Table of Contents

• Asks

• The Rundown

• News and Research

• Podcast Episodes, Deep Dives and Projects

• Raises

• Final Thoughts

Asks

• If you read this newsletter regularly, what have you liked so far, and what have you found helpful? What do you think could be improved?

• Do you have highlights you want to share?

• What suggestions do you have that would make this more compelling?

• Are you interested in getting curated deal flow straight to your inbox? please email me!

Please feel free to respond to this email with anything that you think would be useful!

The Rundown

This past past week was a spooky one for investors as markets corrected more than 20% on weak jobs numbers and weak consumer spending. Indeed it seems that the “Richcession” experienced by white-collar workers is increasingly becoming low brow. All of these fears, are worrying those in the Venture Capital industry even as Venture funding had a 20% YoY increase.

At the same time, the Oracle of Omaha is now sitting a massive cash position after selling off Apple stock. While there were many good reasons for Buffet to reallocate, some have started to speculate that Buffet is building a cash position to go on a buying spree when the markets churn. For obvious reasons, these circumstance are leading me to wonder whether the Oracle knows something we don’t about the U.S. economy.

On the SV political angle. The race has become a complete toss-up according 538, which has meant that the tech industry has begun hedging its bets. Crypto executive have begun lobbying the Harris-Walz team as the race has gotten increasingly competitive. While undoutably they prefer Donald Trump and his “small-hands-off” approach, Crypto is looking to cover itself after coming out strongly for Trump.

Of interesting news, it seems that our adversaries and picking their presidential candidates, albiet for very different reasons. While Russia of course loves Trump and will surely try to help swing the election his way, Iran has redoubled efforts to prevent his reelection. According to Microsoft, Iranian actors also have spent recent months creating fake news sites and impersonating activists, laying the groundwork to stoke division and potentially sway American voters this fall, especially in swing states. This was followed by a recent hack (attributed but not verified by Iran) of the Trump Campaign. Iran likely sees Trump as a threat, since he will likely give carte blanche to Netanyahu to escalate tensions in the Middle East. Trump himself is explicitly hostile towards Iran and given the U.S. outsized influence in the Middle East, Tehran doesn’t want Trump complicating it.

What is most fascinating is that we now have two adversarial powers using the same tactics to affect the outcome of the election. Whether Russia and Iran’s efforts cancel each other out, have no effect, or one side more successful remains to be seen.

That’s all for this week. I am going to wedding this week, so I am going to take a week off. Frankly I am trying to best figure out this cadence between my research, coding, and having enough news to write about.

News and Research

• I enjoyed this deep dive into Vertical SaaS with Gen AI. Read in Emergence Capital.

• Google violated US antitrust laws by maintaining monopoly power in the search and advertising markets. Read in The Verge.

• Is the “richcession” becoming a recession? Companies are pulling back on hiring for hourly roles such as retail workers and airport cleaners, which were previously in high demand. Read in The Wall Street Journal.

• Why are AI leader shifting around instead of being acquired? Read about the shifts at OpenAI, Character.AI, and defense tech investment, amidst other startup and funding news. Read in TechCrunch.

• Cohere's co-founder, Nick Frosst, downplays the notion that AI is in a bubble and emphasizes its tangible value while being realistic about its limitations. Read in TechCrunch.

• Learn how Curtis Yarvin's far-right views have gained traction in Silicon Valley, particularly influencing figures like Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen. Read in The Information.

• Global venture funding reached $23 billion in July 2023, marking a 20% increase from the previous year. Read in The Information.

• Is DoorDash in trouble? Uber's recent surge in ride-hailing revenue and its growing food-delivery business, Uber Eats, mean it's eating DoorDash’s lunch. Read in The Information.

Podcast Episodes, Deep Dives and Projects

• Check out my github for current projects. I recently updated my article scraper, so if you have a newsletter, it may be worth checking out.

• Check out my recent and first deep-dive on the future of SaaS pricing. read here.

• Listen to my newest podcast with Leo Park formerly of Lex Machina where we discuss different techniques in Gen AI and legal. Listen here.

Raises

• MarkOS: MarkOS uses AI to audit a company's brand assets such as photos, videos, text, and more, ensuring compliance with brand guidelines. It targets large enterprises and helps in creating brand-compliant content. Raised $4 million with the lead investor Ludlow Ventures and Bessemer.

• Hyperspace: Hyperspace uses "domain-specific computing" to accelerate two specific database tasks: lexical and vector searches. It raised $9.5 million with the lead investor MizMaa.

• Napkin: Napkin provides Visual AI for Business Storytelling, allowing users to turn text content into visuals and adjust the style, colors, fonts, shapes, and design. It raised $10 million from Accel and CRV, the lead investors.

• Mechanical Orchard: Mechanical Orchard is a technology company that de-risks the process of bringing old but critical computer systems up to date as part of its digital transformation initiatives. It modernizes and runs crucial business applications used by some of the largest organizations around the world. Its goal is to help its customers stay ahead of the curve, compete at an ever-accelerating pace, and win in their markets. It raised $50 million with the lead investor, GV (Google Ventures).

• Bandana: Bandana, which helps hourly wage workers find better jobs with higher wages and good benefits, closer to home to reduce commuting time. It raised $8.5 million with the lead investor, General Catalyst.

Final Thoughts

I have some exciting opportunities on the horizon! Please contact my email, [email protected], since I have more time to speak with people and help where I can. I am still actively angel investing.