VC distributions sink to 14-year low, The Bar for Going Public, 20 tech trends to watch closely in 2024, and more!

Welcome to The VC Corner, your weekly dose of Venture Capital and Startups to keep you up and running! 🚀

Top Headlines 🚨

• Adam Neumann seeks to buy WeWork back five years after his ousting as CEO 🔄 [The Guardian]
• VC distributions sink to 14-year low 🔻 [ PitchBook , Marina Temkin, CFA ]

• UK fintech Onfido in talks to be acquired — with first backer set to make 320x return 🚀 [ Sifted , Kai Nicol-Schwarz ]
• Disney invests $1.5B in Fortnite maker Epic Games to build a persistent game universe 🎮 [ GamesBeat , Dean Takahashi ]
• Trinity Hunt Partners Closes Fund VII, at $700M 💰 [FinSMEs]
• OpenAI forms a new team to study child safety 👶 [TechCrunch, Kyle Wiggers]
• Elon Musk’s Neuralink has installed its first human brain implant 🧠 [TESLARATI, Zachary Visconti]

Want to sponsor this newsletter? → Reach out at ruben.thevccorner@gmail.com

In-Depth Insights 🔍

• This is the best time to start a company in 30 years 🕒 [Greg Isenberg]

• 5 Interesting Learnings from ServiceNow at ~$10 Billion in ARR 💼 [SaaStr, Jason M. Lemkin]
• The Bar for Going Public 🚪 [Jamin Ball]

• Why Silicon Valley is still the most founder-friendly place to raise capital 🤝 [Andrew Chen]
• Finding Your Company’s Next Growth Opportunity - How to create and leverage a Simplified Quantitative Growth Model (including templates) 🔍 [Ross Nazarenko]
• Vercel 's Path to Product-Market Fit — From Open-Source Project to Billion-Dollar Business 🎯 [Guillermo Rauch, First Round Capital]

• How do you Build a Usage-based Sales Compensation Plan? 🛠️ [Mark Regan, Jay Morrissey]

• The state of B2B contracts in 2024 📑 [Kyle Poyar]

Interesting Reports 📊

• The venture capital regulatory playbook ⚖️ [Carta]

• Trending up? VC predictions with 3 top firms 🔮 [ Affinity ]
• The 2024 State of Fintech Report - Assessing the industry's rebound 💳 [F Prime]

• 20 tech trends to watch closely in 2024 💡 [CB Insights]
• Macro Brief: 2024 outlook and top 10 macro trends 🌍 [Accenture]

Captivating Podcasts 🎙️

• Douglas Leone, Bill Ackman, Bill Gurley and Orlando Bravo on "Does Price Matter” [20VC]
• Vision Pro: use or lose? Meta vs Snap, SaaS recovery, AI investing, rolling real estate crisis [All-In with Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, David O. Sacks & David Friedberg]
• Dry Powder in Venture Capital, VC Ratings, and more with Grady Buchanan and Victor Gutwein [This Week in Startups]
• How do VCs Measure Success? [Venture Capital podcast, Peter Harris, John Bradshaw]
• How to Raise a VC Fund in a Tough Market? - Amber Illig [VC10X]

Upcoming Events 📅

• Future of Ukraine Summit | Stockholm, Sweden | Feb 15–16
• Navigating the Future of VC in 2024 - baby vc | London | Feb 15
• World ESG Summit | Saudi Arabia | Feb 19-21
• Responsible Investment Forum | New York | Feb 20-21
• 4YFN | Barcelona | Feb 27–29
• Web3 Cruise | Dubai | Feb 28
• Sankalp Africa Summit | Nairobi | Feb 28-29
• 0100 Conference DACH 2024 | Vienna | Feb 28-29
• Shoptalk | Las Vegas | Mar 17-20
• Insurtech Insights Europe | London | Mar 20-21
• Investors’ Forum 2024 | Geneva | Mar 20-21
• VC Platform - Global Summit ‘24 | New York | Apr 24-26
• The LP/VC relations event | Vienna | Jun 1-6