Jonathan Emig

I just met with the one of the top VCs in Phoenix. Here's how they believe AZ can be one of the top startup states in the next 10 years: 1. Company Formation ⏩ Starting more startups ⏩ Growing big companies ⏩ Selling for big exits 2. Capital Velocity ⏩ More investments into AZ startups ⏩ Reinvesting back into AZ once you've exited 3. Community Vibrancy ⏩ Small/Medium/Big creators hyping up AZ ⏩ Attractive events that bring true value And the community is thriving: Shawn Allard w/ private meetups for SMB owners Sean Huntington 🍯 w/ Founders N Funders events Josue Romero w/ AZ Tech Founder meetups Josue Romero and Daniela Santangelo with Freeway (amazing dashboard to see AZ venture stats + event calendar) No better time to be an AZ Founder 🌵🚀 *** Side Note: can we find a better name to unite the startup valley? YesPHX is okay Silicon Desert is okay but way too cliche at this point

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The Phoenix Thesis: 1. Take a hard look in mirror 2. Build two way bridges to other ecosystems 3. Arizona based founders, investors, and employees should be biggest $$$ winners from AZ unicorns. 4. Redistribution is the default. If the startup scene made you, make the next generation.

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If you’re considering a dev agency, don’t underestimate the impact of time zones. Different time zones slow everything down. Daily communication rarely consists of just a single comment and response. There are always discussions, follow-up questions, and micro-decisions. A quick Slack message can easily turn into a long thread, and with different time zones, that thread can take days to develop. With an offshore dev agency, these interactions are complicated by cultural differences. If anything, you need more communication with them, not less. Knowledge transfer and good communication are the hardest parts of building with a team. If you’re not set up with the right environment for them, you’ll be swimming upstream every day.

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$1B for a 3-month-old AI startup? That's not something you see every day. Safe Superintelligence (SSI) has secured a billion-dollar seed round. No product. 10 employees. $5B valuation. In any other industry, we'd call it madness. But in AI, is it a glimpse into the future? Are VCs betting on the brains of OpenAI's former Chief Scientist? Or are they investing in the potential future of AI safety? Or both? What do you think? Is this level of investment justified, or are we getting ahead of ourselves? #AI #Technology

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Here are 3 companies paying $100k-$400k for fully-remote devs: - Pulumi - Invisible - AssemblyAI They get it. They don't have the FAANG brand, they even pay less than FAANGs do in the US, yet they're able to easily hire and retain FAANG-levent talent. Want to know about other companies in this category? eurotoptechjobs.com has a list of such companies, growing every week. It also has 4000+ top-paying job positions in Europe. It also contains data regarding compensation and saving rates. Check it out if it sounds interesting 🙂 ♻ Like/Comment/Share if you want to help people in your network.

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Hot take…it’s not like getting into YC is your automatic ticket to success. But there are a few things about it that made a huge difference. 1. It steps up your company’s pace. They push you to move fast, iterate quickly, and constantly validate your assumptions. This creates a sense of urgency that permeates the entire company. This is worth more than you’d think. 2. The advice is top notch. Double is my 2nd startup - I founded Jetfuel in 2016 which was eventually acquired. I wish I’d had all the YC advice the first time around. 3. Raising money is significantly easier. The brand of YC means it’s significantly easier to raise a round than without YC. It’s still hard and stressful, but it is undoubtedly one of the perks of YC. At the end of the day, you gotta do the work yourself. But YC gives you a big leg up.

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Are you a founder and thinking of building an MVP? 👷‍♂️ I joined Ed Kang a few weeks back to discuss dev shops vs hire direct 👇 If you are looking to build the next phase of your business, Startups.com is a vibrant community of like minded individuals who will help you move from 0-1. 🚀 #startups #founders #recruiting _________ 👋 Hi, I'm Tony. Startup talent advisor and recruiter next door. Follow me for advice in scaling your startups without blowing up your runway, hiring tips, and even jobs I am filling.

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Interviewing at big and small companies at the same time? Here's why this may be a yellow flag: Let's say you're a staff software engineer, and you're looking at potential roles with Stripe, Notion, and three startups in the seed to Series A range. The startup founders are all going to wonder: Are you actually serious about going early stage? Often it's left unsaid -- though the good ones know how to ask about this. A lot of engineers ask me why this is the case. And it's usually because they landed their last role in the ZIRP era. But we're past ZIRP now, and founders are looking at more than just technical skill. As engineering orgs stay lean and flat, it's more important to these founding teams that each new hire brings real conviction. Will their next hire stay late at the office them, shoulder to shoulder, to solve the next big set of problems? Will they bring a product mindset towards their work that shows care in the craft? And will they actually be able to self onboard in a highly dynamic environment? Unfortunately -- big companies are known to provide a very different working environment. Compensation is higher. Things are more stable. And if your own story around where and why you're interviewing there isn't clear, you may find that startups question the motivation factor. 2021 + 2022 was all about bring as much talent through the door as possible for startups. Today, it's about bringing on the right team member.

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Senior devs: I'm opening up 3 spots for my exclusive "Closing Clients" offer. We’ll work together to add €80-150k to your business in 3–6 months. This is for the dev whose contract is ending in 4+ months. For the courageous dev jumping headfirst into a freelancing biz. — First, we create your high-ticket offer and validate it — Second, we’ll show you our proven strategies of how you’re going to sell it — Next, we’ll tap into your network to turn ready-to-buy businesses into clients in <30 minutes a day. Okay, there’s a lot more to it. Send me a DM with the word “curious” to get some insights into my method. But I warn you… This is only for the dev that’s ready to supercharge your biz and 1.) earn a very healthy income, 2.) while getting back your time. PS: Don’t worry — we don’t do endless commitments. See you in my DMs :)

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This doesn’t mean coding is dead (sorry, Jensen Huang). Instead, what we are seeing is how deeply polarized the tech market has become in 2024 and how wide the gap is growing. Fewer tech jobs = fewer tech companies hiring. And traditional SaaS companies are at the center of this shift. Because: 1) VC money isn’t flowing like it used to. Historically, most of the VC capital raised by tech startups went to hiring and customer acquisition. Now, with funding rounds slowing, there’s less cash to fuel headcount growth. 2) Growth has stalled. Many SaaS companies are paying the price for their “growth at all costs” phase, especially now that the ZIRP era is over. There's a ton of zombie companies out there—still walking, but essentially dead. Some are going for “life raft” options: selling at lower multiples, turning to private equity, acqui-hires, or raising funds at steeply diluted valuations. And of course, this means no expansion, hiring freezes, or worse—mass layoffs after the 2022 bubble burst. Now, on the other side of the gap is AI, grabbing all the money, headlines, and triple-digit growth. But even within AI, there are two distinct markets. 1) Core AI infrastructure – AI-focused hardware, software, and services. 2) AI-embedded companies – Businesses that natively integrate AI (like LLMs) into their applications. In 2024, every company is calling itself an “AI company,” slapping AI into their apps or pitch decks to ride the hype wave. This approach works for now—they’re raising capital, iterating, and searching for product-market fit. But in 5–10 years? Many of these companies might not be sustainable. Their AI offerings are often easy to replicate, and their competitive edge fades quickly. Moat-less. The good news is, we are starting to see more enterprise spending in the application layer and I think more value is being created. Agentic applications are really moving the needle now. Which is critical - the entire AI movement rests on the future of application builders. AI infrastructure, on the other hand, has more staying power IMO. These companies—especially those working on hardware—are playing the long game. Yes, they’re capital-intensive, but the opportunity is massive. The proverbial diamond mine of AI is far from fully explored. And as history shows, the ones selling the tools to dig the mine will often be the biggest winners. What do you think? Let me know your thoughts. P.S. Great data from Bigdata.com and Linas Beliūnas

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I'm looking to talk to someone that works for an organization that offers a paid developer plan in addition to their "standard" product (the main product sold can't be sold directly to devs). Essentially I'm looking to understand how companies think about monetizing that type of product. If that is you or someone you know, please point them my way! #developerplans

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Thanks for the insightful pitch strategies. When can I get a slot to pitch to you?

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