Thu.Aug 25, 2022

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This freshly funded startup spun out of a student-run Stanford investment club

TechCrunch

In late 2020, a group of Stanford students banded together to create Stanford 2020, a venture fund solely to invest in their fellow classmates’ ventures. Given the school’s past in spinning out successful startup founders, it unsurprisingly had no trouble raising $1.5 million for the debut investment vehicle — waitlist not included. Now, two years later, the leader of that club, Steph Mui, is trying to replicate that playbook in the form of a venture-backed startup, and solo entrepreneursh

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What a Waffle Says About Competition

Entrepreneur's Handbook

Be prepared for the giant to take your market with a “good-enough” product Continue reading on Entrepreneur's Handbook ».

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AI-powered videoconferencing platform Headroom raises $9M

TechCrunch

Headroom , a startup developing AI-powered software to make meetings ostensibly more efficient, today announced that it raised $9 million in funding led by Equal Opportunity Ventures with participation from Gradient Ventures, LDV Capital, AME Cloud Ventures, and Morado Ventures. CEO Julian Green said that the proceeds will be put toward product development and expanding the company’s workforce.

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Scaling from 3 Employees to Huge Advances in the Cure for Cancer W/ Jason foster

Entrepreneur's Handbook

Scaling from 3 Employees to Huge Advances in the Cure for Cancer W/ Jason Foster Learn from Ori BioTech CEO [link] Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube Welcome to the Entrepreneur’s Handbook Podcast, where we share inspiring startup stories and practical takeaways for you, the listener. Start-up expert and Ori CEO Jason Foster tells the story of how he went from a $19k a year job to becoming CEO of a company helping patients get access to life-saving cancer treatment.

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From Curiosity to Competitive Edge: How Mid-Market CEOs Are Using AI to Scale Smarter

Speaker: Lee Andrews, Founder at LJA New Media & Tony Karrer, Founder and CTO at Aggregage

This session will walk you through how one CEO used generative AI, workflow automation, and sales personalization to transform an entire security company—then built the Zero to Strategy framework that other mid-market leaders are now using to unlock 3.5x ROI. As a business executive, you’ll learn how to assess AI opportunities in your business, drive adoption across teams, and overcome internal resource constraints—without hiring a single data scientist.

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Egypt’s SubsBase raises $2.4M for its subscription and recurring revenue management platform

TechCrunch

The presence of various payment forms and providers is one reason why businesses in the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region have operational challenges in managing revenue and collection. These businesses often use outdated methods such as Excel sheets to keep a record of these collections, especially subscription-based ones, or build in-house automation systems , therefore, they miss out on vital data leading to loss of revenue and inefficiencies like hiring more accountants than required to

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In a down market, good messaging isn’t enough for managing international teams

TechCrunch

John S. Kim. Contributor. Share on Twitter. John S. Kim is the CEO of Sendbird , the leading API provider to embed chat, voice and video experiences inside of mobile apps. More posts by this contributor. We’re building a social+ world, but how will we moderate it? Leasing Creative Office Space? Don’t Get Screwed. Companies are clamping down on budgets, but startup CEOs shouldn’t assume that costs will go down just because it was decided they need to.

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The Insider’s Guide to Data Rooms: What to Know Before You Raise

Andreessen Horowitz

It’s time for your startup to fundraise. You prepare a deck, practice your pitch, and start reaching out to investors. If a first meeting goes well, it often ends with a request to share your “data room.” But what is a data room, and what should be included in it? What is a data room? Read More. The post The Insider’s Guide to Data Rooms: What to Know Before You Raise appeared first on Future.

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Korean eyewear brand Gentle Monster jazzes up China’s AR startup Nreal with $15M funding

TechCrunch

Augmented reality headsets have been around for years, but none of the market players has really expanded beyond the techy demographic and broken into the mainstream. An AR startup hopes to change that by partnering with an eyewear fashion brand. Nreal , the well-funded Chinese AR headset maker that’s been making aggressive global expansion, said Thursday that it has raised $15 million from Korean sunglasses brand Gentle Monster ’s parent company, IICOMBINED.

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30 Best Online Startup Communities for Entrepreneurs

Feedough

Social media sites have become the primary place where startups. Read more. The post 30 Best Online Startup Communities for Entrepreneurs appeared first on Feedough.

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State of AI in Sales & Marketing 2025

AI adoption is reshaping sales and marketing. But is it delivering real results? We surveyed 1,000+ GTM professionals to find out. The data is clear: AI users report 47% higher productivity and an average of 12 hours saved per week. But leaders say mainstream AI tools still fall short on accuracy and business impact. Download the full report today to see how AI is being used — and where go-to-market professionals think there are gaps and opportunities.

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$10B crypto developer platform Alchemy buys coding bootcamp in first-ever acquisition

TechCrunch

Web3 developer infrastructure startup Alchemy, which last raised a $200 million Series C1 last February, has just made its first acquisition ever — and it’s in the education space. The company purchased education startup ChainShot , which runs coding bootcamps for aspiring web3 developers, Alchemy cofounder and CEO Nikil Viswanathan told TechCrunch exclusively.

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Treasury Management: A Guide to Navigating Downturns

Andreessen Horowitz

… The post Treasury Management: A Guide to Navigating Downturns appeared first on Andreessen Horowitz.

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As a Stripe investor cuts the value of its stake, more evidence of fintech valuation pressure

TechCrunch

News that T. Rowe Price cut the value of its stake in fintech giant Stripe is making headlines this week, the new data point coming in the wake of similar cuts by other investment houses regarding their ownership in late-stage startups. However, while it is true that T. Rowe Price reduced the value of its stake in Stripe, part of its Global Technology Fund, the latest reduction in its worth is not unique.

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Die With Zero Book Review (My Key Takeaways)

OkDork

Die With Zero by Bill Perkins introduces an interesting concept about money. Your life isn’t about making as much money as possible. It’s about using money as a tool to create memories and fulfill needs—and you should use it during times in your life when it can provide the biggest impact. Not saving it all until you’re 80. If you like books about money and psychology—you’ll love Die With Zero.

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15 Modern Use Cases for Enterprise Business Intelligence

Large enterprises face unique challenges in optimizing their Business Intelligence (BI) output due to the sheer scale and complexity of their operations. Unlike smaller organizations, where basic BI features and simple dashboards might suffice, enterprises must manage vast amounts of data from diverse sources. What are the top modern BI use cases for enterprise businesses to help you get a leg up on the competition?

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Daily Crunch: Hacking group penetrates 130+ organizations, captures credentials for nearly 10K workers

TechCrunch

To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here. Hello, you sparkling souls! Thursday is upon us once again. Have you ever noticed how Thursdays seem to keep coming along with alarming regularity? It feels like roughly once per week, but that’s anecdotal. More research may be required.

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Is “management by walking around” an outmoded fad?

Berkonomics

Let’s set the scene. One of the CEOs I used to coach started his day by walking the floor of his extended facility and checking in with managers and employees of the various departments, especially the call center. He tried to feel the pulse of the company by the intensity of motion, the metrics of backlog, and the stated problems brought to him as he asked.

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Flexible, shorter-term apartment startups gain more traction

TechCrunch

Startups looking to make it easier for people to rent apartments on a flexible, shorter-term basis are gaining momentum thanks in part to the rise of remote work. Last week, Dealbook reported that a flexible living startup, Flow, founded by WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann, has locked down $350 million from Andreessen Horowitz. Earlier today, TechCrunch reported that an online rental marketplace, Zumper, just raised $30 million in a Series D1 round of funding led by Kleiner Perkins to help it bett

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To bring PLG to cybersecurity, let’s change our hiring habits

TechCrunch

Ross Haleliuk. Contributor. Share on Twitter. Ross Haleliuk is a venture capitalist and head of product at LimaCharlie.io. More posts by this contributor. H1 2022 cybersecurity product-led growth market map. Product-led growth (PLG) is more about the company’s mindset than it is about the product. There is a lot a company needs to do to succeed with a PLG strategy, and hiring product managers is not enough — neither can it be the first step.

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The GTM Intelligence Era: ZoomInfo 2025 Customer Impact Report

ZoomInfo customers aren’t just selling — they’re winning. Revenue teams using our Go-To-Market Intelligence platform grew pipeline by 32%, increased deal sizes by 40%, and booked 55% more meetings. Download this report to see what 11,000+ customers say about our Go-To-Market Intelligence platform and how it impacts their bottom line. The data speaks for itself!

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6 industry conversations that don’t scream ‘OMG there’s a tech downturn’

TechCrunch

Journalists care a lot about tension, drama, and signal. Often times that looks like good news, like when small scrappy startups get starter capital to take on the public giant, or well-capitalized late-stage giant, or that moment when you realize healthcare’s disruption is just at its infancy. As of recently, though, we’ve seen startups face a massive correction across all stages, from double rounds of layoffs to valuation cuts to complete shutdowns.

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Real estate tech startup Reali to shut down after raising $100M one year ago

TechCrunch

Startups that are catering to homebuyers are struggling as interest rates and inflation have climbed and inventory shortages continue in many markets. . The latest casualty in the space is Reali, which announced that it has begun a shutdown and will be laying off most of its workforce on September 9. In a press release , c o-founder and chairman Amit Haller said “the challenging real estate and financial market conditions and unfavorable capital-raising environment” led to the decision to wind d

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India asks Byju’s to explain delay in filing audited financial accounts, report says

TechCrunch

India’s Ministry of Corporate Affairs has asked Byju’s to explain why it hasn’t filed its audited financials for the year ending March 2021, Bloomberg News reported Thursday. Edtech giant Byju’s, which is India’s most valuable startup with a valuation of $22 billion, has missed the deadline to file its audited results by 17 months. The startup — backed by scores of high-profile investors including Blackrock, Tiger Global, UBS, Prosus Ventures, Sequoia India and Lightspeed Venture Partners

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India alleges a16z-backed CoinSwitch violated forex laws, searches offices

TechCrunch

India’s financial crime-fighting agency conducted searches at multiple premises of the Bengaluru-headquartered CoinSwitch Kuber on Thursday, alleging the crypto exchange startup violated forex laws, four people familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. The Enforcement Directorate searched the office facilities and residences of some executives and also questioned many, including chief executive Ashish Singhal, two people said, requesting anonymity as the matter is private and sensitive.

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How Top Tech CFOs Solve Annual Planning’s Biggest Challenges

Gearing up for 2025 annual planning? Our latest eBook from the Operators Guild is your ultimate guide. Discover real-world solutions and best practices shared by top CFOs, drawn directly from discussions within OG’s vibrant online community. Learn from senior executives at high-growth tech startups as they outline financial planning strategies, align CEO and board goals, and coordinate budgets across departments.

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Breaking into healthcare with WELL Health and Freestyle on TechCrunch Live

TechCrunch

Healthcare startups often face unique challenges — something Well Health founder Guillaume de Zwirek understands. Together with Freestyle Partner, Jenny Lefcourt, the two will speak on the strategies used by de Zwirek as he built and scaled WELL Health into a leading healthcare startup. This TechCrunch Live event opens on August 31 at 11:30 a.m. PDT/2:30 p.m.

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Pitch Deck Teardown: Simba Chain’s $25M Series A deck

TechCrunch

Grab a cup of coffee and strap in, because this pitch deck teardown is pretty different from most of the ones I’ve done to date. Why? Let me count the ways. (OK, fine, there are only two ways.) But let’s take a closer look: 1. This is a blockchain pitch. The pitch deck is for Simba Chain , a blockchain company that raised $25 million in a Series A.

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It’s brutal out there for DTC companies

TechCrunch

News that Haus, a consumer beverage brand looking to bring down the ABV in booze, had failed to close a funding round and was being forced to sell took many — this publication included — by surprise. Perhaps we should have been less taken aback. Tracking the value of recently public DTC companies is an exercise in zooming in as their valuations shrink.

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Email will be with us until the universe dies, so these startups are working to make it better

TechCrunch

Ah, email. Why did you send my friend’s birthday party invite to my spam folder? Why do you make it so easy to archive an email when I don’t even know what that means? Why are you … blue now … Gmail? Email is a necessary evil. So whenever I hear about startups looking to innovate on the decades-old communication tech, I’m instantly intrigued considering the huge number of potential areas of improvement.

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5 Ways You Can Win Faster with Gen AI in Sales

Incorporating generative AI (gen AI) into your sales process can speed up your wins through improved efficiency, personalized customer interactions, and better informed decision- making. Gen AI is a game changer for busy salespeople and can reduce time-consuming tasks, such as customer research, note-taking, and writing emails, and provide insightful data analysis and recommendations.