How the Founders have raised funds so far in 2023
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This week, DocSend released a slew of statistics on VC activity over the past six months. For TC+, I dove deep into the trends that are starting to emerge. Subscribe for the full story, but since you're a loyal reader of this show newsletter, I'll give you the TL;DR:
"Why now?" becomes more and more important for investors: why should they part with their money to invest in you at this precise moment? I've written more about "why now" in the context of pitches elsewhere, but it's interesting to see this surface. Decks are getting shorter and shorter; last year, the average successful presentation had 19 slides. Today, the average is 16. Do more with less, get straight to the point. Financially, the world is a bit wobbly right now, which is why investors want to see presentations that show founders know how to optimize break-even and then profitability. You can always spend more money if you want to grow faster, but the trade bases are becoming more and more important. Financial sectors as a whole are coming under greater scrutiny. There's a sea change: Investors are spending 60% more time on the financial section of a pitch deck compared to a year ago. Do things right. Investors are getting tired of AI. . . If you want to put AI/ML on a deck, it better be because leveraging new technologies gives you a real, measurable advantage for your startup, not because it's the newest and most fashionable thing.Okay. Let me put away my little soapbox and see what else happened in startup country this week!
Take it slow and please don't break things
Credits image: Cruise
"Move fast and break things" has been Facebook/Meta's mantra for a long time. The idea is not to hesitate to take risks. It might work if the worst thing that could happen was your aunt not being able to see her niece's photo for a few hours, but in the world of self-driving cars, that doesn't work. This week, regulators laid down the law, asking Cruise to cut his robotaxi fleet by 50% following an accident (with a fire truck, no less. You know, those quiet, subtle little vehicles that it's so easy to miss). Personally, I keep doing double takes when I see little Chevrolet Bolt EVs driving around San Francisco with no one in the driver's seat, but maybe that's just me.
Good news is that CATL, which supplies batteries to Tesla, among others, has presented a battery capable of charging 400 km in 10 minutes. Very cool. Speaking of Tesla, our transportation team has been busy with the electric vehicle maker this week. She said the data breach affecting 75,000 employees was an inside job (oops), and the company launched
Welcome to Startups Weekly. Sign up here to receive it in your inbox every Friday.
This week, DocSend released a slew of statistics on VC activity over the past six months. For TC+, I dove deep into the trends that are starting to emerge. Subscribe for the full story, but since you're a loyal reader of this show newsletter, I'll give you the TL;DR:
"Why now?" becomes more and more important for investors: why should they part with their money to invest in you at this precise moment? I've written more about "why now" in the context of pitches elsewhere, but it's interesting to see this surface. Decks are getting shorter and shorter; last year, the average successful presentation had 19 slides. Today, the average is 16. Do more with less, get straight to the point. Financially, the world is a bit wobbly right now, which is why investors want to see presentations that show founders know how to optimize break-even and then profitability. You can always spend more money if you want to grow faster, but the trade bases are becoming more and more important. Financial sectors as a whole are coming under greater scrutiny. There's a sea change: Investors are spending 60% more time on the financial section of a pitch deck compared to a year ago. Do things right. Investors are getting tired of AI. . . If you want to put AI/ML on a deck, it better be because leveraging new technologies gives you a real, measurable advantage for your startup, not because it's the newest and most fashionable thing.Okay. Let me put away my little soapbox and see what else happened in startup country this week!
Take it slow and please don't break thingsCredits image: Cruise
"Move fast and break things" has been Facebook/Meta's mantra for a long time. The idea is not to hesitate to take risks. It might work if the worst thing that could happen was your aunt not being able to see her niece's photo for a few hours, but in the world of self-driving cars, that doesn't work. This week, regulators laid down the law, asking Cruise to cut his robotaxi fleet by 50% following an accident (with a fire truck, no less. You know, those quiet, subtle little vehicles that it's so easy to miss). Personally, I keep doing double takes when I see little Chevrolet Bolt EVs driving around San Francisco with no one in the driver's seat, but maybe that's just me.
Good news is that CATL, which supplies batteries to Tesla, among others, has presented a battery capable of charging 400 km in 10 minutes. Very cool. Speaking of Tesla, our transportation team has been busy with the electric vehicle maker this week. She said the data breach affecting 75,000 employees was an inside job (oops), and the company launched
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