FutureSight’s Post

VCs are wrong about Y Combinator... There are 600 or so companies that go through YC each year and the teams are heads-down working on product and revenue for most of their time there. A significant premium is paid during Demo Days, and the open secret is that many of the best companies in the batch have already completed their respective funding rounds ahead of Demo Days. There are just a few weeks in between the heads-down period and Demo Days meaning there's a very small window to meet with 600 founders (300 companies per batch X 2 founders average per company). That's 1200 founders to meet with in roughly 6 weeks a year. That requires one of two approaches. One approach is spray and pray with low/no diligence. This can certainly work due to the stellar quality of YC's companies and the power law of returns in early stage venture. The other approach requires a tremendous amount of human capital WITH high access to have any shot at DD. That's what's so intriguing about the literal army of former 400+ YC founders that Tim Suzman and Jason Gray have assembled at Pioneer Fund. It's like a mesh network with centralized control on a mission to get on the cap tables and add value to the top quintile of each batch of YC companies. I'm long Pioneer Fund. Check them out: https://lnkd.in/eBfEtP6i

We expected to see the markets open back up in the second half of 2024. That timetable is now accelerating. U.S. companies received nearly $31 billion in angel and VC funding in Q2. It was the biggest quarter for funding in two years. More startups in both traditional and emerging hubs are securing the capital they need to build successful businesses. And our new edition of the Fastest-Growing Startup Cities report breaks it all down. Get your copy here: https://hubs.la/Q02HDkV_0

Startups raised <30% capital in 2023 compared to 2021*. Valuations are down, liquidation preferences are up, more down-rounds... I could write a lot more here, but love to refer to the amazing data set in the deck... 2024 might be not only useful, but essential to scale sales efficiently? *In the US, based on 40k+ startups from Carta, kudos to Peter Walker.

BusinessTouch Your Pathway to Seed Investment! Calling all startups on the road from Pre Seed to Seed stage. While building the solution to Empower Startups on the Path to Seed Investment, our primary focus was aligning the startups’ journey with investors’ investment criteria. We’ve got you covered with a comprehensive solution tailored to investors’ needs. Our program is tailored to address investors’ key concerns while making funding decisions. We offer a unique blend of insights from successful founders and VCs and practical execution support from domain experts to help you measure and optimize your progress. With our program, you’ll be well-prepared to pitch your groundbreaking ideas and secure seed funding from top VCs. Join our exclusive cohort, BusinessTouch, and accelerate your startup journey!

Most startups fail not because the idea isn’t good, but because the market for the solution is just too small. If you want to build a venture-scale business, a rule of thumb is that there needs to be a clear path to $100m in revenue/year. And eventually a path to $1B/year.

BusinessTouch Your Pathway to Seed Investment! Calling all startups on the road from Pre Seed to Seed stage. While building the solution to Empower Startups on the Path to Seed Investment, our primary focus was aligning the startups’ journey with investors’ investment criteria. We’ve got you covered with a comprehensive solution tailored to investors’ needs. Our program is tailored to address investors’ key concerns while making funding decisions. We offer a unique blend of insights from successful founders and VCs and practical execution support from domain experts to help you measure and optimize your progress. With our program, you’ll be well-prepared to pitch your groundbreaking ideas and secure seed funding from top VCs. Join our exclusive cohort, BusinessTouch, and accelerate your startup journey!

Incredibly rich and informative #data. It is a tough time to be in the #startup world. As a founder, this reality has made it harder for me to recruit and retain a founding team with sufficient experience for needed safety and compliance in #digitalhealth and #FemTech. Financial anxiety is a huge stress on founders on top of all the other stresses. Even when capital is plentiful, many lack the risk appetite. These data on financing add to founder stress and drive dysfunction in founding teams. It is tougher, but not impossible, to be at an early stage, launching a #venture, given these realities. Seed round funding has still been somewhat protected. Though Boston is in the top three for start ups and #AI, the Bay Area remains the hub for #tech. #healthtech, and AI, while Boston is the place to be for #biotech that comes out of a traditional lab or bench research. Also, Boston is worse than other cities for #femalefounders, with <1% of #VCfunding going to women-led ventures. I have frequent conversations with Mark Gannott on these different cultures and hubs in #healthcare #entrepreneurship. For us at HER Heard we are best understood on the West Coast, which is why I had taken the Stanford LEAD program to extend my network there. We were not at #JPM this year, but expect to be there next year. With our existing ~500 users we are developing additional features to increase engagement with the app and develop and test the proprietary features. Appreciate the work of Peter Walker at Carta. This kind of transparency on data and landscape are empowering to founders to plan and execute strategy.

The Activity level of #VentureCapital in the Southeast Find it EVERY Friday here on Hypepotamus #Entrepreneur #Startup #Investor

The VC4A Deal Rooms are back, and we're more excited than ever to bring together passionate investors and the most promising startups in the market! 🤝 Each month, we unveil a fresh selection of high-potential startups across diverse sectors, ensuring there's always a new opportunity new to explore. This is a chance for investors to go beyond their profiles and connect directly with the innovators building a better world. 🌍 For more information about the VC4A Deal Rooms and to be a part of the next edition, follow this link: https://lnkd.in/d92zbtta #VC4A #DealRooms #DealFlow #Startupopportunities

🚀 Attention Founders: It's time to "unstealth" your startup! Your brilliant idea alone won't cut it anymore. VCs are on the hunt for startups that not only innovate but also resonate online. Be seen, be searched, and make waves on Google and Bing to catch the eye of investors. With funds like Harmonix's new $100M pool, competition is fierce. Stand out by proving you're not just building products but market demand and customer interest. Learn more about why a solid marketing strategy and data-driven insights are your golden ticket to venture capital in 2024. #StartupFunding #VentureCapital #MarketingStrategy #InvestmentTrends #UnstealthingSuccess