Tom Emrich 🏳️‍🌈’s Post

From Ben Sandofsky Why You Can't Build Apple with Venture Capital An ex-Apple designer who went on to startup success once told me, "I wish I could give a workshop for Apple jumping into startups, to help them un-learn The Apple Way." As someone who strives to build products with the craft and quality of Apple, it pains me to admit that The Apple Way can destroy a lot of startups. Which brings us to Humane. The pin shipped with fraction of the features promised at its unveiling eleven months ago, and what features that did ship fail most of the time. It's too heavy, and has atrocious battery life, with users expected to swap batteries every few hours as the device runs uncomfortably hot. Its projector is useless in daylight, and its input system is awkward and slow. For a device meant to replace your phone, you expect an experience faster than just whipping out your phone. Despite all its quirks, Humane might have worked out if it followed a traditional VC startup formula. Instead, they tried to follow The Apple Way, where 1.0 products need to be so insanely polished as to blow everyone away. The Apple Way works best when they take an existing product and make it amazing. It also helps when a product leverages Apple's existing ecosystem, and the goodwill Apple had earned from customers. Humane spent five years developing their product in a vacuum. They had little evidence people want to ditch their phones. They didn't know what form factors users would tolerate. They didn't have normal people telling them battery swaps are dumb. But the most damaging consequence of their delayed launch was missing the chance to strike while the iron was hot. It's obvious that Humane pivoted to AI late in the game, and it's obvious how they got backed into that corner. It's that funding that will be Humane's undoing. Before the Ai Pin launch, they convinced investors the company is worth $850 million. When they go back for their next round, they need to argue with a straight face that the company is now worth $1.7 Billion. It's very likely that the next time Humane raises money, they'll have to value the company less than what they told their last group of investors. These "Down Rounds" screw recent investors and employees, as the stock that they bought is worth less than what they paid for it. It also has a chilling effect on longtime employees. Do not be surprised by an exodus. Humane's follies were amplified by overconfidence, as if they thought they were still working at Apple. When Apple launches a thing, they tell you it's the best thing in the world. More often than not, they're right. People are attracted to confidence, so I get why it works in Apple's favor, but if you come for the king you best not miss. If there's a tragic lesson to learn from Humane, it's that if you spend all of your time dwelling on the past, you'll miss your chance to shape the future sitting right there in front of you.

"So come on now, boy, don't you be afraid to start....Ain't no better time than today...." The music on my TikTok resonates quite well with our industry's chip boom for 2024 so far.... The first half of 2024, VC-backed chip startups have raised nearly $5.3 billion in just 175 deals. Especially US Chip Boom, US startups have raised almost the same amount of money — about $1.2 billion — in nearly the same number of deals — 24 to 22 — compared to all last year, per Crunchbase https://lnkd.in/gFzwtREW. #Tech4Innovators #Semiconductor #Synopsys #Startups

Raspberry Pi's Landmark IPO - A Boost for UK Tech Startups Raspberry Pi, the pioneering company behind the affordable credit card-sized computers, made history this week by going public on the London Stock Exchange. The successful IPO has been lauded as "faultlessly executed" by influential board member Sherry Coutu, who highlighted the brokers Peel Hunt and Jefferies for their roles. Coutu, a renowned serial entrepreneur and non-executive director at Raspberry Pi, drew parallels between the company's market potential and tech titans like Apple. She also commended the London Stock Exchange for supporting Raspberry Pi's journey, including putting the CEO through their elite scale-up program years ago. This milestone debut is a testament to the flourishing startup ecosystem in the UK. While Silicon Valley continues to dominate headlines, Britain has rapidly emerged as a hub for tech entrepreneurs and disruptive innovation. The UK ranks third globally for producing unicorn startups valued over $1 billion, behind only the US and China. What makes Raspberry Pi's IPO particularly inspiring is that it bucks the trend of relying on excessive venture capital. The company has achieved worldwide success with its affordable Arm-based microcomputers by solving real problems, empowering educators, and cultivating a passionate community of makers. As Raspberry Pi embarks on this new chapter, their public listing could pave the way for more UK-bred startups to access capital markets and scale their ambitions globally. It sends a powerful signal that transformative tech companies can be born and nurtured to an exit right here in Britain. For the UK's entrepreneurial technology sector, this is likely just the beginning. The affordable venture capital provided has already led to a flurry of British startups like Revolut, Wise, Cazoo and many more making global waves. Raspberry Pi's successful IPO will surely inspire the next generation of innovators.

There are over 72,500 startups in the U.S. alone, yet only half have a survival rate beyond five years. This reality is even more true for hardware startups. MacroFab knows what those obstacles are, and we can help startups overcome them. Learn more here: https://bit.ly/40n7aCj #Hardware #StartUps #Manufacturing #Engineering

I am glad to share that today I received the author copy of the edited volume titled "Global Trends in Technology Startup Project Development and Management: From Innovation to Startup Creation", Springer, with our chapter entitled "Metaverse Innovation for Start-up Creation". #Metaverse #Startup #innovation #Springer #Springernature

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How to actually build a Unicorn startup - The Game Plan: Building a Unicorn startup is the ultimate dream for many aspiring founders in the fast-paced world of modern entrepreneurship. A Unicorn company, defined as one with a valuation exceeding $1 billion (and in my definition a profitable company making at least $100mil annual revenue with a healthy year-on-year growth rate), not only represents immense financial success but also the ability to change the world with innovative solutions. One compelling way to achieve Unicorn status is by capitalizing on the “INFRASTRUCTURE GAPS” – unaddressed evolving needs and opportunities in various industries and across underserved consumer groups, and expanding rapidly. In the unstable economic climate that has become the norm, defining and capturing the infrastructure gaps is THE strategy for building profitable, highly scalable and sustainable startups. E.g. - Make banking fun for GenZ - Make real estate accessible - Make education platforms that teach useful stuff - Teach employees working skills (since a college education is useless for work most of the time) - Simplify diagnostic of certain diseases affecting overlooked groups of customers (e.g. women) - Automate things in the hospitals by simple robots - Automate different aspects of farming Etc. The list is endless once you start looking. Pro tip: If you hit $2-5 million in Revenue and hit the cap there, you need to pivot your thinking (and the company) to the INFRASTRUCTURE GAP, and not default to run more ads. --- After 10 years of taking multiple post-revenue and growth-stage startups to market leader status and becoming the TARGET for investments and acquisitions, I’m happy to share the playbook with you to put your startup on The Unicorn Trajectory and not the burnt-out trajectory: Part 1 - Game plan https://lnkd.in/dMTc_evQ Part 2 - Purpose https://lnkd.in/dEaKD-vf Part 3 - Potential & Profit-ability https://lnkd.in/dMFA6gyH Part 4 - Product https://lnkd.in/d6bDxkid Part 5 - Positioning https://lnkd.in/djKYuqzi  Part 6 - People https://lnkd.in/dCHenWGc Part 7 - Principles https://lnkd.in/dAHKX9_K Part 8 - Process https://lnkd.in/dpbNQAvN Part 9 - Performance https://lnkd.in/dysshRMr Part 10 - How to build a Unicorn startup? Putting it all together https://lnkd.in/dfE-qGQP Skye Nguyen #TheUnicornTrajectory --- Visit https://lnkd.in/d88Cz68k for your Unicorn Roadmap Sustainable and hyper-growth: Startup, you can HAVE IT ALL

TechCrunch Minute: Newchip, Techstars, and what happens when startup accelerators fail Building a startup is hard. Building a institution that helps startup is likewise difficult. That’s the takeaway from TechCrunch reporting connected Techstars and Newchip. In the lawsuit of Newchip, the accelerator appeared to promise a spot much than it could deliver. Mix successful a civilization that appeared to beryllium turbulent astatine best, and you person a concern successful which an accelerator is successful bankruptcy and startups are closing implicit the imaginable merchantability of stock warrants. It’s a mess. Techstars is different. It’s been retooling its operations implicit the past fewer years. That has led to turnover, and the shuttering of immoderate of its programs. But dissimilar Newchip, Techstars is solvent, investing, and inactive helping startup bash more, much quickly. Whenever a marketplace turns from ebullience to a much blimpish stance, it disrupts its constituent businesses ample and small. Accelerators person proven nary objection during the task slowdown. That said, with Newchip successful liquidation and Techstars pushing up with its revamp, we are apt person to the extremity of the accelerator shakeup than its beginning. Hit play, let’s speech astir it! https://ift.tt/R4qHAUG

Hello early stage founders, listen up! TechCrunch is looking for 200 pioneering startups to feature in the Startup Battlefield 200 at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco this October..... #Battlefield #Disrupt #join #ready #startup #StartupBattlefield #StartupBattlefield200 #TechCrunchDisrupt #TechCrunchDisrupt2024

Learn how Model-Based Design enabled startups to achieve speed, savings, and scale and take products from idea to prototype, and from prototype to production. #startup #modelbaseddesign