Tag: early stage

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Our favorite startups from YC’s Summer 21 Demo Day, Part 2

Space read-alongs aren’t too far away, if you ask us From beaming actors into the class room to plucking things out of space, the second day of Y Combinator’s S21 Demo Day was a fresh snapshot of what nearly 200 startup teams believe is the future of innovation. Yesterday, the TechCrunch team covered the first half…
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1 September 2021 0

Reframe your Metaphors, and other lessons from Y Combinator S21 Day 1

After a 17-hour marathon through nearly 200 startup pitches, the Equity team was fired up to get back on Twitter and chat through some early trends and favorites from the first day of Y Combinator’s demo party. We’ll be back on the air tomorrow, so make sure you’re following the show on Twitter so you…
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31 August 2021 0

Early-stage venture firm The Fund launches in Australia

The Fund Australia’s team (l to r): Elicia McDonald, Adrian Petersen, Georgia Vidler, Ed Taylor and Todd Deacon The Fund, the early-stage investment firm focused on pre-seed and seed startups, is going Down Under for its latest expansion. The Fund was founded in New York in 2018, before launching in Los Angeles, London, the Rockies…
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16 June 2021 0

Dismantling the myths around raising your first check

As startups and venture capital grow in tandem, fundraising has gone from a formal affair on Sand Hill Road to a process that can happen anywhere from Twitter to Zoom. While fundraising may no longer require a trip to California, it might depend on whether you got an invite to a private audio app. And…
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27 May 2021 0

Every early-stage startup must identify and evaluate a strategic advantage

Mike Ghaffary Contributor Mike Ghaffary is a general partner at Canvas Ventures, where he invests in innovation for consumers and software. Previously, he was a partner at Social Capital, co-founder and VP of Business Development of Stitcher, VP of Business and Corporate Development at Yelp, and Director of Business Development at TrialPay. Whether you’re building…
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14 May 2021 0

Norwest Venture Partners’ Lisa Wu to teach founders how to think like a VC at TC Early Stage

The best venture capitalists take moonshot risks based on due diligence, support portfolio companies through ups and downs and find focus through noise. When you look at the job description of the best founder, you’ll find nearly the exact same list of characteristics (except, of course, instead of a portfolio, the founder is supporting a…
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23 April 2021 0

Outschool is the newest edtech unicorn

Outschool, a marketplace providing small-group, virtual after-school activities for children has raised a $75 million Series C led by Coatue and Tiger Global Management. TechCrunch first learned of the round from sources familiar with the transaction; the company confirmed the deal to TechCrunch later today. The new funding values Outschool’s at $1.3 billion, around 4…
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14 April 2021 0

Let’s talk about gaslighting and fundraising

“Most of the startups I give advice to about how to raise venture capital shouldn’t be raising venture capital,” an investor recently told me. While the idea that every startup isn’t venture-backable might run counter to the narrative to the barrage of funding news each week, I think it’s important to double click on the…
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10 April 2021 0