Forget Not-AI At Your Own Risk

The headline here is that Stripe bought Bridge for $1.1B. Not too shabby for a company that The Information estimates to be pulling in around $12M of revenue per year. Whether they overpaid or not is besides the point. The story here is that crypto is continuing to push into mainstream usage in a way that matters and that building in crypto while everyone was jumping up and down about AI seems to have worked out. For this team at least.

A couple other quick headlines before I jump into some more abstract trend thoughts:

Perplexity is looking to raise at $8B, which I don’t really like at all if I’m being honest. I like Perplexity as much as the next guy (which is a medium amount?), but mostly I think that OpenAI and Anthropic and too far ahead for them to survive at $8B. Article here.

Speaking of Anthropic, they just released some very cool new stuff. They beat OpenAI’s o1 on benchmarks, but more practically they launched this feature where Claude can actually navigate your computer for you to execute tasks. Announcement here.

Also Microsoft released AI Agents as a part of co-pilot. Which is more a note to the “agentic age” we’re entering than something I care about on its own. Also Salesforce founder/CEO cannot help but talk shit about it, which is hilarious. Marc shit talk linked here.

God was I just talking about AI that whole time after starting the newsletter with “maybe we should not talk about AI”? Easier said than done. Will try harder from here.

General trend I want to touch on is on overlooked areas. I’ve had a couple portco founders reach out recently about their fundraising efforts. One is a consumer fintech app. The other could be called marketing-tech. They have both had a harder time than I think they should fundraising. I’m biased and that’s arguable, but the trend is pretty easily scene: If it’s not AI it doesn’t sell.

Do we think fintech and marketing-tech are at a “end of history” moment? That’s silly. There will be new solution across all sectors in the years to come. I’d hope at least.

To me it was another reminder that there are exciting founders building in non-hot areas AND AI is actually a great why-now across different sectors because of all the new speed / features it unlocks. So, look around.

Zooming even further out. The whole entrepreneurial ecosystem seems to be going through some unspoken (or at least not spoken about often) growing pains.

Is venture even a good asset class? So many early stage funds are struggling with liquidity.

Is being a venture backed founder as cool as you thought it’d be? So many founders are getting caught in zombie organizations with no exit opportunities.

The best will survive both. Investors and Founders. But there seems to be some culling going on and people are looking for something new.

So where do those LP dollars go? Where do those founders end up?

I’m not quite sure just yet, but the energy seems to point towards some new solutions on the horizon soon. Both for LPs and for builders.

Sandhill Exclusive Content 

This Thursday: Venture Research Roundtable Episode 2

​Join us this Thursday, October 21st for our second episode in our Venture Research Roundtable Series.

​We'll be deep diving into the private markets and the latest venture news. You won’t want to miss it!

​Our Panelists Include:

• ​Tyson Hendricksen CEO & Co-founder @ Notice, a private market pricing platform. He also co-founded Fideras, where he serves as Parter and Chief Compliance Officer. X - @thetyson

• ​Peter Walker Head of Insights @ Carta. Peter Walker leads the Insights team at Carta, where he focuses on uncovering and analyzing key data trends within the private capital ecosystem. X - @PeterJ_Wallker

• ​Walter Chen, Co-founder @ Sacra, a sell-side research firm for private markets. He is also our partner-in-crime when it comes to hosting `these events. X - @smalter

• ​Adam Hardej CEO @ Sandhill Market. Yours truly, no introduction needed. ​X - @ajh3_

Missed the first episode? ​Watch Venture Research Roundtable: Episode 1 here! ​​

This event is brought to by Sacra and Sandhill Markets

ICYMI: Pre-Seed Rounds in 2024

Last Wednesday, we dove deep into the early stages of the private markets and talked all about pre-seed rounds in 2024.

In case you missed it, we will attach the recording down below. Before you watch, here is a little more about our guests:

• ​Soso Sazesh, Co-Founder @ 43. After founding a growth agency, Growth Pilots, and working with companies like Instacart, Zapier, and Gusto, he led a team at Wpromote following Growth Pilots' acquisition. Now, he spents his time as an early-stage investor. X - @sososazesh

• ​Amit Vasudev, Managing Partner @ Earl Grey Capital. Amit is a seasoned venture capital investor at Earl Grey Capital, who focuses on early-stage investments in innovative technology startups. Previously, Amit was also the co-founder of Clearbit. X - @amitvasudev_

Looking to next week: Gen Z VC

Next week, we'll be joined by Adarsh Bhatt and David Ongchoco, the cofounders of Comma Capital, a pre-seed and seed-stage venture capital fund that invests in operators turned founders. We are going to spend the hour talking about Gen Z VC’s and how they are shaping the future of the industry.

​A little more about our panelists:

• ​Adarsh Bhatt Co-Founder /GP @ Comma Capital. Throughout his career, Adarsh has been committed to empowering founders, guiding them through the complexities of growth, and helping them build resilient businesses. His passion for entrepreneurship and technology stems from years spent at the intersection of finance and innovation. X - @CommaCapital

• ​David Ongchoco Co-Founder @ Comma Capital. Before Comma Capital, David’s career spanned multiple industries, including media, startups, and social impact, giving him a unique perspective on innovation and business growth. He is passionate about nurturing early-stage companies, not just with capital but by providing strategic guidance, operational support, and access to a global network. X - @DOitChoco

​​This event is brought to by Sacra and Sandhill Markets

Talk soon,
Adam

PS - Are you an accredited investor? Click here to apply to our syndicate.