You don’t have to move to San Francisco to launch a startup, but working here does come with some benefits: temperate weather, natural beauty, great food, and most certainly, the world’s largest concentration of venture capital.
Y Combinator’s Demo Day took place this week, and while the event itself was only virtual, 86% of the founders in YC’s winter 2023 batch lived in SF while participating.
The ongoing AI boom is a contributing factor: 54 of the 282 companies in this cohort are “specifically building generative AI startups,” Natasha Mascarenhas reported.
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Contents
- 1 VCs to Re-Sell Startups: Let’s Put Some Tags
- 2 Funds offering ‘friend and family checks’ could bring the change the underrepresented founders need
- 3 Pitch Deck Teardown: Smalls’ $19 Million Series B Deck
- 4 As YC launches a new batch, here’s how the early-stage market is doing today
- 5 What is a fair price premium for startup stock?
- 6 6 common challenges cybersecurity teams face and how to overcome them
- 7 Ask Sophie: How do we transfer H-1Bs and green cards to our startup?
- 8 Vote for businesskinda.com at the Webby Awards
VCs to Re-Sell Startups: Let’s Put Some Tags
Image Credits: Kinga Krzeminska (Opens in a new window) /Getty Images
Largely thanks to Generation Z’s interest in sustainable shopping, re-commerce is soaring to new heights, and VCs are on the rise.
Since Etsy went public in 2015, companies like Poshmark, The RealReal, and thredUP followed suit, drawing even more investors to the industry. Last year, about $6 billion in VCs poured into resale platforms, according to Brian Schwarzbach, an investor with Cathay Innovation.
In a post for TC+, he examines three recommerce areas that are drawing VC interest and shares “some food for thought for founders building startups in this (again) emerging space.”
Funds offering ‘friend and family checks’ could bring the change the underrepresented founders need
Image Credits: Overearth / Getty Images
America’s longstanding wealth gap between white and black households contributes to the lack of diversity among startup founders.
The average liquid assets for a black family in the US is $3,630, but that figure rises to $79,000 for a white family. As a result, “the average black founder raises less than about $1,000 from family and friends,” reports Dominic-Madori Davis.
Since the average round from friends and family is $23,000, “they should secure the entire liquid wealth of six black families” for parity, according to a white paper from venture capital fund Fifth Star.
Pitch Deck Teardown: Smalls’ $19 Million Series B Deck
Image Credits: little ones (Opens in a new window)
Subscription cat food startup Smalls has raised $34 million since launching in 2017.
Now the company has 50 employees, plans to open a cat cafe and looks forward to expanding into retail. The founders shared their Series B deck with TC+, minus “specific details about the company’s valuation and current earnings.”
- Cover slide
- Market slide
- Problem slide
- Mission slide (“We’re here to make 9 lives 10”)
- Competition slide
- Product slide
- How it works slide
- Why now interstitial slide
- Scroll business statistics
- Slide milestones
- Team slide
- Use of funds slide
- Performance interstitial slide
- CAC slider
- Scroll to market/growth channels
- Value Prop Dia
- Churn Analysis Slide
- LTV slide
- Future Plans interstitial slide
- Market expansion slide part 1
- Market expansion slide part 2
- LTV extension slider
- The Slide Questions and Target Milestones
- Thank you slide
As YC launches a new batch, here’s how the early-stage market is doing today
Image Credits: Viaframe (Opens in a new window) /Getty Images
Drawing on data from Carta’s “First Cut – State of Private Markets: Q1 2023” report, Anna Heim and Alex Wilhelm crunched the numbers to get a feel for the early VC landscape.
Taking into account “median round sizes and deal values”, they found that pre-money valuations for early-stage startups fell slightly, but Series A, B and C rounds “appear to be showing signs of recovery”.
Image Credits: Javier Ghersi/Getty Images
A market update report from Redpoint Ventures provides insights for Series B and C founders planning to raise money this year, writes Alex Wilhelm.
“Mid-stage startups still look quite expensive these days,” he writes. “Either the stock market needs to recuperate some of its juice, or starting prices need to fall more to get things back to ‘normal’.”
6 common challenges cybersecurity teams face and how to overcome them
Image Credits: Esa Hiltula (Opens in a new window) /Getty Images
According to investor Ross Haleliuk, cybersecurity product teams work under unique pressures.
It’s not just that they work in a crowded market – “it’s an incredibly dynamic space where the landscape sometimes changes overnight.”
Since many startups lack frameworks for building customer relationships and fine-tuning model metrics, Haleliuk, who is also head of product at his own company, shares tactics that will help security vendors “better understand their target market and the kind of solutions they’re looking for” .
Ask Sophie: How do we transfer H-1Bs and green cards to our startup?
Image Credits: Bryce Durbin/businesskinda.com
Dear Sophie,
I was recently fired.
I co-founded a cleantech startup with two of my former colleagues, who were also laid off. Both of my co-founders are on H-1Bs and had green cards in the works at our former company. I am a US citizen.
What should we do to transfer their H-1Bs and green cards to our startup? Based on your experience, do investors care about the amount of money a startup spends on visas and green cards for their founders?
– First founder
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Janice has been with businesskinda for 5 years, writing copy for client websites, blog posts, EDMs and other mediums to engage readers and encourage action. By collaborating with clients, our SEO manager and the wider businesskinda team, Janice seeks to understand an audience before creating memorable, persuasive copy.