#ec roundup

Americans spent nearly $20 billion on pizza deliveries in 2021. Most of us could probably bake one at home, but speed and convenience are powerful incentives at dinnertime. The potential of AI tools like ChatGPT creates a similar dilemma — should companies license large language models without modifications, or customize them and pay much higher usage rates? “While building looks extremely…

Due to a phenomenon called semantic satiation, if you repeat a word or phrase too frequently, it can sometimes lose all meaning. That’s what happened to “unicorn:” We wore it out like a pair of sneakers that leak in the rain but are too comfortable to part with. In fact, most of the startups in CB Insights’ unicorn index are on the bubble and “are actually hovering right at the $1 billion mark,”…

TechCrunch+ roundup: 2022 stock options report, pivot to SaaS, crypto investor survey

We spend a lot of time praising tech investors and entrepreneurs for their risk appetite. But why don’t we put startup workers on the same pedestal? Who’s taking on more risk: A Stanford grad who leveraged their network to raise a seed round or an immigrant worker who relocates to an expensive city for a startup job? In its latest yearly report, Secfi, which helps workers manage equity, found…

TechCrunch+ roundup: Dry powder’s slow fuse, landing page basics, generative AI hype

It’s impossible to plan for everything that can go wrong while building a startup. A definitive founder’s guide would have to include chapters like, “So you’ve hired the wrong person,” or, “Five ways to tell if an investor is lying to you.” A definitive guide would have to include chapters like, “So you’ve hired the wrong person,” or, “Five ways to tell if an investor is lying to you.” Mentors…

TechCrunch+ roundup: Normalizing down rounds, 2023 climate trends, term sheet basics

The “Pineapple Express” that dropped several inches of rain over the Bay Area last week left the ground saturated. The next storm front expected to arrive tomorrow is expected to bring disruption and destruction on a massive scale. It’s a decent metaphor for our startup ecosystem: Just as there aren’t enough sandbags in San Francisco to keep everyone’s house dry, rising interest rates, skittish…

TechCrunch+ roundup: Headcount data study, SaaS sales mistakes, financial close strategies

For the last 24 months, Thomvest Ventures recorded headcount data for 150 Series A to C enterprise SaaS startups, and we have the numbers. This report prepared by Eddie Ackerman, Thomvest’s strategic finance operating partner, looks at startup hiring velocity since February 2021 by region, company type and, notably, how much time passed since last fundraise. Ackerman says he expects to see…

TechCrunch+ roundup: New VC rules, AI biotech investor survey, Instagram ad case study

When a cat is scared, it may hide under the couch; a startled fish will swim into a dark hole. And when humans feel uneasy, we tell ourselves stories. An example: “growth at all costs” is a fairy tale made possible by cheap money that helped venture capitalists set expectations for founders — and each other — for years. “Growth at all costs” is a fairy tale made possible by cheap money that…

TechCrunch+ roundup: TAM tough love, ‘building in public,’ 6 key SaaS metrics

Are you ready to launch a bajillion-dollar startup? Before you start: Are you planning to build a centaur, a unicorn or perhaps a decacorn? Startup pitching has become an existential drama, in part because so many founders exaggerate the size of the total addressable market (TAM) in which they hope to compete. At TechCrunch Disrupt, I spoke to three investors about how they use TAM to guide their…