The tide has shifted for solo GPs

Welcome to Startups Weekly. A nuanced take on his news and trends in this week’s startup from Senior Reporter and Equity co-host. Natasha Mascarenhas. Subscribe to receive this in your inbox here.

It is difficult to act aggressively after the tide turns. However, this is what is happening in the world of solo GPs, where investors, hearing about changes in institutional risk appetite, may extend funding timelines or reduce investment vehicle targets. , I am planning to completely leave the venture company. Some learned it the hard way, and like Sahil Lavingia, if you felt guilty investing in venture capital when markets were rocking and interest rates were skyrocketing, you could literally hand your LP the check. Some people are telling us to cancel.

This is a departure from the fund-of-funds mindset that was common last year, where investment firms cut checks to early-stage experimental investors, reducing risk and even leading the first checks to a new generation of startups. is the conversion of Currently, the idea of ​​supporting only one feels like a hard sell, depending on which agency you’re talking to.

For my full take on this burgeoning tension in the venture world, read my TC+ column.

I know some of us are still reeling from the very unfolding SVB chaos. In other words, yes, there are darker clouds more visible than before. somewhere.

The rest of this newsletter covers AI, Icons, and Demo Day.As always you can follow me twitter Or continue the conversation on Instagram. natasha.m@techcrunch.com or +1 925 271 0912 traffic light. No pitch.

Never a GM. AI only

I apparently live in a brain valley, but it’s pretty easy to find an investor, founder, or my best friend in a passionate conversation about artificial intelligence. At night I screencast ChatGPT trying to explain SVB.

Despite the heated news scene thanks to the ChatGPT plugin, the rise of Google and the magic of Canva, the best articles I read each week came from our very own Devin Coldeway. For this analysis, Coldeway published a head-to-head comparison of leading generative AI tools and asked them to create everything from phishing emails to code.

Here’s what you should know: Encapsulating compound effects is almost impossible in the AI ​​world. Technology continues to beat itself, and progress can only be celebrated with a grain of hope. But if you don’t believe me, see for yourself!

I heard it at Techstars demo day

This week, we attended our first in-person demo day since 2019, courtesy of 500 Global. As 500 CEO Christine Tsai put it, there’s a special, serious energy in the room as the 19 companies share a vision for the future “centered around one of Silicon Valley’s darkest backdrops.” bottom. I’ll go into more detail on the specific learnings, but below, I’ll bullet point the tidbits I overheard during her Accelerator Pitch session.

• “I think it’s very insightful to compare revenue growth and team growth. Personally, I don’t like operationally focused companies, they need more investment in R&D and product. There is no doubt about that. [teams]”, Cindy BI, Partner at CapitalX.
• “We are officially teenagers,” Tsai said on Accelerator’s 13th birthday.
• “When you think of brands, you probably think of something like Nike, but some of the biggest brands for Gen Z are people,” says Detoure founder and CEO Megan Russell.
• “We know how to create an exit,” added Tripitaca CEO Peter Wachira.

One of Venture’s most iconic duos wants to talk to you

We have published a podcast interview with Kapor Capital’s Freada Kapor Klein and Mitch Kapor. The duo recently published a book, so we talk about that, their choice to stay away from investing, and the legacy they continue to build.

Here is one of the key moments. podcast: “It’s worth pointing out that in the early days there were a few white men who were thinking of working with us and decided we weren’t going to make enough money, so So I hope they were kicking themselves and learned something,” said Kapoor Klein.

• Earlier this month, I sat down with comedian Alexis Gay on his podcast, Non-technical, to talk about everything outside of my day job. I hate croissants. Stay for the Advocate of the Devil’s Advocate.
• Also, listen to Found, a podcast about the story behind startups. This week, the team published an interview with the brains behind “a genetics startup aiming to bring extinct species back to life to support conservation efforts.” Chin = dropped.

etc

Saw it on TechCrunch

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Seen on TechCrunch+

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speak soon,

N.