Everything you’ve heard about fundraising—all the worst things about it—are largely true. Yes, straight white dudes get most of the money. Yes, biased straight white does dole out most of the money. Yes, many of these founders are pitching dumb stuff that gets funded all the time—especially by people they …...Read More

About a year ago, I asked why more VCs aren’t using coaches. Given the uncertain career paths for VCs, the unique dynamics around partner promotion within and across firms, and lack of clear direction on how to best spend your time on a day to day basis, it felt like …...Read More

Clearly Sarah thought the team and the product at Pinterest was special, but so does every VC who does a deal. You wouldn’t try to convince your firm to write the check if you didn’t believe that the company had that kind of potential—but clearly they don’t all make that …...Read More

Does he not hear the way Trump says “Black” or how he handled being questioned by a Black female journalist—berating her for being “nasty” when all she was doing was asking him to stand behind the litany of public comments he’s made? But enough about Trump and his supporters. Let’s …...Read More

You’ll notice that many of the attributes have asymmetrical effects on the outcome. For example, being familiar with fundraising lingo and the finer points of SAFEs vs equity, etc. doesn’t really buy you many points with an investor—but coming off like a startup n00b really tanks your chances. On the …...Read More

The red bars indicate the downside of what happens when you don’t have that things and the green bars are the upside if you do have it. Spinning out of a successful fund of a similar size? Awesome—your track record, experience, and existing relationships will have you off to the …...Read More

Over the past year, generative AI’s capacity for content creation has drawn most of the noisiest headlines: how AI models can instantaneously create Pixar-like shorts starring your pet chihuahua, or drum up the Drake-Kendrick Lamar diss track you never knew you wanted. What gets less attention, but is equally (if …...Read More

Editor’s note: This article is based on a workshop created for founders attending a16z crypto’s Crypto Startup Accelerator (CSX). The workshop was hosted by Head of CSX Jason Rosenthal based on his 25-plus years of experience as an entrepreneur and executive, including more than 10 years as a startup CEO. …...Read More

View this report on Gamma. Now is the time to reinvent the phone call. Thanks to gen AI, no human will ever again have to make a call. Humans will spend time on the phone only when a call has value to them. For businesses, this may mean: (1) time …...Read More

Last year, Kristina Shen and I expressed our anticipation for a “Wave 2” of B2B AI applications focused on synthesizing information, which we referred to as “SynthAI.” If the first wave of generative AI applications was about creating new content — like emails, lists, or marketing copy — this second …...Read More