Alexander Small’s Post

Zoom was THE work-from-home stock. It's down 90% from peak. The same hype that fuelled work-from-home stocks is now fuelling AI. What happened to Zoom will happen to many AI companies. AI startups today need to carefully position against foundational models and incumbents. Here's how to think through it. Listen to the full episode here:

It’s great to see European AI startups bouncing back, with investment on pace to surpass last year by 20%. With mega-rounds like Wayve’s $1.05B and Mistral AI’s $640M, it’s easy to get swept up in the excitement. But here’s the thing: valuation is not something you can game by timing the market. As investment heats up, so do expectations. For founders in AI, it’s critical to build a case for your valuation that investors can trust. The sentiment will shift at some point, as the market realigns with the reality of financial performance and exit potential, and startups that raised on market hype will be left stranded. Full write-up from Pitchbook below.

[Published in February 2024 🤖 Curious about the top investors fueling Southeast Asia's AI revolution? Look no further 🚀 🔍 Dive into our updated list featuring the most active backers of the region's AI startups in the past two years. 💼 Discover which firms are leading the charge with three or more investments in Southeast Asia's AI scene.

The rise of AI-powered platforms is transforming industries, economies, and societal structures. The future is clear: integrating artificial intelligence into everyday operations will become essential for survival in the digital age. A significant shift is happening where traditional boundaries between tech companies and other industries are blurring. Every business will need to adopt a tech-centric strategy to thrive. However, not every business owner has the expertise to leverage technology. This is where accelerators like MVP Ventures come into play. MVP Ventures supports those who lack the technical skills to build thriving businesses globally. They provide expertise in software development, marketing, product management, and venture capitalism, focusing on nurturing startups to survive in the digital space. Read more here: https://bit.ly/3R88SVb

Works with “never make a profit!” too. “it is never enough” I did the revenue early on during the first year, pre-funding of my last company. Realized later it closed the door from lifescience VCs - yes, that’s why you saw so many of those “DTx pipelines companies” happily funded for years and dying as soon as the products reached market. Done the profit early on too. Even more of the “it is never enough” as profit, especially gross profit/profitable unit economics does slow down your growth when the sector is seens as a land grab. But there are ways ;) It is a matter of staying away from the hype.

While some argue that the 'froth' within AI has died down, the total dollars raised surely haven't! We're seeing a juxtaposition: impressive companies continue to raise exuberant megadeal rounds above public market valuations, yet many GenAI startups struggle with product-market fit. So, why is that? Vivek Ramaswami and I refreshed our views on the AI startup landscape, taking a data-driven approach to understand the fundraising market for GenAI. We dig into some of the early signs of success, difficulties, and lessons learned in our latest Aspiring for Intelligence post! 🌟📈 Full article below! Curious to hear what you all are seeing!

Last week I got to see the power of AI-augmented funds for the first time. I was pitched by 6 tech founders - every single pitch suggested by our AI. Three things immediately stood out versus my time in venture capital a couple of years ago: - Every startup had impressive traction or a unique idea. - The AAA calibre of the founders, from former CIA analysts to Tesla battery engineers. And of course, most importantly: They were all automatically spotted by Mantis, Chamaeleon's in-house platform and the brainchild of Nuno Goncalves Pedro and Armindo Costa. Mantis uses AI and multi-factor analysis to find high-potential startups in every corner of the world. It took several years to get it this far. It’s still being developed. Thanks to it, our team spent zero manual labor to gain access to these deals. VC funds that don’t upgrade into AI-augmentation are clearly going to be disrupted. We believe the best investors in this AI cycle will be those who learn to harness its power daily, instead of chasing pitch deck fairy tales. We are series Seed and A investors. Have a cool week. #ai #venturecapital #dealflow

We are proud to share that our latest product, mindox, and its founder, Baasandorj Davaasuren, were featured in the latest episode of Microsoft for Startups Founders Club! We invite you to tune in and discover how mindox is revolutionizing document processing for businesses and consumers. #FoundersClub #MicrosoftPartners #BetterTogether #Mindox #AI #DocumentIntelligence

Wrapped up Day 3 of #TechCrunchDisrupt2024 with a blend of excitement and reflection. The surge in #AI innovation is undeniable, yet we might be nearing a reality check as hype normalizes and the rush to fund AI ventures slows down. Conversations with founders and investors highlighted the passion and resilience that continue to push tech forward, even as challenges loom. Grateful to connect with so many visionary minds—here’s to sustainable growth and driving meaningful impact! Huge kudos to the TechCrunch team for staying true to the spirit of journalism by asking insightful questions about difficult issues surrounding tech, even at the risk of displeasing some executives or VCs. It’s no surprise that some companies that I won't name pulled out of panels at the last minute. Already looking forward to the next year's event. #startup #AIrevolution #innovation #TechCrunch #TechCrunchDisrupt

Y Combinator Management, LLC (YC) is a technology startup accelerator which has been used to launch more than 4,000 companies. The accelerator gives startups a disproportionate advantage. The overall goal of YC is to help startups really take off. They arrive at YC at all different stages. Some haven’t even started working yet, and others have been launched for a year or more. But whatever stage a startup is at when they arrive, our goal is to help them to be in dramatically better shape 3 months later. For most startups, better shape translates into two things: to have a better product with more users, and to have more options for raising money. https://lnkd.in/e9T3RPw #venturecapital #firm #enterprenuers