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☆ Startup employees are reeling as they brace for back-to-back rounds of layoffs: 'When it happens again, you start to lose that confidence and faith in your leadership.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( Samantha Stokes | Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

For the startup employees interviewed by Insider, the constant threat of layoffs is having a detrimental effect on company morale. said one employee working at a growth stage startup that's conducted three rounds of layoffs this year. For Reay, the former Sendoso employee, constant rounds of layoffs gave him and his surviving colleagues "strategy whiplash." "When it happens again, you start to lose that confidence and faith in your leadership." Some startup employees are reconsidering their future in the industryAs startup employees brace for the potential of more job cuts, they say that the experience has them second-guessing whether to stay in the industry at all.

Persons: Sean Reay, it's, Reay, SoftBank, Sendoso, what's, I'm, Raey, SchoolMint, I've, you'd, he's, Jackie Xu, Xu Talent, Kleiner Perkins, Xu, you've Organizations: Facebook, Meta, Twitter, Sendoso, GV, Google, Employees Locations: San Diego, That's, SPAC

☆ Here's the 6 personality traits you need to found a successful startup
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-22 | by ( Polly Thompson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Researchers used AI to determine the personality traits of 21,000 startup founders. They found that the success of a startup is linked to the personality traits of its founder. Here are the six personality traits you need to be a successful founder. AdvertisementAdvertisementA startup founder's personality traits may have a major impact on their company's success, a study published in Nature suggests. AdvertisementAdvertisementThe researchers found that these core personality traits were dramatically different to the wider population, the report says.

Persons: —, Paul X, McCarthy, It's, " McCarthy, Melanie Perkins, Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Horacio Villalobos Organizations: Service, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, University of Technology Sydney, University of Melbourne, University of New Locations: Nature, University of New South Wales, Sydney

☆ Meet the Gredes: The fashion powerhouse couple behind billionaire celebrity brands like Skims and Brady
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-21 | by ( Jennifer Ortakales Dawkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Emma and Jens Grede are the power couple behind celebrity brands like Skims and Brady. The European couple has co-founded seven brands between them. AdvertisementAdvertisementBehind the glitz and glamor of celebrity apparel brands like Skims , Good American, and Brady , there's a powerhouse couple with a resume and investment portfolio worth millions. Emma and Jens Grede are founders, investors, and tastemakers in the fashion industry with connections from London to Hollywood. The European couple has co-founded seven brands between them.

Persons: Emma, Jens Grede, They've, Kardashian, Jenner, —, Brady, there's, Kim Kardashian's, that's, Lauren Sherman, Kylie Jenner Organizations: Service Locations: Brady, London, Hollywood

☆ How Costco's next CEO, Ron Vachris, went from driving the retailer's forklifts to earning millions in the C-suite
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-20 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Costco president and COO Ron Vachris will take over as CEO from Craig Jelinek on January 1. The 40-year employee started as a forklift driver at Costco's predecessor, Price Club. AdvertisementAdvertisementWhen Ron Vachris steps into his new role as CEO for wholesale club Costco, he will have worn more hats for the company than probably anyone alive. "If Vachris is appointed CEO, he would be the third CEO in Costco's history." When Price Club and Costco merged in 1993 (Costco co-founder Jim Sinegal was a protégé of Price), Vachris was tasked with overseeing the company's expansion back in Arizona.

Persons: Ron Vachris, Craig Jelinek, —, Vachris, Morgan Stanley, Simeon Gutman, Jelinek, Sol Price, Jim Sinegal, — Jelinek, Doug McMillon, Brian Cornell Organizations: Costco, Price, Service, Company, Price Club, SEC, Walmart Locations: Arizona, Colorado, Price

☆ ‘A scary situation’: As Wall Street assails Harvard, students worry about their futures
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-14 | by ( Melia Russell | Tim Paradis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Ackman, in his initial tweet about Harvard, said that "a number of CEOs" shared his desire to publicly out the Harvard students who condemned Israel. Other business leaders were quick to echo his calls, winning plaudits on social media. In a visit to Harvard, Insider spoke with a range of students about the backlash to the statement on Israel. It's ironic, of course, to accuse students of silencing dissent when Ackman and other business leaders are seeking to do exactly that. But now, some Harvard students fear that the backlash from the business community will have a chilling effect on student speech.

Persons: Bill Ackman, they've, Israel, Marc Rowan, Meyer Davidoff, Kalita, Eden Mendelsohn, what's, " Melia Russell, Tim Paradis Organizations: Harvard, Wall, Big Law, University of Pennsylvania, Invictus Pharmacy, LinkedIn, Birkoa Capital Management, Penn, Twitter Locations: Gaza, Silicon, Israel, Silicon Valley

☆ SoftBank-backed gifting startup Sendoso just completed its fourth round of layoffs in the last 16 months
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-03 | by ( Samantha Stokes | Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

SoftBank-backed gifting startup Sendoso laid off an undisclosed number of employees in its latest round of job cuts on Tuesday. This is the fourth time in the last 16 months that Sendoso has axed its headcount: the marketing startup in June 2022 laid off around 100 employees from its then 700-employee workforce, Insider previously reported . Sendoso most recently raised $100 million in a Series C funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund. Better, which went public in August via a long-delayed SPAC deal, conducted another round of layoffs last month . Do you have information about job cuts at tech startups?

Persons: Sendoso, SoftBank, it's, —, Samantha Stokes, Madeline Stone Organizations: LinkedIn, U.S, Sendoso, SoftBank Vision, Greensill, Stock Locations: Ireland, sstokes@insider.com, mstone@insider.com

☆ Masterclass spent $100,000 building a replica of Bob Iger's office in a conference room because the Disney CEO's real office was too hard to film in, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-26 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

It wanted to film the Disney CEO in his office as he taught business strategy and leadership, per The Information. But the real thing didn't work as a set, so MasterClass spent $100,000 building a replica in a conference room. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . AdvertisementAdvertisementThe educational media company MasterClass paid $100,000 to build a replica of Disney CEO Bob Iger's office in a conference room, The Information reported. So the company decided to spend $100,000 building a replica of Iger's office in a conference room at the Disney complex, which the media conglomerate allowed MasterClass to use rent-free, The Information reported.

Persons: MasterClass, —, Bob Iger's, Martin Scorsese, Bill Clinton, Sam Bankman Organizations: Disney, Service, Fidelity Locations: Burbank , California

☆ Some startup founders say VC influence is 'debilitating.' Here's why they are turning down outside funding and bootstrapping instead.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-14 | by ( Samantha Stokes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

But when it comes to his current startup, an AI platform for businesses called Iterate, Nordmark is staunchly against relying on outside funding. Nordmark is part of a growing league of founders who are opting for bootstrapping, which means growing startups without relying on outside funding from investors. Six startup founders interviewed by Insider also say that in some cases, they're actively turning down opportunities for funding to keep maximum control of their business plans. Founders who have eschewed VC funding say that bootstrapping allows them to go — and grow — at their own pace. To be sure, some startup founders are still taking big checks from VCs when the timing is right.

Persons: Jon Nordmark, Samsonite, Nordmark, they're, it's, MailChimp, Brooke LeBlanc, VCs, Dr, Bobbi Wegner, SVB, Evan Jager, we're, Dori Yona, Jason Burke, – Burke Organizations: Insider, VCs, Apple, Oracle, Intuit, Founders Locations: VCs, Boston

☆ Big startups are a bust so prestige investors are fighting for deals into tiny European companies
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-05 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Funding to European startups across the board dropped by almost 60% to $23 billion in the first six months of 2023, according to Crunchbase data. ElevenLabs, a London-based artificial intelligence startup founded by Google and Palantir alumni, pulled in $18 million at a $100 million valuation a year after it was founded. Mistral, another European startup set up by ex-Facebook and DeepMind staffers, raised $113 million a month after it was founded. AI has been of particular interest to investors with similar hype surrounding a deal for London-based text-to-voice startup ElevenLabs. Industry stakeholders believe that teams springing from already successful companies to set up their own startups will be very attractive with some predicting startups founded between 2022 and 2024 primed to be very in demand in the future.

Persons: Andreessen Horowitz, David Schreiber, Duco van, Pivot, Marc, Antoine Lacroix, Romain Libeau, Sifted, Filip Dames, Dames Organizations: Google, Mistral, Facebook, Ventures, Cocoa, Club, Cherry Ventures, Sequoia, Industry Locations: Europe, London, Paris, Berlin

☆ Startup extinction season is going to kick into high gear — and there's likely going to be a bloodbath soon for some of the 50,000 VC-backed startups
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-26 | by ( Vishal Persaud | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

There are more than 50,000 US VC-backed startups, and many will be looking for capital soon. Some startups will be looking for funding in Q4 or be forced to look for a sale or shut down. The startup has followed the typical survival strategy of a desperate startup this year by first cutting costs with layoffs. We all know venture capital funding is tough to come by these days. Venture capital funding was overly abundant in the latter half of 2020 and all of 2021.

Persons: Melia Russell, Rob Price, It's cratered, Kyle Stanford, PitchBook, –, they've, it's, aren't, Stanford Organizations: Morning, US VC, Venture, Stanford, Tiger

☆ As the IPO market comes back to life, Navan (formerly TripActions) is targeting an April 2024 listing
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-25 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The company is now targeting a late April 2024 IPO, Insider has learned. Navan, formerly known as TripActions, is now targeting a late April 2024 IPO, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter not authorized to speak publicly. However, this month the nearly two year dormant IPO market has finally shown signs of coming to life. Andreessen Horowitz first invested in TripActions in 2018, when it led the company's series C funding round at a $1.1 billion valuation and general partner Ben Horowitz joined the board. Navan has raised more than $2 billion in equity and debt financing since it was founded 2015, according to Pitchbook.

Persons: Ariel Cohen, Kelly Soderlund, Instacart, Goldman Sachs, Andreessen Horowitz, Ben Horowitz, It's, " Horowitz Organizations: Navan, NASDAQ, Bloomberg, Softbank, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Coatue Management, Zeev Ventures Locations: Navan, Caplight, TripActions

☆ Check out the 12-slide pitch deck marketing tech company Simon Data used to raise $54 million in fresh funds
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-16 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Martech company Simon Data raised a $54 million Series D round this month. Marketing technology company Simon Data raised $54 million in fresh funds earlier this month as it plans to bolster its research and development division. The problem isn't collecting data — it's enabling data for business stakeholders to access it," said Simon Data cofounder and CEO Jason Davis. He said Simon Data was likely to grow somewhere between 45% and 50% this year. The Simon Data Series D round was led by Australian financial group Macquarie Capital with participation from existing investors, including Polaris, .406, and F-Prime.

Persons: Simon Data, Simon, Jason Davis, Davis Organizations: Macquarie Capital, Marketing, The, JetBlue, Bombas, Australian, Polaris Locations: The New York

From Karat to Spill, venture capitalists are betting on creator-focused companies in 2023.Insider is highlighting 14 VC firms that are backing startups in the space right now. About three years ago, the "creator economy" was a fiery buzzword that emerged out of the bustling influencer-marketing and social-media industries. By 2021, the space had raised approximately $939 million in venture capital, according to Crunchbase data. Insider is highlighting over a dozen VC firms, as well as their partners who specialize in creator-focused startups, that are funding the next wave of creator-economy companies. Here are 14 VC firms funding the creator economy in 2023:Note: Firms are listed in alphabetical order.

Persons: Marlon Nichols, Nichols, Karat Organizations: MaC Venture

☆ There's a brewing backlash against DEI in corporate America — and a venture capital fund getting sued for racial bias is now caught in the middle
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( Vishal Persaud | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

VC firm Fearless Fund is being sued by the group behind the Supreme Court affirmative action case. The conservative group claims a grant program run by Fearless Fund is racially discriminatory. It also led some companies like Bank of America, Mastercard , PayPal and others to earmark millions of dollars to fund and address the racial funding gap. A small, Atlanta-based, Black women-led venture firm called Fearless Fund was one of them. "Their motive is clear: they want to disrupt the vital work of Fearless Fund and similar institutions and organizations whose primary mission is to provide underrepresented communities with an economic engine to build, sustain and scale their businesses," said Fearless Fund in a press release.

Persons: George Floyd, Edward Blum, Arian Simone, Ayana Parsons, George Floyd's, Eghosa Omoigui, Yasmin Cruz Ferrine, Ferrine, VCs Organizations: Fearless, Morning, Bank of America, Mastercard, PayPal, American Alliance for Equal Rights, Civil, Costco, MasterCard, Street Journal, Netflix, Disney, Warner Bros, Wall Street Journal, Pew Research Center, Microsoft, Walmart, TechCrunch Locations: Minneapolis, Atlanta, America

☆ A backlash is brewing against DEI in corporate America — and a venture-capital fund facing a racial-bias lawsuit is caught in the middle
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( Vishal Persaud | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

☆ Deepset, an AI startup that helps companies build apps with LLMs, just raised $30 million with this 12-slide pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Deepset, a German AI startup that offers LLM developer tools, has raised $30 million. The company wants to expand its Haystack product and grow its presence in the US. German AI startup Deepset has raised $30 million in a round led by Revolut investor Balderton Capital. Deepset's capital raise comes as AI startups account for a higher proportion of venture capital dealmaking. AI startups raised $25 billion in the opening half of the year against a backdrop of falling VC investment, Crunchbase data shows.

Persons: Milos Rusic, Rusic Organizations: Balderton Capital, Airbus, Siemens, Balderton, GV, Harpoon Ventures Locations: London, Berlin

☆ Dropoff in venture capital funding triggers uptick in pre-emptive deals with investors desperate to back the hottest startups
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Venture capital funding was cut in half in the first six months of 2023, according to Crunchbase. The dropoff has triggered an uptick in pre-empted deals, where investors back the most exciting startups. Payrails, Cello, and ElevenLabs are among the startups to close pre-emptive deals this year. Venture capital funding to startups has continued to collapse in 2023. The slowdown has led to something of an uptick in pre-empted funding rounds, where investors come forward with deal terms to exciting early-stage businesses before they even begin fundraising.

Persons: VCs, Tom Mendoza Organizations: Venture, Crunchbase, Energy, EQT Ventures Locations: London, Berlin

From Karat to Spill, venture capitalists are betting on creator-focused companies in 2023.Insider is highlighting 14 VC firms that are backing startups in the space right now. By 2021, the space had raised approximately $939 million in venture capital, according to Crunchbase data. Many startups have raised money in 2023, from pre-seed stages to larger later-stage rounds. Insider is highlighting over a dozen VC firms, as well as their partners who specialize in creator-focused startups, that are funding the next wave of creator-economy companies. Here are 14 VC firms funding the creator economy in 2023:Note: Firms are listed in alphabetical order.

Persons: Marlon Nichols, Nichols, Karat Organizations: MaC Venture

☆ AI startups have raised almost $29 billion this year. Researchers say a lot more needs to go to companies working to prevent it from becoming an existential threat.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

While investors have poured billions into AI startups, concern about AI's capabilities has grown. People don't all have the same value systems, so AI alignment can look different depending on where the AI is operated and deployed. Investors poured $29 billion into AI startups in the first six months of 2023. Aligned AI. The drive to fund AI safetyAI researchers are also vigilant about where the funds for AI safety and alignment come from.

Persons: ChatGPT, Stuart Armstrong, Rebecca Gorman, —, Gorman, OpenAI's Sam Altman, Demis Hassabis, Bill Gates, Connor Leahy, Leahy, it's, Sam Bankman, Ian Hogarth, Hogarth Organizations: Oxford University, Investors, Alameda Research, FTX Locations: London

There are thousands of firms out there, each with their own specialties and varied track records. We've narrowed it down to the best 75 based on data from Crunchbase and the firms themselves. Given that, Insider created the Seed 75 list as a new member to our Seed 100 and Seed 30 lists of the best individual seed investors. Some companies verified the Crunchbase data, some didn't respond but most others supplied us with updated data. What follows is the top 75 seed firms who scored at the top of our weighted scale.

Persons: We've Organizations: Crunchbase Locations: Crunchbase

Silicon Valley is bracing for what it fears will be an "extinction event" threatening the survival of hundreds of startups. Tom Loverro, a investor at 40-year-old Bay Area venture capital firm IVP, has been loudly warning for months on Twitter and in media interviews about a coming "mass extinction event" for startups. The total volume of venture capital investment into US startups has slumped for six consecutive quarters, according to data firm Pitchbook. Even a last-ditch slashing of the startup's prospective valuation — a "down-round," in Silicon Valley parlance — didn't whet investors' appetites. Over the past year, many startups that rely on Silicon Valley funding have been steeling themselves for the slowdown to avoid similar fates.

Persons: —, they're, Jennifer Neundorfer, That's, Tom Loverro, Loverro, Consuelo Vanderbilt, Vanderbilt, Cameron Lester, I've, Lester, Linda Ahrens, Ahrens, Unown, " Ahrens, Anna Dittrich, Plastiq, Vincent Harrison, Elad Gil, Steve Brotman, Brotman, Will Hawthorne, VC's, Mike Ryan, Pitchbook's Harrison, Sell, Hawthorne Organizations: Ventures, Sequoia Capital, —, Venture, Twitter, United States Federal Reserve, Jefferies, January Ventures, Alpha Partners, Avid Capital, Sugar, Menlo, BulletPoint Network Locations: Silicon, Sequoia, IVP, Valley, Instacart, Navan, Boston, Snowflake, America

☆ After a ‘safe sex’ lecture, this 30-year-old co-founded a company to bring at-home STD tests to the LGBTQ community
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Gili Malinsky | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

In 2019, he co-founded Ash Wellness, which now offers at-home diagnostic testing for "everything from HIV, cholesterol, lipids," he says, and more. Thus far, the company has raised $6.6 million in funding, according to Crunchbase. People at the facility where he was getting tested "start to give me a lecture on safe sex," he says. "It cost us $150 to acquire a patient and our testing kits sold for just under $150." They sold them about 250 testing kits and over the next month sold kits to three more B2B clients.

Persons: David Stein, Stein, He's, Cornell Tech's, Kyle Waters, Mio Akasako, Nick Sempere Organizations: U.S, Ash Wellness, George Washington University, Cornell, Villanova, University, PrEP Locations: Philadelphia, San Francisco

☆ Meet the new CEO of Alibaba
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( Lina Batarags | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Cofounder Eddie Wu will replace Daniel Zhang as CEO, the company announced Tuesday. The move comes three months after Alibaba announced it would split into six groups. Eddie Wu, currently the chairman of Taobao and Tmall Group, will take over as CEO from Daniel Zhang, Alibaba Group announced Tuesday. After Zhang steps down from his role, he will lead Alibaba's Cloud Intelligence Group as chairman and CEO, the company announced. History at Alibaba: He's one of the cofounders of Alibaba, and he currently serves as a senior vice president overseeing three business units, per Crunchbase.

Persons: Eddie Wu, Daniel Zhang, Alibaba, Zhang, Joseph C . Tsai, who's, Wu Organizations: Morning, Tmall, Alibaba, Cloud Intelligence Group, Zhejiang University of Technology Locations: China

☆ Cava IPO comes in a little too hot
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The company’s IPO raised $318 million, about $30 million more than it had expected a few days earlier, to fuel its expansion. And just in time for the afternoon lunch rush, its shares opened on the New York Stock Exchange at nearly double its IPO price. That implies Cava’s valuation is close to $5 billion, over twice the amount private investors ascribed it in 2021. Cava is a lot like Sweetgreen – neither are profitable, and both have a similar number of stores. But Cava now trades at more than five times its theoretical annualized sales based on the first quarter, much higher than the 1.4 times Sweetgreen commands.

Persons: Cava, copycats, Anita Ramaswamy, John Foley, Katrina Hamlin Organizations: YORK, Reuters, New York Stock Exchange, Twitter, Corporate, Thomson Locations: Crunchbase, Cava

☆ Bank of America makes $500 million equity push for minority- and women-led funds
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Yuheng Zhan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Bank of America has committed to giving more than $500 million in equity investments to minority- and women-led fund managers to support diverse entrepreneurs, the bank announced Thursday in a press release. The program started in 2020 and so far, more than 150 funds have used the equity to invest in upward of 1,000 companies, collectively controlling $7 billion of capital, Bank of America said. This translates to support for 1,500 diverse entrepreneurs and the employment of more than 21,000 people. Bank of America is also separately working with the National Football League and National Black Bank Foundation to support Black- and minority-owned banks, CNBC's Frank Holland reported. "We're very focused on supporting our fund managers," Nguyen said.

Persons: Nguyen, Gabrielle Fonrouge, CNBC's Frank Holland Organizations: of America, Bank of America, National Football League, National Black Bank Foundation Locations: Crunchbase

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