Foothill Ventures

🔔 We're thrilled to share that Aira's raised $14.5 million in Series B to expand and accelerate AI/ML-based solutions for improving wireless networks' operating efficiency, energy efficiency, and spectral efficiency. We’ll use these funds to supercharge the momentum behind Naavik, Aira’s GenAI platform for Telcos. AT&T, Intel Capital, IQT (In-Q-Tel), Juniper Networks, and JTM LLC joined this round with our existing investors Neotribe Ventures and Acrew Capital. 👉 Read details: https://lnkd.in/gw5MbjQT IQT General Partner Jon Chait notes that “𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗨.𝗦. 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗔𝗜/𝗔𝗜/𝗠𝗟, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗨.𝗦. 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗜/𝗠𝗟 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀—𝗮 𝗰𝗿𝘂𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗿𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲—𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗵 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝗲𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗿𝘆. 𝗔𝗶𝗿𝗮’𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝗴𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀, 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆.” AT&T Ventures Head Vikram Taneja also commented: “𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗔𝗶𝗿𝗮 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗱𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀. 𝗪𝗲’𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀.” #AIinWireless #telco #5G #6G #AI #RAN #OpenRAN

Lessons from Building Ruli: How Our Engineering Team Shipped 500+ Features in a Year and make users happy 🛳 1. “Best” engineering practices have different meanings in different settings. What works in large companies doesn’t always apply to early-stage startups. Some practices may even be counterintuitive. 2. Cut off all frameworks and abstraction layers. For example, use OpenAI's native API instead of LangChain. 3. Write no unit tests. Focus more on end-to-end (e2e) and synthetic tests. (For instance, we use Datadog’s synthetic tests to catch most of our production issues.) 4. Utilize concise and async communication. Eliminate random meetings, engineering docs, and lengthy greetings. Start communication with the problem or bug you’re stuck on, and end with a solution, how the team can help, and the next steps. Continuously adjust the roadmap based on customer feedback. 5. Write all features like a script instead of an OOP class. 6. Bring in fewer vendors unless absolutely necessary. Maintain full control over all integrations. 7. Make decisions fast. If Solution A and Solution B both have pros and cons, pick the one that takes less time to implement and makes users happy. 8. Avoid random meetups, socials, and VC meetings. Focus on improving the product and talking to users. 9. Less is more. Write easy-to-follow code instead of refactoring it into deeply nested frameworks no one understands. 10. No leetcode and FAANG obsession in hiring. Hire people who can contribute to your codebase from day -1. Yes, every hire writes code for a real feature before they join. Interested in learning more about Ruli? Feel free to book a demo at: https://www.ruli.ai/demo #ruli #legaltech #ai

We’re honored to share that Goodcall has been named one of Twilio’s 2024 AI Startup Searchlight Award honorees! 💡 Out of more than 500 applicants, Goodcall was selected for our innovative work with our AI phone agents, using Twilio’s platform to help businesses capture calls, book appointments, and drive revenue through advanced voice AI technology. This recognition is a testament to the impact we’re making and the hard work of our amazing team. We’re deeply grateful to Twilio for this honor and their support of startups like ours. 👉 Check out the full list of honorees here: https://lnkd.in/e4D3dc_2

For founders: 50 slides of startup data covering everything from co-founder equity through seed round fundraising. We call this "Foundational Equity" - the story of the early years of your startup, as told through the ownership of founders, advisors, employees, and investors. Spun through this deck in a LinkedIn Live this morning (shout out in the comments if you'd like a link to the recording). Data comes from the aggregate pool of more than 45,000 startups using Carta as their cap table platform. 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗤𝟯 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰 𝗼𝗻: • Cofounder equity • Founder vesting schedules • Advisors equity • First 10 hire equity • Employee option pool sizing • Hiring trends overall • SaaS company sizes over time • SAFE financing types • SAFE valuation caps • SAFE conversion terms • AI vs non-AI val caps • When to switch from SAFEs to priced equity • Seed valuations • Series A valuations • Seed + Series A dilution • ...and more 😁 Data for the founders! Subscribe here for regular data drops from our Carta Insights team: https://lnkd.in/gNa_Dk-F #startups #founders #fundraising #venturecapital

Here is some nightmare fuel for you. Chinese company Deep Robotics released a hype video of their quadruple platform and it’s giving off serious black mirror vibes.