Founder Weekly

Welcome to issue 663 of Founder Weekly. Let's get straight to the links this week.

General

Y Combinator's Request for Startups

Y Combinator's "Request for Startups" highlights emerging opportunities across various sectors, including government AI automation, public safety tech, manufacturing revival, stablecoins, chip design, fintech, space exploration, and AI-powered engineering tools. The document emphasizes that now is an unprecedented time for builders to create transformative technologies that can solve significant challenges across industries.

Lessons from my First Exit

The author shares lessons learned from selling his bootstrapped hardware company, TinyPilot, for $598,000. He discusses what went well, areas for improvement, and surprises encountered during the sale process, offering valuable insights for other entrepreneurs considering an exit.

How to find customers in the Dept of Defense: From prototype to the Pentagon

Steve Blank, a Stanford professor and Lean Startup pioneer, discusses strategies for bridging commercial and military markets, mission solution fit, and challenges in national security startups.

Roadmap: Voice AI

Voice AI is transforming business-customer communication by enabling human-like conversations, personalized experiences, and scalable solutions across industries. The technology has evolved from basic IVR systems to advanced speech-native models, offering improved latency, contextual understanding, and emotional awareness, with potential to revolutionize customer service and business operations.

Marketing, Sales and PR

The Complete Guide to Programmatic SEO

5 chapters covering frameworks, case studies, execution, and best practices used by the best experts in the field of programmatic content.

p-Hacking your A/B tests

Half of your “successful” A/B tests are false-positives. This is why, and how to fix it. 

Money and Finance

The Unholy Trinity of Venture Capital

The article discusses the "Unholy Trinity" of venture capital: capital agglomerators (large VC firms raising billions), capital allocators (massive institutions seeking yield), and capital absorbers (AI companies requiring huge investments). This trinity is reshaping the venture capital landscape, potentially at the expense of smaller funds and traditional VC models.

Selling Your Startup to Private Equity

Jason Lemkin and Andy Wilson explore selling SaaS companies to private equity, covering growth strategies, aligning incentives, and navigating acquisitions. Andy shares lessons from his exits, offering founders practical insights into the PE track, from preparation to mastering the deal process.

Bring Your A Game to the Series B

What a Lowercarbon growth investor looks for in your pitch.

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