In an earlier era, aspiring journalists moved to New York, would-be actors made pilgrimages to Hollywood, and brave tech founders moved to the Bay Area so they could attract capital and talent.
But San Francisco is no longer the center of the startup worldAnd it hasn’t been in a while.
Cities like Boulder, Detroit and Austin had nascent tech ecosystems long before the pandemic forced them to start giving presentations via Zoom, and social media has leveled the playing field when it comes to networking and PR.
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“We noticed two years ago, while looking at our own analytics, that most of our deals were coming through Twitter,” Elizabeth Yen, co-founder and general partner of Hustle Fund, told TechCrunch Disrupt last week.
“If you look at my portfolio, the companies I work for on Twitter actually have an easier time raising money because investors feel they know them.”
Reporter Dominic-Maduri Davis moderated a discussion with Yin, Mike Asim (M25 co-founder), and Accel partner Rich Wong who solicited suggestions for early stage founders not living in area code 415 and poured tea about “emerging markets on their radars”.
If you are interested in the whole conversation, there is a link to a video at the end of the article. Stay tuned for more summaries from TC Disrupt in the coming days.
thanks for reading,
Walter Thompson
Managing Editor, TechCrunch +
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5 tips for getting started in a crowded web3 game market
Image credits: Chelsea Sampson (Opens in a new window) / Getty Images
Every online product requires some influence on the network, but games are unique: without big, loyal and enthusiastic customers, there is no way to create monetizable products.
Play-for-earning (P2E) games are particularly vulnerable to this problem, which is why “building a game that succeeds in the long-term means developing monetization strategies that can weather market tides,” says Cory Welton, Partner Founder and CEO of Mirai Labs, the game studio behind Pegaxy.
In this primer for P2E founders, Wilton shares suggestions for how to engage with investors, explains why tokens are not a reliable way to raise money, and discusses the “recent shift toward monetizing Web 2.0.”
An introductory checklist for startups about to undergo technical due diligence
Image credits: pixel image (Opens in a new window) / Getty Images
On Tuesday, Matt Van Italy, founder and CEO of codebase analytics company, shared a guest post to establish teams that are about to begin technical due diligence prior to an investment or acquisition.
On Wednesday, he followed up with a detailed checklist of C-level executives and senior managers responsible for helping venture capital determine if their “database is safe enough to invest.”
- Roadmap for their products
- Code quality
- Code, network and information security
- intellectual property
- development processes
- Engineering Team Contributions
- DevOps
Pitch Deck Teardown: The $125,000 Palau Project Pre-Foundation Platform
Image credits: Palau Project (Opens in a new window)
Fundraising takes many forms, but since previous founders often coax money from family and friends to validate their ideas, it can increase emotional stakes.
To raise money for Project Palau, an app that allows users to find the environmental impact and nutritional benefits of packaged foods, founder Jerome Cloetens put together a set of 22 slides with a goal of $500,000.
In the end, the team raised only $125,000.
Dear Sophie: How can early stage startups improve their chances of acquiring H-1Bs?
Image credits: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch
Dear Sophie,
We have a startup in an early stage of stealth in biotechnology.
Are we eligible to petition a STEM OPT co-founder for an H-1B in the lottery? Is it worth it or are there better alternatives?
The cradle of biotechnology
3 VCs explain how founders can stand out when promoting
Image credits: Kelly Sullivan (Opens in a new window) / Getty Images
There is a lot of wisdom in cliched motivational writing. For example, this quote by Will Durant, historian and philosopher:
We are what we do over and over again. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
Great presentation requires more than magic and storytelling skills: Investors expect founders to understand their market and competitors and help them prepare before the meeting begins.
“I generally recommend getting an almost teaser version of the suite with enough data and information to give us an idea of where you are in terms of your corporate journey,” said Jumera Herrera, Partner at Reach Capital.
“Just enough information so we can come prepared for the meeting.”
5 ways biotech startups can mitigate risks for long-term sustainable growth
Image credits: jayk7 (Opens in a new window) / Getty Images
Thanks to R&D and clinical trials, life sciences startups have significant lead times before they can bring their capital-intensive products to market.
Omar Khalil, partner at Santé Ventures, asks, “But, what happens when funding suddenly runs out?”
In a guest post for TC+, he shares five strategies for biotech startups trying to stay warm through the upcoming winter.
“It is still too early to tell if this is a short-term correction, or whether this is a new natural correction that will be maintained for the foreseeable future.”
