Meta's decision to end third party fact checking is not going to end well, for them, or -- even worse -- for society writ large. https://lnkd.in/e8rdjt2t

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VC Market Update: Riding Out the Post-Boom Bumps. 2021's high-flying valuations and growth have given way to a more complex reality. With longer private timelines, tough exit markets, and capital tightness, startups face unique challenges—but also fresh opportunities. For those navigating today’s VC landscape, strategic planning is key. Whether it's balancing growth with capital efficiency or exploring secondaries smartly, there’s a path forward. And with boosts from AI and future rate cuts, brighter days could be ahead!

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Wonderful article about Emily Knight and the whole The Engine Accelerator team on the amazing work their doing changing the world with #ToughTech!

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ex Google CEO Eric Schmidt spoke at Stanford this week. Lots of nuggets here, but most interesting for the near term, Schmidt believes in the next year AI is set to make a big leap forward. He predicts AI will combine three important features: 1. Vast knowledge retention (1 million token models) 2. Text-to-action capability 3. Personal AI agent fleets While the full impact is unknown, everyone may soon command their own AI teams. Here's an example: Imagine you're developing new quantum computing algorithms. Your AI assistants could: - Continuously scan and synthesize global quantum research papers - Generate novel algorithm ideas based on this knowledge - Simulate and test these algorithms across various quantum architectures - Automatically document findings and prepare draft papers - Identify potential collaborators and draft outreach emails All initiated by a command like "Advance our quantum algorithm research." This could dramatically accelerate R&D cycles and scientific breakthroughs.. https://lnkd.in/eJbg6cnD #frontiertech #AI #futurefrontier

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Why Buying Your First Business is the hardest & Financing The Fear is Being seen as too risky by lenders and investors. The Solution: Prepare a solid business plan with detailed financial projections. Work with a financial advisor to enhance your credibility. Consider alternative financing options like SBA loans or seller financing.

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Two announcements re: our upcoming first-of-its-kind-event: a) 70+ Attendees are registered! b) The upcoming SiliconXL LaunchAthon is perfect for Job Seekers, Software Engineers and Boston-based Startups For more info or to register, visit ---> https://lnkd.in/efPxJ6Fk www - launchathons - com/boston The upcoming SiliconXL LaunchAthon is designed to provide job seekers with an immersive, hands-on experience that goes beyond traditional training. Through targeted AI coding workshops, attendees will dive deep into advanced AI tools and coding platforms, equipping them with practical skills that employers actively seek. These workshops allow job seekers to build real-world projects in collaboration with industry mentors, creating tangible portfolio pieces that showcase their abilities and problem-solving prowess. For those looking to enter the tech field, our LaunchAthon is an invaluable opportunity to gain relevant, hands-on experience that will make them stand out in a competitive job market. Furthermore, the collaborative environment encourages networking with potential employers and peers, giving job seekers a head start on forming connections that may lead to employment opportunities. For software engineers already in the workforce, our LaunchAthon’s workshops provide a vital opportunity to upskill and explore emerging technologies that might not be part of their current roles. The hands-on experience in AI-powered coding workshops offers a practical way to stay updated with industry trends, experiment with new tools, and learn innovative problem-solving techniques. These workshops encourage engineers to think outside their regular scope of work, sparking creativity and enhancing their adaptability to new challenges. Attending the SiliconXL LaunchAthon can add value not only to their current skill set but also to their role within their organization, as they bring back fresh insights and advanced knowledge that can be applied immediately to drive innovation in their day-to-day work. or startup entrepreneurs, the upcoming LaunchAthon offers an unparalleled opportunity to bring their ideas to life through hands-on experience with cutting-edge AI tools and collaborative workshops. Entrepreneurs will benefit from an environment where they can test, validate, and iterate on their concepts with the guidance of industry mentors and experienced tech professionals. These sessions are designed to accelerate the development process, providing valuable insights into product design, rapid prototyping, and market alignment. Beyond just building, entrepreneurs will also network with potential co-founders, partners, and investors, creating connections that can support their startup’s growth. LaunchAthon is more than an event; it’s a launchpad for entrepreneurial visionaries looking to create impactful, scalable tech solutions in a high-energy, supportive setting.

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Join me on September 5th for a LinkedIn Live event organized by InnoLead, where we’ll dive into debates with Alex Slawsby (CGO at Innolead), Scott Kirsner (CEO at Innolead), Jon Corshen (Co-Founder at Pilot 44) and Elliott Parker (CEO at High Alpha Innovation) around corporate venture building. We’ll tackle questions like: • Should companies stop building new ventures internally? • Do ventures need more than just corporate funding to succeed? • Are there opportunities corporate ventures see that startups miss? • Will AI dominate corporate venture building by next year? • Why do so many corporate ventures fail to scale? • Why do ventures need more startup talent than corporate “lifers”? 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: https://lnkd.in/gZPw82x4

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Excited for DCVC portfolio co Alta Resource Technologies to emerge from stealth! The design space of biology is many orders of magnitude larger than inorganic chemistry, and Alta uses it to massively reduce the cost of extracting rare earth metals. https://lnkd.in/g_q5UwRF

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Hey folks, I think you might be aware that what we're building at DeepCast includes a podcast discovery and exploration platform for listeners at www.deepcast.fm. We also recently unveiled www.deepcast.pro -- a promotions, marketing, and monetization platform for podcasters (and folks like networks and agencies who support them). "You make the shows, let us help you with what comes after." Shows claimed and processed via DeepCast Pro are also published for listener consumption on DeepCast. High value all around! If you're a podcaster, claim your show at www.deepcast.pro to get started. Free speaker-labeled transcripts for all your episodes as well as generated insights for each (key takeaways, quotes, topic & keyword sets, summaries, and more) plus many more features—and growing daily! We're shipping fast over here! (Thanks to Rachel Perez Hosna Qasmei Kim Burgaard Benjamin Moon Rachel Magana Hari Ramachandran!)

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Congrats to all the 2024 IA40 winners! Looking forward to celebrating them and talking about all the latest AI trends at our upcoming conference on October 1st and 2nd. At Madrona, we have spent over a decade partnering with and investing in intelligent application companies, observing their influence and impact across various verticals. We believe these apps are poised to shape the future of software and the next wave of computing. You can read more insights and thoughts about this year's winners and the current AI landscape: https://lnkd.in/g2CjX_rj

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I'm building my second startup. Why? I had a panic attack at my first. I spent a few years and so much of my own money figuring out how to learn the skills to come down from high stress situations, clear my head, stay happy, and (as a result) make great decisions. It's a journey every busy human goes through. After building those skills (an ever evolving journey), I have built a world-class team to help me bring an everyday solution to busy women: smart Moodrings (Moodring Tech). I took the Founder Mental Health Pledge because I know, first hand, what needs to be done on the individual's level to care for themself. It's not affordable and it's time consuming. We have to test solutions for ourselves inch by inch and we have to build solutions to make it easier and, even, feasible to care for ourselves. Join me...

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It is important to note that you cannot ask to have something "taken down" if you do not know who is behind the website that "put it up." That is why the TAKE IT DOWN legislation will be meaningless unless Congress enacts legislation to ensure that registries like Verisign, which manages .com on behalf of the US government, or registrars like GoDaddy, Namecheap, or PIR have accurate and accessible WHOIS registrant data. It is time for Congress to act to fix the DARK WHOIS problem that is putting US cybersecurity and consumer/child protection at risk. A policy that both the US government and the US Chamber of Commerce have supported since 1999. Here is an excellent report on the topic. Privacy/Proxy Services - a safe haven for cybercriminals? 5th July 2024 https://lnkd.in/er-BT3sJ #icann #privacyproxy #whois #darkwhois #verisign #godaddy #pir #namecheap #isoc #rdrs #internetplumbingmonopolies

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This is just incredible. Neal Ghosh's demonstration of how #VentureIQ takes deeply technical and complicated content across a range of industrial use cases and ages/stages through an AI-generated conversational podcast (a la #notebookLM) is really mind-blowing. Check out his post, below, and if you haven't seen VentureIQ, yet, let's get you set up to learn more. You can visit VentureIQ.ai or DM any of us over here to book a demo!

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Your last weekly space news round-up of 2024 🚀 Featuring stories: 💰 ICEYE closed a $65M extension to the existing growth funding round for a total of $158M raised in 2024 - the funding round extension included participation from funds managed by Solidium Oy, BlackRock, Seraphim, Plio Limited, and Christo Georgiev. 🌡️ SatVu, a global leader in climate technology, has secured £20 million in strategic funding, to expand high-resolution thermal imaging. 🛰️ SpaceX’s satellite internet service Starlink is projected to reach $11.8 billion in revenue next year, driven by strong consumer demand and growing U.S. military contracts. 📈 Space Markets: The Year in Review from Payload 👉 Of the 15 largest space startup funding deals this year, five came from US startups, five were Chinese companies, four were European firms, and one was from an Australian business. 🌌 Commercial space station developer Vast has signed a deal with SpaceX for two private astronaut missions to the International Space Station, pending NASA approval. https://lnkd.in/evUcpr92

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One of the best podcasts that you will hear. Eric Weinstein, an accomplished business / hedge fund manager and just amazing thinker holds a master class in how to reason through a set of complex conversations. Some context here: Terrence Howard (yes the actor) came on Joe Rogan a little while ago, and did some very elaborate 'matching'. He very much comes across as a visionary, self-taught, self-reasoned through many complex ideas, bringing it all together with a vast web of historic scientific knowledge. Terrance launches into a set of core assumptions within the sciences, mathematics, physics and related topics. He tumbles through multitude of ideas from frequency, to energy, to wave theory, all very difficult to follow... but extremely compelling. Encyclopaedic knowledge, but a flow that is so rapid, and often superficial. For many casual 'scientists' and social media followers, it was like a red flag to a bull: and confirmed a narrative that 'they' (the scientific, trusted community) is lying to us, that they are not telling us something. That 'their' assumptions are wrong, but that there is a cartel of universities and institutions that is protecting it, and protecting their dominion over the sciences. This fed into Joe's common narrative that the modern scientific understanding of the world is incomplete and lacking: but more importantly that the institutions who guard this knowledge are themselves filled with political bias, making them fallible, and ultimate not trusted as much as they should be. (A lot of 'they' say this, or that.. not sure who 'they' are, except that they only have bad characteristics.) Enter Eric Weinstein, an accomplished thinker and just a superb communicator, takes Terrance through his own maze of ideas, and links between ideas, one at a time, carefully dissection the arguments. He leads this 'visionary' through his errors and discoveries,'What Terrance is doing here is... ' and sometimes he points out errors in reasoning, sometimes provides clarification, sometimes asks for clarification, but is always respectful, always careful, always thoughtful. He gives Terrance a lot of credit for his thinking, but also shapes and moulds it carefully. "You have a lot of desire to understand what it means. But before you think about it, you have to ask what it is" He delivers a masterclass in how to handle this kind of back-of-the-envelope science, that is so prominent in social media now. Terrance is in awe of him, as was I. This is where you see just an amazing capability of the human mind to reason through multiple avenues (often strange manifestation, with partial truths, and incomplete relationships), to question, to reason, to give room for each other in a very humane way. One of the best displays of human capability: both academic and the best humane characteristics, I have ever seen. #joerogan #podcasts #reasoning #human #conversation #rogan #weinstein #terrancehoward Eric Weinstein Joe Rogan

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Are you better off being an angel investor or an S/EIS fund investor? When you’re thinking about making early-stage investments for the first time, you have a choice of two main options: Invest directly into startups or invest into funds that invest a portfolio of startups for you. * Direct (Angel) Investing: You select and invest in individual startups, taking on the tasks of sourcing, decision-making, and managing your investment. * Fund Investing: You invest in a fund that invests and manages a portfolio of startups for you, handling the sourcing, investing, and management on your behalf. There’s a romantic notion attached to the idea of investing in startups - we can play Dragon’s Den and discover the next Reggae Reggae Sauce. For every Reggae Reggae Sauce, though, there are 100 other startups that fail along the way. The first rule of startup investing, whether you do it directly or through funds, is that you need to build a portfolio of companies to cope with inevitable losses. Investing directly into startups as an angel investor suits those with access to credible, high-potential startups. It’s a hands-on role that requires active involvement to source the startups. Further, most of the best startups have minimum investment amounts of £10k or £20k, which means direct investors often need a lot of available capital to properly manage risk by investing in a portfolio of companies. This doesn’t need to be done all at once, but that is the mindset every good angel investor should have when setting out on the journey. Fund investing, on the other hand, suits those who prefer to invest indirectly, relying on the access, experience, and skill of the Fund Manager to invest and manage the investments for you. It’s a hands-off approach, with investors not involved in management and simply kept updated on a regular basis. Because funds pool your money with others to invest in a portfolio of startups in one go, this can be a more effective way of managing risk while investing smaller amounts. Most SEIS and EIS funds have £10k minimums for investors, meaning you could build a portfolio of 10-20 companies for just £10k, rather than needing to invest £10k into 10-20 separate companies as a direct angel investor. Whichever approach you choose should depend on your resources, access, interests, and time. Regardless, though, a key principle to follow is to not be reliant on the success of just one or two companies; instead, build a portfolio of startups to manage risk and cope with inevitable losses along the way. Which one is best for you? Let me know if you’d like to chat. Capital at risk. For professional investors only.

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What's happening in the early-stage AI market right now? Here's what I had to say on TechCrunch's Equity Podcast: ⏰ It’s a great time to be a consumer investor or founder. There’s less competition and less noise. 🤖 New tech products leveraging AI to improve people’s lives will be here more quickly than most people think. The companies that will become household names are starting right now.  ✍ There’s bound to be controversy and drama with such powerful technology. The rules of the game are being written as we go. Listen to the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/gsqm4Bqs I’d love to hear what you think! What are the best tech and AI products you’ve seen offering a magical consumer experience? How do you think AI will transform consumers’ lives?

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Dan Primack had some pointed criticism for #VC yesterday in his Axios Pro Rata newsletter (a daily must read IMO 😤). In short, the model doesn't work if it can't produce exits for LPs. Don't blame public markets (which are at all-time highs) for the lack of liquidity either. 📈 💸 Instead, this is a "liquidity drought of your making" where "...swinging for the fences on every pitch, rather than taking the single or double that's available" is the only way out when you invest at "sky high valuations." 😰 "A whopping 37% of "unicorns" are being held for at least nine years by VC funds, including 13% that are past the 12-year mark." 😳 ⌛ Is he right? Is VC at a dire inflection point? Or is Primack prematurely hitting the panic button? 🚨 https://lnkd.in/dts92pXr

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AI will make news and content even more a commidity.. human beings, unique positions as well as human connections will become the key to the #futureofmedia

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