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☆ We're seeing the burn off of 'venture tourism' in startups, says entrepreneur Jason Calacanis
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-15 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailWe're seeing the burn off of 'venture tourism' in startups, says entrepreneur Jason CalacanisHosted by Brian Sullivan, “Last Call” is a fast-paced, entertaining business show that explores the intersection of money, culture and policy. Tune in Monday through Friday at 7 p.m. ET on CNBC.

Persons: Jason Calacanis, Brian Sullivan, “ Organizations: CNBC

☆ Ex-Shopify merchants built a no-code platform to simplify e-commerce. Check out the 13-slide pitch deck Krepling used to raise $3.3 million.
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-25 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Brothers Liam, 23, and Travis Gerada, 20, were Shopify merchants before they decided to get into the more technical side of e-commerce. They found that running a modern e-commerce business requires many different software integrations that often don't share data with each other, making it difficult to manage and make decisions. Some use Shopify or other platforms like WooCommerce, while others have used Krepling to grow from the ground up. "We found that merchants were typically expanding their e-commerce stack to optimize the cost to reach different consumers across many different channels. Take a look at the 13-slide pitch deck that Krepling used to raise its seed round:

Persons: Liam, Travis Gerada, they're, Krepling, Jason Calacanis, Liam Gerada, Gerada Organizations: Business, Bull City Venture Partners, Ventures, Tribes Ventures, Colabora Ventures, Broadshade Investments Locations: GMV

☆ Harvard president's resignation draws strong reactions from her critics and supporters
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-02 | by ( Jordan Hart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Claudine Gay is out as the president of Harvard. Gay announced Tuesday in a letter that she was stepping down, and reactions have poured in on social media from both her supporters and critics. AdvertisementElon Musk voiced his agreement with a social media user's post that said Gay had been "caught plagiarizing." I admire Claudine Gay for putting Harvard's interests first at what I know must be an agonizingly difficult moment. AdvertisementNot everyone celebrated Gay's resignation.

Persons: Claudine Gay, Gay, —, Larry Summers, Gay's, Elon Musk, Emil Michael, Uber's, Alan Garber, — Lawrence H, Summers, Bill Ackman, Ackman, hasn't, Sally Kornbluth, Elizabeth Magill, it’s, 3yUDw6tciF — Emil Michael, @emilmichael, Christopher Rufo, Rufo, Elon, Jason Calacanis, Timnit Gebru, Couldn't, Gebru, Nikole Hannah Jones, Janai Nelson, Liz Magill's, Gary Marcus, Uber, Marcus Organizations: Harvard, Service, Treasury, Twitter, Billionaire, Gay, Former University of Pennsylvania, Harvard Corporation, Conservative, Google, NAACP Legal Defense, Educational Fund

☆ ChatGPT's father Sam Altman was ousted by OpenAI's board then took a top job at Microsoft over the weekend. Here's how investors, analysts, and insiders reacted to the drama.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-20 | by ( Theron Mohamed | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Sam Altman was ousted from OpenAI then accepted a top job at Microsoft over the weekend. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . AdvertisementOver the course of a whirlwind weekend, OpenAI cofounder Sam Altman was ousted from ChatGPT's parent company and promptly accepted a job running a new AI research team at Microsoft. [Microsoft CEO Satya] Nadella says they're still committed to OpenAI. (Ware predicted brain drain as other OpenAI employees follow Altman to Microsoft or join other rivals now he's no longer in charge.)

Persons: Sam Altman, OpenAI, —, Microsoft didn't, Dan Ives, Altman, — that's, Jason Ware, They've, Satya, Nadella, they're, They're, Ware, Ben Laidler, Emmett, Joshua Mahony, Jim, Fan, Satya swoops, I'm, Jason Calacanis, It's Organizations: Microsoft, Wall Street, Service, Nasdaq, Albion Financial, CNBC, Markets, Nvidia Locations: OpenAI

☆ Billionaire investor Chamath Palihapitiya suggests VCs could be replaced by 'an automated system' as the world adapts to AI
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-13 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Billionaire investor Chamath Palihapitiya discussed how AI could impact VCs. Palihapitiya said there was a "reasonable case to make" that the job could cease to exist. AdvertisementAdvertisementBillionaire investor and former Facebook exec Chamath Palihapitiya thinks AI will radically change the job of the venture capitalist. He said that changes to the industry sparked by AI could lead to VCs being replaced by "an automated system of capital against objectives." The rapid advancements in generative AI have sparked fears of job losses across industries, including in the financial sector.

Persons: Chamath Palihapitiya, Palihapitiya, —, Chamath, Jason Calacanis, David Sacks, David Friedberg Organizations: Service, Facebook, Silicon, Silicon Valley VC, Social Capital, Deutsche Bank Locations: Silicon Valley

☆ X users slam millionaire venture capitalist who 'has not had a traditional 9-5 job' in decades after he mocks Gen-Zer venting about work-life balance
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( Sarah Jackson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Millionaire VC Jason Calacanis is catching flak for mocking a woman venting about her 9-5 on TikTok. Users on X, formerly Twitter, said he was punching down and noted he hadn't worked a 9-5 in decades. Some commenters said the woman was unprepared to enter the workforce; others agreed 9-5 jobs leave little room for work-life balance. "I want to be able to talk for this next generation and explain that a 40-hour work week plus commute is not necessary for productivity," she said. Period," one person said on X.AdvertisementAdvertisementMany users agreeing with Brielle expressed their support for a 4-day work week.

Persons: Millionaire, Jason Calacanis, hadn't, —, Brielle, didn't, I'm, Calacanis, they've, weren't Organizations: Service Locations: TikTok, New Zealand, Australia

☆ Elon Musk lashes out at journalist Kara Swisher and says she was 'foaming at the mouth' during an interview with a former X exec
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-29 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Elon Musk has criticized journalist Kara Swisher over her interview with a former X executive. Swisher interviewed Yoel Roth at Vox Media's Code Conference on Wednesday. During the interview, Roth advised X CEO Linda Yaccarino to consider the risks of working with Musk, The Verge reported. However, in a follow-up post on X, Swisher said Yaccarino had known Roth would appear. In a separate post on X, Swisher called Boorstin's interview with Yaccarino "very tough but fair."

Persons: Elon Musk, Kara Swisher, Swisher, Yoel Roth, Vox, Linda Yaccarino, —, Roth, " Roth, Yaccarino, Musk, Kara, Julia Boorstin, chuckles, Jason Calacanis Organizations: Service, Twitter

☆ Here's the 14-slide pitch deck Deft, an AI-powered search engine for e-commerce, used to raise $1.8 million in a round backed by Jason Calacanis
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-14 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Deft, an AI-powered search engine startup for e-commerce, has emerged from stealth with a $1.8 million funding round. "Google and Amazon continue to push the most relevant searches down so they can make more money and marketers have figured out how to bump up results using SEO," Zach Hudson, Deft cofounder and CEO, told Insider. The rise of AI following the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT 3 last year led to increased pressure to launch for Deft, Hudson added. Deft is emerging from stealth with its product after raising $1.8 million in funding at the beginning of 2022. The company's funding round comes from Hustle Fund, Frontier VC, Vitalize, Long Ecommerce Ventures, 43 Ventures, Launch, and angel investor Jason Calacanis alongside a variety of founders.

Persons: Alex Gunnarson, Zach Hudson, Hudson, Long, Jason Calacanis, I've Organizations: Google, Hustle Fund, Frontier, Long Ecommerce Ventures, Ventures

☆ Customer data, transactions, financials: Still reeling from the market implosion, VCs are demanding to see numbers to back up founder pitches
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-12 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Founders say VCs are increasingly demanding detailed data and visibility into their startups before considering a deal. But some in the industry say that for early stage startups, a reliance on data can create an illusion of certainty. Half a dozen early stage startup founders tell Insider that gone are the days when a good idea and flashy pitch deck were enough to close a deal. He described it as looking for "the golden playbook for investing in early stage startups." For his part Hasan says that when speaking to potential investors, he views an obsession with financials and data as a red flag.

Persons: Miguel Guerrero, Guerrero, He's, Fahad Hassan, Hasan, Keyvan Firouzi, Firouzi, Jason Calacanis, it's, Dorothee Grant, Avante Price, James Cham, Cham, Hassan Organizations: IRL, Activant, Stanford, Carta, Investors, Bloomberg Beta Locations: New York

☆ Andrew Tate, Ashley St. Clair, and Billy Markus are among the Twitter personalities who say they're getting thousands of dollars under the site's new ad-revenue program
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

In some cases, Twitter has told them to expect tens of thousands of dollars. Billy Markus, the creator of Dogecoin who has 2.1 million followers, tweeted on Thursday that he was getting $37,050. Several accounts connected to Musk were told they'd also be getting payments. Sawyer Merritt, a Tesla investor who posts regular commentary about Musk's businesses, tweeted that Twitter would pay him $6,465. "It makes a lot of cents to create here!," Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino tweeted on Thursday after the program was announced.

Persons: they're, Andrew Tate, Elon Musk's, Billy Markus, Dogecoin, Brian, Ed Krassenstein, Ed, Ashley St, Claire, she'd, Ian Miles Cheong, Benny Johnson, he'd, Rogan O'Handley, Wokeness, Twitter, Musk, Zuby, they'd, Jonas Lismont, Sawyer Merritt, podcaster Jason Calacanis, Linda Yaccarino Organizations: Morning, Twitter, Meta Locations: Romania

☆ Airbnb CEO predicts AI will pave the way for 'millions of startups' instead of replacing jobs
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-19 | by ( Kelsey Neubauer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky said AI will ultimately be a boon to the job market. He predicts AI will propel "millions of startups," even as jobs at existing companies could decrease. Chesky is one of many business leaders that has weighed in on AI this year. He anticipates that the technology will propel "millions of new startups," he told investor Jason Calacanis on a recent episode of This Week In Startups. While many in the business world have said AI could profoundly impact innovation and the economy, business leaders, including Warren Buffett, are skeptical.

Persons: Airbnb, Brian Chesky, Jason Calacanis, Calcanis, —, Chesky, Warren Buffett, Elon Musk Organizations: CNBC, Google, Center, AI Safety

☆ Scoop: The founders of PopSugar raise $33 million for their second VC fund, and launch a bespoke investment bank to advise startups on M&A
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Brian and Lisa Sugar, the married founders of PopSugar, have raised a second venture capital fund. The $33 million fund will invest in consumer brands and software powering the future of retail. The eponymous firm, Sugar Capital, began to raise the sophomore fund a year ago and closed in May, Brian Sugar told Insider. For her part, Lisa stepped back from managing PopSugar in 2021 and joined Sugar Capital as a partner in 2022. Sugar Capital set out to raise $75 million for its second fund and reduced the target size last summer, Sugar said.

Persons: Brian, Lisa Sugar, Brian Sugar, MrBeast's Feastables, Will Hawthorne, Krista Moatz, PopSugar, Hawthorne, Sugar, Sam Altman, Jason Calacanis, Everlane, Ben Lerer's, Lisa, Brian Ach Organizations: PopSugar, Sugar Capital, Avid Capital Advisors, Avid, Sugar, JPMorgan, Advisors, Sequoia Capital, Nine Media, Bain Capital, Pritzker Group Venture, Consumer Locations: Olive

☆ Meet David Sacks, the friend of Elon Musk who could play kingmaker for Ron DeSantis
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Brian Schwartz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +12 min

Ron DeSantis — including hosting the candidate's kickoff event on Twitter — demonstrate how Sacks is working to become a GOP kingmaker. A DeSantis campaign spokesman did not return a request for comment before publication. Sacks, according to Puck, serves as one of the group's directors. Kevin McGrann, a lobbyist at government relations juggernaut Forbes Tate Partners, is also linked to Bay Strategies, according to Hall. And Sacks said during a recent episode that he plans to ask the DeSantis campaign for the Florida governor to agree to an interview.

Persons: David Sacks, Paul Chinn, Caroline Wren, Wren, Donald Trump's, Jan, president's, Sacks, George Soros, Puck, Ron DeSantis, Peter Thiel, Ro Khanna, didn't, Joe Biden, Thiel, Elon Musk, –, Joe Lonsdale's, Julie Samuels, Samuels, DeSantis, I've, Trump, Stewart Hall, Jill Kendrick, Hall, Sen, Richard Shelby, Kendrick, Kevin McGrann, juggernaut Forbes, McGrann, John Boehner, OpenSecrets, Musk, Bari Weiss, isn't, Peter, Jason Calacanis, David Friedberg, Chamath, Robert F, Kennedy Jr, Kennedy, Biden, Nikki Haley, Calacanis Organizations: TechCrunch, Calif, San Francisco Chronicle, Hearst Newspapers, Getty Images Venture, Trump, U.S . Capitol, Republicans, Commission, Florida Gov, Twitter, GOP, PayPal, CNBC, Democratic, Microsoft, DeSantis, Purple Good Government PAC, FEC, Ron DeSantis PAC, PAC, Republican Party, Purple Good Government, Stewart, Public, Crossroads, Altria Group, Boeing, General Electric, Hearst Corp, Washington , D.C, Forbes Tate Partners, juggernaut Forbes Tate Partners, Forbes Tate, Association of Independent Mortgage Experts, United Wholesale Mortgage, SpaceX, Republican, YouTube, Biden, CNN Locations: San Francisco, Florida, Silicon, Trump, DeSantis, Puck, Washington ,, Ohio

☆ Airbnb CEO says he changed how he ran the business during the pandemic and now follows a simple rule Steve Jobs used
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Aaron Mcdade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky told the "This Week in Startups" podcast the pandemic forced him to change how he runs the company. Now, Chesky said the company follows a principle Steve Jobs held at Apple — to never work on more than the CEO can focus on. "We were like staring into the abyss," Chesky told host Jason Calacanis. According to Chesky, a few people who famously worked closely with Steve Jobs during his time at Apple ultimately proved instrumental in reshaping how Airbnb runs. Chesky told Calacanis Ive used to tell Jobs it was important for Jobs himself to be personally involved with product development.

☆ Upfront's Mark Suster has become the star of LA's booming startup scene. Not everyone is a fan.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +29 min

"I have worked with more than 50 VCs and nobody comes close to what it is like to work with Mark Suster," said a founder backed by Suster. "Mark and the Upfront Summit helped put LA tech and investing on the map," said Jeffrey Katzenberg, the cofounder of DreamWorks and WndrCo. Several years ago, a founder whose startup Suster invested in was in a conference room rehearsing their presentation for the Upfront Summit. If you're going to put him on your board, you're letting the fox guard the henhouse. "If you're going to put him on your board, you're letting the fox guard the henhouse."

Greg Becker, who was the longtime CEO of Silicon Valley Bank, pictured last year. "Looks like Silicon Valley Bank is in some deep shit," Uncommon Capital general partner Jamie Quint tweeted. Startup founders scrambled to get their funds out of Silicon Valley Bank after its collapse. Andreessen Horowitz announced this week that it will continue banking with Silicon Valley Bank "for the foreseeable future" but is crafting a longer-term plan to diversify. Even so, he added, "I think we'd be supportive, as they stabilize, for them to be one of many partners that our founders bank with."

☆ SVB collapse was driven by ‘the first Twitter fueled bank run’
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Jennifer Korn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN —The massive amount of customer withdrawals that led to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank had all the hallmarks of an old-fashioned bank run, but with a new twist befitting the primary industry the bank served: much of it unfolded online. Customers withdrew $42 billion in a single day last week from Silicon Valley Bank, leaving the bank with $1 billion in negative cash balance, the company said in a regulatory filing. “It was the speed, fueled by zero distribution costs for both rumors and withdrawals, that was so destabilizing.”Silicon Valley Bank was arguably uniquely susceptible to those factors given its tech-focused customer base. The next day, the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation stepped in and took control of the bank, which only added to the viral panic on Twitter. “THAT IS THE PROPER REACTION.”Hours later, the Biden administration stepped in and guaranteed the bank’s customers would have access to all their money starting Monday.

☆ Silicon Valley Bank's meltdown shows that tech's elites need the government after all
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Emilia David | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Silicon Valley Bank meltdown is teaching the tech industry that regulators are sometimes needed. Tech's relationship with regulation has long been contentiousGovernment regulations, some of tech's most vocal figures contend, can stifle innovation and creativity. "I would suspect that this failure will result in some significant changes to banking regulation," Griffin said. "My logic for that is it isn't sustainable to have a run on a bank triggered mainly on Twitter." Very few in the VC world believe that the move to protect depositors will be bad for the industry's overall health.

☆ CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin says covering the SVB meltdown is like ‘walking a tight rope’
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN —Andrew Ross Sorkin woke up early Monday morning, long before the crack of dawn, after managing to sneak in a handful of hours of sleep. The New York Times columnist had been up late into the night working on his DealBook newsletter. And now he needed to rise for a special edition of “Squawk Box,” the CNBC program he has co-hosted since 2011. It is a story Sorkin described covering as “a balancing act, a little bit like walking a tight rope.” On one hand, he said, journalists must avoid sparking panic and causing a catastrophic run on the banks. “If you scream ‘fire,’ everyone runs out of the theater,” Sorkin said.

Silicon Valley Bank was shut down by regulators on Friday. The news has made startup founders worried that they won't be able to pay their employees next week. Startup founders still reeling from Silicon Valley Bank's implosion have something new to stress about: whether they'll be able to access enough money to cut employee paychecks next week. "Lots of startups are missing payroll in 2-4 weeks if a) Silicon Valley Bank doesn't have the deposits b) SVB doesn't get sold or c) SVB isn't rescued." "If you're a startup founder dealing with this, I'm here to help any way I can," Ayush Sharma, founder and CEO of payroll and compliance startup Warp, tweeted.

☆ 'Gnarly term sheets' and a 'terrible deal for founders:' VC heavyweights are raising alarms about the buildup of startup venture debt, warning it could imperil future deals
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

But now some industry heavyweights are raising the alarm about the massive build up of venture debt, warning it could imperil future deals. Why startups raise debtStartups tend to raise venture debt alongside traditional equity. "Venture debt makes sense in an environment in which founders are generally able to raise the next round and then pay back the venture debt." A venture debt reckoningSamir Kaji, a former venture debt lender and host of the Venture Unlocked podcast, recently took to twitter to weigh in on the venture debt reckoning. Venture debt has traditionally seen credit loss rates much lower than other private lenders, but that could soon be changing.

☆ 11 podcasts that busy venture capitalists and founders say they trust right now
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Robin Madell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Investors at JetBlue Ventures, Mighty Capital, and other VC firms shared their favorite podcasts. Another recommendation is "Origins" by partners at the biotech VC firm Notation Capital. Here are 11 great options, recommended by VCs, founders, CEOs, and other industry insiders. "The main thing about the VC world is building relationships, and Harry is an example of a great networker," Gershfeld said. "BTC is the single-most important asset in the world, and that podcast gets to the heart of why that is."

☆ Amid the rise of ChatGPT and other AI chatbots, venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya thinks Google Search will be the biggest loser of 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

On the business podcast All-In, Palihapitiya said Google Search will be the biggest business loser of 2023. Amid the rise of chatbots like ChatGPT, Palihapitiya said more companies will engineer competitive search engines. The All-In podcast is a business podcast co-hosted by four tech industry veterans — PayPal COO David Sacks, investor David Friedberg, entrepreneur Jason Calacanis, and Palihapitiya. However, Palihapitiya doesn't think that ChatGPT is the only reason Google's search business might be on shaky grounds this year. With enough time and money, Palihapitiya said companies like Microsoft, Oracle, "Chinese internet companies," and even Facebook could be potential competitors to Google search.

☆ Elon Musk responds to Twitter's first widespread outage under his leadership by saying the platform is working for him
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Twitter faced its first widespread outage under Elon Musk's leadership on Wednesday evening. Musk responded to the reports by tweeting: "Works for me." Twitter staff previously raised concerns about outages after Musk laid-off half the company's staff. Musk responded to some unaffected users discussing the reports, saying: "Works for me." Fears about such an outage began after Musk laid off around half of Twitter's 7,500 staff soon after he purchased the company.

☆ Elon Musk is surrounded by yes-men, and it's a recipe for disaster: 'The emperor has no clothes, but everybody's too afraid to tell him'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Experts told Insider Elon Musk's close business relationships is a "recipe for disaster." Experts told Insider it's not surprising that the second-richest man in the world would be taken aback by public criticism. Across his companies, Musk also appears to have built up a slew of allies. Similarly, at Twitter, Musk has also brought in some of his personal associates to assist in the transition. 'Speak truth to power'It can be very difficult to "speak truth to power," Nawaz told Insider, saying it's important for CEOs to create "psychologically safe" environments.

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