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🔮Consumer: Where are all the cowboys?

When fundraising its important to know, many venture investors seek external validation from other funds to reach personal conviction. Very few will reach conviction quickly & on their own & even fewer will lead.

• Cowboys: Reaching conviction fast, and independently of fomo. Will decide to invest early, often intuition based.

  • _{Insight to watch: Reid Hoffman told Airbnb founders two mins into the pitch: “Look, I’m going to make you an offer to invest. Let’s make the rest of the session a working session” but only after positive founder referrals.}

  • _{Fund to watch: Thrive Capital leads Databricks $10B raise at a $62B evaluation and OpenAi’s $6.6B raise at a whopping $157B eval.}

• Lemmings: Following on only after other investors reach conviction. Will pass on deals & follow others, often herd mentality based.

  • _{Insight to watch: According to Carta, 27% of firms led at least one round in the past year & fewer then 15% did so in early stage at Seed & Series A.}

  • _{Fund to watch: Both Attack Capital & WeFunders Orange Fund are democratize access to the annual YC batch by indexing the top 10-25%.}

Synthesis: “Find a cowboy with conviction”

🤳🏼Creators: Equity > cash: the athlete/creator arc

• The athlete arc: Athlete contracts are reaching an all time high & athletes want somewhere to put their powder & venture is.. sexy.

  • _{Insight to watch: 18 year old Cooper Flagg with a $4.8M NIL Evaluation.}

  • _{Fund to watch: Liquid2 Ventures: 30+ Unicorns (Joe Montana)}

  • _{Startup to watch: Fanstake NIL player funding platform ($6.15M raise)}

• The creator arc: Top creators are making millions charging anywhere from $100-$10k per post depending on the platform.

  • _{Insight to watch: Amazon doubles down on $100M investment in Mr. Beast.}

  • _{Fund to watch: Night Ventures - Mr Beast’s $20M early stage fund.}

  • _{Startup to watch: Crowdsurf - Investing in individuals, not just companies.}

Synthesis: “Buy distribution with equity not cash”

🗓️ Community: IRL [5.19-25th] x NYC Tech Week

🖼️Art Piece of the Week:

Let’s meet IRL?

Gratefully,

G.C