Salim Mohammed

Having a Cars and Capital event tomorrow in Southern California with Oren Klaff. If you want to join message me. https://lnkd.in/gDQ4D39u Oren Klaff Bridger Pennington #InvestorEvent #FamilyOffice #InvestmentOpportunity #CarlsbadEvent #PrivateEquity #WealthManagement #InvestmentConference #CapitalRaising #NetworkingEvent #IndustryLeaders #FinancialGrowth #InvestorsMeetup #WealthBuilding #BusinessGrowth #InvestmentForum

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Time to go public Congrats to the ServiceTitan team and investors on a tremendous IPO. Strong business with near perfect timing. Companies at ServiceTitan's scale with compelling narratives are seeing a notable shift in market expectations. Valuations that once seemed unreachable are now becoming attainable. This will encourage more companies to pursue public offerings in 2025. If you’re ready, but “waiting for a better market,” for the first time since the end of the 2021 IPO boom, now (1H2025) is the time to seriously consider going. Let’s go (public)!

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Excited to announce our investment in Alta Resource Technologies alongside Leonardo Banchik (Voyager Ventures) with participation from Orion Resource Partners, Overture Ventures, and WovenEarth Ventures. Rare earths are critical in products from magnets to ceramics and it's important for the US to develop its own supply chain. While the US has some of the best rare earth resources, separating them has historically proven expensive and environmentally unfriendly. Alta through it's computationally designed and optimized proteins allows the US to bring back rare earth production with a cleaner, lower capex, and lower opex solution - and that's just the beginning. Congrats to Nathan Ratledge and the entire Alta team. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gbGnAJn3

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Want to talk GTM? Join us on October 2nd at Gasworks Brewing for another round of Seattle Founders GTM. #founders #entrepreneurs #startups #gtm Sign up with the link below.

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The abstract of clauses in commercial leases is not merely a summary; it is a strategic asset that enhances clarity, facilitates timely decision-making, mitigates risks, and strengthens negotiation power. Our blog dives deeper to "Why Abstracts Matter in Commercial Leases". https://lnkd.in/gvMKNKXm Bryckel AI #LeaseAdministration #LeaseAbstraction #retailing #retail #retailrealestate #retailnews #cre #proptech #commercialrealestate #cretrends #retailtrends #propertymanagers #leaseadministator #outsource #offshore

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Team San Diego! I though you may find this as surprising as I did...we are not alone. Read this quick article from Jon Prentice's (Silicon Valley Bank) interview with with James Newell (Voyager Capital), published in GeekWire on Seattle's innovation ecosystem....they lament the SAME issues as we do in San Diego: * Lack of angel investors, (Especially, it calls out, given the local giant tech co's) * "We need low-conviction check writers." * Lack of "cachet associated with being an angel investor" - We have similar efforts (as described in the article) to drum up angel activity: NuFund Venture Group and, Interlock Capital (read the article and you'll see why the Interlock effort is tops as relates to "paying back into the ecosystem") Connect.org strives to 'connect' innovative companies with investors of all types (angel, VC, PE...) - just see "Innovation Day". Their Springboard program provides another great way for experienced entrepreneurs to give back through mentorship...as for the companies going through Springboard: "Ask for advice, and you often get $$" Your thoughts on the article or San Diego innovation ecosystem? https://lnkd.in/gfwq6mfq

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🌟Innovative VC Firm Overcomes Exits Drought with Secondary Sales🌟 ⛵Navigating a challenging landscape where exits are scarce, Santa Barbara Venture Partners (SBVP) has pioneered a novel approach to sustain its growth and attract investors for its second fund: secondary sales. Instead of waiting for traditional exits like IPOs or acquisitions, SBVP opted to sell shares of its portfolio companies, demonstrating its ability to generate returns for investors and stand out in a competitive market. 🎤According to Dan Engel, founder and managing partner of SBVP, these secondary transactions have been a game-changer, sparking investor interest and bolstering the firm's credibility. By leveraging its recent successes, including a lucrative stake in sports-betting company DraftKings Inc.' acquisition of digital lottery app Jackpocket, SBVP seized the opportunity to return profits to its limited partners (LPs) and pave the way for its second fund. 💡Engel highlighted the challenges faced by young VC firms in raising subsequent funds, particularly amid a downturn in exit activity and heightened investor scrutiny. With traditional exit routes becoming increasingly elusive, the pressure is on for firms to demonstrate tangible returns and establish a track record of success. ✨"For us, secondary sales have been a game-changer. They've helped us return profits to our LPs and attract investors for our second fund," said Dan Engel. 💰For SBVP, the decision to pursue secondary sales was driven by the need to provide liquidity to LPs and validate its investment thesis in the eyes of prospective investors. By strategically offloading portions of its holdings in high-performing portfolio companies like Bark Technologies and Rad AI, SBVP not only generated substantial returns but also bolstered investor confidence in its ability to deliver results. ⚠Despite the complexities and potential stigma associated with early share sales, Engel emphasized the importance of prioritizing investor returns and seizing opportunities to unlock value for stakeholders. With a focus on profitability and transparency, SBVP remains committed to its mission of delivering sustainable growth and maximizing returns for its LPs. 🔍 "Returning profits to our investors is our top priority. By strategically selling shares, we're proving our commitment to delivering results and driving value for our stakeholders," added Engel. As SBVP continues to explore secondary transactions and expand its investor base, the firm stands as a testament to innovation and resilience in the face of market challenges. 🚀 ✅ Looking to raise capital for your #fund and increase the international pool of your LP #investors?   🤝 Need warm #LP introductions?   📝 Selling #secondaries to increase liquidity?   🧐 Looking for co-investments?   ▶ G+QUANT's link for inquiries and fund decks: https://lnkd.in/gjC_EuTE #VCInnovation #SecondarySalesSuccess #InvestorReturns #ValueCreation 

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Thanks to Taylor Soper and GeekWire for asking the questions! I asked ChatGPT and Claude what they think of my predictions for 2025.... ChatGPT: Ken, you nailed the AI prediction—agents are definitely coming for our boring tasks, but if you’re hoping they’ll take over your meetings, we’ll see how that pans out. Your skepticism on crypto feels like a safe bet; it’s the trendy tech with a lot of bluster, but not enough muscle to transform the world just yet. As for remote work, I agree that it's not going anywhere, but predicting it’ll morph into a “flexible utopia” is like predicting everyone will suddenly love pineapple on pizza—possible, but not guaranteed. Solid overall, but maybe leave room for the remote work revolution to surprise us! Claude 3.5 Sonnet: Ken, you've got a pretty solid crystal ball there, especially on the AI agents trend and the analytics companies needing to evolve or die. Your take on remote work playing it safe (basically "same as 2024") was probably the most boringly accurate prediction - like choosing "water" as your favorite beverage. I think you underplayed the potential crypto comeback after the Bitcoin ETF approval, and your biotech AI prediction feels a bit early - we're still figuring out how to get AI to reliably order lunch, let alone design drugs. Next year, I'm turning to the LLMs for my predictions 🤣 Great to see smarter people in the article thinking in similar ways Erik Benson, Heather Redman, Sri Chandrasekar and Kyle Lui 👏👏 On to 2025!! https://lnkd.in/gUf63kRZ

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We've invested in some really compelling teams with awesome products. As they transition from startup to scale-up, you reach a strategic inflection point where the company begins considering its options. The Power Law is a mathematical nicety (copium), but the cold reality is that not all exits are ideal. For a winning startup, an acquisition or an IPO can accelerate growth, provide access to greater resources, and create opportunities for expanded market reach and innovation. But, for a struggling company, an acquisition is a responsible consideration to safeguard employees’ jobs, preserve the company’s mission, and provide stability by integrating with a financially stronger organization. A lot has been written about how startups are acquired, but not much about *why* startups are acquired. I penned some thoughts on how to be more 'acquirable' and build with the end in mind. https://lnkd.in/dHdbXpPt

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Seeing the incredible Scale fundraising announcement today (major congrats to the Scale team!!), I think back to many of the common VC/expert objections in the early days of the company (~2017)... * Amazon Mechanical Turk will dominate the data labelling market. * There are many other existing startups who have been around for much longer. * It's a services business, not a product business. * Data for AI isn't a big market. * Self-driving / synthetic data will be solved in a year, and then there is no market. * First-time founder. Many people were shocked that I picked working at Scale over other options for these reasons! Interesting how many parallels you can perhaps draw to some startups today - important to keep an open mind.

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Venture Capital Fundraising Deck Template: Carta and Kauffman Fellows present a comprehensive venture capital fundraising deck template to guide General Partners (GPs) in attracting limited partners (LPs). Here’s what to include: 1) Background: Highlight the unique qualifications and track record of your team. LPs are investing in the people as much as the strategy. 2) Differentiators: Showcase what makes your fund stand out—whether it’s your access to networks, industry expertise, or proprietary methodologies. 3) Investment Thesis: Present your vision for the market, future trends, and how your fund will capitalize on these opportunities. 4) Track Record: Include metrics like IRR, multiples, and past successful investments to demonstrate your fund’s potential for generating returns. 5) Terms: Outline the economic terms, including fund size, management fee, carried interest, and target raise. PS. check out 🔔 for a winning pitch deck the template created by Silicon Valley legend, Peter Thiel https://lnkd.in/ejp-Bhnu

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Big announcement below! 👇 Let's talk about the current state of GP-LP affairs: 🤯Emerging VC managers have absolutely exploded over the past 5 years. 📈 At the same time, more and more data has surfaced that shows that emerging VC firms tend to outperform larger, established firms. 🤔 All of this has made it intriguing but tough for LPs to know where to direct their attention. 🛍 GPs frequently meet LPs at conferences who are window shopping but not committed to the asset class or emerging managers. 🧾 And both crews get overwhelmed by transactional convos. So Sydney Paige Thomas and I created Abundance. Abundance is a private, nomination-based retreat for active LPs and top emerging GPs to form new experiences together and build lasting relationships. Why Abundance? Abundance is knowing that there is more than enough for more than one to succeed. And a single win within a community is a win for the community itself. The journey of an emerging VC manager from 1st close to final close or Fund 1 to Fund 2 is (1) communal and (2) requires an abundant mindset. LPs look for structure and confidence to feel comfortable investing in early VC firms. Yet many of the feeds we scroll and conferences we attend reinforce inherent power dynamics and transactional thinking, which allows scarcity mindset to creep in for emerging GPs. Some of the best events I’ve attended have been intentionally non-transactional, e.g. Camp Hustle, Recast Summit, and other GPs’ AGMs. The fundraising success stories we see usually involve a community (usually of other GPs & LPs) coming together to support and open doors for the emerging GP. We designed Abundance to be an immersive gathering that fosters these connections. Starting tonight, ~100 GPs and LPs are descending upon Seattle for the inaugural Abundance retreat. This has been under wraps for months and I can’t wait to see it come to life! Thanks in advance to our awesome sponsors who were the earliest believers in this vision: Sydecar, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Gunderson Dettmer, & Zelda Ventures. And shoutout to my dad Ed Illig for logo design & Halle Kaplan-Allen being the first sponsor to say yes 🤩 Presented by The Council Capital & Symphonic Capital.

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Instacart is a market leader when it comes to leveraging AI tools to boost productivity at work. I had an amazing conversation with JJ Zhuang, Instacart’s Chief Architect, who has shepherded over 50 AI-driven initiatives to market across the org. We explored what catapulted Instacart to the forefront of AI integration, supporting radically diverse use cases across various functional areas. One striking insight (echoed by Ethan Mollick and others elsewhere) is that you often don't need specialized tools for specialized work. Frontier models like GPT-4 can seamlessly adapt to a wide range of functions and use cases. They're not just for engineers; they're incredibly versatile tools used by marketing, comms, and legal teams. From generating code to proofreading and ideation, GPT-4 empowers every department to leverage AI for enhanced productivity and innovation. By integrating LLM’s like GPT-4 into their workflows, teams can streamline processes, automate repetitive tasks, and unlock bandwidth for new creative possibilities. How can you harness the power of AI in your own work to boost productivity? Share your thoughts below 👇 Want to hear more insights from JJ? Check out the full podcast episode by clicking the link in the comments.

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Ascend just released this new interview about why I love investing in Seattle/Pacific Northwest (PNW) startups at Ubiquity Ventures. Ascend is the most active pre-seed investor in the Pacific Northwest (Seattle, Portland, and more) and is run by Kirby Winfield. Thanks to Ascend's Nate Bek for the interview! Check it out the full interview: https://lnkd.in/giU2Wy3V A few snippets of what I said: ⭐️ On investing in Seattle (vs the Bay Area) "Companies like Auth0, Esper, Remitly, and others have demonstrated that they can start, grow, and thrive in Seattle. This is thanks to the continuous growth of hometown giants like Amazon and Microsoft, whose employees might outgrow the cultures at those companies." ⭐️ Why I fell in love with VC "First is about following new trends, nerding out on technologies, and getting inspired by new ideas .. resonates with the nerd engineer and the 5-year-old in me that used to love reading about new technologies ... [Next is] the innards of how companies are run, being in those pivotal meetings and discussions that change the direction of a company. These hard conversations about pivots, understanding metrics, and trying to separate the storytelling around startups from internal operations. That was the meat of building an exciting startup, which is quite different from just nerding out on cool new technologies. " And thank you to all the Pacific Northwest startups I've been privileged to invest in and work with: Eugenio P. and Jon Gelsey at Auth0 by Okta, Yadhu Gopalan at Esper, Fredrik Rydén at Olis Robotics, Claire Watts at ThruWave Inc., Adam Schoenfeld & Aviel Ginzburg at Simply Measured, Milkana Brace at Jargon, Yuriy Bulygin & Alex Bazhaniuk at Eclypsium, Inc. #seattle #seattletech #pacificnorthwest #pnwtech #portland

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🔑 The Power of a Written Exercise in Interviewing Revenue Leaders 📝 Hiring the right revenue leader can make or break an organization. As we search for smart folks to drive our revenue growth at Vanta, one approach has consistently proven to be a game-changer: the written exercise. 🔍 Why a Written Exercise? Clarity of Thought: A well designed exercise reveals a candidate's ability to articulate complex ideas clearly and concisely. This skill is vital for revenue leaders who must communicate strategies across diverse teams and stakeholders. Strategic Insight: Through real-world scenarios, candidates demonstrate their strategic thinking and problem-solving abilities. This helps us gauge their approach to challenges and opportunities unique to our business. Analytical Prowess: Written exercises allow candidates to showcase their analytical skills. By dissecting data and presenting actionable insights, we can see how they drive decisions that lead to growth. Cultural Fit: How a candidate approaches a written task can also give us a glimpse into their work ethic, attention to detail, and alignment with our company values and culture. Elliot Goldwater has really nailed this practice, and it's incredible how much the exercise can swing a process towards or away from a candidate. 👥 Have you implemented written exercises in your hiring process? What has been your experience? #RevenueGrowth #Leadership #HiringTrends #Interviewing #TalentAcquisition #Strategy

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Biggest Tech Acquisitions: Did They Deliver❓ 🚀 I spent the morning reading about some of the recent acquisition deals in AI space and thought I would share some of the more prominent acquisition stories and some of my thoughts that are still relevant in today's landscape. 1️⃣ Network Effects Over Revenues: Startups with user growth and engagement command higher valuations. ▪️WhatsApp (Facebook/Meta, 2014) Acquisition Price: $19B | Employees: 55 | Price per Employee: $345M A bet on global communication, though monetization remains limited. ▪️ Instagram (Facebook/Meta, 2012) Acquisition Price: $1B | Employees: 13 | Price per Employee: $77M A goldmine acquisition, one of the best acquisition deals ever that comes to mind - both for Meta and for IG founding team. ▪️ YouTube (Google, 2006) Acquisition Price: $1.65B | Employees: 65 | Price per Employee: $25M YouTube is now one of the major revenue drivers for Google today but it took a while to monetize it. 2️⃣ Strategic Technologies Matter: AI, deep tech, and IP-heavy startups are increasingly attractive. ▪️DeepMind (Google, 2014) Acquisition Price: $500M | Employees: 75 | Price per Employee: $6.7M Essentially strategic acquihire with ongoing, transformative potential. ▪️Siri (Apple, 2010) Acquisition Price: $200M | Employees: 24 | Price per Employee: $8.3M A pivotal move into voice AI but facing major challenges these days - I have more thoughts on Apple in AI era but will hold those for another post. 3️⃣ Execution Is Key: Without continued execution even after exit, integration and support, innovative startups can fail to scale. ▪️Vine (Twitter, 2012) Acquisition Price: $30M | Employees: 5 | Price per Employee: $6M The video feature was shut down Oct 2016 - Twitter did not prioritize Vine enough, failing to provide adequate support and development resources. Interestingly TikTok launched in Sep 2016 and became one of the quickest-growing consumer companies. #TechAcquisitions #VCInsights #BusinessStrategy #BigTech #WhatsApp #Instagram #YouTube #AI #Startups

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On my way to London to work with a portfolio company at their QBR and annual planning process. Another example where having investors on your cap table that understand how to build companies vs just show up and pontificate at your board meetings will help you to build world class outcomes. Remember why we do this - build world class organizations that drive meaningful economic outcomes for employees, customers, shareholders, and investors. Lead from the Front!!! #vc #growth #venturecapital

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🏢 Big Moves in SF Commercial Real Estate! Intuit & Capital One 🏢 Two major financial firms are making strategic relocations within San Francisco: - Capital One is reducing its office space by two-thirds, moving from 201 3rd St. to 40,000 sq. ft. at 100 California St. This deal includes significant improvements to the new location, enhancing tenant experiences with new outdoor spaces and on-site amenities. - Intuit is downsizing from 200,000 sq. ft. at 22 4th St. to 36,500 sq. ft. at 505 Howard St. The move aims to leverage San Francisco's diverse talent pool while optimizing their workspace for future growth. These moves highlight the dynamic nature of SF's commercial real estate market and the need for adaptable, strategic office solutions. At Resource, we specialize in guiding companies through such transitions, ensuring seamless relocations and optimized space utilization. 🔗 Discover more about our tailored real estate services: yourresource.com #SFRealEstate #CommercialRealEstate #CapitalOne #Intuit #OfficeRelocation #RealEstateStrategy #ResourceCRE

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