Giuliano Iacobelli

The funding landscape for founders has been tough over the past two years—but for female founders, it's been even tougher. At Fierce Foundry, we're stepping up to change that. Like the trailblazing organizations How Women Invest and WE Global Studios, we’re fueling the flywheel of female investment. Our innovative approach isn’t just about making noise—it’s about making measurable impact. Join me at my info session today (and every other week - register via the link below) to learn how you can help drive meaningful change for female founders. Let’s make it happen! 🌟 https://lnkd.in/e9FUg9Uj

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A company’s product/technology org being called “EPD”, “PED” or some other acronym standing for "product, engineering, design" is a strong smell that the company is a political mess. If that org is called "R&D," it's a smell that means the company is run by finance/MBA people. Why finance, btw? "R&D" (research & development) is a legacy term — certain payroll/etc costs are tax deductible, based in the old-school manufacturing mindset that "product development" was just an investment or cost center, and not revenue-generating as it is in software.

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One of the biggest challenges for improving performance on Meta is teams beeing held accountable for daily (and sometimes hourly) results. This isn't enough time to try new strategies or products. So by optimizing towards a daily ROAS goal in the short term, might hurt performance in the long run as you could be missing out on new solutions.

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Chat with Miles Clements about building Linear For me companies are like design problems: you have context, constraints & goals unique to you. Then you look for a solution that has a good fit to your unique problems. The company problem also evolve over times the solution Directly applying what others have done doesn’t work that well, yet there is lot emphasis on playbooks, pattern matching and playing copying what other companies are doing in industry. https://lnkd.in/ghxjJwYU

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Couple people reached out about this GeekWire article yesterday by Taylor Soper covering supply chain tech in Seattle, asking more about it. I really believe Seattle is a great spot for the following reasons: 1. Modern supply chains are built from the ground up to serve customers. While Amazon helped cement this, others deserve credit for their commitment to customer focus. Many of those companies are in Seattle (Nordstrom etc). I really believe that every supply chain will fail to modernize if it doesn't reorient towards its respective customer at the center. The 90s era operating models of push-based cost management and misaligned incentives will prevent true modernization. Because Seattle has had so many companies with this at their cultural core, a lot of the supply chain tech talent here is committed to this attitude. 2. Technology, in particular cloud based software engineering, and supply chain operations are now so intimately intertwined, that you can't have an operator who isn't technical (or have someone who is technical but doesn't understand operations) and still expect to modernize. Seattle is also a technology epicenter, with Microsoft/Amazon and dozens of excellent public and private companies shedding supreme technical talent. It has allowed a higher hit rate of leading technologists to infiltrate logistics tech. 3. Similar to above, I believe most supply chain problems are probabilistic in nature. There is little certainty in supply chains. This means data is the root most important thing to modern supply chains, but also that true data science with real data scientists powering real ML and AI models is critical to successful supply chains. Data science talent is all over the place here in Seattle. 4. Lastly, hard to put a finger on this one, but there is something interesting about the intersection of the profiles of startups (high risk based profiles) and supply chains (low risk based profiles). Startups and startup culture embraces change. You have to in order to be successful. Seattle is definitely a top startup ecosystem in the country, so a lot of people here are comfortable pushing boundaries. Meanwhile, operations and supply chains are historically risk averse, and for good reason. Physical atoms are involved. It's the heartbeat of organizations. Most tech is 90s era on prem stuff. It's really hard to change. I think there is something compelling about each side counter balancing each other for the best ideas for innovation coming out of it. When I look at the startups on Taylor's list, it's a lot of ideas are targeting the highest value and most fertile problems of supply chains. I think the talent here is focused on meaningful change that industries can absorb, versus too risky of ideas that will never be adopted or too small of ideas that will never make an impact. https://lnkd.in/gm4bikHb

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Our Kids & Tech Guidebook launched today! If you have a kid in elementary school this book is for you. It lays out 10 practical steps to help you navigate tech choices for your kids. You can download the FREE guidebook at the link below in my comments. Super easy. Check it out!

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🚀 Excited to introduce Recital’s Auto-Repository! Creating or migrating your contracts repository just got a whole lot easier—no more manual work or complicated setups. Recital's Auto-Repository: * Gathers all contracts from wherever they are in your organization's cloud storage and other applications * Detects executed contracts automatically * Maps parent-child contract relationships between MSAs and SOWs, Order Forms and amendments 😲🎉 * Extracts key metadata and clauses instantly * Updates your repository in real-time as contracts are executed This is a game-changer for legal departments that want to drive business results. 💪🏼📈 Goodbye to months and 💸 spent on the hassle of contract repositories! #LegalTech #AI #ContractManagement #Innovation

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Venture Capital Contact Compilation. Explore a detailed list of 1,250+ VC firms, 7,400+ professionals in the VC space (including partners and principals), and 6,400 email contacts. https://payhip.com/b/cs7UQ #startup #startups #vc #venturecapital #investmentbanking #privateequity #managementconsulting #b2b #founders #entrepreneurs

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ENOUGH WITH THE FRAMEWORKS! If you've worked with me, you've probably heard me say that. Product teams should be focused on driving outcome and impact, not falling in love with the process. And that's something Peter Yang from Roblox knows all too well. We had a great conversation on Next Gen Builders about how the PM role is evolving, how to use #AI to focus on more important work (like talking to customers), and more. Tune in to our conversation: https://lnkd.in/dY-AZh2s

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Setting a vision is just the start. Think about the bold moves needed to make it happen. Sundar, Google's CEO, set a daring vision to tackle climate change. That's where the real work begins. Executing a vision requires bold and tough decisions. Google is buying nuclear energy to feed its AI data centers. Other big tech companies are following this lead. This is a big kudos to Sundar and his leadership team. They are executing on a sustainability vision. Leadership is about taking action. And Sundar is showing the way.

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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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We’re seeing #layoffs everywhere—from big names like Amazon and Google to countless startups facing difficult decisions. For early-stage #founders, the impact of letting go even a few people is massive. I’ve been there myself, and I learned the hard way: delaying tough decisions hurts more in the long run. The solution? Monthly performance management. By consistently guiding and evaluating our teams, we can create a proactive approach that helps prevent layoffs. This involves: - Setting clear work ethic metrics. - Teaching skills that lead to growth. - Holding regular, open conversations on progress. This isn’t just about avoiding tough choices—it’s about fostering a resilient, high-performing culture. Let’s build teams that choose to thrive alongside us, even when the market gets tricky. I go into more detail in this video. #performancemanagement #layoffs #toughdecicions #leadership

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I recently chatted with Eric Athas about what it takes to foster innovation among teams for a Harvard Business Review story. We talked a lot about Thumbtack’s product evolution, and the importance of delineating invention and optimization efforts so that we can manage them distinctly. Innovation is about inventing new things--going from zero to one. Optimization is about improving what we already have to keep making the experience better or attracting more customers. These are distinct efforts that require being managed and operationalized differently. This has enabled us consistently drive growth in the business while also creating space to be more creative and more ambitious as we build the one app to care for your home. The article also features great insights from other industry experts like Carter Busse of Workato, Melanie Frank of Capital One and Arvind KC of Roblox. You can read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/gSwrvQjK

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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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Looking for a contract project (10 hours/week) where I'd love to help you go from 0 to 1 with an LLM-powered product or feature quickly. A bit about me: - Launched https://jakeai.org/ and went from idea to first revenue in 2 weeks. - Built two bootstrapped startups that generated a total of $200K in revenue. The first one was an AI analyst for business angels. The second one was a hilarious chatbot psychologist, Josef Freudman. - ex LLM-product builder at Reface🇺🇦, a16z-backed gen AI company. What I can help with: - Taking LLM-powered products from 0 to 1 fast - literally taking an idea and validating/iterating it. - Validating and implementing an LLM-powered feature in your product. Who I can help the most: - Startups that want to launch and get their first customers. - Startups and companies exploring the launch of a new product or feature. If this sounds like something that could help you out, feel free to message me here on LinkedIn or by email: [email protected]

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So pleased to see Yara AI featured in GeekWire this week. In a moment when our collective anxiety and division feel overwhelming, we're building something different: AI that listens with genuine empathy, available 24/7, for anyone who needs support. The numbers are staggering: Over 150M Americans live in areas with critical shortages of mental health professionals. Traditional therapy, while valuable, simply can't scale to meet this crisis. That's why we've assembled a unique team combining clinical psychology expertise from Dr. Richard Stott (who revolutionized NHS digital mental health) with the scalable and groundbreaking capabilities of safe, well-designed AI. The early results? Our beta users are finding meaningful support in moments they need it most - whether that's 3am anxiety, work burnout, or just needing a safe space to process. Yara's even pushed me to get to the gym today! As we navigate uncertain times, one thing is clear: making mental health support radically accessible isn't just a business opportunity - it's a societal imperative. DM me if you'd like to learn more about our private beta or join us in building this future. #MentalHealth #AI #Innovation #DigitalHealth

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The Series B round is a tough one to raise. You're right at the graduation moment from an "early stage" investment to an "early growth" stage investment, where investor expectations change. Investors shift from "founder-market-fit" and "TAM" to much more tangible metrics like unit economics, CAC-to-LTV, MoM revenue growth, ARPU, etc. I use the analogy that it's like graduating from elementary school to middle school. You're starting to grow and look at the world differently, but still hold onto a lot of childish behaviors. Appreciate Sara B. and the team at the San Francisco Business Times for covering the stage of the market, and allowing us to share what we're seeing at Fiat Ventures. Are you a founder or team looking for support graduating from these "awkward" stages? There's no one better than the team at Fiat Growth to help you scale. Reach out and we'd love to help you grow 📈 Alex Harris Drew Glover Victor Colombo Kristin Manoogian Kaley Nivens Pate Adrian Hunter Ayesha Dillon

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Hi everyone! I don’t share too often on here, but we’re at a very exciting moment at AptDeco, and I wanted to let you all in on it. AptDeco opened a community investment round and the response has been incredible. We’ve raised over $2M so far from institutional investors, customers and supporters. Nothing is more validating than customers doubling down with their own capital. And now, I’m inviting you, my network, to be part of our journey. When we started AptDeco, we set out to make buying and selling furniture easier. Over the years, many of our competitors have come and gone, but AptDeco continues to thrive. Why? Our technology, logistics and branding continues to set us apart and that's why major retailers including West Elm, Pottery Barn, La-Z-Boy, Article and 30+ more have partnered with us. The beauty with this investment round is that anyone can be an investor. Learn more and invest directly at wefunder.com/AptDeco.

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I've recently been asked how I stay up-to-date on new products and technologies. Running Products That Count keeps me up to date on insights from the most innovative product leaders today. Check out our resources here: https://lnkd.in/gXWnWB8P Also, creating these Linkedin videos helps me engage in many new conversations each week. What other ways do you have to stay sharp? Comment below. #productleadership #businessgrowth #productstrategy #leadershipdevelopment #productmanagementtips #continuouslearning #growthmindset #executiveinsights #innovationinbusiness #productleaders

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