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Smart energy grids, voice-first companion apps, programmable medicines, AI tools for kids, and the next Disney being a gaming company. a16z asked over 40 partners to preview one big idea they believe will drive innovation in 2024.
Collective human activity is often the product of storytelling. A handful of investors and companies within tech have mastered the art of storytelling, leveraging brand and soft influence as a way to get people to work for them, invest in them, and believe in them. This article explores how soft power works, and provides some in-depth examples of companies doing it well.
Are we even remotely surprised at this point?
Getting caught out and not knowing something important when an investor asks is an awkward feeling. Here’s a checklist of the things you should have top of mind before you do your regular sync with an existing investor.
Software has a lot of playbooks by now, hardware doesn’t. Increasingly, investors look to hardware in the climate space, and even software companies view it as a way to build a moat and extend their activity into the real world. Here are some thoughts on how a founder can position themselves to build a successful hardware company.
It’s easy to get complacent and jaded in the face of so many seen-one-seen-’em-all companies/people/products. This post gives a pretty good formula for how to make sure you’re seeing the forest for the trees.
Review job applications 10x faster.
AI-powered product research for DTC brands.
Customer-facing analytics for modern SaaS companies.
“We tried that before”. Everyone knows that phrase at a startup, right? It’s true - if you hear hooves it’s likely a horse - but sometimes it’s a zebra. Relying on pattern recognition to make decisions can only get you so far. Here are some tactics on how to make sure you’re not wrongly relying on defaults.
Horizontal software, software designed to solve a user's pain regardless of the type of user that feels it, has defined the last 10 years of SaaS. Vertical SaaS, by contrast, is designed for a single or narrow user set, enabling the solution to be tailored to their needs. In this article, a Greylock partner forecasts that moving forward, users’ expectations around tailored services will govern how we build software.
With some variance depending on product complexity, it should still be within 1.5 sales cycles.
Large software companies like Datadog and Mongo are growing at 30% YoY. Looking back on previous years, this might not seem stellar, but in the current market, that’s top percentile. Many feel the sentiment in the room is that this signals a solid year ahead for software.
If you’ve got an idea and a team, now might be the time to take advantage of YC opening up 10 more spots for W24 class. Now is the PERFECT time to build something.