American Entrepreneurship

DECEMBER 11, 2024

As early investors in AI companies such as Lambda Labs, Writer, Streamlit, and many others, weve seen businesses of all sizes struggle to deploy models and AI tools into production, said Darian Shirazi, Managing Partner at Gradient. Herscus background in deploying innovative technology runs deep.

investing 98

investing investment entrepreneurship enablement 98

StartupNation

JULY 5, 2025

For our skincare brand, we made a deliberate choice to lead with both performance and purpose. Our core metrics weren’t just about revenue growth; they included sustainable packaging adoption, customer retention from values-driven campaigns, and influencer-led conversions tied to inclusivity narratives.

pitching 64

pitching advice hospitality frameworks 64

American Entrepreneurship

APRIL 24, 2025

The round, led by Roo Capital , included participation from 1st and Main Growth Partners, SaaS Ventures, and Riptide Venturesbringing the companys total funding to $16 million. “We believe that AI should be used as a force for good, and this funding allows us to expand our mission: to make the digital world safer for everyone.”

startup ecosystem 87

startup ecosystem SaaS accelerator education 87

American Entrepreneurship

DECEMBER 20, 2024

Fintech startup Parafin innovatively tackles this challenge through its embedded finance infrastructure used by partners such as DoorDash, Amazon, and others. Since we launched Parafin, our mission has been to empower small businesses with financial services. This has historically hindered small business growth.

financing 98

financing finance incumbents construction 98

American Entrepreneurship

OCTOBER 31, 2024

The company’s recent close of a Series C round was led by Development Partners International’s African Development Partners (ADP) III Fund, joined by first-time investors G oogle’s Africa Investment Fund and Verod Capital – a leading African private equity firm.

investing 105

investing investment entrepreneurship leadership 105

Revolution

MARCH 26, 2025

Companies in our portfolio are tackling supply chain and logistic challenges, making healthy food options more widely available, innovating in the retail and consumer space, disrupting the healthcare system, leading the way in digital sports and entertainment, and more. Based in Washington, D.C., Take Detroit, for example.

capital 147

capital innovation entrepreneurship culture 147

Hunter Walk

OCTOBER 14, 2024

who believe in our mission of bridging cultures. To the latter, the venture arms of DJ Steve Aoki and actor Simu Liu co-led our most recent round and both Steve and Simu have been extremely helpful behind the scenes as we build more distribution. So in many ways, I think it’s healthier for everyone that the lines have been re-drawn.

culture 96

culture collaboration startup financing 96

American Entrepreneurship

JANUARY 10, 2025

The Importance of the Power Grid The electric grid is the backbone of our country, foundational to business and modern society, serving to distribute power to homes, businesses, and critical infrastructure. On one of the hottest days of the year, our technology detected a tree that had fallen onto power lines. In the U.S.

technology 94

technology energy health enablement 94

StartupNation

JUNE 4, 2025

During our Series A round, I replaced traditional bar graphs with dynamic visuals that investors could manipulate during the presentation. I’ll never forget presenting to a particularly skeptical VC who kept questioning our projections. They could test their own assumptions and see the resilience of our business model firsthand.

pitching 66

pitching innovation energy founder 66

Innovation 2 Enterprise

NOVEMBER 21, 2024

Since first investing in Oklahoma startups in 1999, i2E, and now its independent Venture Capital Fund management partner, Plains Ventures, have managed numerous early-stage debt and equity investment funds, making 452 investments in more than 250 companies. Our success is deeply tied to the partnerships we’ve cultivated over the years.”For

ventures 40

ventures investing investment entrepreneurial ecosystem 40

American Entrepreneurship

MARCH 12, 2025

Unknown Those three quotes help set the stage for our playbook that delves into the core components of the entrepreneurial mindset. Use Strategic Partnerships & Collaborations Partner with influencers, businesses, or communities to expand reach. Turn satisfied early customers into advocates.

strategy 59

strategy startup creativity mentorship 59

American Entrepreneurship

JUNE 6, 2025

David, the rapidly growing health and nutrition startup, raised $75 million in Series A funding, led by Greenoaks with participation from Valor Equity Partners. This investment allows us to scale faster and stay focused on our goal of helping people eat well without compromise.” “We are not here to make another snack.

health 92

health innovation entrepreneurship leadership 92

Jason Malki

JUNE 6, 2025

Investing isn’t just about deploying capital — it’s about being a long-term partner to someone trying to bend the future in a particular direction. One challenge, especially at our stage (late seed through Series B), is seeing through momentum signals and getting clarity on real traction versus manufactured buzz.

founder 52

founder investing investment accelerator 52

Jason Malki

OCTOBER 15, 2024

For Drivers : Drivers are no longer just couriers — they’re empowered business partners. Their driver, known as “Agent Magnum,” says, “Jingle allows us to make 15-minute deliveries in regions we don’t normally serve through our regular channels. With Jingle, they can become “microfranchisees,” turning their vehicles into mobile stores.

communities 52

communities opportunity sustainability innovation 52

Jason Malki

DECEMBER 12, 2024

Most recently, he was a partner at Bain & Company, advising Fortune 500 companies. To address the insider threat and secure the telco customers data, our DRS client turned to us. Our team had been developing Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) to enable continuous encryption and end-to-end data protection.

founder 52

founder education collaboration development 52

American Entrepreneurship

JUNE 19, 2025

Our mandate is simple: to provide the right capital to the right companies,” said Leib Bolel, Managing Partner at Lioncrest Ventures. Its dual-fund strategy enables Lioncrest to partner with a wider range of companies at different stages of growth, offering tools that match their unique financing and operational needs.

ventures 62

ventures startup strategy venture capital 62

American Entrepreneurship

JULY 1, 2025

The round was led by a syndicate headed by Mason Fink, with participation from NorthStar Clean Energy (a CMS Energy company), Alloy Partners (formerly High Alpha Innovation), and Beckett Industries.

construction 98

construction energy sustainability innovation 98

Ben Franklin Technology Partners

OCTOBER 30, 2024

That’s where Ben Franklin Technology Partners came in. “Ben After receiving funds from friends and family, Ben Franklin was our next round of funding, which brought much-needed startup capital into the company. Contact us or see our free programs. He says that Ben Franklin’s help went far beyond financial backing. “Ben

support 52

support entrepreneurship entrepreneurs development 52

American Entrepreneurship

MARCH 5, 2025

The new CEO Tracey Warner Halama takes the helm during the companys next strategic growth stage backed by growth equity firm Full Frame Growth Partners. She is also the Operating Partner at Full Frame Growth Partners that led the recent funding round and was previously the Founder and Managing Partner of Creekside Ventures.

leadership 86

leadership health peer-to-peer mix-use 86

American Entrepreneurship

DECEMBER 2, 2024

“Building voice agents that can converse like humans and autonomously handle complex tasks is no easy feat, and I’m immensely proud of what our team has achieved.” PlayAI’s text-to-speech models have been incredibly valuable to our Agentic Phone Rep,” said Keith Fearon, Head of Growth at 11x, customer of PlayAI.

entrepreneurship 98

entrepreneurship enablement media support 98

Revolution

MAY 12, 2025

In 2016, after I wrote my book The Third Wave (a title that paid homage to Toffler, and talked about the way in which the Internet was revolutionizing major sectors of our society), the number one question I got was: Whats the Fourth Wave, Steve? We partnered (with telecoms, media, and tech firms) to expand our reach.

entrepreneurs 100

entrepreneurs entrepreneurship innovation communities 100

American Entrepreneurship

MARCH 26, 2025

Our customers input has been invaluable to securing their sensitive data, eliminating IT inefficiencies, and making IT work best for end users. As David Schneider, General Partner at Coatue, noted, Islands world-class executive team has continued to deliver a product that drives immense value for enterprise executives and end users alike.

hospitality 93

hospitality entrepreneurship SaaS education 93

American Entrepreneurship

NOVEMBER 20, 2024

Her dedication to the client experience and pushing the boundaries of technology ensures better solutions for our clients, lash artists and partners. “Jo is perfect for LUUM’s next phase of growth. She’s exactly who we need to transform salon services and improve the world of beauty through technology in service of humans.”

innovation 98

innovation collaboration entrepreneurship leadership 98

American Entrepreneurship

MAY 21, 2025

Consumer has the largest share of global GDP, and yet consumer startups have been underfunded by venture capital in recent years, said Sasha Kaletsky, Managing Partner at Creator Ventures. We believe this presents a massive opportunityand were building our firm to be the go-to partner for founders innovating in this space.

ventures 79

ventures startup SaaS venture capital 79

American Entrepreneurship

JUNE 2, 2025

As the founding team behind LA Libations, their expertise in launching functional beverages, healthy snack startups, and sustainable food companies positions TTV as a uniquely qualified investor and operating partner. Our first investment in Just Ice Tea perfectly illustrates that.

ventures 90

ventures investing investment sustainability 90

American Entrepreneurship

MARCH 16, 2025

SoftBank Vision Funds investment reflects our shared commitment to leveraging advanced technology to drive the future of renewable energy, said Matt Campbell, CEO of Terabase Energy. This funding validates our mission and provides the resources to scale our platform, paving the way for the terawatt era of solar.

construction 94

construction support energy sustainability 94

American Entrepreneurship

FEBRUARY 13, 2025

Magnetar, a global multi-strategy alternative asset manager, with additional support from Pulse Fund and strategic partner Pritchard Auto Company, made a $36 million equity contribution to the five-year-old company. In addition, Endera secured a $13 million credit facility.

support 81

support transportation sustainability economic growth 81

American Entrepreneurship

MARCH 30, 2025

This round is about seizing the opportunities ahead for our next phase of growth, including driving innovation with new products, exploring acquisitions, and ensuring long-term financial flexibility, said Immad Akhund, co-founder and CEO of Mercury.

financing 91

financing finance board entrepreneurship 91

American Entrepreneurship

JANUARY 31, 2025

In a statement, Niday said, We have made significant progress building our AI model and data set for autonomous orchard management since our seed round of funding, so this additional funding is strong validation of the incredible work our team has accomplished and our future growth prospects.

innovation 94

innovation sustainability technology enablement 94

American Entrepreneurship

FEBRUARY 20, 2025

to a quantum safe future, recognizing the immediacy of the threat to our security infrastructure. The requirement to upgrade enterprise technologies to post-quantum cryptographic standards is one of the most significant undertakings facing enterprises this decade, saidMike Goguen, founder and managing partner of Two Bear Capital.

disruption 55

disruption leadership enablement accelerator 55

Hunter Walk

NOVEMBER 11, 2024

We developed a friendship as part of our Board service and a recent blog post of his made me think I wanted to learn a bit more about his Instacart experience. Rafa runs Background Capital, and is one of the best partners for early company builders I know. So what follows are Five Question with Nilam.

board 104

board collaboration energy advice 104

American Entrepreneurship

JUNE 13, 2025

In a major boost for the artificial intelligence startup ecosystem, Seven Stars, a new venture capital firm founded by former SV Angel Partner Steven Lee, has officially launched its $40 million inaugural fund to support early-stage AI startups. The newly launched fund will focus on pre-seed and seed stage startups developing AI applications.

founder 59

founder venture capital startup ecosystem entrepreneurship 59

Ben Franklin Technology Partners

MAY 28, 2025

It was gonna go forward whether I won or not, but Ive had two great coaches, Joe (Hackett) and Julie (Bratton), and a great relationship with Ben Franklin Tech Partners. Age Tech is not only a growing market opportunityits a moral imperative in rural and aging regions like ours, Sider said.

pitching 40

pitching health innovation economic development 40

Jason Malki

JUNE 23, 2025

Redefining Recruitment: How LatAm Talent Partners Is Building Agile, Borderless Teams for the Future of Work Mark Mancebo I had the pleasure of interviewing Mark Mancebo , the founder & CEO of LatAm Talent Partners , a recruitment firm dedicated to helping top-tier talent across Latin America land impactful roles with innovative U.S.-based

culture 52

culture accelerator creativity entrepreneurship 52