Danielle Applestone, PhD

118 VCs (one hundred eighteen!) are gathering in San Diego next week - to meet with 30 SD startups. But it's so MUCH bigger than just those 30 co's. It brings VCs back - when they see quality companies. It helps those who are next-in-line and adjacent. It enables us to send deal flow all year 'round. It attracts talent and other companies. It inspires entrepreneurship. Connect is working for SD. Together, we're building the best damn innovation ecosystem on the planet. Year over year. Five.Ten.Thirty.

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"There are a few big reasons that I think now is such a fertile time to build $100 billion+ Techno-Industrials: Tools. There are simply more tools at builders’ disposal – AI, traditional software, improving hardware, programmable biology, cheaper energy, robots, and more – that they can combine into vertically integrated companies. Cracks. The old system is showing cracks. The grid is struggling. Planes are falling apart. Carbon emissions have to go. Healthcare costs are through the roof. Metals discoveries are declining. Supply chains are breaking down. America’s industrial base has atrophied. The biggest systems in the world need to be rebuilt. Enormous Markets. Most of the largest companies by revenue are not tech companies, and most of the world’s GDP is outside of tech: in energy, healthcare, labor, real estate, and manufacturing. These are multi-trillion dollar markets. Pent-Up Opportunity. Entrepreneurs and investors have largely ignored these categories in favor of software, which means there are more opportunities left to build power law winners in them. There can only be one Power Law social network or search engine, but there can be a winning tech company in each sector and subsector of the physical economy. Examples. Companies like Anduril, Tesla, and SpaceX have shown founders that it’s possible to build enormous businesses by building hard things. " // YES

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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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What do bio and health applications mean for the next wave of AI -- specifically about compute? (I'm talking to you NVDA longs!) LifeX Ventures is hosting a super roundtable with some serious techbio leaders tomorrow along with Analog Century Management's Val Zlatev -- come hear Thomas Clozel Sean McClain Chetan Patel at 11am ET For the survey results based on asking 100 techbio CTOs and CEOs, join the call. Here, my own speculations after wrapping up the report: -- Amazon needs to have a GPU program on warp drive right now -- Nvidia needs to have a data center / cloud business in the works -- Edge AI chips are about to be everywhere -- in your watch, car, sneakers, thermostats, gene sequencers, spectroscopes -- All this compute needs way more data: expect a boom in sensors of all types -- Remember human genome moonshot that sequenced one person once? Now you can sequence your every cell one by one. Expect that for protein folding (AlphaFold was that moonshot) and other simulation uses, a full "twin" model of you, cell by cell -- Google has no angle here -- worse chips, worse cloud, worse models, worse phones / edge devices -- Specialty silicon for unique use-cases, lower-power, lower-memory are surely coming fast - like back in the day for mobile phones when Qualcomm, Broadcomm, Infineon, Mediatek, etc duked it out.

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Friends, Q2 was a quarter of progress and learning for us at HawkTower, where we invest in early-stage startups applying breakthrough computing technologies to maximize California's natural resource markets. Our focus is on technology-enabled interventions (e.g., AI-enabled geospatial radars for lithium-ion batteries in the waste stream) for critical, market-level imperatives (e.g., disaster prevention) that can drive rapid commercial adoption (e.g., placed on every recycling truck in the world). Our current investment priorities are: - Agricultural productivity and efficiency - Biomanufacturing - Labor and mobility automation - Waste stream optimization and decarbonization - Disaster prevention and management Here’s a snapshot of what we’ve been up to: Milestones and Investments: - In late April, we officially launched our fund, filing with the SEC. Yay. - By June, we completed our first fund close ahead of schedule, with backing from family offices, foundations, high-net-worth individuals, and organizations aligned with California's future. - Our portfolio now includes three early-stage investments (Farm-ng, Agriful Software, and Nexstera Tech). Strategic Partnerships: - We believe that startups operating closer to their customers and resources, especially in agriculture and biomanufacturing, have a strategic advantage. For instance, the Salinas Valley, a major agricultural hub, is less than an hour from Silicon Valley and serves as a center of thought leadership in the convergence of agriculture and AI (from Western Growers, Taylor Farms, and others). - Similarly, the North San Joaquin Valley is emerging as a biotech and agtech innovation hub, and we are proud to support BEAM Circular, a startup hub for the circular bioeconomy. Key Relationships: - Karen Warner, CEO of BEAM Circular, joined HawkTower as a strategic advisor. - Jackie Cruz, Ed. D. Cruz, Hartnell College’s VP of Advancement, advises on Salinas Valley and workforce development. - Ben Palone from Western Growers, with his technical background in agriculture, became a trusted advisor. - Matthew Hoffman from Driscoll's Global R&D team provides insights on global agriculture, product positioning, and investment strategy. - We collaborated with Monterey Bay DART for workforce development and automation in agtech. - Dominic Milano and the Milano Technical Group from Merced collaborated on key initiatives and advised us on investments. - HawkTower is participating in Santa Cruz Works's accelerator cohort as a mentor and advisor. Thank you Doug Erickson. - We published an overview of entrepreneurship across the UC system with input from across the University of California system. Moving into the fall, we remain deeply committed to supporting founders shaping California's future natural resource markets. Stay tuned and be in touch! : ) Db

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The known knowns and known unknowns about AI relative to the unknown unknowns provide sufficient certainty of economic value creation for founders to build generational companies. We know scaling laws will hold for a bit longer and that model inference is depreciating at a rapid clip. We don't know where breakthroughs will come from once we hit a data wall in 2028, but we know 'unhobbling' latent model capabilities would already drive significant economic value. The range of possible futures we can backcast from, therefore, is already vast. https://lnkd.in/ekaeMX69

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Can poop save the planet? 🤔 Well, in Silicon Valley, it's not just a punchline—it's a multimillion-dollar climate solution. Big players are teaming up with startup Vaulted Deep, paying $58.3 million, to pump organic waste underground. The deal was brokered by Frontier Climate, a coalition launched in 2022 by Stripe, Alphabet, Meta, Shopify, and McKinsey Sustainability. But why are tech giants getting their hands dirty with sewage and manure? Vaulted Deep's technology, rooted in decades-old methods used for oil and gas fracking cleanup, gives them an edge. But instead of sludge, they're tackling carbon-rich waste, aiming to sequester CO2 underground. They plan to sequester 152,480 tons of carbon dioxide by 2027 as part of the deal (That equates to 36,000 gas cars off the road for a year). Is this greenwashing, or a silver bullet? Critics warn of cost, the need for rigorous carbon accounting, and potential environmental trade-offs - i.e. emission prevention versus carbon removal. #decarbonization

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An interesting article below, that demonstrates out how San Diego is punching above its weight.  And how Connect's strategy and execution over time, contintues to be central to that success. The article describes the current state of the market in Seattle.  (And i love Seattle.) It's a market that we tend to track with relative to venture fundings.  They used to kick our butts, we outraised them each of the last three years.  This despite the fact they have 3x as many funds there, and 9x the amount of resident capital there. (per pitchbook) Some key takeaways:  * They continue to compare themselves to SIlicon Valley. Instead, we leverage our proximity. *They whine there's not enough local investors (see note above - they have more than us). We bring over 200 VCs to SD annually! * They say founders are not connected with one another. We bring CEOs together regularly, in a variety of ways - private dinners and through our Springboard program. * They say they need to elevate their image on a national & international stage. Why we created and continue to build Five.Ten.Thirty (aka Inno Day).  * And the last paragraph - they need to concentrate on making their region a great place to live. Our mantra: "It's about Better, not Bigger." (See XEO, TL Fund). THANK YOU FOR ALL OF YOUR SUPPORT. WE ARE ON A MISSION TOGETHER!!!  (Comments, whining, suggestions on SD always welcome.) https://lnkd.in/g6Rq_f2Y

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#TechConSocal2024 #BuildingOutsideSiliconValley Spark Growth Ventures is committed to helping support top-tier founders from across the nation as well as internationally. Out of the 25 portfolio companies that we have partnered with in the last ~3.5 yrs, the pre-dominant majority are neither in SV nor in NYC (the top two hubs for startup funding in the US), but are in emerging hubs such as Nashville, Columbus, Cleveland and Sacramento: • 6 are HQ-/Co-HQ-ed across San Diego, Sacramento and LA metros • 4 in the Midwest • 4 with HQs/co-HQs in Europe and Asia • 2 in the DC Metro area • 2 in Pacific Northwest • 1 in the South • 1 in the Mountain West Even though there're significant ecosystem benefits from being in large hubs (SV/ NYC/ Boston etc), we think that top-tier innovation and teams with proper distributed support, especially in the post-COVID era, can be successful from most places – there are some additional hurdles but nothing that’s insurmountable. In addition, several benefits of being in the emerging/small hubs vs. the traditional centers. On the personal side also, I grew up in tier-2/3 cities and towns of India (Kota, Ratlam, Jallandhar, Kapurthala, Meerut, NE States etc.) and similarly, built my early foundation in the US in small MidWestern towns/cities, and finally made a conscious decision to create a life out of a mid-sized city in the US. So, I can personally relate to & in fact, support pursuing one’s dreams from just about anywhere, not just large obvious places. Therefore, given our mindset and philosophy, I am really excited to be part of the "Challenges and Opportunities of Creating a Prosperous Venture Outside of Silicon Valley" panel being moderated by Zamir Shukho, MBA (General Partner at Vibranium Venture Capital), alongside my dear friend and classmate Paul Yeh (Founding Partner at Conductive Ventures), Brad Greenwald (Managing Partner at Hilltop Venture Partners) and Howard Ko (Partner at Morpheus Ventures). We will most likely start around 2 pm PST in case you would like to hear our combined perspectives. Lastly, #TechConSoCal is shaping to be one of the largest innovation conferences in #SanDiego, with hundreds of VCs, founders, startup professionals and innovation enthusiasts attending. If you are able to make it to San Diego for a day or even swing by for a few hours, it will definitely be worth the price of admission. Thanks Faisal Mushtaq, Serhat Pala, Neal Bloom and many others for helping organize this invaluable event right here in San Diego and for making a huge contribution to the local ecosystem.   Spark Growth Ventures, Safa Mahzari, Alessio Sanfilippo, Gaurav Bhatia, Jaikaran Sawhny, Jeffrey Haux, Kimberly Davis King, Marcos Rivera, Pooja Skogstad, Raj Pudipeddi, Rohit Gulati, Vittal Kadapakkam, TIE San Diego, Orange County OC Startup Council, The Brink SBDC, EvoNexus, UC San Diego, SDSU College of Sciences, Wharton Alumni Angels, NuFund Venture Group, Jonah Peake, Fred Grier, Pankaj Kedia

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🚨 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐤: 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐅𝐞𝐦𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐍𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐁𝐢𝐠-𝐓𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲-𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐄𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 🚨 Despite its enormous potential, femtech continues to struggle with funding—particularly at the growth stage. This issue isn’t just about capital, it's deeply tied to a systemic bias that overlooks women’s health innovation. 🎙️ As covered by Ida Tin, co-founder of Clue, on the Panelle Talks Podcast: “Late-stage femtech is almost impossible to fund because the capital simply doesn’t exist for this emerging category. Funds raised by women GPs for femtech often top out at $30-50M, which is far from enough to scale globally. What’s missing is a large enough cohort of femtech companies that can prove long-term success and attract bigger funds. But more importantly, the lack of ‘female life experience’ in many investment firms creates a bias that hinders the funding of these critical innovations. Male investors, who dominate the space, and are a much needed variable in the equation for change, often lack the perspective needed to see the urgent need for femtech solutions, limiting investment in a sector that impacts millions.” ✨ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐤: ✅ Only 2.3% of global VC funding went to women-led startups in 2023, and femtech got just a fraction (Crunchbase, 2023). ✅ 70% of femtech funding has gone to a few established companies, leaving emerging startups struggling (PitchBook, 2023). ✅ Women-created funds are usually capped at $30-50M, far from the $100M+ needed to scale femtech companies to unicorn status. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐞𝐦𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤: ⛔ Lack of Big-Ticket Investments: Femtech companies can't access the growth capital needed for global scaling. ⛔ The Investor Persona Problem: Men must actively invest in femtech and champion these solutions. ⛔ No Unicorns, No Playbook: Without major exits, femtech lacks comparables, making it harder to attract institutional investors. ⛔ Regional Disparities: While Europe and the US have seen success, regions like Africa remain largely overlooked. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐎𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲: 🚀 Femtech is projected to be $103B by 2030 (Frost & Sullivan, 2023). By unlocking growth capital, we can fuel the next wave of innovation in women’s health. Additionally, the opportunity for impact in the full value-chain of the healthcare industry specially in the Global South is a no-brainer. Femtech is not a niche industry, it is a life-saver for established generations and for those to come 🦄 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐖𝐞 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞? 💡 Invest in Early-Stage Companies with incubators and angel networks. 💡Create Big-Ticket Funds by committing to $100M+ rounds. 💡Drive Diversity in VC through initiatives like Included VC to empower underrepresented founders. 💡Set Standards with Success Stories to create benchmarks for future growth. Report by Sie Ventures 🚀

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Breaking down our latest newsletter section by section, starting with our expanded focus in Deep Tech: --- We have built expertise in the robotics sector, and will continue to double (and triple) down on investing in this category, but we have been increasingly finding that robotics is naturally steering us into two exploding adjacent areas: Aerospace, and Advanced Manufacturing (which we define as industrials, semiconductors, materials science, and energy production). Stepping back, this expansion makes perfect sense. Robotics is an inherently horizontal platform - meaning it can be applied productively across multiple industries. This quality, paired with the fact that robotics has long shown the highest TRLs of any deep tech technology, makes it a kind of “gateway” to other sectors in the hard sciences. Now with the recent breakthroughs in AI for robotics, growing semiconductor demand, and the resurgence of aerospace and defense tech, we are seeing a dramatic uptake of robotics and relevant technologies in both advanced manufacturing and aerospace. As an added bonus of the expansion, many of the founder (and funder) networks across these landscapes have natural overlaps and linkages. For AlleyCorp Deep Tech this means that we can be extremely helpful, knowledgeable, and engaged across all three sectors right away, and continue to be the best-in-class investing team across these categories.  --- More in our newsletter: https://lnkd.in/ewiTuYq6

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Thank you to Darius Gant, CPA for the opportunity to discuss our world view at Third Vector 👨🏾‍🚀 , including how we think about managing risk for our LPs and value creation for our portfolio companies. This was the most extensive conversation I've had on the record, even covering how career experiences in farmland and timber investments at Nuveen, a TIAA company became a bedrock for the 3V approach to risk management 💰. Near the tail of the interview, Darius convinced me to break down the intricacies of doing business with F500 companies, which may be helpful to new founders in any industry. The only topic we didn't discuss was how the Toigo Foundation has been crucial to both of our journeys. We'll do that in the part II 😉 #venturecapital #spacetech #data

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Climate tech funding is going industrial... Blackhorn Ventures closes $150M industrial impact fund Focus is seed and Series A stage investments into capital-efficient software solutions, vertical SaaS companies, and AI applications that address the urgent need for industrial resource efficiency and decarbonization at scale. Portfolio companies are targeting the $1.7 trillion industrial resource efficiency market and leveraging the $4.5 trillion needed for the global energy transition by 2030. The fund has new limited partnerships with Mitsubishi Electric, Westlake Corporation, Goldbeck GmbH and Mercuria Energy. 8090 Industries raised $100M+ for its 2nd fund to invest in industrial companies Focuses on decarbonization, synthetic biology, aerospace, artificial intelligence, energy, and infrastructure to transform the industrial complex with breakthrough, zero-carbon technologies and significant economic advantages. Partnered with over 20 global conglomerates. Ironspring Ventures raised $100M to invest in the industrial revolution Industry focus: manufacturing, construction, transportation and energy. Additional capital allows the firm to write bigger checks this time around, $2 million to $4 million, which will help them stay competitive as seed rounds have gotten larger. The firm’s LP base is comprised of operators in the industries they work in that own construction companies and manufacturing plants and can not only give guidance and advice to companies but also serve as potential customers too. Raised a $50M fourth Refactor Capital fund Investing in the areas of biotech, climate and hard tech startups. This new fund will continue to lead pre-seed and seed investments into startups working in areas including novel battery technologies, cancer therapies, IVF advancements and chemicals. Check sizes are typically $1 million to $2 million, and will be split between 20 and 25 companies over the next three years. More and more capital going to the less sexy parts of the ecosystem, where there is huge decarbonization and economic potential. Sources in comment as usual. #deeptech #climatetech #greentech #sustainability #venturecapital #startups

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On the surface, tech transfer operations (e.g. the process of transferring research and IP into commercialized opportunities) and early-stage startups may seem quite different. But when we at 9point8 Collective dug a little deeper, there was tons of overlap which speaks to the essence of zero-to-one development: 1️⃣ Innovation Focus: both tech transfer and early-stage startups aim to commercialize new technologies or solutions that can address real-world problems or create new opportunities. There is no blueprint to follow. 2️⃣ Intellectual Property: tech transfer ventures usually come with robust IP portfolios, including patents and trade secrets, and early-stage startups often focus on developing and protecting their IP to create a competitive advantage. Leverage IP as an asset is a key part of the strategy. 3️⃣ Market Potential: both tech transfer and early-stage startups target markets with high growth potential. They often aim to disrupt existing industries or create entirely new market segments, so targeting the right markets is essential. 4️⃣ Risk Profile: both types of ventures carry extreme risk and ambiguity due to the uncertainties associated with bringing new technologies or business models to market. With all this overlap, we innovated different versions of our diligence and assessment tool #VentureIQ to focus on tech transfer. Instead of a pitch deck as the raw inputs, we used patent filings instead. We wanted to see if our tech could generate credible insight on how raw technologies can be commercialized. The results have been pretty solid so far. From a single patent filing, we can extract technology readiness levels, target markets, competitors and benchmarks with similar technology, and even sources of public and private funding. From what our design partners have validated for us, these are monumental leaps in the development process -- saving thousands of dollars and weeks of time -- all done with #AI. Know of an interesting #techtransfer use case? Send me a DM so we can chat about it!

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If you live inside someone else's semantic landscape, you will undoubtedly lose. Thank you to Carl Franzen @ VentureBeat for letting me discuss how New Industry VC's Narrative Command thesis is applicable to elections. What is Narrative Command? Narrative Command is the concept that in every new market there is a startup that defines a vision of the future…which becomes the default future for that vertical. They define the language of the vertical, forcing everyone else to use that language. They define the seminal experience, and then give audiences or customers a taste of that experience. They boundary the discourse, forcing everyone into it. Once a company seizes Narrative Command in a new vertical, competitors — whether pre-existing or new — must live inside that narrative. Taken to its logical conclusion, Narrative Command becomes self-sustaining, where stakeholders, fans, customers, allies, investors — AND EVEN COMPETITORS — perpetuate the narrative. The best example of this is, of course, Tesla, which possesses Narrative Command of both electric and autonomous vehicles. NIVC invests in seed-stage Deep Tech startups with Narrative Command potential: www.nivc.us And if a startup just wants help with NC, my advisory firm is ready to help: www.johnson-roy.com

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If you want to gain insights into the vast potential of AI + Robotics (from an investors perspective), check out this podcast episode! It's phenominal.🎧 Listen here: https://lnkd.in/eCkfXyXN #AI #Robotics #Podcast #ArtificialIntelligence #Technology

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Sharing my favorite essays/reads from May 2024. A few that caught my eye: 𝗦𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘉𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘢 $20 𝘉𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘚𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘍𝘢𝘣 (𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘗𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘴) Modern semiconductor fabs push the boundaries of precision manufacturing at scale. Producing chips with nanometer-scale features requires an almost unimaginable control over the production environment. Even the smallest dust particle or fluctuation in voltage can destroy a chip, so fabs must maintain "cleanroom" conditions that are more stringent than a hospital operating room. Simultaneously, these fabs are churning out hundreds of millions of units per year, each packed with billions of transistors. This combination of atomic precision and mass-production throughput necessitates factories characterized by mind-boggling complexity and cost. U͟n͟d͟e͟r͟s͟t͟a͟n͟d͟i͟n͟g͟ ͟t͟h͟e͟ ͟s͟t͟r͟u͟c͟t͟u͟r͟e͟ ͟a͟n͟d͟ ͟d͟e͟s͟i͟g͟n͟ ͟p͟r͟i͟n͟c͟i͟p͟l͟e͟s͟ ͟o͟f͟ ͟t͟h͟e͟s͟e͟ ͟$͟1͟0͟-͟2͟0͟B͟ ͟f͟a͟c͟i͟l͟i͟t͟i͟e͟s͟ ͟p͟r͟o͟v͟i͟d͟e͟s͟ ͟a͟ ͟f͟a͟s͟c͟i͟n͟a͟t͟i͟n͟g͟ ͟w͟i͟n͟d͟o͟w͟ ͟i͟n͟t͟o͟ ͟t͟h͟e͟ ͟p͟h͟y͟s͟i͟c͟a͟l͟ ͟a͟n͟d͟ ͟e͟c͟o͟n͟o͟m͟i͟c͟ ͟c͟h͟a͟l͟l͟e͟n͟g͟e͟s͟ ͟o͟f͟ ͟m͟a͟n͟i͟p͟u͟l͟a͟t͟i͟n͟g͟ ͟m͟a͟t͟t͟e͟r͟ ͟a͟t͟ ͟i͟t͟s͟ ͟l͟i͟m͟i͟t͟s͟.͟ ͟ 𝗛𝘆𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘊𝘌𝘖 𝘈𝘯𝘥𝘺 𝘑𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘺’𝘴 2023 𝘓𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 (𝘈𝘮𝘢𝘻𝘰𝘯) In his 2023 shareholder letter, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy emphasizes the strategy of building foundational technology "primitives"— i.e., flexible, single-purpose components that can be rapidly combined to create new capabilities. This approach, exemplified by AWS's 240+ infrastructure services, has not only enabled the growth of software companies but has also accelerated innovation within Amazon itself. 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘴 (𝘉𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘈𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺) By controlling the flow of funds in and out of apps, digital wallets are becoming major profit centers. They are adapting the PayPal model of monetizing inflows and internal transactions to include additional features like debit cards, credit cards, and payout fees to capture further revenue. Within this "wallet" segment, winners are likely to emerge with outsized market share and negotiating leverage over merchants and payment networks. Players like Stripe's "Link" show the potential to align incentives and lower costs for businesses by aggregating wallet usage across its merchant network. As the digital wallet war unfolds across incumbents and new competitors, the competitive dynamics and economics of online payments will transform.

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Latitude Media and Bianca Giacobone just published an interesting article covering Congruent Ventures and Silicon Valley Bank's 50 by 2050 list (https://lnkd.in/gRMaqMb8) with some insightful takeaways: 1. Software may be eating the world, but mitigating climate change needs atoms and bio in addition to to bits and bytes. 2. Climate VC harkens back to venture's roots. It's called *silicon* valley for a reason. But nearly every hardware company in the list has software and AI as a fundamental enabling component. It's here to stay. 3. There are a LOT of strong technologies that are transitioning to deployment and that we expect to be at scale before 2050. 4. The quality of entrepreneurship and teams in this space continues to grow and impress. Needless to say, we're feeling more bullish than ever. Onwards! https://lnkd.in/ggiYQvBC

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Innovation AND execution exemplified....but why did Tesla succeed? EV's are everywhere and there is so much demand. There is Rivian, Lucid and multiple others... At the end of the day, this is why many great ideas in VC ultimately fail...execution and lack to a path of profitability. Here is why Tesla succeeded vs Ford but many others are struggling: 1. First Mover Advantage: Tesla has been producing EVs at scale for over a decade, giving it a head start in refining manufacturing processes, supply chain management, and cost reduction. - Economies of Scale: With a significantly larger production volume than newer competitors, Tesla benefits from lower per-unit costs. 2. Control Over Supply Chain: Tesla designs and produces many of its components in-house, including batteries and software. This reduces reliance on third parties and allows better cost control and faster innovation. 3. Manufacturing Innovations: Gigafactories: Tesla’s Gigafactories are designed for scale and efficiency, incorporating automation, innovative production lines, and co-location of battery production. Gigapress: Tesla uses massive casting machines (Gigapresses) to produce large, single-piece components, reducing assembly complexity and costs. Focus on Simplicity: Tesla's designs emphasize simplicity, using fewer components and standardizing across models, which reduces manufacturing complexity. 4. Scale: Lucid and Rivian are producing at much lower volumes, leading to higher per-unit costs. At the end of day, Tesla makes $9,264 per vehicle (profit) while Rivian loses $38,784 per vehicle and Lucid loses $137,150 per vehicle. Same idea, right? Just done very differently... #venturecapital #endowments #familyoffices

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