Ankit Sanghvi’s Post

Why You Shouldn't Join Y Combinator Did you know that over 20,000 startups apply to Y Combinator each funding cycle, competing for just a limited number of spots? While YC is often viewed as a golden ticket to success, it's crucial for entrepreneurs to evaluate if this path aligns with their unique goals. In 2024, the rapidly evolving landscape of AI is reshaping business practices, fostering opportunities like AI-driven automation that can enhance efficiency and scale operations. However, many startups may find that the model YC promotes—rapid growth and immediate pivoting—might not suit their long-term vision, especially in an era where sustainable development and ethical AI are at the forefront. One of the biggest challenges facing startups today is balancing short-term gains with long-term objectives. YC's approach can lead to potential burnout if founders prioritize speed over strategic planning. Thus, it's essential to discern how your startup's mission aligns with YC's methodology. For entrepreneurs exploring new avenues, consider leveraging AI-powered tools to automate repetitive tasks, ultimately freeing up time to focus on strategic initiatives. By using insights from data analytics, businesses can make informed decisions that align with their core values and long-term goals. What has been your experience with startup accelerators? Do you believe speed trumps sustainability in today’s business environment? Let’s discuss! #AI #2024AITrends #StartupStrategy #SustainableGrowth #Automation

𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿—𝗶𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗲. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆: 1. Research investors who align with your mission. 2. Use AI tools to filter by industry, stage, and interests. 3. Craft personalized pitches backed by data-driven insights. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁? Stronger partnerships and faster growth. Because you're not just seeking funding—you're building a future. Most founders pitch with gut instincts. 𝗦𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀? 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗔𝗜 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝘁. P.S. What’s your go-to tool for finding investors? 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲: https://lnkd.in/d5EGHjby #Startups #AI #InvestorPitch

What truly matters to investors—product or founders..........?🧐   It's an interesting time in the startup world. Most founders know the drill—investors dive deep into your MOAT, defensibility, growth projections, product-market fit, and, of course, your vision as a founder.   They're always looking for proof—how scalable is your solution? What traction do you have? Where’s the market fit? But if these questions keep coming up, it might actually mean that your chances of successfully raising aren't as high.   Then, we see AI startups founded by ex-OpenAI and DeepMind members securing massive funding—$100M+ in seed rounds -   👉Safe Superintelligence Inc., or SSI - A three-month-old startup founded by former OpenAI Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever promising safe artificial intelligence raised $1 billion in an all-cash deal in a seed funding round. 👉Anthropic - Founded by ex-Open AI researchers and raised $124 million in early 2021 👉Mistral AI - Founded by ex-Meta, Google, and Deep Mind folks - raised $113 million in 2023 shortly after launching 👉Inflection AI - Raised $225 million in 2022 before having any commercial product founded by Reid (co-founder LinkedIn) and Mustafa Suleyman (co-founder of Deep Mind)   Now, compare this to the typical seed round for most startups, which averages around $2M - $3M. The difference is HUGE! And it’s not just AI—founders with proven track records are securing massive rounds across various industries, often before launching a product.   So, what really captures investors' interest -   ❓Is it the strength of the product? ❓The team’s credentials? ❓ Or maybe it’s all about timing and picking the right industry?   I’d love to hear your thoughts! #startups #ai #funding #investors #AI #entrepreneurship

This is an insightful article by Allen Lau, head of Two Small Fish Ventures, on how AI has democratised tech development and disrupted the VC landscape. His observations about the reduced costs of building software and the exponential speed of iteration resonate with me as a pre-raise founder. At meed, we are not just seeing these changes but living them. Traditionally, executing what we envision for our platform required scaling up a costly, expansive tech team to build and iterate. But by leveraging AI, we've accelerated the development of our V2 platform with a fraction of the resources. AI allows us to iterate at unprecedented speeds without compromising quality or vision. For example, our anonymised data approach enables powerful personalisation while respecting privacy, a feat made possible by leveraging AI effectively. This evolution has implications not just for how we build but also for how we raise capital. As Allen points out, the startup landscape has become more competitive, with faster iteration cycles and more players entering each category. However, this democratisation allows founders like us to approach fundraising differently. With AI driving down costs and increasing efficiency, we can achieve meaningful milestones with less capital than previously thought possible. This leads to a fascinating question: How much capital should we raise? We know meed has the potential to be something truly significant. Our focus on network effects—connecting businesses and consumers in tightly controlled geographies to create depth before scaling—has already shown promise, with early traction as a discovery and loyalty platform. But the efficiency gains we’ve achieved with AI make it clear that we can do more with less, allowing us to focus on achieving specific milestones rather than overcapitalising upfront. In essence, the capital we seek becomes about scaling and optimising our approach to growth. This aligns with what Allen describes as the need for a "different lens" in VC. The AI-driven platform shift creates unparalleled opportunities and challenges for founders and investors. For meed, it means building a defensible, scalable product that addresses real-world problems (like fractionalised consumer loyalty and enterprise-grade solutions for businesses) while staying lean and agile. We are operating in unprecedented change—and staying adaptable is key. At meed, we’re excited to be on this journey, leveraging AI to democratize our product development and rethink how we navigate the fundraising process in this new era. If you’re interested in how we’re harnessing AI to build a platform that can redefine loyalty and discovery for businesses and consumers alike—or if you’re a fellow founder or investor exploring similar challenges—I’d love to connect. https://lnkd.in/g9dFt59R #AI #SaaS #Startups #VentureCapital #NetworkEffects #Fundraising

I’ve always known that many in our industry have been tackling this problem, but typically through manual processes—consuming immense time and labor, with constant updates required. Now, I’m incredibly excited to learn more about how they are using AI to address this challenge. As we all know, this is no easy feat: Adapting to the seasonality of global venues, hotels, and even shared spaces, each with diverse target customers. Accounting for the significant differences between events—like planning a conference versus a wedding, where pricing and dynamics vary drastically. Handling complex package combinations from venues—can AI truly manage this? Navigating regional competition and crafting tailored recommendations for clients. These challenges are immense, and yet, someone is taking them head-on. It’s inspiring! Who knows—one day, I might be a proud user of their solution. I can’t wait to see how they tackle these challenges! 👏

Just tried Otter.ai 10/10 I would highly recommend. The action items summarized after my meeting were relevant and clear. The insights are accurate. I'm not distracted by irrelevant data. The outline gave me greater insight into my conversation with my boss. I'm very impressed. Otter.ai is a Series B startup, and it seems like they are seeing a lot of positive growth. They are a product-led growth model, which means they are so confident in their product that they will let you use it for free. Product-led growth is simple. A great product naturally attracts customers and turns them into advocates. Otter.ai has a great product. As an advocate for startups with great products, I implore you. Go try Otter.ai. You can sign up for free. #ai #otterai #makemeetingseasier

🤦♂️ Sam Altman's $230'000'000 pet investment Humane AI just flopped BIG time – because they have made the most fundamental startup mistake: Narcissistic founders who did NOT start with an MVP... Of course, narcissists skip MVPs, because they are omniscient, all-knowing beings who can use their genius to develop the perfect product vision. No testing required. What is REALLY surprising and frankly disappointing is that Sam Altman invested into two people, who had only worked in big corporates before with NO startup experience nor growth mindset whatsover. And even more, that he then funded them all along their multi-year ego-show, including TED talks (because, Sam Altman) and "Time magazine best invention" (because, Sam Altman). Of course the herd blindlessly followed him; Marc Benioff, Tiger Global, SoftBank (the only non-surprise), Qualcomm. Microsoft and OpenAI also announced partnerships with Humane AI (because, well, Sam Altman). Is this really the same Sam Altman who ran Y Combinator before? 🤔 It seems he himself didn't take in the lesson that the folks at Y Combinator are teaching their startups: Start with an MVP, stupid! I love saying it: I knew it would fail all along 😎 (who are the folks who introduce this sentence with "I hate saying it..." 🤓 ) It was clear latest when they announced that they were trying to integrate a laser projector into their device: This is NOT a MINIMUM viable product. We would have started this by testing a mobile voice assistant to begin with (something I actually think could be quite useful and I still wonder why we don't see it in the market already). Maybe we would have prototyped it even before that with just an intercom device with an HI (Human Intelligence) at the other end. NYT's Brian X. Chen made a very honest review of the device back in April and concluded its total shortcoming to deliver value. He concluded his long testing phase with what was obvious all along: "I’ll pin my hopes on future iterations of the product — perhaps a cheaper one that lacks a camera and a laser." Only that this should have been the FIRST iteration of the product. Obviously. Stupid. #VentureBuilding #AI #Fuckup

🚀 Why do some AI startups succeed while others fade into the noise? After months of demo days, late-night founder chats and tech week insights, we’ve spotted key patterns separating the winners from the rest. The hard truth? A shiny tech edge won’t save you. Moats disappear. Markets are overcrowded. And the same mistakes keep popping up. But for the bold founders who get it, there are proven strategies to build defensible businesses that stand out—and scale fast. Curious about what works and what doesn’t? Read our candid breakdown of what we’ve learned. 👇 https://lnkd.in/gehMFDQq #AI #startups #innovation #founders #entrepreneurship

What are unicorn founders like? I read a 2023 report that analyzed 200 unicorn founders in search of patterns. In addition to the interesting visualization, the researchers made two conclusions: 1. Most founders did not graduate from "elite universities" (top 100 in the world ranking). There is no correlation between the success of a startup and the coolness of the university. 2. 80% of founders either founded their startups earlier or worked in a startup. The pattern is observed both in the US and in emerging markets. In short, it doesn't matter what you downloaded, your startup experience is important. If you want to start a successful company, do it yourself or work with the best. I attached the report itself in the comments. #ai #startup #web3

👋 The tech startup scene is on fire! 🔥 1. SPOTLIGHT ON FEMALE INNOVATION 💪 PearAI, a female-founded AI code editor, raised $1 million after a controversial Y Combinator launch. WHAT WENT DOWN? 👉 Founders Nang Ang and Duke Pan faced accusations of cloning another AI product. 👉 Online backlash almost derailed their journey, but they survived. 👉 They graduated from Y Combinator and are moving forward. 😏 PROVOCATIVE THOUGHT: Why does the tech world chew up female founders while celebrating male peers? 2. BIG BUCKS FOR RUMBLE 📈 Rumble just announced a whopping $775 million investment from Tether. WHAT DOES IT MEAN? 👉 They plan to use $525 million to fund a tender offer for around 70 million shares. 👉 RUM shares skyrocketed over 35% in after-hours trading. 👉 A major vote of confidence amidst economic uncertainty. 🤔 REALITY CHECK: Are we seeing a bubble? Or is this a signal that the public still believes in emerging tech platforms? 3. CONTINUING AI GROWTH 📊 Despite claims of AI fatigue, 49 US AI startups raised over $100 million in 2024, raking in $19 billion in Q3 alone. WHAT DOES THIS SHOW? 👉 AI is still getting serious investment interest. 👉 The narrative of “investor weariness” might be overblown. 💡 REAL TALK: Are we on the edge of a new wave in AI, or are we simply watching the same cycle? 🔍 WHAT’S THE TAKEAWAY? It’s an exhilarating time to be a female entrepreneur in tech. How do we ensure our voices are not only heard but amplified amidst the noise? Will the backlash against female-led startups change? Share your thoughts below!👇 🫡 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐩 𝐧𝐨𝐰: https://femaleswitch.app 🔈🔈🔈 🫵 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐫𝐬, 𝐡𝐢𝐭 𝐅𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐖 #startups #femalentrepreneur #zerocode #ai