Parse notes
Tomasz slices-and-dices his thoughts on the Carta report on funding outlook based on data from the last few quarters. It contains some good news and some bad news. Must read for sure.
SoftBank tallies up its numbers, which show a cumulative loss of $6.3B in its Vision Fund business.
Block is shutting down the Cash App's Verse brand in the EU and its BNPL platform Clearpay in Spain, France, and Italy to invest into other areas.
We’ve posted a lot about product-led growth (PLG) lately. This is another great example of a company nailing PLG. The key takeaways include being really thoughtful about who you’re building the product for, focusing on a defined persona, and then making their pathway to try your product as frictionless as possible. The traditional B2B marketing playbook didn’t land for Pinecone’s product.
Atlassian has been focusing on upsells to its existing user base, acquiring large new logos, and improving operational efficiencies by hiring slower and reducing non-discretionary spending.
Pixar changed the animation game in movies. Generative AI tools are changing it once again by supercharging what everyday people can do with animations. What will be interesting to see is how IP owners license out content in a world of AI-powered creation.
It is infinitely easier to build a narrative around things in retrospect, but it’s fascinating how seemingly small decisions can have profound long-term consequences. These short stories are a nice reminder that there’s still an emotional human behind all the data and insights.
Oftentimes people who appear like a natural at something have simply spent a lot of time getting it wrong. Whether you’re pitching to investors, recruiting, or convincing your partner why this new startup idea is worth leaving your job, it all comes down to practicing how you deliver the message.
Now that YC is back in person, we see a little less content around what they’re up to. These short clips give some insight into YC's latest cohort and the founders in it.
An exploration into why people feel like the economy is bad, even though the metrics show that the economy is actually doing pretty good.
In 2021 and 2022, there were more than 60 EdTech companies that raised rounds of $100M or more. There has been no such financing in 2023.