Bill Watt

Last night's Technology Association of Oregon panel discussion on raising capital for AI ventures was full of interesting takeaways. The event brought together leading PNW VCs, CEOs, and funders to share their perspectives and best practices. Here's what you need to know: ➡ The AI/ML space is rapidly evolving, presenting huge opportunities for startups tackling real business problems. VCs are actively seeking out the most ambitious and disruptive companies in this domain. ➡ Having an "unfair advantage" is key - whether that's proprietary data sets, unique domain expertise, or unparalleled access to customers. AI ventures need strong differentiation to stand out. ➡ Build relationships early with VCs, even before you're ready to raise. Their insights and connections can accelerate your journey. The PNW venture ecosystem is highly collaborative and accessible. ➡ Don't be deterred by the perceived lack of local funding. Great companies with compelling visions will get funded, period. Leverage the PNW's strengths in developer/engineering talent. ➡ Recognize and proactively address the potential downsides of AI - from data privacy to model bias. Building responsibly is both an obligation and an opportunity. ➡ Move fast, be bold. Raising capital is always hard, but fortune favors the brave in this space. With the right team, tech and traction, you can build a world-changing business here in the PNW. Thanks to the fantastic panelists Diane Fraiman (Voyager Capital), Geoff Harris (Flying Fish), Jon Maroney (OVF), Chris Sestito (Hidden Layer), Jon Turow (Madrona) for sharing their insights, and to Kristy Edwards for moderating!

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Looking forward to discussing how changing demographics and culture norms are affecting investment opportunities in longevity, health and well-being at The Care Summit today Alongside Cake Ventures' Monique Woodard, Ziegler's Dan Hermann, Oak HC/FT's Billy Deitch and JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s Jennifer Edwards, we’ll dive into the trends shaping how we are investing in the space: - Last year marked one of the most significant social and economic moments in modern times: The number of older adults—those aged 50 and over- surpassed the number of children under the age of 15 for the first time. - In 2020 the 50 plus population contributed $45 trillion to global GDP, or 34% of the total. That equates to about 3x the revenue of the world’s 100 highest- earning companies in 2020. - The U.S. population grew by 24.5 million from 2010 to 2022, and Hispanics accounted for 53% of this increase – a greater share than any other racial or ethnic group. - Women around the world and across all ages drive 64% of consumer spending

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The Stoke Space team in Seattle has built a rocket company faster than many people can build software. Morgan Beller breaks down how this is helping them capture a huge opportunity: https://lnkd.in/gc5jv2-c 

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Did you see the news? Excited to have TechCrunch announce that in addition to acquiring three new companies, Capacity is continuing our transformational growth with a Series D round. I sat down with TechCrunch to give a little more insight on our roadmap: “Our growth strategy reflects what our customers are asking for: an all-in-one AI platform that delivers across all communication channels.” As we keep pursuing our goals, we’ll keep expanding our AI offerings and growing our team to become a leading provider of AI-powered support solutions. Read the full interview with TechCrunch -> https://lnkd.in/gTWagawR #supportautomation #artificialintelligence #customersupport #automation

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This partnership opportunity with #meta reality labs is so deeply rooted in Cornerstone OnDemand's purpose to power people and organizational potential to thrive in a changing world. Couple that purpose with the exhilarating innovation happening around us in a thriving ecosystem, democratization of xR and AI, we have a real opportunity to reimagine Skilling: personalized, adaptive, multi-modal, immersive, collaborative.  Alicia M. phrases it best: experiences aren’t just tools but catalysts for deep, transformative learning. That's why Kyle and I are thrilled to speak at @Meta's Innovation Day: Quest 3s & Meta for Work, focusing on how enterprises and higher education leverage VR and MR to enhance productivity and engagement. Cornerstone OnDemand and Talespin by Cornerstone will showcase efforts to reshape learning and collaboration, including the launch of Immerse Companion, Cornerstone's new generative AI solution that provides real-time experiences with virtual human companions. Attendees will also enjoy hands-on experience with Meta’s new Quest 3s Mixed Reality headset, exploring various work applications through live demos. https://lnkd.in/gMN84SXX Learn more and register today: https://lnkd.in/gMh4kV6S

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Should we prioritize people, or tech innovation in our large-scale development projects? The strategy's slowly shifting to people. And that’s exactly how California Forever CEO Jan Sramek wins over skeptics like Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway. Not bad. “There’s a lot of baggage that tech has created in building new cities that, unfortunately, we are at the receiving end of”, explains Sramek. So smart cities and tech libertarian network states aren't the focus here. Quite the contrary. He calls the project (in this context) “really, really boring.” The focus: ∙ More housing ∙ Walkable cities ∙ Affordable by design* ∙ Improving the country for residents *(housing prices to start at $400k) I recently covered California Forever, dubbing it a future ‘Tech Utopia’ given its massive Silicon Valley backing. So it’s exciting to see Sramek's positioning and skillful handling of the grilling. Is the era of the smart city over due to its 'baggage'? Time will tell. More on California Forever and other visionaries designing new cities from scratch here: https://lnkd.in/e9-i386q Full interview: https://lnkd.in/eMnT8QhU #futureofcities #urbandevelopment

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One of the things I ❤️ about my job is being able to walk to work on our days in the office. Trivial? If you've ever commuted a long distance, you may agree walking as your commute is appealing, and can play a role in overall job satisfaction and mental health. The choice of #Oakland HQ was the decision of Everlaw CEO & Founder AJ Shankar who years ago identified a tech talent pool that prefers the East Bay over Silicon Valley. An unorthodox approach like that can bring great rewards. AJ has thought through many decisions with a strategy that often bucks a trend to deliver long-term and deeper value both to our employees and customers. One of those decisions -- perhaps the biggest for the company -- is how we develop software. In his new byline in The New Stack, AJ reveals for the first time his unorthodox approach. He argues that sprinting slows you down in software development. He shares Everlaw's way in hopes that other companies might adopt this methodology. The company manifesto says, “Our long-term philosophy impacts many aspects of how we do business: how we market, how we sell, how we close deals, how we support our clients, and more. Perhaps the largest impact is in how we develop the Everlaw platform...” A core reason I enjoy my work at Everlaw is its focus on long-term excellence and its deeply held values that play out in myriad of ways. The nice part is I get to think about this and more on my walk to work 😎 #Grateful #Buildforthelongterm #Leadership

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🚀 The Paradox of Success: A Lesson in Leadership and Technical Innovation 🚀 Allow me to share a story from my own entrepreneurial journey—a cautionary tale about the dual challenge of leadership development and technical experimentation in the pursuit of product-market fit. Years ago, I co-founded a startup that garnered significant attention, raising a substantial $30 million in funding. On the surface, it seemed like we had all the ingredients for success: a visionary idea, an exprienced team, and ample financial resources. However, there was one crucial element missing from the equation—leadership development. As the company grew and evolved, it became increasingly clear that our Achilles' heel lay not in our capabilities with tech or product, but in our leadership shortcomings. Despite the flurry of activity and apparent progress, the company failed to recognize the fundamental role that effective leadership plays in driving sustainable growth. Confirmation bias clouded the story, leading us to believe that we were doing everything possible to achieve our goals. In reality, however, the lack of focus on good leadership practices stifled creativity and hindered our ability to adapt to changing market dynamics. No one stopped to ask: "What is good leadership?" Experienced tech and product professionals require an environment that fosters innovation and encourages collaboration. Without strong leadership guiding the way, even the most talented individuals can struggle to reach their full potential. In the end, when the company achieved basic success, the leaders that contributed the least but had all the power were quick to take all the credit and rewards. They failed to acknowledge their own role in perpetuating a culture that prioritized short-term gains over long-term sustainability. This experience taught me a valuable lesson: never settle for second best when it comes to leadership and workplace culture. Success is not just about achieving financial milestones—it's about creating an environment where every individual can thrive and contribute to meaningful innovation. As entrepreneurs and leaders, let's remain vigilant about the environments we cultivate and the values we uphold. Only then can we truly unleash the full potential of our teams and pave the way for lasting success. #ProductMarketFit #EntrepreneurshipJourney #LeadershipDevelopment

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Today, GTMfund’s is excited to announce to launch of Operator, its first incubated company. Max Altschuler (founder of GTMfund) teamed up with co-founder Adam M. (design engineer and 0-1 builder) and co-founder Mark Kosoglow (Outreach employee #1 and former SVP of Global Sales) to create Operator.ai alongside an insanely talented team Pleasant Middelhof, Jeremy Jonas, Carl Gunderson. We've entered a period called “The Great Ignore”. Spam and irrelevant, poorly-automated outbound campaigns are running rampant.   Operator gives you an easy-to-use Growth Engineer that allows you to build and enrich lists with accurate data, and run experiments and queries using AI to generate highly targeted outreach.    Check out their website to get updates, early access, and see how they are taking the world back to 2 touches meant to attract buyers into conversations that convert, instead of 20 touches meant to make sure you hit your activity number: https://www.operator.ai/

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Excellent and actionable advice on how to drive a transformation within an organization.

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While David C. Baker focuses on the agency space, this article outlines a very useful decision-making framework for leaders across industries. A lot of startup CEO's and founders are grappling with the same questions/opportunities. VC's trying to coach CEO's should also read this and lookout for the signs of paralysis.

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When I grow up, I want to be Satya Nadella! 🙇‍♂️ One of the best CEO interviews I have seen in a long time. Very open, clear thinking, mindset, long-term strategic thinking, short-term tactical decisions and so much more. It will take me days to summarize all the nuggets of wisdom he said. Listen to it (and listen to it again). https://lnkd.in/gPTygBA2

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We use Circle for our community at Exit Five, and Matthew Carnevale has become a Circle power user (he runs our community). They did this awesome write about how to grow a community with insights from Matt and Exit Five sprinkled in. • How to use your community as an audience growth multiplier • 5 systematic community growth strategies • Why you should treat your community like a product, and • Best practices for growing your community https://lnkd.in/e9vs32NQ

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Interesting piece by WSJ on how adult companies struggle for talent. For tech talent specifically, in the late nineties, many of the highest traffic sites were adult sites. They attracted top talent interested in scaling challenges. And if you had worked on one of these sites, your skills were highly sought. Apparently, Nginx (popular open source web server) was honed on these sites. But the Google’s, Facebooks, and Amazons of the world long ago eclipsed adult sites. —- Would you join a hot tech company that has quintupled its head count in three years and pays an average salary of almost $600,000? Before you answer, consider this: The company is OnlyFans, the subscription website known for X-rated content. Adult entertainment is a $58.4 billion global industry on pace to reach $96.2 billion in 2032, according to Allied Market Research. Most of the open roles at these companies aren’t what you think. On job boards at Pornhub’s parent company and similar businesses, titles like “senior financial accountant,” “sales development representative” and “full-stack software developer” dominate. At a time when so much adult content is user-generated, and in the early stages of being created by artificial intelligence, career opportunities abound for fully-clothed, college-educated professionals. [link to full story below] #jobs #careers

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Leaders, ask not what your reports can do for you but what you can do for your reports. Maximize your impact by fostering environments where people can do their best work. Great post from John Cutler about shifting a reactive perspective and getting clarity on how to respond when things seem too complex. #Leadership #ProductDevelopment #PeopleFirst #Empathy

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Ever wondered where the perfect balance between tranquility and innovation lies? For me, it’s Seattle. Unlike the Bay, Seattle has a more serene environment that’s perfect for focusing on building products and businesses. The city’s vibe encourages deep work and creative thinking, free from the overwhelming hustle. But let’s be honest, Seattle’s founder and investor communities aren’t as vibrant as those in SF. Yet, this city holds a special place in my heart – a blend of my love for startups and the charm of Seattle. I believe in Seattle’s potential and I’m on a mission to help ignite its startup community. From connecting with fellow founders to engaging investors, let’s come together to build something extraordinary here. Seattle has all the ingredients to be a startup hub – talent, innovation, and a supportive ecosystem. What it needs is a spark. Let’s be that spark.

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Some midweek wisdom from Y Combinator founder, Paul Graham, on why startups shouldn't stress over competitors. According to Graham, based on Y Combinator's extensive data set, few of their startups are actually killed by competitors. He compares the protection a startup has against competitors to the vastness of space, emphasising that the market is large enough for multiple players to thrive. Graham's analogy likens encountering a competitor to suddenly finding another runner in your race lane - the best course of action? “It’s sort of like if you’re running the hundred meters and suddenly a lane appears with another runner in it. What should you do? Run as fast as you can, just like you presumably were.” #Startups #Competition #Entrepreneurship #wearehiring

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AI will make news and content even more a commidity.. human beings, unique positions as well as human connections will become the key to the #futureofmedia

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Want to learn more about the role of the business user in low-code. Watch this fun episode of Low down on Low-code!

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