medbill AI Founder: Julien Nakache 📌 2. Revscale AI Founder: Unnat Bak 📌 3. Enter Founder: Jordan Kelley 📌 4. NIRA Founder: Marie Prokopets 📌 5. First Touch Founder: Michael Kurson 📌 6. Spare Founder: Dalal AlRayes 📌 7. Native Voice Founder: John Goscha 📌 8. Rise Founder: Hugo Finkelstein 📌 9. Munily App (YC W22) Founder: Carlos de la Guardia Jurado 📌 10. InvestSky | Social Investing Founder: Turki Alshaikh If we’ve missed any other incredible Babson alumni-founded companies, please tag them below! ❗Quick plug: Are you a Babson College alumni looking to support emerging startups while gaining investment opportunities and perks? Or are you a part of another tight-knit community with potential for startup investing? Then sign up for our waitlist & newsletter for investors. https://www.getpin.xyz/ #startups #techmafia Link to full article in the comments.

This week in tech mafia news: The alumni group of Babson College! Quick stats: 📌 $16B raised 📌 1,199 companies founded Top 10 dropping tomorrow.

Emily Kramer, former Head of Marketing at Carta and Asana, and co-founder and partner at MKT1, is an expert marketer for early and growth-stage B2B startups. Emily was also featured on Lenny Rachitsky's podcast where she shared her secrets on how to build a powerful marketing machine. She has made some great startup investments, some of which are: 🚀 BigPanda (valued at $1.2B) 🚀 Affinity (raised $120M) 🚀 Anrok (valued at $100M) 🚀 Mutiny (raised $71.6M) 🚀 Triple Whale (raised $51M) 🚀 Pulley (raised $50.2M) 🚀 Pocus (raised $23M) Those are some 🔥 investments right there!

Pivoting isn't failure - it's finding your true path. Here's how a failed dating site changed entertainment forever: Picture this: 3 friends at a dinner party in 2004, frustrated they couldn't share videos easily. Their solution? A video dating site called "Tune in, Hook up." It bombed. But their next idea? It changed entertainment forever. Meet Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim: The unknown creators of YouTube. Their journey is more captivating than any viral video: February 2005: YouTube launches from a garage. No fancy offices. No big investors. The first upload? 18 seconds of Jawed at the zoo: "The elephants have really, really long trunks." Not exactly viral content. But it lit a fuse... In just one year: • 100 million daily views • 65,000 daily uploads From garage project to cultural phenomenon. But this was just the beginning. October 2006: Google acquires YouTube for $1.65 billion. Most would've basked in the spotlight. Not these guys. They saw something we didn't: YouTube wasn't just a website. It was a cultural shift that would: • Launch Justin Bieber's career • Spawn a $15 billion creator economy • Revolutionize how we consume news and information But by 2011, all 3 founders had walked away. Why? Because true innovators don't rest on their laurels. •Today, YouTube is a behemoth: • 2.6 billion active users (1/3 of the internet) • $31 billion in revenue in 2023 But these numbers only scratch the surface. The real power of YouTube? It's not just video sharing. It's a force that reshapes our world: • Influences elections (62% of US adults get news from it) • Drives social movements (hashtag #MeToo videos: 32M views in 2017) 3 key lessons from YouTube's journey: • Solve simple problems: They just wanted to share party videos. Now, their creation shapes global politics, culture, and commerce. • Embrace pivots: Their failed dating site led to a video revolution. When plan A fails, be ready for plan B. • Know when to let go: The founders walked away at YouTube's peak. Sometimes, stepping back allows your creation to truly soar. The YouTube story isn't just about video. It's about vision, timing, and the courage to disrupt. Credits to Baptise Parravicini for this awesome story!

Top 5 funding rounds of the week: 📌 1. Avarra - a startup simulating realistic customer interactions using 3D avatars and large language models for sales training. Founded by: David Knight Raised: $8 million in seed funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners 📌 2. Clout Kitchen - a startup developing AI-powered tools for gaming content creators, including real-time in-game assistance. Founded by: Justin Gorriceta-Banusing Raised: $4.5 million in seed funding co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and Peak XV 📌 3. Voyage AI - startup focused on reducing hallucinations in generative AI by enhancing data retrieval and usage. Founded By: Tengyu Ma Raised: $20 million in Series A funding led by CRV 📌 4. Valdera - AI-driven platform for helping manufacturers source chemicals and raw materials. Founded By: Sruti A. and Dheev Arulmani Raised: $15 million in Series A funding led by Index Ventures 📌 5. Third Dimension AI - a startup founded this year that uses generative AI to create detailed, immersive 3D environments. Founded By: Tolga Kart Raised: $6.9 million seed round led by Felicis Congrats to all on the fresh funding! 👏

Did you know MySpace was co-founded by an ex student of University of Washington? Part 2 of our tech mafia series on UW is here! UW's entrepreneurial ecosystem is thriving, and this week we’re taking a look at notable founders and companies from UW’s alumni group. Key facts about UW’s startup community: 💰 𝐀𝐥𝐮𝐦𝐧𝐢 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 2,064 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 $54 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 💰 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲’𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐌𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐋𝐚𝐛𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐮𝐛𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐤𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 💰 𝐔𝐖 𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞-𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐫𝐬 Here are 10 companies founded by UW alumni: 📌 1. Gogoro Founder: Horace Luke 📌 2. Tilray Brands, Inc. Founder: Brendan Kennedy 📌 3. ResMed Founder: Maria Artunduaga, MD, MPH, MTM 📌 4. Avalara Founder: Jared Vogt 📌 5. Redfin Founder: David Eraker 📌 6. NanoString Technologies, Inc. Technologies Founder: Dwayne Dunaway 📌 7. CTI BioPharma Founder: Jack Singer 📌 8. MySpace Founder: Aber Whitcomb 📌 9. Dot Founder: Eric Ju Yoon Kim 📌 10. Amperity Founder: Kabir Shahani If there's anyone we've missed, please tag them below! ❗Quick plug: Are you a UW alumni member interested in bringing your community together to invest in innovative ventures (and enjoy potential profits and other perks along the way)? Or perhaps you're part of another dynamic group that could be a fantastic source of startup investments? 😉 Then sign up to our waitlist & newsletter for investors. https://www.getpin.xyz/ #startups #techmafia Link to full article in the comments.

Especially if you're a non-technical or solo founder (or if you have interest in raising primarily from angel investors), this is one of the most underrated posts I've seen on how to fundraise for your startup: How I got 50 high-profile angel investors to join our seed round written by Niels Hoven ! Some particularly insightful points I liked: -  Be so good that investors feel like they're doing their investor friends a favor by introducing you: intros take social capital and people don’t want to waste their friends’ time. Running a process / generating hype is the best way for founders to create this FOMO and increase high quality intros from investors -  Storytelling is everything (and arguably way more important, especially for seed stage, than product, traction, etc): Niels goes into detail about how he iterated on the pitch for Mentava and was able to pinpoint his 3 specific gaps (inability to explain the product, a weak narrative arc, and poor presentation skills). Be liberal in getting feedback from friends, founder peers, existing investors, etc to help figure out where specific storytelling improvements could be made -  Articulate the problem you're solving, but focus on the future vision of what the world would look like if your company succeeds: outlining the problem to investors is great, but too much focus on it can come off as overly pessimistic. More importantly, founders underestimate the value of sharing their bigger vision for what their company will be in the future - ultimately what investors are betting on. Painting a big future is not only inspiring to investors you’re pitching to, but it also serves the practical purpose of showing them that there’s a path to becoming a unicorn. Niels spent 4 months iterating on the story, and then closed his seed round in just 4 weeks with 50+ investors (including incredible angels like Balaji Srinivasan, Tim Ferriss, Garry Tan, etc). The whole post is worth a read (it's not just advice, but truly a case study with his company Mentava as a tangible example)! Link in comments:

This week in tech mafia news: Part 2 of our University of Washington Mafia series! Stay tuned to find out about the top companies founded by UW's alumni. Quick stats: 📌 $54B raised 📌 2,064 companies founded

OnlyFans is pulling in $1.3B a year with a team of just 42 people. This goes to show what’s possible when you run lean and leverage the right tools. Take a look at the image below for proof. The takeaway? Don’t hire for the sake of it. Bring in top talent, and focus on maximizing impact with a small, high-performing team. Quality > Quantity. Credits to Rubén D. for sharing these stats.

Building a fintech startup? Here's a list of 26 fintech VCs actively investing: 1. CFV Labs ↳Stage: Early Stage 2. First Round Capital ↳Stage: Seed, Debt, Early-Stage Venture, Late Stage 3. Keiretsu Capital ↳Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Late-Stage Venture 4. Foundation Capital ↳Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Late-Stage Venture 5. BoxGroup ↳Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Late-Stage Venture, Seed 6. ff Venture Capital ↳Stage: Debt, Early-Stage Venture, Late-Stage Venture, Seed 7. Canaan ↳Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Late-Stage Venture 8. Aldrich Capital Partners ↳Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Late-Stage Venture, Private Equity 9. ID Ventures ↳Stage: Early-Stage Venture 10. Greycroft ↳Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Late-Stage Venture, Private Equity, Seed 11. Fenway Summer ↳Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Late-Stage Venture, Seed 12. PS27 Ventures ↳Stage: Seed 13. Highland Capital Partners ↳Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Late-Stage Venture, Seed 14. Accion Venture Lab ↳Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Seed 15. Social Leverage ↳Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Seed 16. Silverton Partners ↳Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Seed 17. Citi Ventures ↳Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Late-Stage Venture 18. BDMI ↳Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Late-Stage Venture, Seed 19. Andreessen Horowitz ↳Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Late-Stage Venture 20. Secocha Ventures ↳Stage: Early-Stage Venture 21. The Artemis Fund ↳Stage: Seed 22. The Board Ventures ↳Stage: Early Stage, Seed 23. Quona Capital ↳Stage: Early-Stage Venture 24. Contour Venture Partners ↳Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Seed 25. Bessemer Venture Partners ↳Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Late-Stage Venture 26. Lightspeed ↳Stage: Early-Stage Venture, Late-Stage Venture We hope this list was helpful! #fundraising #VCs #venturecapital #investing #startups #founders #funding #tech