Bigger isn't always better 🤷 One of the lessons that the wild Silicon Valley venture funding environment of the past few years has clearly taught is this: Bigger valuations are not always better. “I think we’ve all kind of seen the negative impact of having a valuation too high from the last, call it, three years,” Elizabeth Yin, co-founder of Hustle Fund said onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt last week. When a VC bull market hits and startups are able to easily raise a lot of money before they have real, provable businesses, they’ve set themselves up for difficult times. Because “the bar is higher for that next round,” she said. If the company fails to grow into a lofty valuation, it could wind up burning its most valuable employees, said VC Renata Quintini, co-founder of Renegade Partners. Read more on why startups shouldn’t always take the highest valuation at the link in the bio 👆 Article by Julie Bort Image Credits: Barak Shrama/ Slava Blazer Photography / Flickr #TechCrunch #technews #startups #founders #VCs #funding #venturecapital

With Elon Musk playing such a high-profile role in Donald Trump’s transition team, Musk’s buddies, many of them Silicon Valley venture capitalists, are reportedly being tapped to help out. For instance, VC firm Andreessen Horowitz, and in particular co-founder Marc Andreessen, is repeatedly being mentioned. He, along with Antonio Gracias and Joe Lonsdale, are reportedly being asked to help with Musk’s advisory panel, the Department of Government Efficiency, which is examining ways to overcome the technical challenges of collecting data about federal programs, reported the Washington Post on Sunday. They are among a handful of other Silicon Valley moguls being tapped. Read about all the VCs reportedly in the running for new Trump committees at the link in the bio 👆 Article by Julie Bort and Maxwell Zeff Image Credits: Taylor Hill / Contributor / Getty Images #TechCrunch #technews #SiliconValley #venturecapitalists #venture #government

Follow @marketing.growmatics for more zero to billionaire stories. Meet Sridhar Vembu — the man who said NO to VCs and YES to rural India. 🚫 No outside funding 🏡 Runs his billion-dollar company from a village 🎓 Hires school dropouts and trains them himself While most chase Silicon Valley, he built Zoho quietly — and made it global 🌍 🛠️ Bootstrapped Zoho/AdventNet from 1996 to multi‑billion‑dollar (≈ ₹8,700 Cr revenue, ₹2,800 Cr profit in FY23) 🌾 Moved R&D and offices to rural Tamil Nadu (Tenkasi) and Renigunta 👥 Trains rural talent via Zoho Schools — 15–20% of engineers don’t have college degrees 🇮🇳 Padma Shri Awardee | Net worth: $5.8B (Forbes, 2024) 💡 His belief? “Success isn’t about flashy offices or MBAs. It’s about solving real problems, simply.” Save this for when you feel like giving up. Tag a friend who dreams of building something big. #SridharVembu #Zoho #BootstrappedSuccess #IndianEntrepreneurs #StartupIndia #Village #FoundersOfIndia #MarketingGrowmatics #Tamilnadu

Getting ghosted is never fun. Especially if you’re a founder seeking capital from investors. It’s similar to dating. You might be left wondering, “Why is this person not getting back to me? Did I do something wrong?” Did the investor hate the product? Did they not care for me personally?” It’s enough to drive anyone crazy. Ghosting is an undeniable signal of a lack of interest. If a VC wanted to invest, they would definitely respond to your cold call, or get back to you after the pitch. There are a variety of reasons why a VC might vanish after a founder thought they would agree to a meeting, or worse, after one, according to several VCs who talked to TechCrunch. Read more on why VCs ghost founders at the link in the bio 👆 Article by Mary Ann Azevedo Image Credits: leolintang / Getty Images #TechCrunch #technews #founders #startups #venturecapitalists #VCs

Given how much money VCs are pouring into AI startups these days, it may seem like VCs have decided: If it’s not AI, they won’t write a big check. But that’s not exactly what’s happening. Dealmaking at the moment is more nuanced, said VC Insight Partners managing director Ryan Hinkle during a recent Equity podcast. Funding rounds are still “30% lower on a multiple of ARR basis than 2019. Forget the 2021 bubble times,” VC Insight Partners managing director Ryan Hinkle said during a recent Equity podcast. “The stocks are up because the companies’ revenues are up a lot, but the multiples are still lower.” But there is one big thing founders can do to maximize the deal that growth VCs will offer, and it doesn’t involve just stamping AI all over the company’s marketing materials. It’s much more important and much more mundane: financial infrastructure. Read more at the link in the bio 👆 Article by Julie Bort Image Credits: Ryan Hinkle #TechCrunch #technews #venturecapital #startups #founders #fundraising

With President Donald Trump’s latest round of tariffs coming out yesterday — a day he calls “Liberation Day” — a Web3 startup thinks it could track tariffs automatically on goods coming into and out of the USA using its blockchain platform. The claim may well be bold — and typical of many such bold claims made by other Web3 startups. However, Watr‘s platform is already being used to validate commodities by large mining companies and auto manufacturers, so there may be more to the claim than meets the eye. Created by former Shell, BP, and J.P. Morgan executives, the company is headed by Maryam Ayati, who leads global origination and investment at Shell Trading — so she ought to know what she’s talking about. Watr counts investors from a syndicate of thus-far unnamed crypto VCs and commodity executives, but TechCrunch has seen evidence to suggest that it has several millions of dollars in backing already, and a number of, as yet unnamed, commodities giants. Read more on Watr at the link in the bio 👆 Article by Mike Butcher Image Credits: Siwabud Veerapaisarn / Canva; Watr #TechCrunch #technews #web3 #startup #crypto #blockchain #policy

Geoff Ralston, well-known in the startup community for his years at Y Combinator, is back in the formal investing ring, he announced Thursday. His new fund is called Safe Artificial Intelligence Fund, or SAIF, which is both an explanation of its thesis and a play on words. Ralston is specifically looking for startups that “enhance AI safety, security, and responsible deployment,” as his fund’s website describes. He plans to write $100,000 checks as a SAFE, “pun intended,” he says, with a $10 million cap. A SAFE is, of course, the invest now/price later pre-seed investment tool pioneered by Y Combinator (it stands for simple agreement for future equity). While most VCs these days are looking to invest in AI startups, Ralston’s take is a bit more focused on the idea of safe AI, even though he admits the concept is a bit broad. Read more on SAIF at the link in the bio 👆 Article by Julie Bort Image Credits: Web Summit #TechCrunch #technews #artificialintelligence #venture #YCombinator