Startup Summit: AI + Fundraising

What are you most interested in learning about at the AI + fundraising summit?

Summary: With the upcoming Startup Summit: AI + Fundraising approaching, the author seeks to know what aspects excite participants the most. They highlight several key areas such as integrating AI strategies, best practices for building and funding AI startups, and tips for pitching to investors. The author encourages sharing thoughts and experiences on topics like navigating competition in the GenAI era, democratizing AI accessibility, and reshaping founder-VC relationships in an AI-driven environment.

AI Summary

With the upcoming Startup Summit: AI + Fundraising just around the corner, we want to know what you are most excited about! Whether it's understanding how AI strategies can be integrated within your company, learning the best practices for building and funding an AI startup, or acquiring tips for incorporating AI in your pitch to potential investors – there’s so much to explore. Maybe you're keen to discover ways to navigate competition in the GenAI era, or you're passionate about democratizing AI accessibility. Or perhaps, you're most interested in reshaping the dynamics of founder-VC relationships in this new AI-driven landscape. Share your thoughts and experiences with us! What specific topics or insights are you hoping to gain from this event and how will they impact your startup journey?

3 comments

Russell Palmer

7 months, 1 week ago

I founded my startup at the tail end of the COVID lockdown, during the hiring downturn, Big Tech mass layoffs, Crypto winter, and seemingly always-impending recession.

Some say it's a bad time to raise our Seed Round, compared to the 2010s when you could get money for just a good team and idea. Others say building in tough times is a blessing, it makes you manage spending better, drive harder for finding PMF and growth (and that many of the world's best startups were built in recessions).

Others say AI is so hot, that it's immune to any VC slowdown... yet I've seen back-and-forth sentiment, some say Models are the only place to invest, some say it's too expensive and only NVIDIA makes money training. Some say invest in AI Applications that use AI models, others say those are "AI wrappers". (How many Web apps like Salesforce are considered DB wrappers?)

We're seeing growth and revenue, usually two pre-requisites to get a meeting these days, and that "back in the day" you didn't even need that... yet some say even with both, VCs want 100M users to get excited.

What are your thoughts, is it the best or worst time to be an AI startup raising early-stage? Or somewhere in between?

Derek Andersen

7 months, 1 week ago

Best is relative. It was a lot easier in 2020-2021 but maybe easier wasn’t the best because a lot of needless things got funded. 2002-2005 was probably a lot harder than now after the dot com crash. There is money now and willing investors, YC doing 4-batches a year, lots of opportunities. Everyone smart I talk to about AI is saying we’re in the early innings so I think if you solve a real problem that people will pay money for, with a great co-founding team, this is as good a time as any to raise.

Luca Albertinazzi

7 months, 1 week ago

Why is it more important to invest in companies that use external APIs for AI without building their own technologies? Even worse, most of them are doing the same thing as the rest but just with different branding.

Many great technologies are being built and created from scratch, so why leave those behind?