Pedro Franceschi’s Post

My latest op-ed for The Information highlights the way that in today's Silicon Valley, the market no longer picks the winners. A few very deep-pocketed investors act as a kind of Central Committee, choosing those who will get the most money and have a head start in a race for monopoly. We first saw this play out with Uber and Lyft in the ride hailing market, and now it seems to be repeating itself with OpenAI and Anthropic. This is a dark pattern that leads to premature consolidation, less innovation, and more unequal returns to entrepreneurs, investors, and society.

This is one of the various reasons why we need to reflect upon the political economy of #AI as part of any discussion about AI in education and society. In my view, universities need to seek wide-ranging partnerships to ensure we don't become just consumers of AI products but ethical coproducers of AI. #HE

A brilliant and timely perspective.

A Start-Up Founders Tale In the realm of commerce, a venture born, A startup's tale in this year, two thousand score. With pixelated screens and codes that dance, Entrepreneurs embark on this modern chance. In servers' whispers and digital strife, They weave the web of their ambitious life. Through Silicon alleys, where dreams align, Tech-savvy minds, in innovation, shine. Yet, in this realm, where algorithms play, The quest for gold unfolds in a modern day. A startup's fate, in circuits, it's bound, In 2024, a journey profound. Chat GPT 3.5

Predicting the future isn’t magic; it’s interpreting data right. In this episode, Suneera Madhani shares how she uses insights to stay ahead in her business. Listen now!

🚀 NEW Partnership Announcement 🚀 We're thrilled to introduce our newest partner, Akbar Khan from Harmonic! 🌟 About Harmonic AI: Harmonic AI is revolutionizing the startup ecosystem with their cutting-edge discovery tool. Trusted by top VCs and dynamic sales teams, like Accel, Y Combinator, and Brex, Harmonic AI is the go-to resource for uncovering hidden startup gems. 🔍 Why Harmonic? With Harmonic, you're empowered to: Discover New Startups: Explore emerging ventures across any sector, geography, or stage – even those in stealth mode! Track Company Performance: Gain valuable insights on fundraising, hiring patterns, web traffic, and much more. Monitor Emerging Founders: Keep an eye on people in your network poised to be the next big founders. Check them out 👇 https://lnkd.in/gdjJZ2ux

The Euro’s aren’t the only exciting thing that’s happening in Germany right now There are some incredible start-ups that are taking their respective markets by storm. Just wanted to highlight a few businesses that I think are pretty special…Check them out!! TWAICE – Founded in 2018 - Leaders in predictive battery analytics software Mondu – Founded in 2021- Changing the game in the B2B payments ecosystem akirolabs – Founded in 2021 – Leveraging Ai to improve strategic procurement operations Kittl – Founded in 2020 – Using Ai to enable users to create stunning designs Ivy – Founded in 2021 – Opening up the world of real-time payments deeploi – Founded in 2023 – Innovative all-in-one IT management solution #innovation #startup

2021: Startup founders, when asked about their monetization goals—revenue vs. profit—often turned into philosophers: 'What is profit anyway, but a number?” 2024: Startup founders, when asked about their monetization goals—“72.8% Gross Margin, NDR - 123.4%, Net Income - 23.5833% recurring. And we’re guiding a 13.7% uplift next quarter from Ai Operationalisation.” Times change. Fast! 🤷♂️ #monetization #pricing

Fed announcements made early-stage tech startups sick, but some valid market shifts are happening. 1. Focus has moved.  Topline (GMV, Revenue, Net Revenue, etc.) is irrelevant.  Bottomline (Unit economics, P/E ratio, etc.) is king. 2. Public/private governance chasm has shrunk.  "Old-school" governance mechanisms in public markets are new gold standards in private markets. 3. Visionaries with metal to execute are winners You can leave AI to do your fancy deck. People with rolled-up sleeves are winners. #marketshift #startuptrends #sustainablebusiness #valueinvesting

More + Faster = better, right? So many startups get confused. They start to believe that just dumping money into a product development makes the product better. But it is a paradox of the noise bottleneck. In Antifragile, Nassim Taleb says, “The more frequently you look at data, the more noise you are disproportionally likely to get (rather than the valuable part called the signal); hence the higher the noise to signal ratio.” When the volume of information associated with a product increases, our ability to comprehend the relevant becomes compromised. We place too much emphasis on irrelevant data and lose sight of what’s really important. So how do you ignore the noise and only focus on the valuable signal? Join me at one of my tech week events and learn tactics to keep your eye on the right data. #leanstartups #agilesoftwaredevelopment #productmanagement #cameo