David Zhou

It all about networks and relationships!

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I clearly have a startup obsession!😍 EVERYTHING feels like a startup lesson or comparison to me.🤔 I realized I had a problem this past weekend when I ran the San Jose Rock & Roll half marathon. Everywhere I looked, I saw something that felt startup related.  Even when looked at the long lines waiting to use the Port-o-Potties, all I could think of was "Clearly they have Product/Market fit".  Then I thought about the fact that the people in line were the users, not actually the customers...  and  it spiraled from there. But when I was actually running, I thought of some things to share with the founders who follow me... Before I became a distance runner, the idea of becoming a distance runner had never crossed my mind. ✖️ I was old(ish) ✖️ I was overweight ✖️ I had never been any type of athlete ✖️ I was not able to run 2 miles without needing a serious nap ✖️ It didn't strike me as something I would succeed at because I didn't have whatever it was that runners have It's not that I didn't have any interest in the benefits of running. I was just content to dwell on the reasons that I either: a) Shouldn't try b) Was not likely to succeed c) The excuses I could use if I didn't succeed Then one year I committed to trying, and ran my first 26.2 mile marathon 4 months later (with the help of a coach and training community) So what's the startup connection? I see founders doing what I did... ➡️ They focus on reasons why things won't work (e.g. validation interviews, fundraising) ➡️ They think there are things they can't overcome that are to blame for their inability to get funding ➡️ They think they might be too old ➡️ They compare themselves to others and come up short (usually comparing themselves to the visible examples of success) If I didn't ignore my excuses, I would not have become a distance runner. If founders hang on to reasons they might fail, they will likely double their chances of actually failing. ❗We drive where we look❗ Focus on what can be, not on "why it's not worth your full commitment." Launching a startup means doing things without a guarantee, but taking a chance.  It's about doing things where you might fail. Commit anyway. Don't half-ass it! If, like me, you decide the effort might go faster with a coach and support, you know where to reach me. Even it you don't, stop giving explanations for failure as a reason why you shouldn't try. When you do, the results will surprise you (in a good way) If it doesn't succeed, you've learned something useful.👍 What challenges have you taken on after letting go of your excuses? Drop a victory below!👇 #EarlyStage #StartupLife #Founders #LeanStartup #TheFoundersForge

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San Francisco's political landscape is taking an innovative turn as mayor-elect Dan Lurie appoints OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to his transition team. This strategic move signals a fresh approach to bridging the gap between city government and the tech sector at a crucial time for San Francisco. What makes this particularly noteworthy is how it represents a shift in how cities might leverage tech leadership to address urban challenges - from public safety to economic revitalization. The inclusion of both Altman and former Twitter CFO Ned Segal suggests a deliberate strategy to reconnect with the tech community while maintaining the city's position as a global innovation hub. Key developments to watch: ▶️ How this tech-government partnership influences public safety initiatives ▶️ Impact on downtown revitalization efforts ▶️ Response from other tech leaders and companies ▶️ Potential new policies to attract and retain tech talent ▶️ Balance between innovation and traditional urban governance https://lnkd.in/gMJ3yvk9

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I got a preview of this talk. It's going to be good. If you think we've reached the end of the gen AI opportunity, then you should listen to what Roman Shaposhnik and Tanya Dadasheva have to share about the future of transformer architecture for AI.

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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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The startup ecosystem in San Francisco is ROBUST, my experience: I've explored various startup ecosystems lately, and each has its unique shine. In San Francisco, what stands out is the sheer volume of activity. Every day, there’s been at least one pitch event, networking mixer, or founders/investors gathering to attend. Here are some highlights: -I had the pleasure of listening to Christina founder of Vanta and Jeff Seibert founder of Digits share their startup journeys and tactics. It was incredible to get advice from them. I also had a great conversation with MG (if you're not a fan of accounting and you are building a startup, you should connect with MG). Benjamin brought lots of humor to our conversation with James who is building Duet, a SaaS startup providing mission control software for medical transport (he is raising atm). -Supply Pay won a pitch-off against nine other startups at a Startup Valley event. A huge thank you to my new friends Oleh and Dmytro for their willingness to be in front of the crowd—they helped me explain factoring by playing the roles of a farmer and importer. Tom and I swapped stories about building software in the medical space (founders in this space should connect with him). Special thanks to Andrew for recording the Supply Pay pitch—DM me if you want to see it. -Hyperbolic's event, “AI After Hours,” was a hit. I met Bradley and discovered a product that could be a game-changer for organic marketing. Imagine getting paid to promote and eat at your favorite pho spot—that’s just the start of what he’s building (going to test it out with my wife at our family restaurant soon). Following that event, I went to the Microsoft Reactor after-party, which turned out to be "Death by PowerPoint." Fortunately, Bradley read the room and led some cool people to a bar across the street, where I learned from my friends Fred and Christina how to locate free graduate/Ph.D.-level engineering talent 👀 (DM me for access to this). I also discovered the cool things happening at Hive—connect with Shrinidhi if you need models that understand your content! -The week ended with Founders Friday, an event hosted by Kyosuke and his team. For those building in fintech, be sure to connect with Steven—he is helping fintech startups manage their code better! Zakreya blew my mind with what's possible in nanorobotics and phototherapy—he’s building some truly sci-fi products that will make a huge impact in cancer detection and elimination. A big thank you to Ismael, who dropped many gems, especially on navigating my upcoming NYC trip. My new friend Paul also gave invaluable advice on how to prepare before heading to NYC (Paul is building effective anti-theft solutions for big retailers). Finally, I learned about an interesting accelerator opportunity from my new friend Pavel, who’s doing something exciting in the due diligence space for VCs & founders. It was a great first week in SF. I look forward to learning more from everyone here!

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The Fundraising Workshop in Santa Monica with our friends at Expert Dojo! 💵 Get the FREE Fundraising Playbook here: https://hubs.li/Q02Csnf_0 Last week we had an incredible group of startup founders gather just outside of Los Angeles at the Expert Dojo offices for a workshop on preparing for fundraising. Brian Mac Mahon, Ashutosh Kumar - Jha and the team at Expert Dojo have created quite the startup community in their mission to help founders grow their companies faster. If you, or any founder friends, are planning to raise capital in the coming 12 months, check out the Fundraising Playbook for Startup Founders. This playbook will help you run a successful fundraising process that starts well before you actually need the capital. Hope this is helpful! ------ ♻️ Please feel free to share with other founders who may find this resource beneficial.

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where’s OpenAI ‘s sama? oh look. he’s in elon’s shadow. makes sense. he’s shorter. Lol. the island of cannibals that is silicon valley has a new co-chair as mayor of sf. unelected. uninfluential in washington. has weasled his way into a transition team for sf. I wonder is watching elon w trump he found his trump locally in sf. sama is a mirror. he was for pg. he was also for many others. including elon. I guess this is a way to perhaps shore up political points locally in sf. to protect himself as best as he can. washington is a country wide, global game. kinda reminds me of another rebranding. im just jenny from the block. https://lnkd.in/e_jNXXRD if ai companies are to flourish OpenAI Google Microsoft Amazon Apple will require that startups are not somehow impeded. this is a game of davids and goliaths. where the slingshot appears innocuous. that is llms, transformers, access to privileged data. this out of no-where announcement demonstrates that this is a defense tactic by sama. he speaks fondly of sf and has done nothing until now. so his disingenuous nature finds yet another loop hole to worm into. we would be more supportive of his efforts except he’s created an industry for himself through a con game approach. why is he ceo of OpenAI when he’s there 6-7 hours a week. forgive me. isn’t a ceo supposed to be singularly focussed. his game is getting funding that invests in companies that he’s already invested in and as it’s a non for profit there are no conflicts of interest applied. wow. he uses other peoples money to invest in what he’s already invested in. sounds like y combinator showed him how to play the sv players. the next trick will be to do something no one has ever done. take a multi-billy non for profit and flip to for profit. as a non for profit there is no reporting required. there are tax incentives. a moral narrative to spin. then. oooops. how do we monetize this. we believe he will not succeed. to do so would cannibalize capitalism as it’s structured. it also would create a new pathway for universities which are by definition research centres. creating this precedent would alter their business. given that elon has beef with sama. and elon has never been more on top of his game. well. we find local political maneuvering is a way of squirming. OpenAI investors chiefly Microsoft are about to be thrown under the bus. unwittingly. recall it’s the talent at OpenAI that makes it special. the a team has left. the b team is in place. 2025 will not be good for OpenAI elon will have his revenge. 44 millys invested. for what. for sama to throw his weight around. he’s a lightweight. just look at him. lol. source: https://lnkd.in/e9WtQ48k < . >

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🦋 GET OUT THERE! Networking isn't just about getting another follower on LinkedIn. 🤝 It's about creating meaningful connections that can provide support, advice, and growth opportunities. If you're in the Bay Area, we've made it easy for you! 👀 Check out our resources page for San Francisco Bay Area Startups Networking Events and Conferences. https://lnkd.in/g4ksTBJs Please tag in the comments #startupfounders in need of support as we have more resources coming soon! We feature Bay Area organizers with a shout-out for organizers who help #femalefounders: B.E.L.L.E （Formerly GirlUp Entrepreneurs） A non-profit dedicated to fostering a community of women entrepreneurs who are passionate about breaking boundaries and building futures. Bootstrappers Breakfast Roundtable conversations for startup founders that focus on the challenges of growing a business, not VC fundraising. EchoHer Networking events, pitch nights, and panel discussions led by women that help women entrepreneurs to connect and grow. FoundersBeta Startup Events A membership-based community focused on highlighting valuable events for founders. Startup Grind The largest independent startup community, actively educating, inspiring, and connecting entrepreneurs globally in partnership with Google for Startups. Women Founders Bay A community that hosts events dedicated to helping entrepreneurs and founders grow their networks and resources.

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"We start with Vellum and end with Vellum." - Max Bryan, VP of Technology and Design at Rentgrata A piece of advice I got from a fellow founder in the early days of Vellum was to understand what people do right before using vellum, and right after using vellum --> and build product to make that whole journey easier. I'm so excited to share that Ben Margolit, Max and their team at Rentgrata built their game changing real estate chatbot Ari using our platform end-to-end. Property management companies can now gain insights into resident satisfaction using Ari instead of having to dig through reams of text. Using Vellum throughout their entire AI development lifecycle - experimentation, evaluation to production monitoring, Rentgrata achieved 100% accuracy, accelerated their development timeline by 50%, and enabled their customers to make data-driven decisions to boost resident happiness. In one powerful example, Rentgrata's insights helped a company avoid a costly $300k window renovation and instead allocate funds more effectively based on the true resident priorities. We're proud to partner with leaders like Max, Ben and the Rentgrata team to bring AI to the proptech industry. Excited to see how Ari continues to revolutionize the renter and property manager experience! Read more about Rentgrata's test-driven journey from prototype to production here: https://lnkd.in/dzcCSA58

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Pie is LIVE in San Francisco. This is not a city that is dumb to new startups. There is e large and growing graveyard of companies and apps that have tried to solve the problem of making friends IRL. Having worked on this for five years, here is why we think Pie is right on time: 1. Our Pie Creator Fund is creating a gig economy of people building IRL communities. Loving people is one thing. Being able to afford the time and treasure to bring them together is another. Apply here: piecreatorfund.com 2. Most Pie plans are free. The internet is littered with paid opportunities to buy tickets. But what if you don't know what to expect? What if you don't know what is worth paying for? Believe in free: getpie.app (and click San Francisco). 3. We have secrets about the future. Not all of them are in our product yet. We hope that you give us a shot and maybe later we can tell you our secrets. Maybe you don't have to figure out who to hang out with, maybe we can do that for you.

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"Finding community is so much harder than founding a company 🚀" That's what a friend said the other day, who just moved to SF. I wished I could have pointed him to something like a magic list of all the SF-based communities directed at new founders. Before moving to SF myself to build my current startup, I wanted such list as well. In fact, I spent a good amount of days googling and googling "top hackerhouses in SF" and "founders community SF", only to find few results, things I already knew and outdated blogposts. Thankfully, On Deck's SEO was solid, so I applied and got accepted and that was my lucky baptism in SF's founder communities. Some folks like Garry Tan, say that SF's uniqueness is not its taxes, but its people. It's the builders, the hustlers, the AI startuppers, even -maybe- the VCs. That's definitely true, as long as you're able to find them! If you can't find them in the first place, there's no point in paying the SF rent, nor a reason to move there. You may as well live in Treasure Island! (fun fact, I do) So, for those like my friend, like myself, and for you, here's *our* imperfect list. Shoutout to the tons of friends who invited me to, hosted me at and co-infiltrated different communities and events over these past few months. Did I miss any other communities/accelerators/hackerhouses? Definitely comment below or DM me and I'll edit ASAP. On Deck Julian Weisser Noémie Federico South Park CommonsZ Fellows Inception Studio Entrepreneur First Founders, Inc. A16Z GAMES SPEEDRUN Y Combinator Techstars Unshackled Ventures Sequoia Capital Pear VC Alchemist Accelerator 500 Global Race Capital HF0 AGI House Rocky Yu SHACK15 Ventures SHACK15 Studio 45 Nate Padgett The Battery The Commons The Long Now Foundation Commonwealth Club World Affairs

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New Episode Alert 🚨 Building a startup is hard but do you know shutting down is even harder and sometimes a very painful experience? Brendan Mahony(YC alumni) is building Sunset to help founders shut down gracefully! He recently hopped on my pod to talk abt:  🔎 The origin story of Sunset 🤝 How he got VCs onboard for Sunset 🌟 Impact of @ycombinator on him as a founder  💫 How to find customers as an early-stage startup ⚡️ How to bend the rules when you're in founder mode Link to the ep 👇 🔗 Watch the full episode: https://lnkd.in/evRzQi9F 🔗 Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/e2fFweHU 🔗 Spotify: https://lnkd.in/eER5Aquh ---------------------------------- ❤️ Sponsor Corner ❤️ Big s/o to acquire.com for sponsoring the podcast! Acquire is the best online marketplace (I can vouch for this) to buy/sell startups, and I know many founders who have sold their businesses there. If you're looking to wind down your business and cash in some of your founder chips, check them out - try.acquire.com/sharath/ Andrew Gazdecki and the team are always on the hunt to find ways to help more founders through Acquire 🫡 ---------------------------------- Lastly, if you are a listener and have been enjoying the episodes, please take a minute to drop your rating on the podcast: https://lnkd.in/ed8UGwZ9 I appreciate you for giving your attention and time 🙏🏼

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San Francisco is getting its groove back again...sort of. Like the heyday of the tech boom, the City by the Bay has become the techie bohemian outpost for AI startups who are snatching up San Francisco office space. And, it comes at a time when the city needs it with office vacancies at a mind-boggling 35 percent. Remote work...what's that? With AI companies - big and small - clamoring for office space, that's a sure sign workers will be expected in the confines of the office. Many are requiring workers in the office at least four days. In many ways, it's very reminiscent of the go-go culture when tech was young, snacks a plenty, and ping pong tables ding dong. Given the high cost of living in San Francisco, that in-person, in-office approach can potentially limit the talent pool. It's a new culture based on the old one. Work-life balance is the mantra of today's workforce. Whether that clashes with the resurrection of the 'work hard, play hard' AI culture is definitely something to consider. With AI barely out of diapers, leaders and their workforce are charging ahead, living and breathing and when you can get it, sleeping AI. Combine that with startups vying for funding or justifying their valuations with small, lean teams, it's HP in the garage all over again. For San Francisco, AI and the funky bunch of startups can only bring much needed energy to a city that remains in the pandemic doldrums. With high office vacancies, monthly rents are down. On the bright side, it's provides opportunities for a new wave of innovation. That can only be good for, well, everyone https://cnb.cx/4fZwTHP #sanfrancisco #startup #realestate ##artificialintelligence #talent #workforce #innovation #officespace

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If anyone is in North County San Diego, on Thursday May 2nd, we will be hosting a tech entrepreneur and investor meet up at 5:30pm. We’ll have a couple speakers, one of which is a fin-tech start-up raising a round, followed up by a presentation on the state of the stock & crypto market. We host these events quarterly and usually get a lot of founders and investors to attend. If anyone is interested, please message me and I can send you the details. LaunchPad San Diego #startups #startupincubator #entrepreneur #investing #crypto #meetup

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I highly recommend SF local founders check out a free "Founder-Led Sales" lecture Peter Kazanjy is giving on Wednesday Dec 11th. The single biggest mistake I see founders make is abstracting themselves from sales prematurely. It hemorrhages cash, runway and founder and employee equity. They think the moment they leave their accelerator or raise capital that's the signal for others to take the reigns of sales sleigh. #error Pete demystifies much of what it takes get founder-led sales right. Book your place using the link in the comments. #sales #saas #startups #GTMdebt #venturecapital

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📣 #Seattle #startup #founders and #investors come discover how to leverage the strengths of your #ADHD and #neurodivergent team members to stop losing productivity, profits and top talent. RSVP for my free ADHD Strategies for Tech Founders and Investors #event on Thursday at Seattle #Tech Week! https://lu.ma/usrycd73 cc: New Tech Northwest #networking #companyculture #futureofwork - Pls share this post with colleagues and friends 🙏

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