Alice Deng

📰 Solo VCs are rising in popularity once again. This means only one General Partner is leading the firm, versus multiples. 💔 Why? There are GP breakups going on all around us after partnerships have been tested by the market for years now. The bar to co-found a venture firm with a partner is very high. Those GPs that thought they might graft another one on in the short term to share the load are stopping in their tracks to deeply consider those implications. 🌱 Many are opting to bring in more junior talent and grow them into Partner roles instead. It’ll take time and capital to be able to do that as the firm grows. Talked to 3 diff GPs about this at dinner last night and we’re all leaning toward that approach in our short and long term planning. 💡 FYI - this is just an observation of the moment we’re in. There are plenty of firms thriving with full partnerships as well as solo GPs. But it’s worth calling out that new partnerships are particularly risky right now, especially if the partners haven’t worked with each other for a long time.

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Insightful breakdown from my great Partner Omri Amirav-Drory on the simple factors that really separate the top 1% of investors from the rest, and how more operators should become investors! https://lnkd.in/gEiZdT2h

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I love YC Demo Day season. It’s an insane concentration of driven founders building something they deeply believe in at the frontier of tech. I know it's more trendy for VCs to complain about YC. But I believe Garry Tan when he says 5-10% of companies become worth a billion dollars. Maven’s hit rate from YC is even higher: 16% have had $B+ exits, and we’re trending toward a 40% graduation rate from Seed to Unicorn with investments we’ve made alongside YC. Since Maven’s founding in 2013, we’ve funded 12 YC startups out of the 66 companies we’ve invested in. Here are a few: Cruise: acquired by GM for $1B+ Embark: $4B SPAC, acquired by Applied Intuition Chariot: acquired by Ford before Series A May Mobility: raised $300M+ in follow on funding, including from Toyota Carrot Fertility: raised $100M+ in follow on funding, including from CRV and USVP Daybreak Health: Series A from Lightspeed, Series B from USV Moment Robotics: acquired by Cruise founder Kyle Vogt’s new company, The Bot Co (Maven is an investor) Our strategy differs from other YC investors. Many funds build a YC “index fund”, investing in many startups per batch. It’s not a bad move. But we focus on concentration, meeting all the companies in our thesis area and investing in one or two. Gratefully, I think every company from the list above can point to Maven as one of their most trusted partners that made a difference: intros to customers, closing follow-on funding from top VCs, connecting key hires, and offering genuine care and advice in both the best and toughest of moments. What are we looking for in a YC investment? 1) Team - a technical product team with startup DNA and hustle that can achieve a bold vision. Brilliant, determined founders no one would bet against who are ambitious enough to build an iconic company. 2) Vision worth fighting for - what are you bringing into the world that is worth all the time, effort and money required for success? Why aren’t existing solutions good enough? Are we proud to help bring this idea to the world? 3) Massive market - because of the valuation premium YC demands, even a $B outcome may not return today’s average Seed fund. Honestly, that math sucks. In order to pay the premium, we have to believe that if we’re right, we’ll be wildly successful. 4) Consumer trend - Maven invests in tech companies addressing emerging consumer trends. Even if some investments are B2B or B2B2C, they are always grounded in a consumer insight: autonomous vehicles in 2014, fertility care in 2017, mental health in 2020. Today, we’re looking at consumer applications of AI and frontier consumer health. Many successful companies we fund are outside of YC as well – like Zoom, Hello Heart, Epic!, Class, Wildtype. So we match YC’s Unicorn % across the rest of our portfolio, too 💪 YC founders in consumer tech and digital health: if you want to build an iconic company that delivers a positive impact for millions of consumers - I can’t wait to talk to you!

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Want a front-row seat to the frontier of tech? We’ve got the role (or two) for you! We’re expanding our frontier-tech team at Blackbird by hiring a Frontier Tech Investments Associate and Foundry Fellows! Got questions? We've got answers... 1️⃣ What are the roles? 🧪 Associate = a full-time VC investment gig in our Blackbird Investments team, working directly with me. We’re looking for someone with a science and/or engineering background and more curiosity than they can handle. You’ll grow your own investment brand and practice, support our portfolio founders, and will help build Foundry, our early-stage frontier-tech accelerator. ✨ Foundry Fellow = a casual/contract gig in our Blackbird Investments team, ~15h per week for 3 months. The Fellowship is ideal for PhD students and ECRs who want to learn more about startups and VC. You’ll go deep on emerging areas relevant to your expertise (or curiosity!), get a front-row seat to groundbreaking companies in those areas, build out your non-academic network, and develop a solid writing practice. 2️⃣ Why are you hiring? We love frontier tech, and we’re ready to grow our team. 3️⃣ Wow, it’s so great that you’re starting to look at deep tech! Look, we get it: we don’t make a lot of noise about our frontier tech investing. Buuuut we’ve been deep-tech investors since we backed Tim Kentley-Klay to found Zoox back in 2014—we’ve been on incredible journeys with PsiQuantum (building the world's first utility-scale quantum computer right here in Australia!), Inventia Life Science (transforming drug discovery with high-fidelity cell models), Remedy Robotics (surgical robots for remote endovascular procedures), Opto Biosystems (minimally-invasive neural implants to treat cancer), and more. We believe that frontier technologies, and great frontier-tech investing, will be part of the solutions to the greatest problems humanity faces today. 4️⃣ When do applications close? May 31st at 11:59pm AEST. 5️⃣ I have more questions! I’m sure you do! Clare Birch and I are hosting an AMA to answer any and all questions about these roles. Want to know what a week in the life of our team looks like? What’s keeping us up at night? What our ideal candidate looks like? Come along and find out - registration link in the comments 👇 Apply for these roles: Associate - https://lnkd.in/gCfj4EUJ Foundry Fellowships - https://lnkd.in/gj6ATZVZ If you know anyone that we should meet, send me their details! Cameron Elise Ben Andrew Robin Joseph Adelaide James Olivia Lucinda Raghav Jesse Christie Mohamed Tom Amee Pablo Haya Loong Hon Joshua Benjamin Megan Harry Denzil Matthew Diana Daniel Tom Deanna Justin Amar Lilly Stone Thomas

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A few insights into the startup fundraising process from last week's talk with Chelsea Zhang (Equal Ventures) and Michelle Liao (DayZero) When you’re starting to fundraise Assign one founder to lead the process - Designating one founder to spearhead the process not only ensures a cohesive narrative and pitch but also effectively divides the demanding tasks of running the company and securing funds. Do your research - Tap into your network to glean insights from those who have raised money before. You can learn a lot from their experience. Thoroughly research potential VC funds to pitch, find the ones that are aligned with the vision and stage of your company. Don’t waste your time reaching out to investors that invest outside of your scope. Gaining momentum VCs move fast - VCs often operate with a clear investment thesis, having extensively researched the sectors they specialize in. As a result, they have a precise idea of what they're seeking and can swiftly recognize it. For example, before Chelsea came across DayZero - she had already seen 40+ variations of the same model. When VCs identify an opportunity that aligns with their criteria, they move fast. The investment process between Equal Ventures and DayZero took ~2 weeks. Gaining momentum during the process is important - Its important to end your VC conversations around the same time so you can round up all interested investors. Generating momentum involves prompting VCs to take action, which might entail instilling a sense of urgency or fostering a bit of FOMO to encourage swift decision-making. Closing the deal Be ready to negotiate quickly - Understanding which deal terms are important to you you as a Founder is crucial to research in advance. The process can unfold rapidly, making it overwhelming to decipher your priorities afterward. Dealing with rejection - Receiving a "no" from an investor doesn't invalidate your startup. Investors operate based on specific investment criteria, so it's important not to take rejection personally. There’s an investor out there that is probably a better fit; the key is to keep searching until you find them.

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Success in deep tech, like any other startup, hinges on not running out of money It’s more pronounced in deep tech since business metrics won’t happen until after several funding rounds So founders need to convince investors and employees that whatever they are raising now will generate results (with ample buffer) that will entice investors to put in more money, even though there likely still won’t be a business that traditional investors can underwrite. Pure technical progress won’t cut it. It’s about turning armies of talent, customers, and partners into believers of the future you’re making possible Props to Becky Pferdehirt, PhD and Rajesh Swaminathan for a fantastic convo and Matt Caspari for hosting and moderating!

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The most popular question among startup founders this week is 'Which Tech Week events are you going to?' I've done my homework: went through 450 events. Of course, I had some help from AI, but I double-checked everything myself. I’ve drawn some conclusions: who’s the most active, where the top tech minds will be, which funds and corporations have really put in the effort, and I even created a personal list of the most unique formats.* In the end, I came up with a schedule – the week kicks off with an ice plunge at 7 AM on Monday, followed by 3 events a day for the first 3 days (since I’ll get lazy after that), then 1 event per day, and saving the lightest and most fun formats for the weekend. Feel free to use, save, and share! 😉 *Last year, morning hikes were all the rage, this year it’s all about the Cold Plunge. Interesting!

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David Yi (Ethos VC) a.k.a "The VC who hates most VCs" on his Personal Journey and Perspective on Growth:  "As an eight-time founder with two exits, I've seen the landscape from multiple angles. It's not about being a hero but about building a team, learning, and evolving. Whether it's in education or tech, the journey is about adapting and finding your path, not just in Korea but globally." https://lnkd.in/gVduV3MQ #startupswithseoul Chang (CK) Kim

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At Forum we look at thousands of deals each year across our Accelerator and Pre-Seed funds but only end up investing in a little over 1% of those startups.  As an early stage VC, I am in the business of saying no to nearly every startup I meet, and while there is nuanced rationale for many of the startups I pass on, a vast majority of businesses that don’t meet the qualification to get funded typically fall into one of two buckets. ▪ First time founders have a tendency to go out to market too early to raise pre-seed capital ▪   I’m sure most founders have heard some iteration of this from VCs that ultimately pass on their business.  In some cases it's a blanket excuse covering up for other pass reasons- perhaps a VC doesn’t believe in a team or isn’t bullish on the market opportunity - but in many cases founders simply haven't proven enough to the market to warrant an investment. I meet many teams with an articulate vision for the product that they want to build, but they either haven't performed enough customer discovery to prove demand for their initial wedge product, or need to raise pre-seed capital to build out an MVP.  In those cases, pre-seed investors are unwilling to underwrite those risks.  To be default fundable, teams need to be able to keep costs low, perform extensive customer discovery, and ship some version of an early product - pilots and early paid customers are key. A huge piece of this is having founding engineering talent on the team. ▪Not every startup is a venture opportunity ▪ By definition, a venture backed business is solving a problem within a market opportunity so massive and so desperately needed, that its growth rate is off the charts.   It spreads like a weed, absorbing almost unlimited amounts of capital to fulfill demand within its customer base.   Each year there are maybe 20 companies launched that ultimately have venture scale outcomes. The bar to reach this rarified air is unfathomably high and the reality is the vast majority of founders simply aren’t building for opportunities that have the potential to be one of these generational companies. Many startup founders view VC as the only viable option for capitalizing their business, but not every great business is a venture business, and most successful founders never take VC dollars.  In order to reach an IPO/acquisition large enough to generate venture returns, a startup needs a credible path to $100s of millions in revenue. This is the standard by which early stage opportunities are evaluated. The flip side to this, and I share this feedback often with founders I meet that are building interesting business in non venture markets, if you are able to scale to $10- $20M in revenue that can be a massively successful outcome for a founder.  There are investors who focus on these type outcomes, namely lower middle market PE shops, and the typical path to those deals is a bootstrapped business or a friends/family capital raise.

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Please go through our GP, Gautam Kapur’s thoughts on founder’s deep understanding of the problem v/s potential market opportunity! Chanakya | Puneet Malik | Gautam Kapur

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Running a startup is lonely. As the co-founder and managing partner at Bonfire Ventures and Double M ($1B AUM), I’ve invested in over 100 companies, with notable seed investments in Trade Desk (IPO, $40B market cap), Scopely (sold for $5B), Figment (valued at $1.5B), and many others.  I'm getting lots of DMs from talented founders and aspiring VCs seeking guidance on fundraising and product market fit. So, I've opened up 5 exclusive 1:1 mentorship slots on @Intro. 50% of the proceeds will go to charity. What can we cover together? ✔️ Fundraising from VCs ✔️ Feedback on your pitch ✔️ Advice on selling your company ✔️ How to start and manage a VC fund Disclaimer - only book time if you are interested in no BS advice Honored to be alongside world-class Experts like @Andrew Chen (partner at a16z), @Eric Futoran (founder of Scopely) & @Katelin Holloway (founding partner at 776 Ventures). Comment “interested” and secure your spot now: intro.co/markmullen

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Han Shen is not your average VC. As the founding partner of iFly.vc, Han is on a mission to invest in gritty entrepreneurs transforming traditional industries across commerce and beyond. In this week’s episode, Han joins me to discuss his contrarian approach to investing, the importance of founder-market fit, and how his immigrant background shapes his unique perspective. We also dive deep into why iFly VC takes a highly concentrated portfolio approach, how Han spots opportunities others overlook, and his incredible journey partnering with companies like Weee! and Ume Tea to create billion-dollar outcomes. Han’s insights on conviction-driven investing, growth mindsets, and navigating underserved markets are lessons every founder and investor should hear. The link to Episode 464 is in the comment section below.

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5 Habits of Visionary Leaders Eric Lam I am a venture innovator who helps entrepreneurs scale for exit. I wrote the book 📘📙The Fast Founder: from Startup to Exit in 36 Months 📕📗, that made AmazonSG’s #1 Bestseller (Small Business) in 2 weeks and Kinokuniya Bestseller in 5 weeks. #visonaries #leadership #leaders #innovation #breakthroughs #habits

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Check out our Mangusta Capital Vertical AI breakdown below!

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What I've seen over the years is, early stage companies rarely grow beyond their founders’ capabilities; or at least, companies model after their founders really closely. If the founder is unfocused, chances are the whole company is unfocused. If the founder is incapable of making decisions, the company is likely to have meetings after meetings without clear conclusions. If the founder doesn’t put in 110% of herself in the company, it’s hard to expect anyone else at the company would. 1/ Having cofounders is advantageous in this regard, because no one is perfect and different cofounders can bring different skill sets and strengths 2/ Founders need to have good mentors 3/ Founders must set aside some time to constantly upgrade themselves and “sharpen the tooth”. 

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𝐌𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 TechCrunch 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐫𝐮𝐩𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤 - 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭-𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬! 𝐏𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐥 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 Wesley Chan 𝐚𝐤𝐚 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐧 𝐒𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 🦄 𝑩𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 Former Google executive, VC by accident 🤷🏻‍♀️, MIT by accident 🤷🏻‍♀️, now leading FPV Ventures - this one is intentional 😉 𝑪𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝑩𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒇𝒔 ➡️ Success relies on timing ⏳, luck 🤞🏻, and a clear vision🫡 𝑩𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝑭𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒔 ➡️ Understanding why and how their product will change the world ➡️ Resiliency to loneliness and ability to embrace contrarian ideas ➡️ Product-first mindset and deep conviction of its ability to transform industries ➡️ Capital-efficient growth, PLG strategy wins most of the time ➡️ No ego, ability to step down when the time is right for the new CEO 𝑨𝒅𝒗𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒔: ➡️ Embrace low-cost mistakes but don’t miss billion-dollar opportunities ➡️ Maintain a strong network; the best referrals come from other founders ➡️ Keep an open mind and explore all sectors to spot category-defining companies ➡️ Passing on unicorns is part of the game ➡️ A “2-3x return is a failure”, VC game is either all-or-nothing 💪 #VentureCapital #techcrunch #Startuplife

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"No startup from day one should be thinking about moats." - Tony Xu, DoorDash founder He adds: - Moats are academic. Great for classrooms, useless for operators. - No startup builds a moat in 1-2 years. Period. - Day 1 thinking about moats? You're doing it wrong. - End game matters, but it's years away. - Focus on lowest cost structure instead. The kicker? There's no moat on day one. For anyone. For any company. That's not bad news. It's liberating. So what should you do? - Solve real problems - Build something people want - Focus on execution - Think long-term, act short-term DoorDash didn't start with a moat. They started with restaurant delivery. Why? Lowest cost structure for future expansion. The moat came later. So stop stressing about moats. Start delivering value. What's your take? Is the moat mindset holding you back? — #VenchaVideosforFounders | Video #15 Find us at Vencha 💛 Read about my Book - The Go To Market Handbook for SaaS Leaders here - https://buff.ly/47mUhM4

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