Welcome to issue #19 of our ongoing newsletter series, From the First Row.
Thanks to Trevor Brown and Rakesh Goyal for sending some startups our way this month.
Look here for First Row firm updates and the startup ecosystem news that catches our attention. Feedback and ideas welcome.
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<aside> đź“š Thank you to Sirisha Adimatyam from Innovosens for presenting at Deals & Drinks this month! And thanks to our participants for bringing their energetic and thoughtful engagement to the discussion. Sign up here to be included on the invite list moving forward, and access our Deals & Drinks info page **here.**
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<aside> 👩🏻‍⚖️ Minda participated as a “Sweet Sixteen” judge, and Yoko as a “Big Idea” judge for the University of Washington’s 25th Dempsey Startup Competition alongside Seattle investors and experienced entrepreneurs. The awards dinner was hosted at The Museum of Flight at Boeing Field — a great reminder that massive innovation is native to the PNW! The winner, OnDeck Fisheries AI won the top prize of $25,000. Read a full recap here.
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<aside> 💸 Abby Jenkins, our Venture Intern, served as the co-fund manager for the Flywheel Conference, held in Wenatchee, Washington on May 19-20 where over $325,000. The winning company, BrainSpace, is led by Caitlin Morse, a frequent attendee of Deals & Drinks. Caitlin commented on how much those events have shaped her ability to communicate with investors on a new level. During the event, Minda joined Cascade Seed Fund’s Julie Harrelson for an engaging fireside chat led by a local high school student.
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<aside> 🌊 Yoko participated in a panel for the Maritime Blue Innovation Accelerator’s Third Wave cohort showcase. The panel explored various perspectives on funding and investing in the Blue Economy - from venture and impact to government, and corporate.
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<aside> 🌴 Last week, we attended a demo day for a Florida pre-seed fund and accelerator run by OneSixOne Ventures’ Pablo Casimilas. Pablo is spending time in Seattle and Tacoma this spring an summer, as featured in Geekwire. He and Minda met up last week to connect in person and trade ideas about how to find, support and fund early stage startups.
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<aside> 🛠️ Our portfolio companies are hiring! Please let us know if you you or anyone in your network is interested in these opportunities:
<aside> 🗓️ We periodically run an Early Stage Investing 101 **workshop prior to Deals & Drinks. Join us if you've never attended Deals & Drinks and/or would like a primer on the investor perspective and deal evaluation frameworks. This is a great opportunity for emerging investors and entrepreneurs raising capital for the first time. Our next workshop is on Wednesday, June 8th from 12 -1PM, register here.
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<aside> 🖥️ Don’t Forget Microsoft – A fantastic article tracing Microsoft’s history, its path to more future growth, and the lessons startups can learn from their journey. Microsoft successfully reinvented itself into a cloud company with Azure, and Azure’s rampant growth despite being a second-mover highlights Microsoft’s three big advantages: enterprise distribution, user trust, and exceptional engineering talent. Much of the article also outlines acquisitions Microsoft could make to chart a path to becoming a $10T company – well worth the read for founders and investors at all stages!
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<aside> 🧵 Good vs Great Growth Rates – As the market’s past exuberance continues to taper off, fundamentals and metrics are growing increasingly important for fundraising. Luckily, Lenny Rachitsky surveyed investors across B2B, B2C, and GMV businesses to create benchmarks on what good vs great growth rates are at all stages of growth. Importantly, growth is just one aspect: growing unsustainably just to meet benchmarks is a dangerous path!
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<aside> 🧵 Sequoia’s tips on operating in a down market – Adapted for crypto founders but equally applicable to anyone, Michelle Bailhe outlines some crucial tips on how founders should think about operating in today’s vicious market. Incredible tips on discipline, doubling down on R&D/Product, and asking probing questions of yourself.
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<aside> 🧵 10 websites you didn’t know you were missing – A handy list of 10 non-mainstream websites that can help us all work faster and smarter. Especially handful for early founders looking to move fast, but we loved whatruns.com as a quick way to see what tech stack the best websites are running!
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Trends:
We’ve framed our funding news to match our evolved pillars: Software Power Tools, Data Interconnectivity, and Creator-Controlled Media.