Houman Haghighi

Exciting to see startups aiming to use AI to discover chemicals, materials, drugs, etc. Semi companies have taken notice: AMD is investing in and Cadence is acquiring them. Semi/EDA companies have broken out by becoming critical path, whether it’s through critical software, packaging, IP, design kits from foundries, or user communities. Aside from just making it easy to make new materials, these “AI for making X” companies also need to articulate a vision as to how they can establish monopolistic positions in their industries.

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In vertical SaaS, the very best companies landed with a product solving a specific, burning pain point that horizontal solutions solved badly and then became broad product suites over time (ServiceTitan, Veeva Systems, Doximity, etc). My partner Gordon Ritter calls this “layering the cake”. In vertical AI, the landing wedges are much more brittle. While the painpoints they solve are very real (and often unaddressable by SaaS alone), they’re also much more likely to commodotize in the near term as the tech advances. 👀 Therefore, the need to layer the cake in vertical AI is much more urgent than in vertical SaaS. 👀 The best vertical AI CEOs not only recognize the dynamic, but talk about it openly. Helps those around them keep up the speed of innovation and their eyes on the bigger prize.

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"Falling costs of building new software companies are a mirage, and the reason for that is this thing in economics called the Jevon's paradox... ...the Jevon's paradox occurs when technological progress increases the efficiency with which a resource is used (reducing the amount necessary for any one use), but the falling cost induces increases in demand enough that resource use overall is increased, rather than reduced." Marc Andreessen with a counterintuitive take on what the future could hold for the software industry. #tech #technology #innovation #software #deeptech #startups #entrepreneurs #entrepreneurship #ai #artificialintelligence #vc #venturecapital #money #business

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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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During yesterday's LibreQoS APNIC webinar, I posed the question: won't more bandwidth solve these problems? As Herbert Wolverson said, yes, more bandwidth is good, but, still these problems remain if queueing is done incorrectly. Here's my take on why bandwidth alone is not as good as bandwidth + good queueing policies: Generally it was believed that 'data is important, so don't throw it away; hang on to it and send it later'. In practice, this has proven to be suboptimal as two issues may emerge: 1) latency increases for some flows due to heavy demand from other flows using the same bottleneck link, 2) even a single flow can have excessive latency due to aspects of typical TCP behavior (referred to bufferbloat) when the buffers grew large enough that the data being buffered was retransmitted anyway. It turns out that not all data is equally important. Active Queue Management is the art of deciding priorities, both in deciding what data to throw away, but also in allowing some later arriving data to be transmitted ahead of data in another connection that arrived before it. These problems have been studied, and good solutions have been found by using certain queueing policies in routers and switches, referred to as “fq_codel’ and “cake”. These track the different flows not by classifying the data, but by watching the behavior. Flows that send relatively little data (DNS lookups), or at a measured pace (video chat) have priority over flows that send a lot of data as quickly as possible (App and System updates, Video and ISO downloads).

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how our portco @silencioNetwork is tracking noise data and why they chose to build on @peaqnetwork full episode: https://t.co/bl3hP85hHa

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Founderville believes one of the most significant opportunities is emerging in legacy system applications. We look for manual tasks to leverage AI for efficient automation. Rather than chasing massive TAM, which will be addressed by larger VCs, we focus on smaller market domains that won't be chased as hard. Think of "boring" processes that require human intervention or manualized tasks. Those are opportunities. Keep your eyes open if you have deep domain expertise in a non-automated and fragmented industry. #entrepreneurs #venturecapital #startups #saas

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🌟Innovative VC Firm Overcomes Exits Drought with Secondary Sales🌟 ⛵Navigating a challenging landscape where exits are scarce, Santa Barbara Venture Partners (SBVP) has pioneered a novel approach to sustain its growth and attract investors for its second fund: secondary sales. Instead of waiting for traditional exits like IPOs or acquisitions, SBVP opted to sell shares of its portfolio companies, demonstrating its ability to generate returns for investors and stand out in a competitive market. 🎤According to Dan Engel, founder and managing partner of SBVP, these secondary transactions have been a game-changer, sparking investor interest and bolstering the firm's credibility. By leveraging its recent successes, including a lucrative stake in sports-betting company DraftKings Inc.' acquisition of digital lottery app Jackpocket, SBVP seized the opportunity to return profits to its limited partners (LPs) and pave the way for its second fund. 💡Engel highlighted the challenges faced by young VC firms in raising subsequent funds, particularly amid a downturn in exit activity and heightened investor scrutiny. With traditional exit routes becoming increasingly elusive, the pressure is on for firms to demonstrate tangible returns and establish a track record of success. ✨"For us, secondary sales have been a game-changer. They've helped us return profits to our LPs and attract investors for our second fund," said Dan Engel. 💰For SBVP, the decision to pursue secondary sales was driven by the need to provide liquidity to LPs and validate its investment thesis in the eyes of prospective investors. By strategically offloading portions of its holdings in high-performing portfolio companies like Bark Technologies and Rad AI, SBVP not only generated substantial returns but also bolstered investor confidence in its ability to deliver results. ⚠Despite the complexities and potential stigma associated with early share sales, Engel emphasized the importance of prioritizing investor returns and seizing opportunities to unlock value for stakeholders. With a focus on profitability and transparency, SBVP remains committed to its mission of delivering sustainable growth and maximizing returns for its LPs. 🔍 "Returning profits to our investors is our top priority. By strategically selling shares, we're proving our commitment to delivering results and driving value for our stakeholders," added Engel. As SBVP continues to explore secondary transactions and expand its investor base, the firm stands as a testament to innovation and resilience in the face of market challenges. 🚀 ✅ Looking to raise capital for your #fund and increase the international pool of your LP #investors?   🤝 Need warm #LP introductions?   📝 Selling #secondaries to increase liquidity?   🧐 Looking for co-investments?   ▶ G+QUANT's link for inquiries and fund decks: https://lnkd.in/gjC_EuTE #VCInnovation #SecondarySalesSuccess #InvestorReturns #ValueCreation 

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AI memory is fundamental for conversational AI and AI agents. It is critical for building personalized experiences and improving reasoning. Check out Letta’s course to understand how to use AI memory to enhance the customization and quality of your AI app.

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space based data centers are happening

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Having a Cars and Capital event tomorrow in Southern California with Oren Klaff. If you want to join message me. https://lnkd.in/gDQ4D39u Oren Klaff Bridger Pennington #InvestorEvent #FamilyOffice #InvestmentOpportunity #CarlsbadEvent #PrivateEquity #WealthManagement #InvestmentConference #CapitalRaising #NetworkingEvent #IndustryLeaders #FinancialGrowth #InvestorsMeetup #WealthBuilding #BusinessGrowth #InvestmentForum

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Key Insight #3 from Pear VC GTM Conference: "Founder Mistakes" Panel by Joseph Elias Phillips (Payabli), Jon Noronha (Gamma), Samuel Adeyemo (Aurora Solar) 1) Founder-led Sales is Essential: All three founders emphasized the importance of founders being directly involved in early sales. Jo highlighted how crucial it is to personally engage with customers, as no one can sell the vision like the founder. Jon echoed this, stating that "sales is 80-90% listening," which aligns perfectly with founder-led sales, as it helps founders identify customer needs better. 2) Build vs. Sell Dilemma: The common advice was to “sell before you build,” and all had nuanced takes. Jo shared that Payabli’s initial sales were driven by using legacy tech and reselling other people's platforms, which allowed them to bootstrap early on. Sam admitted they spent the first two years building a product without sales, learning 70% of it wasn’t needed. Both agreed that while selling before building is great for revenue, selling to learn is equally important. 3) Avoid Mistakes with Your First Sales Hire: Hiring too early or hiring the wrong sales role is a common mistake. Jo initially hired an SDR to generate leads but quickly realized a full-cycle Account Executive (AE) was more effective. He emphasized that hiring salespeople before fully understanding the sales process yourself can be detrimental. Founders should master the sales cycle first to hire effectively later. Sam reflected on decision to hire their first AE after five years of bootstrapping. He advised founders to wait until they have a clear understanding of their sales process and product-market fit before making that leap. Otherwise, you risk wasting resources on sales efforts that won’t pay off. 4) Customer Discovery is Sales: Jon pointed out that product and sales are intertwined. The early customer discovery calls, which many founders may see as research, are actually part of the sales process. He urged founders to focus on discovering what problems customers will pay to solve rather than simply what looks like a great product feature. 5) Iterating on Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP): The discussion also covered the importance of nailing your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). Jon admitted that early on, they designed Gamma for people like him (product managers at big companies), only to discover their real customers were smaller businesses needing to sell services externally. It’s crucial to test assumptions about your ICP early and often to avoid wasting time selling to the wrong market. 6) Worst Sales Pitches: The panel lightheartedly shared their worst sales experiences. Jon admitted that the worst pitches are those where the founder talks too much and listens too little. He emphasized that founders should focus on understanding customer pain points rather than selling features. Sam added that punctuality and preparation are key—citing arriving late led to missing out on the deal. Pepe Agell Ana Leyva

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🧩 One thing we've noticed with #VentureIQ technology is how well it can distill and communicate complex technical material 🧩 Whether it's a #deeptech venture, a novel #AI application, or even a patent submission, we can quickly distill the business and strategic implications for investors...and sometimes even the founders/PIs themselves! 🤯 Based on our work so far, the tech can handle a wide array of research areas and technological sectors -- anything from blockchain algorithms to vaccine development. It handles the nuance of the field, the specific terminology, and extracts the key concepts which matter for venture-building. 🤓 To demonstrate, I took a patent I helped write with Eric Laber on reinforcement learning. I ran it through #Ventureiq to build a commercial assessment (key differentiators, target markets). Then for fun I had #NotebookLM make a podcast out of it. I've uploaded the result it here (DM me if you'd like the actual report): https://lnkd.in/eiTejsny This is more than just automation or streamlining operations - it's about unlocking clarity and insight when it was previously unattainable, and the ability to do it over and over again no matter the sector or vertical. Interested in more info? DM me so we can chat.

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Apple’s Private Cloud Compute and the business of privacy With Private Cloud Compute, Apple has gone to extraordinary lengths to safeguard user privacy with AI-related tasks. In doing so, Apple has surely also incurred an extraordinary expense. How can Apple justify the cost of providing PCC if it doesn’t directly monetize its Apple Intelligence features? Either through the improved brand perception captured in a broader privacy narrative or by monetizing PCC with other non-AI use cases. While the narrative explanation is clear, the more interesting theory about Apple’s motivation in building PCC is that it can be expanded to other use cases that can be directly monetized. The first alternative use case that springs to mind is advertising attribution. PCC sounds conceptually similar to a data clean room, albeit far more sophisticated than most implementations, which merely use IP addresses and other identifiers to match publisher-observed ad interactions with advertiser-observed conversions. While the PCC nodes seem hardware-optimized for processing AI-related tasks, other nodes could be built that aren’t.

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Some unicorns and late-stage VC-backed companies restrict their employees from selling their stock, often at the request of their boards of directors. Not this one. Andrew Feldman and his executive team at Cerebras Systems (a high-flying AI chip startup mounting a challenge to the likes of NVIDIA and Groq) have been willing to recognize the blood, sweat and tears that employees with vested options have put into building this impressive business, by allowing them to sell their shares in the private market. This is not just great news for current and former Cerebras employees but also for the company and its investors! Why? Liquidity typically leads to higher stock pricing, making it more attractive to investors. How so? The short answer is that when a stock is more liquid, its riskiness declines. When risk goes down, so does the discount rate (the cost of capital) that investors use to price the asset. When the discount rate goes down, all else equal, the price should go up! This enhanced liquidity and pricing can help a company with fundraising valuations, consolidating the cap table before an IPO, and bridging the valuation gap between an illiquid private market and a very liquid public market. Congratulations to Andrew and the Cerebras team for delivering on your promise to your employees and investors by allowing a liquid market for your stock. And bravo to your board members (which, according to PitchBook include Eric Vishria of Benchmark , Brad Gerstner of Altimeter, Steve Vassallo of Foundation Capital, Lior Susan of Eclipse, Thomas Laffont of Coatue, and Pierre Lamond) for supporting your vision! #secondarymarket #privatemarket #marketplace #unicorns #stockoptions

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Smart execution is the key to success in hardware startups Boom Supersonic's Blake Scholl discusses: - The importance of leveraging existing technologies - Refinement over reinvention - Prioritizing practical and user-centered design

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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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In overconnected environments dominant suppliers rapidly emerge and many become monopolies — think Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Apple. When that happens, it is hard to wrestle free of a situation. http://ow.ly/YR5f30prqAF #CloudComputing #data #internet

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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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