Harper 🫠 Reed

I enjoyed this conversation on the Shift podcast talking about how the Embodied AI and automotive industry's roadmaps are colliding! Thanks Pete Bigelow!

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Parker just posted Rippling's new fundraising memo. It's the manifesto for compound startups and one of our initial inspirations for building Atlas. Here's a nugget that I really liked that summarizes how we feel about the competitive advantage of all-in-one startups over vertical startups (in customer support especially): "When we build corporate cards, we're not innovating on the way we issue corporate cards (through Stripe issuing or Marqeta) or the way we scan and extract metadata from receipts (which is mostly a vendor relationship for us today). We're going to win on the capabilities we have that are common to all Rippling products—the integration with the rest of Rippling and with employee data, the platform capabilities, and the common UX described above." Here's the full doc: https://lnkd.in/gYH59HVZ

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Starting a new fun project with Victor Lee - an AMA series with early stage founders. There are many podcast shows featuring successful, famous entrepreneurs. But what about those who are still relatively early in their journey, perhaps just one step ahead? The zero-to-one founders who have recently cracked the product-market fit and raised Seed or Series A capital. They may not have figured out everything yet, but they have fresh, relatable tips and advice to share. We’ll invite early-stage founders for a one-hour AMA session. Afterwards, we’ll create a public webpage featuring each Q&A session with media clips and transcriptions. This will be 100% free and open to the public. Our first AMA (June 11 1pm PST) will feature Will Drewery, whose company (Diagon) recently raised $5.1 million in Seed funding. We’ll get to know Will better and cover topics such as tips on raising funding in this tough environment. It will be a fun AMA, and you can register for free using the link below. RSVP now!

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We believe in extreme vetting of our founders. You can't build a unicorn if you spend time on silly stuff, like seeing family and friends. Grow up, and focus on investor returns. #vc #startups #investment

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New Episode: Pressure can can burst pipes or it can create diamond. Justis Mendez (Managing Partner, OneSixOne Ventures) shares his story, moving from the streets of Cleveland to a high impact VC investor. (Link below) We discuss topics such as: - Building a tech ecosystem: The genesis of OneSixOne Ventures - Launching a virtual accelerator during the pandemic - Launching a fund: Realizing the need for monetization - Focus on enterprise software and AI - Investing in pre-seed and seed stages with small checks - Current state of the VC space and capital deployment - Advice for founders: Authenticity and technical expertise - Considerations when outsourcing technical development for AI Spotify: https://lnkd.in/eXwCFfgE Apple: https://lnkd.in/ejRF5KBi

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3 years of pricing lessons at Equals condensed into one blog post. Since starting the company, we've tinkered a lot with pricing and packaging. It's one of the single most impactful levers early stage companies can pull. I think folks *don't* experiment with pricing enough, or take big enough bets when they do. We've tried free. We've tried completely sales led. We've tried not listing pricing on the site. Matt Hodges details all the plans we've had, why, and what we've learned in our latest installment on Wrap Text. https://lnkd.in/ecckEDba

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At last week’s ClimateTech Coffee 🚲 Bryan White and I were joined by Kimberly Gilbert, PhD to hear about her work on Carbon Neutralization and Ocean Storage (CNOS) through her company pHathom. Here’s a recap: The ocean naturally absorbs CO2 over time, but we’ve added so much that the ocean has become increasingly acidic. Ocean pH has dropped from 8.2 to 8.1 globally over the last hundred years, and as pH drops it becomes harder for coral-based organisms to form shells. To combat this, Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement (OAE) is an intervention that both reverses ocean acidification and removes CO2 from the atmosphere. Challenges with traditional OAE: - When you add the alkalinity into the ocean, it spreads out. It’s hard to measure the change in pH. - You don’t know exactly when the extra CO2 will be absorbed. Modeling and measurement companies are trying to help with this problem. Advantages of CNOS: - Co2 is captured directly at a coastal power plant or refinery, and then the concentrated Co2 is pumped into water that has limestone (and/or other alkaline materials) in it.  - This means the Co2 is dissolved onsite and the pH can be equilibrated onsite, which makes accurate measurement more feasible. Factors that affect progress:  - We’ll start seeing more companies enter in this space as the chemistry and its impacts are better understood and seen as safe  - Local and national permitting are a huge bottleneck - On the international permitting level, the London Protocol has a blanket ban on ocean geoengineering for anything except for research. There were good reasons for doing that, but it’s unclear who decides when that can change and the circumstances under which the ban is lifted. (Note: pHathom is not doing geoengineering; it’s doing water treatment on-site and releasing it back as ocean water) Open questions for the category/technology: - Can they come up with enough low-cost alkalinity sources, and get them in a way that doesn’t cause additional environmental damage or Co2 emissions?  - This approach will require pumping a lot of water. How much will that cost and how can the cost be driven down?  - Putting 100 plants’ worth of bicarbonate into the ocean is likely fine for ocean health relative to the climate benefit, but what is the point where the tradeoffs cross over? Some groups doing good work in this space:  [C]Worthy Carbon to Sea Initiative  University Research: UC Santa Barbara, University of Tasmania, GEOMAR, Dalhousie University, Scripps Join us for the next one in May! Details coming soon, and you can get updates by subscribing to the series page here: https://lnkd.in/g7DTGm2V

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In a previous post, I mentioned that #VentureStudios enable their #founders to focus on testing their hypothesis and building and iterating on their product. But how do they do it? Through their #Platform, a game-changing function for ventures that includes: 🖨 Back-Office consists of HR for building talent pipelines, taking care of payroll, and administering benefits; IT to support critical tech infrastructure, including cybersecurity and collaboration tools; Legal helps form entities, navigate complex regulations and compliance issues, and optimize tax position for founders and investors; and Accounting maintains accurate reporting and empowers the ventures with insights into their financial status 💻 Shared Vendors. Bundling services provides ventures access to bulk pricing and cost-effective options for things like computers, cloud storage, and even outsourced professional services (like Legal or Accounting) 🏢 Facilities. Co-working spaces enable convenient collaboration and grant easy access to essential Studio resources, both of which help to foster an exciting culture of innovation 🚀 By providing these services across a portfolio of ventures (and to the Studio itself!), allows the costs to be amortized and avails top-notch support and favorable pricing to startups who would not otherwise have access to so much support so early in their journey.

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Sometimes I encourage founders to socialize their company to prospective investors before actually starting an official fundraise process. We've seen this work in a variety of ways: (1) preemptive term sheets; (2) founders pick up on investor sentiment towards their business; (3) opportunity to form more organic relationship with an investor; and (4) get a sense of what investors want to see for a subsequent fundraise. Some founders are reluctant to socialize their business until it appears more solid and there's obvious traction. While this makes sense, the reality is that early-stage is inherently messy and investors know the plane is being built and flown simultaneously. The art of conveying the narrative of, "this is what I've already accomplished and here's where the business will be in next 3-6-9-12 months" can be the most effect fundraising tool in the game. What do others in the VC community think of this strategy?

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The Humane ai pin is getting demolished by reviewers. It’s slow, heavy, has a short battery life, gets basic things wrong, and just overall misses the mark. The thing is, it didn’t have to go down this way. Two ways I think they could have avoided the PR nightmare: 1- Don’t overhype. No fashion shows, TED talks, and promises of the future. Play the underdog. Attract early adopters who are willing to grow with you. Build a community, then launch 2- Wait until it’s actually useful, then launch

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I really like this PMF Framework from Sequoia. https://lnkd.in/gT2nWttx

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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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Blueprints of a $4B success story: How focusing on the right team, structured employee integration, and a strong cultural foundation can propel your startup 👇 ➡ 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗲: Garrett Langley, Founder & CEO of Flock Safety 🔌 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗿: Logan Bartlett, Managing Director at Redpoint Ventures ✏ “The $4B Tech Startup Solving Crime with AI” ⭐ 𝗙𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺, 𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘀: "I am a staunch believer that people and products trump market. I think great teams build great products and find great markets. I don't know any other way to do it... And so I've just always believed if you have a great team, the rest comes with that." ⭐ 𝗨𝘀𝗲 𝗮 𝟵𝟬-𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝘀𝗲𝘁 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝟯𝟬 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀: "What we tend to do is put together a very actionable 90-day plan for every new employee. Are people actually gonna make an impact? Is the plan actionable? And what that does is it drives this deep level of alignment between a new employee. Because you're effectively telling them this is how I'm going to keep score…" ⭐ 𝗪𝗿𝗶��𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗶𝘁 𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀, 𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝘃𝗶𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: "If you don't write your culture down, it is inherently weak. In the absence of a written culture, your culture will just fade away. And in a remote environment, even harder, right? Because you don't see these people, you don't interact with people." ⭐ 𝗘𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗲𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗯𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗢𝗞𝗥𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝘂𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀: "I expect anyone pretty much VP and above to own at least one if not two OKRs. One of the ways we're able to do that is every two weeks when we do a check-in, whoever is the owner is actually the one writing the update and it goes to the entire team." ───── 👉 Follow me, Alexander Small, for tactics and strategies for building startups from industry-leading Founders, Operators and Investors

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In 2017 Maisie Devine Sherman reached out to me (Highline Beta was working with AB InBev previously through ZX Ventures) and said, "I want to build a new type of startup-corporate accelerator program, focused on sustainability, that actually works." (I'm paraphrasing). And that's exactly what we did. It was an awesome experience to help design, build and launch the first Cohort. Today, 100+ Accelerator is on Cohort 6, with additional partners including The Coca-Cola Company, Colgate, Unilever and now Danone. Startups: You have the opportunity to get in front of 5 of the biggest CPG companies on the planet, all committed to achieving key sustainability goals. You. Should. Apply. If you get accepted, you'll be delivering a paid pilot with 1 (or more) of the corporate partners. And the goal: prove a pilot and then SCALE. I've seen the program change the trajectory of startups. I've seen startups raise millions of dollars off the back of delivering value to these corporate partners. There are many success stories. Honestly, the 100+ Accelerator is one of the most amazing things I've ever had the privilege of working on. We continue to support 100+ and every cohort is insanely cool to be involved with. The effort, iteration, willingness to try things, and commitment to delivering value for everyone is epic. Startups: You should apply. Do it now. (link in the comments)

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I recently talked with Paz Yanover, VP of Product at Amplication, about creating and managing effective docs. Here is his developer docs success formula (check 1st comment): In this interview, Paz shares his formula to creating developer docs that drive product adoption. You'll learn: - The important role docs plays in support and attracting devs - Tips for balancing technical accuracy with user-friendliness in your docs - Strategies for effective collaboration between technical writers and product teams Check the first comment for the full interview. --- Enjoy this? ♻️ Repost it to your network and follow Derick Ruiz for more.

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In this week's episode of the Mobile Dev Memo podcast, I speak with notable X personality Trung Phan about the evolving social media landscape, and how to tame the mayhem and pandemonium of X. https://lnkd.in/dVHMzbui

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Let's finally get rid off the "VC alphabet song" and redo the system to become more founder friendly. "The benchmarks set by funding stages are often arbitrary and not necessarily aligned with the actual development needs of individual startups." #vc #venturecapital #founder #fundraising #startups #fundingstages #funding #fundingrounds #pitchbook

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One of the earliest questions we ask of founders is: what milestones do you hope to achieve with funding? The reason we ask that question is that it's next to impossible to raise your next round of financing without having delivered some level of quantifiable progress. And most importantly, that progress must be sufficient to attract the next round of funding. If you can't get there, you're looking at an extra 50-65% dilution if you have to raise a bridge round. But here's the key, even bridge investors, who are generally already invested in the company, want to see progress that trends to the next round. So, in order to avoid having to raise a bridge, raise enough capital to hit meaningful milestones (with some cushion). That extra 2-5% dilution stings far less than an extra 15% later.

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Early stage fundraising is convincing enough people with credibly + resources to believe that you're onto something big. Remember it is a bi-directional discovery process. And more often than not, a lot of people with not enough credibility or not enough resources will give you their opinion. If everyone was a believer, you wouldn't have a shot at 100x-ing your company. It's a feature not a bug. Remember that. If you're not careful that can drain energy. Incredibly important trap to avoid.

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