The summer of 2023 was the hottest on record since 1880, but while early-stage founders were sweating on their pads, the investors they were hoping to connect with were playing pickleball in Jackson Hole or relaxing poolside with cocktails in Palm Springs.
“People tend to stay out of the office longer than usual at this time of year,” says Keto Kolluri, founder and managing director of Nutribe Ventures.
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“I suggest reaching out right before Labor Day to set up a meeting in September or waiting and starting networking altogether next month.”
With that in mind, here’s the latest installment of How to Pitch Me, a recurring column that brings together tips, insights, and strategies from early-stage investors interested in making deals now.
There’s a lot of actionable advice here: If you’re wondering how much prior experience AI investors look for, what questions to ask once you’re in the room, or just need a specific level of executive pay, please read on.
Many thanks to everyone who participated:
- Christine Hsieh, Partner at the Third Cultural Capital Project
- Marta Cruz, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of NXTP Ventures
- Adam Struck, founder and managing partner of Struck Capital
- Adam Nash, angel investor, CEO and co-founder of DAVI
- Anshu Agarwal, General Partner, Converge
- Keto Kolluri, Founder and Managing Director, Neotribe Ventures
- Jennifer Lee, Partner at Edison Partners
- Dave Zilberman, General Partner, Norwest Venture Partners
- Jake Jollis, Partner, Matrix Ventures
- Chad Cardenas, Founder and CEO, The Syndicate Group (TSG)
- Matthew Kinsella, Managing Director, Maverick Ventures
- Ty Findlay, co-founder and general partner of Ironspring Ventures
- Kathleen Collins, Director, Plymouth Growth
- Samarth Shekhar, Regional Director, EMEA, SixThirty Ventures
- Zamir Shokhu, Founder and General Partner, Vibranium Venture Capital
Walter Thompson
Managing Editor, TechCrunch+
Teardown Pitch Deck: Tanbii Pre-Seed Collection, $1.5 million
Image credits: humming (Opens in a new window)
Less than a year after raising $1.5m for biowaste processing startup Mi Terro, founder Robert Le has secured a $1.5m seed round for Tanbii, a carbon management platform.
Here’s the winning combination he used:
- cover
- problem
- Solution
- project
- Valuable site
- How it works
- How does Tanbi connect reality and reality?
- product specification
- the target audience
- Future vision
- Market size (TAM/SAM/SOM)
- Partnership
- Competitive scene
- Go to market segment
- Roadmap and business model
- a team
- consultant
- Connect and close
Embrace these FinOps best practices to perfect your cloud strategy
![Digital image created of multiple wind turbines on a puffy cloud on a green background.](https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/GettyImages-1323692112.jpg)
Image credits: Andrey Onuvrenko (Opens in a new window) /Getty Images
Dutch word gezellig It literally means “comfortable” or “pleasant,” but because it’s so adaptable, it can sometimes be difficult to translate.
FinOps is similar: the harmonious synthesis of architecture and operations, and this new practice seeks to optimize cloud and infrastructure costs.
However, “although most IT leaders truly believe that FinOps is the answer to cloud cost complexity, there is clearly still a lot to learn,” writes Kyle Campos, CTO of CloudBolt.
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Will the power of data in the age of AI leave startups at a disadvantage?
![](https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/NSussman_Techcrunch_Exchange_v3-GRY2.jpg)
Image credits: Nigel Sussman (Opens in a new window)
AI-related startups secured $40 billion in venture funding in the first half of 2023, according to PitchBook.
“That’s about a quarter of the money invested at the time,” says Alex Wilhelm, who has questioned whether “small startups are in an unbeatable position in the AI race”, given the inherent advantages enjoyed by giants such as Salesforce and Microsoft.
The potential upside of the technology is on everyone’s lips, “but I also worry about who will make all the money,” Alex writes.
Ask Sophie: What is the waiting time for EB-2 and EB-1 green card categories for those born in India?
![A lone figure at the entrance to the maze fence holding an American flag in the middle](https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/dear-sophie-immigration-maze-3.jpg)
Image credits: Bryce Durbin/TechCrunch
Dear Sophie,
In 2018, the Cato Institute estimated that it would take 151 years for a person born in India to receive a green card in the EB-2 category.
How has that changed in the aftermath of the pandemic and major resignations and layoffs in tech? How has the EB-1 category changed?
-Live in Limbo
This 30-slide deck just won’t do the trick anymore
![Illustration of a man holding a pencil and a large checklist.](https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/GettyImages-1284701253.jpg)
Image credits: Nothaut Sumsuk (Opens in a new window) / Getty Images
Despite the economic downturn, a recent report by DocSend showed a 16% year-over-year increase in the number of presentations founders share with investors.
“Pre-seed founders have responded to investor backlash by creating shorter pools,” says Justin Izzo, the company’s head of research. “They’re rearranging the opening slides in ways I’ve never seen before.”
The average promotion length has shrunk by almost 16% over the past year, which “means you have to be very intentional about what to include,” Haj-Jan Camps writes.
Steve Blank: Artificial Intelligence will revolutionize “lean startups”
![Steve Blank as featured on MidJourney](https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/haje1_a_colorful_illustration_of_Steve_Blank_in_16x9_aspect_rat_f5646179-f466-4f19-b2c0-54bb4d506aff.jpeg)
Steve Blank as featured on MidJourney
Entrepreneur/educator Steve Blank, known as the progenitor of the lean startup movement, says that generative AI is much more than a typical hype cycle.
With investors’ “dumb money” and the technology’s labor-saving potential, it “could potentially increase productivity by 50%, and that’s if you use it badly,” he told TechCrunch+.
“It occurred to me that we would take the whole lean pipeline of startups, and if not by the end of this year, then certainly in the foreseeable future, those machines will do it much better than humans,” Blank said. .
7 founders explain what fusion power needs to go mainstream
![](https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_1815-1.jpg)
Image credits: Bryce Durbin/TechCrunch
Previously, climate reporter Tim de Chante has interviewed numerous CEOs and founders of fusion startups to learn more about challenges facing the industry that could literally change human civilization.
In Part Two, he asked seven entrepreneurs what it would take to make this technology commercially viable:
- Kieran Furlong, Co-Founder and CEO of Realta Fusion
- Robin Langtry, co-founder and CEO of Avalanche Energy
- Christopher Murray, CEO of Type One Energy
- Bing Conway, co-founder and president of Zap Energy
- Taka Nagao, Co-Founder and CEO of Kyoto Fusioneering
- Greg Tueni, CEO of General Fusion
- Thomas Wörner, co-founder and CEO of Focused Energy