Helping founders take charge of their startup's destiny | Former M.M.LaFleur, Group Nine, Thrillist, HuffPost | Also ⛷️ 🚵 🏕️ 🐕✍️ | ericashman.com
Funding
71.1% of all VC deal value last quarter went to AI. If you're building here, focus on PMF, not hype. If you're not in AI, fundraising keeps getting harder—your story needs to be sharper than ever.
Funding
Thinking about launching your fundraise now? November & December are the worst months to start, with just 6.4% of deals closing in January. Here's what you should do.
Funding
As an investment vehicle for LPs, venture capital is broken. As a founder, you need to understand this dynamic. Choose your investors wisely.
Funding
It's taking longer to raise a round of venture funding. This is a healthy change. Let me explain why.
News and Analysis
Zombie VCs are surging: 25% fewer active investors in 2024 vs 2023, and 50% down from 2021's peak. These funds can't make new investments, but their short-term focus can still cause major problems for founders in their portfolio.
News and Analysis
This chart tells an important story for early-stage founders. Only 10% of startups that raised a Series A in 2022 have raised a Series B two years later. That drop of nearly 2/3 from 2018 represents a brutal cliff for founders.
News and Analysis
This chart is a perfect illustration of the pain still to come in venture. The explosion of ‘unicorns’ in 2021 and 2022 is the venture bubble in action. It will take years to unwind, and venture returns will continue to suffer along the way.
News and Analysis
Most businesses aren't a good fit for venture capital. Picking the right sources of funding is one of the most important decisions you'll make. When you're pitching your mushroom farming startup as a tech company, you're on a path that's
News and Analysis
In the coming wave of AI-related disruption, we can enable entrepreneurship and unleash the job-creating forces behind it. We need to learn from the past to set the right policies for the future.
Funding
Why do some startups, despite raising over $100 million and achieving unicorn status, end up with little to show for it? The startup press and many founders are obsessed with valuation. But that can be a trap. During a liquidation event, the most important factor is how the cash is
Leadership
Jim Collins, the author of Good to Great, stated that the key to building great companies is getting the right people on the bus. This is a critical concept for successful founders. You need the right people on your bus to find and scale product-market fit. The wrong people slow
Funding
SAFEs are fast and inexpensive to use. That’s a feature and a bug. Too many founders overuse SAFEs and end up in a dilution trap. * Carta recently released its Q1 2024 State of Pre-seed report. It's the perfect opportunity to review the current state of SAFE notes