Dominik Grolimund

YC’s new batch (S25) is live and investors are already swarming 🔥 Harmonic’s data highlights the 20 startups attracting the most attention. The signal is clear: this batch is dominated by AI-native and infrastructure-first companies. ▫️ Pally (YC S25) – Personal relationship management with AI insights ▫️ Avelis Health (YC S25) – AI auditing for medical claims ▫️ Motives (YC S25) – Video-based market and user intelligence ▫️ IronGrid – Insurance-backed warranties for battery storage ▫️ Imprezia – Native ad engine for LLMs and chatbots ▫️ Finto – Automated invoice processing with AI agents ▫️ Kernel – Cloud platform for web automation agents ▫️ Nottelabs (YC S25) – Framework for browser-based AI agents ▫️ BootLoop (YC S25) – AI-driven firmware development and debugging ▫️ Convexia (YC S25) – Automated sourcing of early-stage drug candidates ▫️ Closera (YC S25) – AI marketing workflows for real estate ▫️ AgentMail (YC S25) – Email API purpose-built for AI agents ▫️ Alter (YC S25) – Secure gateway connecting AI tools to enterprise data ▫️ Channel3 (YC S25) – API for AI-powered online shopping ▫️ Albacore Inc. (YC S25) – Autonomous underwater vehicles ▫️ Wedge (YC S25) – Compliance and monitoring for AI in healthcare ▫️ Halluminate (YC S25) – Testing and deployment automation for AI apps ▫️ Cactus (YC S25) – Run AI models directly on devices and wearables YC continues to be the strongest early-stage pipeline in the world. 👉 If you were writing checks today, which of these would you back? Image source: Lenny's Newsletter

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10 things I wish I knew before my first startup investment. Three years ago, I jumped into angel investing with ROI VENTURES. Looking back, I wish someone had handed me a cheatsheet. Here’s what I learned the hard way: 1️⃣ Dealflow doesn’t come to you. You need to hunt for it. Go beyond your network-use LinkedIn, events, universities, accelerators. Meet as many founders as you can. 2️⃣ Find 5–10 investors with the same focus as you. Share every good deal. These are your dealsharing buddies and co-investors - your real support system. 3️⃣ Build a network of +100 investors. Track who invests in what and at which stage. Share deals with them - especially for follow-on rounds. Expand your network with intention. 4️⃣ Say NO fast. If a deal isn’t a fit, say it right away. If a founder wants a call but you know you won’t invest, decline. Saves time for everyone (including you). 5️⃣ Don’t always trust industry experts. Experts can miss new ideas because they’re too close to old ways. Listen, but trust your own analysis. 6️⃣ Stay away from FOMO. If the price goes up and everyone wants in, step back. Don’t chase hot deals. 7️⃣ Don’t bother portfolio founders for updates. Send them clients, intros, or insights instead. Be helpful - not another report to fill out. 8️⃣ Respond fast to founders. Reply to emails, sign docs, answer WhatsApps. Don’t make founders chase you. 9️⃣ Know every funding round, ownership and team change. Protect your interests as an early investor-no one else will do it for you. 🔟 Invest conviction-driven, not consensus-based. Your best investments come from your own belief, not from following the crowd. The job of an angel investor is to find great founders & then doing everything you can to make their lives easier. 💸 What’s the one lesson you wish you knew before your first investment? #investments #startups #venturecapital 📸 Fabian Klima

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𝗥𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗿𝗲-𝗦𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘃𝘀 𝗦𝗲𝗲𝗱 (𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝗕𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝘀 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝟭𝟬𝟬+ 𝗩𝗖 𝗗𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘀) What does “traction” actually look like when raising early-stage capital? If you’re gearing up for a pre-seed or seed round, here’s what the data says about ARR benchmarks from 100+ funded startups: 1. $1.5M Pre-Seed Round • 46% were pre-revenue • $150K ARR → 27% • $500K ARR → 15% • $1M ARR → 9% • $2M ARR → 1% 2. $4M Seed Round • $500K–$1M ARR is the sweet spot • $500K ARR → 29% • $1M ARR → 28% • $2M ARR → 20% • $150K ARR or Pre-Revenue → 17% each 3. Key Insights • Pre-seed is still a bet on the team, vision, and potential • Seed investors look for product-market fit and revenue repeatability • Hitting $500K–$1M ARR can significantly improve your odds This is why some founders wait to raise — and others sprint to get even $100K in early ARR. Where do you think the line between pre-seed and seed is really drawn today? #startups #fundraising #venturecapital #seedround #founder #startupfunding

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Hey European VCs, stop sharing the latest A16Z deep tech think piece. Start writing checks instead. Too many people try to be thought leaders of a European industrial revolution. Too few actually back it with capital. It's time to unlearn the last 15 years because deep tech startups don't look like the typical B2B SaaS. 1. Founders aren’t most likely WHU grads with polished decks; they’re highly passionate researchers and scientists. 2. These things take time. Don’t even think about quick revenues. 3. These aren’t GTM challenges. It's about solving hard technology problems. Venture used to be about funding deep tech. In the past, the big VC wins came from science and engineering breakthroughs. Only in the internet/SaaS wave did it shift to more lightweight, fast-to-market plays. Europe doesn’t need more essays. It needs more checks.

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Venture Studios Outperform VC. But the data often cited is misunderstood. One of the most popular studio statistics (60% average IRR) comes from a small sample of under 20 fully exited fund vehicles, most older than 10 years. That makes the number solid, but also context-limited. The core challenge today: We don't yet have a big enough data set to use performance metrics with statistical confidence. We wouldn't accept this in any other asset class. It is the best we have today. Comparing average venture studio IRR to top-quartile VC IRR only adds confusion. It's an apples-to-oranges mistake, especially in power law-driven investments. According to Adam Street Partners, the difference between median and top-quartile performance in VC between 2001–2022 was 2.1x. If that ratio holds for venture studios, even with performance moderation over time, top-quartile studios would likely show IRRs >60%. More data will allow comparisons that are methodologically sound: Top-quartile VC vs top-quartile venture studio. But headline IRR should not be the only story. Studios have structural capabilities VC doesn't: - Capital and talent efficiency - Centralized infrastructure - Operational leverage - Repeatable systems for creation, validation, and spinout These traits suggest better risk-adjusted performance. But we need frameworks that actually measure them. And the Venture Studio Index is one such early framework (defining dimensions beyond returns, like cost structure and formation role). Venture studios may be early, but they’re moving toward institutional-grade standards. And that's what matters, not just the early IRR, but the depth, transparency, and repeatability behind it. Follow (Matthew) for more venture studio insights.

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Several of my portfolio companies just closed rounds in this tough market. Not because they got lucky. Because they understood how fundraising actually works. Here's the fundraising playbook nobody tells you: The Fatal Numbers: • Seed stage: ~10% get promoted to partner meeting • Of those: ~10% get a term sheet • Your odds per pitch: 1% To get one term sheet, you need 100 conversations. Maybe more if you're outside the typical pattern. Most founders pitch 10 investors and wonder why they can't raise. The ones who close? They pitch 100. But here's what kills most founders: They treat every investor equally. The 3rd Meeting Test: If you're on meeting #3 and they're still "sizing the market" - it's dead. They're being polite. Move on. VCs rarely will say "no." I watched a founder waste 3 months on an investor who kept asking for "just one more data point." Meanwhile, another fund that was excited from day one was ready to wire. The Truth About Data Rooms: No investor finds conviction in a spreadsheet. Data rooms are for confirming what they already believe. Not for convincing skeptics. One of my founders shared this: "The investors who funded us barely looked at the data room. The ones who spent weeks in it all passed." The Winning Playbook: Week 1: Cast wide. 50+ intros queued. Week 2-3: First meetings. Quick yes/no filter. Week 4-6: Double down on believers only. Week 7-8: Drive to term sheets. Track everything: • Response rates • Meeting conversion • Speed of follow-up • Quality of questions Fast no > slow maybe. The Position of Strength: My companies that raised successfully all had one thing in common: They didn't need the money yet. They raised with 6-12 months runway, not 2-3. They had leverage. They could walk away. Desperation is visible in every pitch. Confidence comes from options. The Simple Framework: Think of fundraising like dating. Wide funnel, quick qualification, then depth with the right matches. The investor who's excited after meeting one? That's your champion. The one who needs 5 meetings to "get comfortable"? They're just not that into you. My advice to every founder: Start with 100 names. Expect 10 first meetings. Fight for 1-2 term sheets. Those aren't depressing odds. That's reality. Plan accordingly. Of course, it also helps having your existing investors champion you! #Fundraising #Startups #VentureCapital #FounderAdvice #SeedFunding

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Most fintechs pitch potential. The ones that actually raise do something simpler: they prove it. Polished decks and market buzz might open doors, but capital follows evidence. The best fintechs make investability obvious—long before the room fills up. What actually earns a fintech serious capital? Solve for Substance ↳ Pick the problem that creates real value—regulatory pain, market friction, or invisible gaps in the rails. Show Relentless Traction ↳ Investors look past the hype. They want numbers—users, revenue, retention—that stand up to scrutiny. Build a Defensible Moat ↳ Proprietary tech, regulatory edge, network effects—the durable advantage gets capital moving. Back an Adaptive Team ↳ Great teams don’t just execute; they adapt, learn, and compound progress as the market shifts. Scale with Discipline ↳ Growth that’s profitable, customers who stick—investors need to see a model that survives pressure. The fintechs that attract the right capital combine vision, substance, and proof—consistently. What’s the one metric or proof point that made you believe in a fintech—either as a founder or investor? Always learning from those building at the edge. #Fintech #VentureCapital #Scale

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This last YC batch shows AI has moved past its teenager phase. Following my post from yesterday about why $20M pre-revenue valuations make sense... Instead of leading with "We're an AI company," founders are building vertical solutions where AI is infrastructure. • The commercial real estate agent company • 311 call center for local governments • missile defense system Founders moving beyond vocally selling AI and focusing on selling outcomes. This mirrors how cloud computing evolved. In 2010, startups would pitch "We're a cloud company." By 2015, being cloud-native was table stakes. You didn't lead with your infrastructure - but led with product. Businesses will be using AI like any other tool. The shift from "AI-first" to "problem-first" signals technological maturity. When founders stop evangelizing the technology and start solving specific problems, the technology has crossed into the mainstream. Top 5% in this batch understand that customers don't buy AI. Customers buy solutions to problems they have (AI just makes those solutions possible at scale and speed) The teenager syndrome era of AI is over… AI's adult phase = where the technology is powerful enough to create real value and mature enough that founders can focus on markets instead of models. That's when the biggest businesses get built.

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