Social Leverage Weekly
Posts
AI, Hardware, and Virtual Reality | Seed Rounds At $100mm Post Money | Beehiiv acquires ad platform Swapstack

AI, Hardware, and Virtual Reality | Seed Rounds At $100mm Post Money | Beehiiv acquires ad platform Swapstack

Social Leverage Letter | Issue #109

Ethan Berk
October 01, 2023

Get smarter faster with our curated list of thought-provoking content for founders and investors:

3 articles, 2 podcasts, and 1 video.

Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.

READING

III. AI, Hardware, and Virtual Reality

Ben Thompson discusses the concept of the "TMT" sector, encompassing technology, media, and telecoms, which all involve substantial upfront investment and near-perfect scalability. Each category offers a form of virtual reality, with media focusing on time, telecoms on place, and technology (software) on interactivity. AI, especially in communication, removes the human constraint, making continuous interaction possible.

AI, Hardware, and Virtual Reality

Defining virtual reality as being about hardware is to miss the point: virtual reality is AI, and hardware is an (essential) means to an end.

II. Seed Rounds At $100mm Post Money - AVC

At the peak of the bubble in November of ‘21, Fred Wilson wrote this piece on why the economics of $100M seed rounds don’t work. Although the volume of $100M seed rounds has slowed, the 50th percentile seed round is still being priced high at $20M+ post-money according to AngelList data. Fred’s piece is timeless and worth the read.

Seed Rounds At $100mm Post Money - AVC

We have been seeing quite a few seed rounds getting done in and around $100mm post-money and that concerns me for a few reasons: Seed stage is when a company has a good team, a good idea, but has not yet proven product market fit and a go to market model, and has not yet […]

I. Newsletter startup Beehiiv acquires ad platform Swapstack

Beehiiv (Fund IV) has acquired tech platform Swapstack to enhance its ad offerings, making it more appealing to content creators and boosting overall revenue. Beehiiv, founded in 2021, recently launched an ad network, and the acquisition of Swapstack provides additional technology and expertise to support this venture.

Newsletter startup beehiiv acquires ad platform Swapstack

Beehiiv, a 2-year-old newsletter startup, has acquired tech platform Swapstack, CEO Tyler Denk tells Axios.

LISTENING

II. How to drive word of mouth | Nilan Peiris (CPO of Wise)

How to drive word of mouth | Nilan Peiris (CPO of Wise)

Nilan Peiris is Chief Product Officer at Wise, one of the fastest-growing (and profitable) tech companies in the world.

I. How the Ultra Wealthy Build Generational Legacies - Lumida Legacy

How the Ultra Wealthy Build Generational Legacies

In this episode, Matt McClintock, Partner at Evergreen Legacy Planning joins host Justin Guilder, Co-founder of Lumida Wealth, to discuss strategies for estate planning and legacy building for ultra high net worth families.

WATCHING

I. Higher for Longer, The Nuclear Renaissance, AI’s First Inning, Luckin Coffee’s Come Back and more.

JOB BOARD

Explore openings at our portfolio companies:

Social Leverage Job Board

Search job openings across the Social Leverage network.

https://jobs.socialleverage.com/jobs

Featured Job:

Chief Technology Officer/VP of Tech – GEMINI SPORTS ANALYTICS

Gemini Sports Analytics helps back-office insights better impact on-field outcomes by empowering data operations at pro teams with scalable, accessible (no-code) tools. We are verticalizing the AI Cloud and Automated Machine Learning to the elite sports industry.