Madrona Venture Labs

MVL's 2024 Year in Review is here! The latest edition of the MVL Insider is out now, featuring a look back at an incredible year of innovation, milestones, and growth. Dive in below:

In our latest Founder Spotlight, Anna Rodriguez, co-founder of heyLibby.ai, shares her journey into tech and how the AI-powered receptionist is transforming customer interactions 24/7 across email, text, phone, and chat. Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/gKfhjzmS #CustomerExperience #SmallBusinessSolutions #ConversationalAI #CustomerEngagement #RetentionStrategies #AIReceptionist

We had an excellent time hosting our MVL Pitch Event at Foundations, a member-owned community of tech founders here in Seattle. The event featured pitches from MVL's Keith Rosema, Sean Robinson, Ph.D., and Elizabeth Webber, along with Gena Cook (Kaliper Health) and Archie Gupta (Relay). Thank you to Aviel Ginzburg for hosting us at the Foundations space and to the members for their thoughtful questions and feedback. We look forward to more pitch events next year!

Earlier this week, we brought our Leap community together to reflect on our predictions for the future of innovation—covering topics like open-source AI, ethical AI frameworks, and advancements in prompt engineering—while setting our sights on what 2025 will bring. Curious how our predictions held up? Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/gSBb9hRP Thanks to our Leap community for another terrific event! Be on the lookout for our 2025 predictions, dropping soon—featuring even more bold insights into the future of innovation.

On Tuesday I had the good fortune to get invited to join the Space Northwest Alliance roundtable on the space ecosystem in the Pacific Northwest. I met representatives from all parts of the space community including corporations, local government, consulting, capital financing and of course, startups. I was excited to see the breadth and depth of activity at companies that occupy a corridor running from Everett down to Tacoma, with shout-outs to central and Eastern Washington and beyond. This rapidly expanding ecosystem encompasses propulsion and launch, and also power generation, manufacturing, testing, data capture, modeling and analysis, intelligence, communication and commerce. The group discussed serious topics such as workforce development and job creation, access to critical resources such as permitted ranges and facilities, and coordination with our federal and state governments. The startup environment for space-oriented startups is richer and more interesting than ever and I’m excited to see what comes next. Congratulations to Michael Doyle, James Burke and Kelly Maloney for putting together such a great event.

In our latest Cheat Codes post, MVL's Head of Talent, Sam Dore, discusses the often-overlooked value of formal reference checks. Even after thorough interviews, a hiring manager's understanding of a candidate can still be incomplete. Formal reference checks provide a unique opportunity to gather insights into a candidate's performance, workplace style, and how they collaborate with others. Sam explains how to make the most of these reference calls by adapting questions to the candidate, exploring different perspectives, and focusing on personal attributes rather than just technical skills. By thoughtfully approaching reference checks, hiring teams can uncover deeper insights, strengthen their hiring decisions, and build valuable industry connections. Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/g9_9EBKR #Hiring #TalentAcquisition #Leadership #Recruitment #MVL

We’re currently incubating two new innovative startups at MVL and looking for the next Founder & CEO of each: 🔍 Stealth MarTech Startup: Revolutionizing B2B sales with a generative AI tool for live product demos—no human interaction required. 💡 Stealth Open Source GenAI/Devtools Startup: An open-source toolkit for prompt and agent engineering that integrates seamlessly with existing code. If you’re ready to lead in #stealthmode, apply here:  https://lnkd.in/ga3Aksv5 #genai #hiring #martech #devtools #opensource #b2bsales

Applications are open for our Summer 2025 Internship Program! If you're looking for a dynamic, hands-on internship in the startup ecosystem or know someone who would be a strong fit, check out the opportunities below: 👉 MBA Internship: Work on early-stage ventures, refine investment strategies, and collaborate with startup CEOs and VCs: https://lnkd.in/gyeqN-8V 👉 Undergraduate Internship: Get involved in product development, GenAI, and portfolio company prototypes: https://lnkd.in/gnwmyQjt Want to learn more? Hear from our recent intern, Meera Patel, on her summer interning with us here: https://lnkd.in/g-dFrwXC #hiring

In part III of our Cheat Codes: Early Idea Validation series, MVL's Elizabeth Webber (with Henry Huang) discusses the importance of validating your concepts with real customer feedback to ensure your ideas align with their needs and motivations, avoiding costly mistakes before launching your product. Learn how to run effective ideation and validation sessions, avoid common biases, and uncover second-order insights to elevate your solution. Read part III here: https://lnkd.in/gtxyuYph

We’re currently incubating two new innovative startups at MVL and looking for the next Founder & CEO of each: 🔍 Stealth MarTech Startup: Revolutionizing B2B sales with a generative AI tool for live product demos—no human interaction required. 💡 Stealth Open Source GenAI/Devtools Startup: An open-source toolkit for prompt and agent engineering that integrates seamlessly with existing code. If you’re ready to lead in #stealthmode, apply here:  https://lnkd.in/ga3Aksv5 #genai #hiring #martech #devtools #opensource #b2bsales