VC Cafe

MAY 23, 2023

More and more, established companies are leaning into generative AI by either adding generative AI features to their existing suite of tools or partnering with AI companies (mostly OpenAI or the open source HuggingFace) to launch entirely new products. There’s an interesting thing happening in the generative AI world.

Generative AI 165

Generative AI Artificial Inteligence ChatGPT API 165

Mucker Lab

OCTOBER 12, 2016

Combined with the usual summer slowdown, some are already raising the spectre of 2001 or 2008. Normal distributions do not exist; standard deviations are meaningless. Vertical integration of different funding risks. The “venture recession” of 2016 is in full swing. Betting on the wrong horse. The road ahead for entrepreneurs.

Harvest 60

Harvest Vertical IPO Early Stage 60

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 24, 2009

One is explaining the world as it used to work: the importance of gatekeepers, the scarcity implied by limited distribution, and the resulting quality bar that the industry is so proud of. Mostly it is the time and expense required to create the means of distribution for that industry. It’s just taking some longer than others.

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Distribution 113

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

Venture Capitalists on your board developed the expertise to get your firm public as soon as possible using whatever it took including hype, spin, expand, and grab market share because the sooner you got your billion dollar market cap, the sooner the VC firm could sell their shares and distribute their profits. So what’s left?

Silicon Valley 235

Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 235

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 4, 2009

For example, Friendster was famously vertically partitioned at one time in its growth curve. I normally recommend you just store this directory on your master database, but you could use a standalone vertical shard (or even a key-based partition!) This is great for something like a huge DHT or a distributed work queue.

San Francisco 151

San Francisco Architecture Startup Database 151

Cracking the Code

OCTOBER 13, 2020

The average revenue multiple is now 17x+, close to 10 times higher than during the 2008 crisis! This led me to launch the SaaS 13 Index in February 2008 while I was at Bessemer. In 2000 and 2008, the economic crises had a dramatic impact on the tech ecosystem, but 2020 seems to be very different. And what about Europe?

Europe 71

Europe Cloud Silicon Valley 71