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Venture Capital News
Medium
5d
143
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From Yale to WallStreet
- Yale University's endowment fund, once modest, has grown to $41 billion under the stewardship of David Swensen.
- David Swensen became Chief Investment Officer in 1985 when Yale's endowment was $1.3 billion; he transformed the investment strategy to focus on long-term gains.
- Swensen emphasized partnerships with elite managers, actively rebalanced the portfolio, and saw Yale's endowment rise to $42.3 billion with annualized returns of around 13%.
- Yale's success under the 'Yale Model' established by Swensen has been emulated by other institutions and admired by Wall Street.
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Medium
5d
284
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Boundary Rules & Breakthroughs from Temple Fennell from Clean Energy Ventures
- Temple Fennell shares journey from systems engineer to co-founding Clean Energy Ventures.
- CEV's disciplined investment model includes boundary, priority, and stopping rules for deals.
- Corporate VC partnerships reduce risk, accelerate timelines, and make ventures viable.
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Medium
5d
324
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Watt Happens Next: Can Flow Batteries Still Find Their Place in the Energy Storage Race?
- Lithium-ion dominates energy storage, posing challenges for flow batteries to compete effectively.
- Flow batteries offer advantages for long-duration storage, but face obstacles in scaling and costs.
- Efforts to repurpose legacy infrastructure and offer electrolyte-as-a-service provide potential opportunities for flow batteries.
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Insider
6d
201
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Law firms' new competition is small, fast, cheap, and AI-driven — and it's not a law firm at all
- A new breed of legal services called 'Law Firm 2.0' is emerging, characterized by small, AI-driven businesses focusing on specific legal matters.
- Zach Posner, founder of The LegalTech Fund, is launching an accelerator for companies rethinking legal services and tackling the automation of legal work through AI.
- The LegalTech Lab will support 10 companies with investments up to $250,000 each, focusing on tech solutions aiming to compete with traditional law firms.
- While the legal tech market is growing, concerns arise about the crowded space and long-term sustainability as customers choose established vendors.
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VC Cafe
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AI Notetakers: The New Meeting Etiquette Conundrum
- AI notetakers are increasingly common in meetings, with benefits and concerns emerging.
- The market for AI-specific note-taking apps is booming, showing significant growth projections.
- Privacy, consent, and human discomfort issues arise with the use of AI notetakers.
- AI's impact on meetings raises questions about trust, privacy, and human interaction dynamics.
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Medium
6d
345
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Savvy’s Thought of the Day:™ Starters, Closers & the Modern Game
- Modern baseball commentary draws parallels between the strategies of starters, closers, and the modern game with the dynamics of building and scaling startups.
- In the past, pitchers like Nolan Ryan carried their teams for full games, while today's leaders like Tarik Skubal and Paul Skenes pitch for around 6-7 innings before handing over to a closer.
- The analogy highlights the importance of knowing when to bring in specialized skills and transition leadership to scale a startup successfully.
- Founder's ability to delegate and transition tasks plays a crucial role in the success of startups, much like in baseball where knowing when to hand off the ball can lead to more wins.
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Saastr
6d
353
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Sales In The Age of AI: The Playbook from The CROs of Databricks, Windsurf, Perplexity and Owner
- Top CROs share key insights on implementing AI for sales revenue growth.
- AI-native hiring, speed, technical sales teams, and blended human-AI models are crucial.
- Continuous AI investment, hybrid team management, and evolving attribution models are essential.
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Saastr
6d
76
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5 Interesting Learnings from SEMRush at $425,000,000 in ARR
- SEMRush continues to thrive with $425 million in ARR, showcasing steady growth and impressive financial metrics.
- Key insights include a 32% CAGR sustained growth rate, a doubling of customer count to 118,000, and a 90% increase in average ARR per customer since 2019.
- Enterprise segment growth has been significant, with over 200 customers paying more than $10,000 annually and a strong international presence with 50% of revenue outside the US and Canada.
- Despite some slowdown in new customer acquisition and pricing increases, SEMRush's success story as a bootstrapped leader in SEO and SEM stands out in today's market.
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Medium
6d
69
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I Went to a Talk with Ilana Stern. What Stuck With Me as a Galvanizer at Stanford GSB Founder.
- The author discusses attending a private talk with Ilana Stern, a successful founder, focusing on lessons learned from building, scaling, and selling a company.
- Ilana emphasized the importance of clearly articulating the pain points a business addresses, the necessity for customer validation, and designing sustainable work sprints to avoid burnout.
- She advised against the 'AI hustle trap' and recommended building companies in a healthy, sustainable manner, highlighting the need for a deliberate fundraising roadmap and community support.
- The author reflects on implementing insights like sharpening their company narrative, doubling down on customer validation, planning fundraising strategically, and utilizing Galvanizer for community and accountability.
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Siliconangle
6d
41
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Augmentus lands $11M to scale no-code robot programming
- Singapore-based no-code robotics startup Augmentus Pte. Ltd. secures $11 million in funding to expand deployment of autonomous robotic systems, cater to manufacturing demand, and enhance AI-driven technology.
- Founded in 2019, Augmentus aims to simplify industrial robot programming by eliminating the need for vendor-specific code, drastically reducing programming time from weeks to minutes.
- Augmentus addresses the complexity of robot programming by utilizing industrial 3D scanning, AI-powered path planning, and real-time feedback for robots to adjust trajectories on the fly, resulting in significant efficiency improvements.
- The company's solutions are well-suited for applications like surface finishing, shot-peening, spraying, and welding in high-mix environments. With customers in aerospace, heavy industry, and energy sectors, Augmentus seeks to advance research into hyper-adaptive robotics for complex automation challenges.
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Saastr
6d
301
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Dear SaaStr: At $20,000 ACV, How Many Customers Should Each Customer Success Manager Have?
- The number of customers each Customer Success Manager (CSM) should handle at $20,000 ACV is ideally between 50 and 100.
- A good benchmark is for each CSM to manage $1M to $2M in ARR, depending on the growth stage and resources of the company.
- Early on, it is recommended to target $1M in ARR per CSM for high-touch engagement and retention, whereas as you scale, you can aim for $2M per CSM.
- The ratio of customers per CSM may vary based on whether the company focuses on SMB, mid-market, or enterprise clients, with enterprise clients typically requiring more hands-on support.
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17 Likes
Insider
6d
96
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Emergence Capital hasn't lost a single partner in 22 years. Here's how other VC firms can fix their 'revolving doors,' according to an investor
- Emergence Capital boasts retention of partners for 22 years, a feat in VC industry.
- Investors switching firms or leaving VC altogether is common, unlike Emergence's stable lineup.
- Emergence's collaborative culture and fair economics keep partners committed to the firm.
- Strategy involves careful partner selection, high-confidence investments, and shared wealth distribution.
- The firm's approach contrasts with VC industry norms, aiming for long-term commitments.
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Medium
6d
309
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Why We Invested in Lifeyear
- Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death globally, with over 20 million deaths annually, and 7.6 million affected individuals in the UK alone.
- Lifeyear is developing a digital clinic for cardiovascular risk management, focusing on early detection, remote monitoring, and personalized care.
- Founded by a team combining clinical expertise and tech know-how, Lifeyear is piloting its programs with leading institutions in the UK and Estonia.
- Lifeyear aims to address health disparities by targeting underserved populations in the UK and shift cardiovascular care towards proactive risk reduction.
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Medium
6d
206
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When Kindness Leads, Hearts Heal – A World We All Deserve
- Kindness is a powerful force that often goes unnoticed in today's fast-paced world focused on innovation and wealth.
- It is a silent yet impactful leader that can touch hearts and bring warmth to a future that needs kindness.
- Kindness is portrayed as courage in its gentlest form, capable of saving someone's day, offering support, and listening without judgment.
- The truest achievement lies in choosing to be human and fostering kindness in a world that often prioritizes speed and profits.
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Medium
6d
122
The Embodied AI Investment Thesis: Why the Next Breakthrough Might Take Longer Than You Think
- Embodied AI involves systems perceiving environment, reasoning, and taking physical actions.
- Current challenges involve real-time 3D scene understanding, computational feasibility limits.
- Language models are crucial but physical control systems require continuous time operation.
- Investment areas include vertical solutions, infrastructure plays, and hardware-software integration.
- Key technical challenges: sim-to-real transfer, sample efficiency, safety, latency/compute limitations.
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