#172 | Fintech Theses, Open-Source AI, Scaling to $250M ARR, & more
March 18–24th | The latest from M13, Felicis, Madrona, Foundry Group, Bessemer, and others
SandHill.io aggregates and shares the latest investment themes, market insights, and best practices for operating and investing from 700+ VCs, analysts, and operators.
This newsletter curates a selection of posts featured on the website each week.
Investment Themes, Theses, & Outlooks
The Thesis Driving M13's Fintech Investment Strategy (Karim Bhalwani & Latif Peracha, M13)
Software and a Service (Dan Bartus, Partner @ Felicis)
Open-Source AI — Mapping, advantages & debate (Abel Samot, VC @ Red River West)
Industry Developments & Analyses
The Big 5 And Their AI Stacks (Vivek Ramaswami & Sabrina Wu, Madrona)
16 Changes to the Way Enterprises Are Building and Buying Generative AI (Sarah Wang & Shangda Xu, A16Z)
Why ChatGPT is the new Excel — and what it means for software (Natalie Sandman, GP @ Spark)
AI SaaS Companies Will Be More Profitable (Tomasz Tunguz, MD @ Theory)
Guides, Case Studies, and Best Practices for Operating
Series A…Ready for it? (Jaclyn Hester, Partner @ Foundry)
GTM strategies to reach $250M ARR at ActiveCampaign (Kyle Poyar, Partner @ OpenView)
Pricing and Packaging Your B2B or Prosumer Generative AI Feature (Sarah Wang, Tugce Erten, & Alex Immerman, A16Z)
Monetization Strategies for B2B Platforms (Alex Lazarow, MP @ Fluent Ventures)
Did growth endurance endure? (Janelle Teng, VC @ Bessemer)
Being ‘first to market’ is near worthless (Sammy Abdullah, GP @ Blossom Street VC)
Additional Reads
Two Roads Diverged: The Splitting of Venture Capital (Rex Woodbury, MP @ Daybreak)
Revisiting The Professionalization of Startups (Kyle Harrison, GP @ Contrary)
Valuation Matters (David Beisel, GP @ NextView)
Dangerous language in startups (Matt Brown, Partner @ Matrix)
Locals and Tourists (Brendan Baker, Partner @ Ridge Ventures)
Autonomous Vehicles vs. Bad Drivers… (Michael Greeley, GP @ Flare Capital)
Section 174 and its Impact on Tech Startups (Tanay Jaipuria, Partner @ Wing VC)
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