👋 Hi, I’m Andre and welcome to my weekly newsletter, Data-driven VC. Every Thursday I cover hands-on insights into data-driven innovation in venture capital and connect the dots between the latest research, reviews of novel tools and datasets, deep dives into various VC tech stacks, interviews with experts, and the implications for all stakeholders. Follow along to understand how data-driven approaches change the game, why it matters, and what it means for you.
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Welcome to our last episode of 2023 where we’ll cover December’s most relevant content at the intersection of data, AI, startups, VC & productivity. I read it all so you don’t need to - here we go👇
UPCOMING EVENTS
“Data-driven Portfolio Modelling” online panel with Pale Blue Dot, Isomer Capital, Eka VC, and Tactyc, hosted by Andreas & David at EU.VC on Jan 17, 2024 12-1.30pm CET here
“Navigating the Future: AI + Tech in Venture Capital” online panel with Francesco Corea (Greycroft), Mike Arpaia (Moonfire), Stephane Nasser (OpenVC), Philipp Omenitsch (Sequel), Danish Abdullah (Hive.one), Ralph King (Silicon Roundabout Ventures), and myself on Jan 18, 2024 5-6pm CET here
“Catalyzing Change: The Power of AI & Data Science in Revolutionizing VC Fund Dynamics” panel with Ties Boukema (Dawn Capital), Konstantin Vinogradov (Runa Capital), Jack Leeney (7GC) and myself at the 0100 Conference Feb 29, 2024 in Vienna here
READS & RESEARCH
“Building an AI literate investment organization” blogpost by Feliphe Lavor, Lele Cao, Armin Catovic, Alexandra Lutz, and Finn McLaughlan from EQT Motherbrain here, emphasizing that AI literacy involves not just technical expertise but also a deep understanding of three key stakeholder groups: senior leadership, engineers, and investment professionals
“What did unicorn founders study at school?” post by Adam Shuaib from Episode 1 here
Unicorn founders were 8x more likely to have studied computer science, 5x more likely to have studied science and 6x more likely to have studied maths
Surprisingly, unicorn founders were notably less likely to have studied business-related degrees
“State of Startups 2023” in 45 charts by Peter Walker and his team at Carta, full presentation as PDF here
𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴: US startups on Carta raised ~$60B this year, down from $121B last year
𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: Remained robust for seed and Series A companies while falling drastically for late-stage
𝗜𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗦𝗲𝗴𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀: AI did great! Everything else took a dip, although some bright spots for Renewable Energy, Hardware, and Biotech
𝗣𝗿𝗲-𝗦𝗲𝗲𝗱 & 𝗦𝗔𝗙𝗘𝘀: 50% of seed rounds now happen through SAFEs instead of priced equity
𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 & 𝗛𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴: Equity packages for mid-career employees fell about 25% this year (in terms of shares received, not just due to valuations decreasing)
𝗦𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗟𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗶𝘁𝘆: Blockchain/Crypto startups saw their stock trade at a 71% discount to the last preferred round price on secondary markets, the steepest haircut of any sector
𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗼 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗻𝘀: Bay Area remains the home of startups (especially in AI) while Boston gave NYC a serious scare for 2nd place
“VC Performance by Fund Size” study by James Heath here, sharing a performance analysis of 2,000 VC funds and finds that smaller VC funds outperform with no added risk
“Tidal Waves in Venture Capital” article by here, sharing his analysis of trends in the VC ecosystem including the rise, fall, and rebirth of data science in VC and how AI will be crucial to identify the best opportunities early on
OTHER RESOURCES
Starwatcher podcast interview between host Ernests Stals and guest Abel Samot from Red River West here on the importance of data in VC, legal aspects, how to shape data culture at the company, the importance of UI and UX of a product, and how LLM’s can potentially change the whole game for startups and investors
“VC is an industry that desperately needs automation” LinkedIn post by Ivan Escobar Rossi here, sharing how he built a “Company Prospecting CRM” with Softr & Bardeen in 1 hour that can scrape LinkedIn or Crunchbase data to track company news and manage deal flow
“Find the Most Relevant People to Meet at an Event with Automated G-Sheets” LinkedIn post by Vlastimil Vodicka here, explaining how to leverage ChatGPT together with data from LinkedIn, websites, and bios to create your meeting agenda
“What’s the Best Slide Order for A Pitchdeck?” analysis by Adam Shuaib from Episode 1 Ventures here, sharing data-driven insights from 100k pitch decks
“Data-driven VC Landscape 2023” report explores how leading investors leverage data & AI by shedding light on 151 top VCs, 65 thought leaders, 400+ tools, hands-on guides for integrating ChatGPT, LLMs, and a lot more
➡️ Participate in the 2024 edition here
“TECH IN VC” JOBS (Reach out to share relevant jobs here)
🔥Senior Software Engineer @Earlybird VC in Munich or Berlin here🔥
🔥Software Engineer Intern @Earlybird VC in Munich or Berlin here🔥
Tech Lead @All Iron Ventures in Bilbao here
Product Analyst @Balderton based in London here
Data Scientist @Blossom in London here
Analytics Engineer @Dawn Capital in London here
ML master student @EQT in Stockholm here
Data Engineer @Ethereal Ventures remote here
Data Scientist @Level VC in NY or Miami here
Analytics Engineer @Tidemark Capital in San Francisco Bay Area here
THIS MONTH’S DATA-DRIVEN VC EPISODES
#63 “1 Year ChatGPT: A Look in the Mirror, The Future Ahead & What Every Business Can Learn From OpenAI”
#66 “1 Million Views & 5x Growth: 2023 in Review and the Future Ahead”
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