Justin Zhao

This is a great article on why Citi Ventures partnered with Gaurav Oberoi, Emad Elwany, Jessica Nguyen and the Lexion team. A lot of lessons here for startup founders 1. Do you have founder-market fit? In a world full of exceptionally talented people, why are you uniquely qualified to solve this problem? 2. Customer feedback - Have you validated the problem with enough buyers to have conviction that you are on the right track? 3. Reject ideas - Be willing to reject ideas that do not work because they are not solving a large enough or urgent enough problem. It's very easy to fall in love with an idea, but it's important to know "when to hold and when to fold" https://lnkd.in/gMawKzb4

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PE - AI Momentum & Impact on PE Portfolio Companies "Bloomberg: Salesforce to Hire 1,000 People for AI Sales" (Source: https://buff.ly/48LV5uo) For PE funds and PE portfolio companies, Salesforce’s investment in AI highlights an urgency to adopt AI tools more rapidly to remain competitive. Here’s why portfolio companies may need to accelerate their AI strategy: - Sales & Customer Success: Use AI tools to automate support and personalize customer interactions for efficiency and growth - Data Utilization: Accelerate AI adoption to leverage data insights for sales and operational improvements - Operational Efficiency: Streamline tasks with AI to reduce costs and redirect focus on strategic growth - Investor Expectations: Early AI integration could enhance attractiveness for investors and exit readiness - Competitive Pressure: Rapid AI adoption is essential to stay relevant as competitors integrate similar tools ------------------ #pe #privateequity #ai #ceo #cro #saas #gtm #growth #middlemarket #boardofdirectors #board #revenue #revenuegrowth #investing #investment #finance #business

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Wiz rejects $23B acquistion offer from Google Why did this seemingly enticing deal fall through? 1) Strategic Independence: In a recent internal memo, Assaf Rappaport, the CEO of Wiz, addressed employees regarding the importance of strategic independence. The leadership believes that by staying autonomous, the company can capitalize on growth opportunities and work towards its goal of becoming the leader in the cloud security industry. 2) Financial Considerations: Although the $23 billion acquisition offer is substantial, company leadership seems to believe that the future potential of the company surpasses this amount. Currently valued at approximately $12 billion, the company anticipates achieving greater valuations through market expansion and innovation. Additionally, a potential initial public offering (IPO) could further enhance the attractiveness of this decision. 3) Antitrust Concerns: The agreement between Wiz and Google was likely to draw the scrutiny of antitrust regulators, which may have played a considerable role in the decision to reject it. - #acquisition #vc #venturecapital #privateequity #tech

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While the start of the year is a time for planning for the future, I often find that reflecting on the past is super helpful. Lately I've been reconnecting with so many colleagues from my time at Google and leveraging so much of what I learned and from my almost 15 years there. Sharing a reflections post I wrote on Lessons in Leadership I Learned at Google, because so many of these are relevant to early stage startups and getting some of this important scaffolding and DNA in place from the earliest days. ✅ Great ideas can come from anywhere. ✅ Lead with transparency. ✅ Manage remote teams with empathy and open communication.  ✅ Prioritize and build culture from day one ✅ Measure Measure Measure.  ✅  Focus on operational excellence and ruthlessly prioritize. ✅ The power of exponential thinking. https://lnkd.in/eJnRHnA #earlystage #entrepreneurship #innovation

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Every fall, I return to Stanford University for a couple of days to reconnect with my fellow board members at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business Alumni Association, as well as with students, faculty, and staff. This time, we discussed: - GSB’s centennial — Founded in 1925, #GSB is just weeks away from closing in on 100 years. Reflecting on a century of growth and imagining what the next century could bring was exciting. - Evolving campus debates — Students are engaging in more open, thoughtful exchanges that elevate the learning environment. I can confidently say that since I graduated in 2021, the business school has significantly strengthened its commitment to giving every point of view the voice, courage, and empathy it deserves. - AI’s pivotal impact on the classroom — While AI can feel daunting, in typical Stanford fashion, the school is embracing this change with an openness to its possibilities. From enhancing learning methods to encouraging students to explore new applications, AI is transforming how knowledge is shared and applied. I left feeling optimistic, not only for Stanford’s future but also for the potential these shifts have to shape broader conversations across the country and the world at large. David Yoon, Anna Neverova, Alan Chiu, Valerie Shen, Lamia Youseff, PhD, T.J. Duane, Joanna Ng, Senia Maymin, PhD, Nishant D'Souza, Kim Chan, Fausto Miranda, Susan O'Malley, Marquis Parker, Owen West, Grace Zales, Leslie D. Sweat-Campilongo Dave Dodson Neil Malhotra Derrick Bolton Peter DeMarzo #BusinessLeaders #Stanford #StanfordGraduateSchoolofBusiness #GSB100

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How can companies truly unlock AI’s potential? On September 19th, from 5:00 PM to 5:30 PM, my colleagues at BCG, along with IBM's Ann Funai and Salesforce's Ashleigh McCord, will host a LinkedIn Live session from Dreamforce. They’ll discuss strategies for CIOs, focusing on closing the gap between AI investments and real business results, improving AI readiness, and driving long-term value. It promises to be a thoughtful and insightful conversation. For now, a question for everyone—where do you see the biggest challenges in AI adoption? #AI #Dreamforce

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Thrilled to share Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has been named a leader in The Forrester Wave ™: AI Service Providers, Q2 2024💥. At BCG X and BCG, we’re proud to stand at the forefront of the #AI revolution helping our clients achieve transformative impact at scale. As Forrester states, “[BCG’s] vision stands out, focused on its clients becoming more competitive with AI while bringing notable clarity about the investments in areas such as R&D, technical development, talent quality, and sector-specific capabilities.” Read more about what we believe sets us apart: https://bit.ly/4ak5H2M #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #GenerativeAI #GenAI

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I often get pings from founders and investor friends asking for very specific private company benchmark data. Until now, the data was often anecdotal, and didn't surface super specific cuts of data. Today, we're excited to share benchmarks that go beyond the norm with Emergence Capital's inaugural Beyond Benchmarks report. (1) The first portion of the report answers top-of-mind questions around GenAI productization and commercialization in B2B. (2) The second portion goes into a deep update on the state of the B2B Software Fundraising market (e.g., public market performance, private market number and size of deals by stage, etc). (3) The third portion dives into company specific benchmarking data. It goes beyond just your traditional ARR growth rate benchmark, and delves into granular benchmarks, e.g., what is the median OpEx breakdown % by S&M, R&D, G&A? Excited to be sharing this report with the public, and as always, would love your feedback! #b2b #software #enterprise #metrics #data #benchmarks #genai #venture #fundraising

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Want to turn strategy into multiple choice rather than an essay question? Read my next posts on the key findings from Hamilton Helmer’s book about building enduring business value  -  7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy https://7powers.com/ I’d recommend every CEO reads it if they want to take strategy seriously. Reed Hastings, co-founder and CEO of Netflix, said: “It will change how you think about business and pull into focus your critical strategy challenges, not to mention their solutions.” 🤔 Many leaders don’t spend enough quality time and effort on strategy 🤔And when they do they don’t really know what strategy is or how to go about building one 🤔 Many leaders just want to get on with the doing or the execution. Operational excellence is essential and hard but it does not assure long-term success and differential returns. Ask yourself the right strategic questions so you can make the right strategic calls. Then all the sweat you put into your operational efficiencies will be worth it. Whether you are running or buying a business, Helmer’s 7 Powers strategy framework will guide you on how to capture enduring business value. Learn from my next posts how Nvidia, Netflix and Pixar have understood the powers of sustainable value capture.👇 - - - - - 📑 Read the article in full below. 👀 Keep your eyes peeled for more info on this topic! https://lnkd.in/d2Wu4jkh #privateequity #venturecapital #PE #VC #RaisingCapital #strategy #strategicthinking #valuecreation

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“Asian entrepreneurs are constantly left out of a lot of VC funding that is geared towards minorities,” says Elle Wang, Founder and CEO of Emilia George Inc., a motherhood lifestyle and retail brand. BCG reports that, because of the “model minority” myth, funds focused on Black and Latinx communities are five and three times more represented, respectively, than those focused on the AAPI community. But where there are barriers, there too are those determined to break them. As we celebrate AAPI Heritage Month, it’s crucial to tell those stories: the triumphs of Asian American women who have navigated systemic challenges to build and lead successful companies and teams. Here, seven women leaders of Asian heritage share the insights that have shaped their journeys and leadership approaches – a playbook of practical wisdom for any emerging leader determined to overcome obstacles.

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Thrilled to announce the launch of our inaugural edition of Beyond Benchmarks at Emergence Capital. This comprehensive report dives deep into the metrics and trends shaping the early-stage enterprise cloud market. A huge thank you to our VC partners and contributors for making this possible! Here's a sneak peek of our findings: --> 60% of companies have already integrated GenAI into their service offerings, with another 20% planning to do so this year. --> While most companies use OpenAI as their primary LLM, many are experimenting with multiple models. We’re seeing a trend toward intelligently routing GenAI inference requests based on cost, performance, and security. --> Companies that have implemented GenAI are showing promising results, with a 7% higher NDR compared to those that haven’t. Beyond Benchmarks goes further with more GenAI trends, insights on the current fundraising environment, and key performance metrics. Our goal is to provide founders and their teams with valuable benchmarks to help them make better-informed decisions. At Emergence Capital, we're committed to helping founders build iconic companies. Dive into the full report here: https://lnkd.in/g6bnvAZM

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The second update that I wanted to share was an investment that we've been working on for quite some time. Excited that the announcement has finally gone out. Citi Ventures has invested in Lakera, to build the next-generation of security tools to protect the next-generation of applications (those powered by LLMs). We got to meet David Haber and his co-founders, Matthias Kraft and Mateo Rojas-Carulla, just as the year started and were blown away by their vision of the future. Humans use LLMs today but in the not too distant future LLM-agents will talk to LLM-agents at rapid speed. Lakera's Guard product protects LLM-based applications from malicious prompts (made by bad actors trying to steal data) by inserting a layer of trust where bad prompts are detected and only valid/safe prompts reach your applications. The term in vogue today is an "LLM Firewall". We conducted an exhaustive search of the category and came away believing Lakera had built the most robust and scalable product in the market. Can't wait to get started with the team and work with them on this journey! Matt Carbonara ✅, Vibhor Rastogi, Arvind Purushotham, Blaze O'Byrne, Avi Arnon, Çağla Kaymaz, Olivia Zhang, Max R. Mailman https://lnkd.in/ewMmennJ

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PE - PE Acceleration Toolkit (i.e. not Playbook) What commercial, GTM and growth areas do you cover in your "PE Portfolio Company Toolkit" (i.e. some funds like Vista Equity Partners call it a Playbook but I refer to it as toolkit with the aim of it being a participatory, not a prescriptive playbook)? Some ideas* come to mind - what else? (* i.e. Commercial/GTM/Revenue Growth - not including Product, Engineering, R&D and other functions) 1. Sales Optimization   - Sales Org Structure   - Sales Management Process   - Sales Prospecting & Outbound   - Sales Process Engineering - Pipeline Management - Forecasting & Commit Process - Forecasting Rollups - CEO & Board   - Sales performance metrics and KPIs   - Channel Sales, Partner and alliance programs   - Rev Ops & Sales Enablement   - Sales Quota, Compensation & Incentives   - Sales Tech & Automation 2. Marketing Optimization   - B2B Demand Generation strategy   - Marketing Management - Marketing Process Engineering - Defining Lead Nomenclature - Campaign Management - Strategic Messaging Architecture   - PLG - Product Led Growth   - Digital & Inbound marketing    - Account-based marketing (ABM) - Customer Marketing - Product Marketing - Marketing/Sales Alignment & SLAs   - Marketing Metrics / KPIs   - Marketing Tech & Automation 3. Customer Management, Success and Retention   - Customer onboarding processes   - VOC - collecting and analyzing customer feedback   - Customer Segmentation   - Customer Management Processes   - Proactive customer Engagement   - AM & Expansion Sales   - Renewal strategies   - Customer loyalty strategies   - Customer support optimization   - Customer metrics and KPIs 4. Pricing and Packaging   - Pricing strategies   - Value-based pricing   - Discounting strategies & pricing transparency   - Subscription and usage-based models   - Pricing experimentation and A/B testing   - Competitive pricing analysis 5. Operational Efficiency   - SaaS metrics (CAC, LTV, churn rate, etc.)   - Process automation and workflow optimization 6. Talent & Culture   - Leadership & Management    - Attracting and retaining top talent   - Building a high-performance culture   - Performance Management   - Remote work best practices   - Continuous learning and development 7. Community Building   - Community creation & engagement   - Building an ecosystem around the product   - Customer Advocacy Programs 8. Data and Analytics   - Data-driven decision-making   - Business intelligence (BI) tools and dashboards   - Data governance, security and privacy   - AI applications Other: 9. Product (& GTM Alignment) 10. M&A (Commercial/GTM integration) 11. Finance (Supporting the GTM org) 12. GTM Board Updates & KPIs 13. Etc. ------------------ #pe #privateequity #business

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Worth a close look for all those in #venturecapital and #privateequity. Some meaningful insight here, as well, into #China.

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🎃 Ready to carve out your path to Product-Market Fit?🎃 Join Companyon Ventures’ Behind the Curtain roundtable tomorrow (Oct 30) with Michael Ho, Firas Raouf, Eric Morgan, and Hersh Tapadia as they 'exorcise' the mysteries of PMF. Don’t ghost us—RSVP in the comments 👻 https://lnkd.in/emCJcn4w #emergingmanager #venturecapital #productmarketfit

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An inspiring and stimulating conversation from July 2021 with Hubert Joly the former Chairman and CEO of Best Buy on #leadership, #humanity and #stakeholdercapitalism. He says "that now is the time for companies to get serious about operating to benefit not just shareholders but also employees, customers and broader society. In the face of environmental crisis, racial turmoil, and rising economic inequality, he argues that leaders shouldn’t debate whether or when to embrace this new version of capitalism. They should focus on how to do it." #hbr #ideacast #podcast #bestbuy #purpose

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