Unusual Ventures

It's the FINAL day of February and your final opportunity to apply to Unusual Academy (University Edition) — Applications close tonight at midnight PT. https://lnkd.in/epKC-MJz As part of Unusual Academy, you will: 1️⃣ Receive an 𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝗦𝗔𝗙𝗘 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘂𝗽 𝘁𝗼 $𝟳𝟱𝟬𝗞 𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝘀 + 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 from John Vrionis and Jyoti Bansal. 2️⃣ Join an 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝟱𝟬𝟬 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀. 3️⃣ Dive into the 𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗴𝗼-𝘁𝗼-𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗿𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗔𝗜-𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽𝘀. 4️⃣ Work alongside and learn from 𝟭𝟬 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀.

Welcome to the Unusual Ventures newsletter! We'll be providing updates here on our latest content. We invite you to subscribe and provide us with your insights and feedback! Thank you for being part of our community! Our first edition features an article by Lars Albright and our latest podcast interview with Jordan Taylor, CEO of Vizcom!

Sharing advice for founders thinking through putting together an annual operating plan. The main message - do the work! It will make you a better founder, empower your team and enable you to grow your business faster. (link to full post below) https://lnkd.in/eDcJrRwB

Calling current and aspiring student founders! Come hang with us with at Unusual! We are running our university program this spring and applications are due by tomorrow Feb 28! https://lnkd.in/g_885vJd We at Unusual obsess about finding product-market fit and I personally love mentoring early teams at this stage. You'll learn directly from our Managing Partners John Vrionis, Jyoti Bansal and other leaders who have decades of hands-on company building experience. Not a student yourself but know someone who might enjoy this program? Please share this with them, they should apply!

Last night, Resolve AI and Unusual Ventures co-hosted a dinner on "Acceleration of Engineering Velocity with Agentic AI" with engineering leaders from Stripe, Carta, Zeta Global, Gupshup, Harness and Meta. Key Takeaways: - Trust in AI is increasing: Nearly everyone is experimenting with AI in engineering. When asked, "On a scale of 0-10, how much do you trust AI in your engineering practices?," most leaders rated it a 9. - Productivity is a major driver: A key value of AI tools in engineering is driving productivity gains. The goal is to accelerate engineers, not replace them. For new projects, productivity means shortening the time from concept to GA, while for mature systems it’s about improving MTTR and uptime. I firmly believe AI will dramatically increase technology output and help solve some of humanity's biggest challenges, not reduce the number of people working in technology. - Interest in agentic AI beyond coding: Many highlighted that in mature systems, coding comprises less than 20% of engineering tasks, with the rest focused on testing, deployment, on-call support, incident management, compliance, and security—many of which involve stressful, repetitive work. As one analogy put it, if you asked a chef about where they would use AI, they’d likely prefer help with cleaning and prep rather than the creative aspects of cooking. Thanks Vinay Mathur, Natasha Mohanty, Chris Cholette, Javier Lopez, Elanchelvan Elango, Krishna Tammana, Puneet Saraswat, Ashwin Narasimhan, Raghvendra Singh for joining. And thanks to my co-hosts John Vrionis and Jyoti Bansal, as well as Niamh O'Donnell for helping organize the event. We will be hosting similar dinners in SF and NYC next month. Please DM me if you would like to join!

For a lot of early-stage founders, annual planning can be painful. It's hard to step back and think about what a full year will look like. It can be even harder when founders feel like they don't have enough predictability to make annual forecasts. But Unusual GP Lars Albright argues that annual planning should be seen as a learning process — you are not aiming for perfection. In his new blog post, Lars offers 4 reason why founders should embrace the process: 1️⃣ Shifting your mentality as a founder 2️⃣ Accepting variability and uncertainty 3️⃣ Creating team alignment and accountability 4️⃣ Getting constructive feedback and advice from your board

It was great being back at Harvard Business School this week sharing my thoughts on the areas we're most excited about at Unusual Ventures across AI, Fintech, and more along with things to factor in when choosing to start or join a startup! Thanks to Vishal Bhat and the HBS FinTech Club for hosting me! Also, it was good to put a final plug in for Applications for the Unusual Academy, which close tomorrow. Receive an uncapped SAFE Note and learn from former successful founders who took businesses from ideas to successful exit events. More details can be found here: https://lnkd.in/erwZKgVp

An all-new episode of the Startup Field Guide is LIVE featuring Jordan Taylor, CEO and co-founder of Vizcom, the company that's building "the operating system for physical product creation." Jordan chats with Scott Schwarzhoff about how his background in design led to the founding of Vizcom which is focused on using AI to accelerate designers' workflows. Some highlights from the episode: ➡️ Jordan's insight for Vizcom started with his passion for car design. He worked for Honda and then NVIDIA at the beginning of his career. ➡️ Well before Vizcom, Jordan was sharing his passion for design on Instagram where he had almost 80K followers! This community of designers eventually became Vizcom's original distribution channel. ➡️ As Vizcom has grown, Jordan has stayed true to his roots as a designer, ensuring the product and community remain focused on solving real problems for designers! Link to the entire episode in the comments! ⬇️

Only 3 days left! - Opportunity for Student Founders Deadline: February 28th! Apply here: https://lnkd.in/dUDMMpk9 Why apply? - 👨🏫 Learn from John Vrionis and Jyoti Bansal, co-founders of Unusual Ventures. - 💸 Receive $25K in uncapped SAFE funding for your team. - 🤝 Get hands-on support to help build your startup. Participants will: - Learn best practices for building a company from top leaders. - Access up to $750K in credits & discounts. - Join a small group of 10 teams for mentorship and collaboration. Important dates (3 full-day in-person sessions at our office in Menlo Park): - March 21, 2025 - April 11, 2025 - May 9, 2025

🚀 Student Founders: Your Big Opportunity is Here! 🚀 We're thrilled to announce that applications are NOW OPEN for Unusual Ventures’ 2025 Unusual Academy: University Edition—a game-changing, part-time program crafted exclusively for undergraduate and graduate founders. What’s in it for you? 💰 $25K Investment: Fuel your startup dreams with essential capital. 🎓 Expert Training: Master our proprietary process for early-stage company building. 🤝 Dedicated Partnership: Get hands-on support as you turn your vision into a thriving business. ⏰ Deadline: Apply by midnight February 28 to secure your spot in this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! #StudentFounders #Startup #Entrepreneurship #VentureCapital #UnusualAcademy