LAUNCH

Another week, another investor pitch session for LA33! We are just one week away from meeting in San Francisco 🙌 Each company pitched today for exactly two minutes, and our investors picked their top three of the eleven companies. Here’s what they liked most about their top pick: ✅ Strong traction in the early months ✅ Large markets with large ACVs ✅ Creative approaches to marketing 🙏 A huge thank you to our amazing investors for joining us: Addie Olsen Rasche (Silverton Partners) Alex Chang (Underdog Labs) Anton Fedorov (Flashpoint Venture Capital) Brian Bell (Team Ignite Ventures) Claire Liang (Eudemian Ventures) Courtney Trunk (Motivate Venture Capital) Daniel Tarlas (Mangusta Capital) Kristina Chapple (11 Tribes Ventures) Martin Tobias (Incisive Ventures) Niki Liechtenstein (Blue Collective) Santiago Rallo (Headline) 👏 See you in SF next week! David Edward / Abacus Dan Fritz / BRXai Caylee Shea Harrington / Hookhub Keyana Sapp / Indigo AI Paul Davis / InviteJet Buddhika Madduma / LayerNext Christopher Tung / Nerd Crawler Sergie Poe / Orchestra Luke Belbina / Pod Engine Parth Mahendru / Prandtl Dynamics Inc. Mariano Apodaca / Prosperous AI 💪 And thanks to our partners Fenwick & West and Silicon Valley Bank for helping us put on great content for founders! 

Another great investor session with LA33 today! A huge congratulations to the eight companies that earned top votes from investors. 🚀 Here’s what made them shine: ✅ Simplifying supply chains with AI ✅ Integrating AI into regulated industries ✅ Impressive monthly revenue 🙏 We’re so grateful to the incredible investors who joined us: Adam Lebovitz (BAM Ventures), Daniel Roever (Boro Capital), Mia Farnham (Precursor Ventures), Nate Bek (Ascend), Nico Berardi (ANIMO Ventures), Noah W. (Alpaca VC), Pierre Arys (Cherubic Ventures), Wesley Tillu (S32), Shivank Joshi (iSeed Ventures, LLC) 💪 Of course, a shoutout to our amazing companies David Edward / Abacus Dan Fritz / BRXai Caylee Shea Harrington / Hookhub Keyana Sapp / Indigo AI Brian Watson / InviteJet Buddhika Madduma / LayerNext Christopher Tung / Nerd Crawler Sergie Poe / Orchestra Luke Belbina / Pod Engine Parth Mahendru / Prandtl Dynamics Inc. Mariano Apodaca / Prosperous AI 🤝 Thank you to our partners Fenwick & West and Silicon Valley Bank for supporting our founders’ journeys!

LA33 had an incredible pitch session with Craft Ventures yesterday! Six out of eleven companies earned a top three vote - keep up the great work 💪 The Craft Ventures team asked our founders some burning questions: 1️⃣ What are your top use cases? 2️⃣ What underlying AI models are you using? 3️⃣ What are the common pain points of your potential and current customers? 🙏 A huge thank you to Jeff Fluhr, Mike Marg, and Josiah Joner for their thoughtful feedback and insightful questions. 💥 As always, a special shoutout to our incredible companies David Edward / Abacus Dan Fritz / BRXai Caylee Shea Harrington / Hookhub Keyana Sapp / Indigo AI Paul Davis / InviteJet Buddhika Madduma / LayerNext Christopher Tung / Nerd Crawler Sergie Poe / Orchestra Luke Belbina / Pod Engine Parth Mahendru / Prandtl Dynamics Inc. Mariano Apodaca / Prosperous AI Thank you to our partners Fenwick & West and Silicon Valley Bank for their continued support of our founders! 🤝

Founders from around the world kicked off the New Year, connecting at their local Founder Fridays meetups. Founders meet monthly to share challenges, exchange insights, and support each other's growth. ✨ January Host Highlights ✨ Amar Flora (Klaviss) in Palo Alto Scott Catron (Panga) in Philadelphia Georges Colbert (Albatroz.AI) in Austin Niosha Kayhani (Opus Duo) in San Diego Thom Kozik (Eventual) in Los Angeles Founder Fridays will return on February 7th for more meaningful conversations. We would love for you to attend or host - sign up today at https://lnkd.in/gizjKrYb #FounderFridays Jason Calacanis Founder University River Platform Company

Building in public is one of the most important strategies for early-stage founders. Yesterday, we hosted Presh Dineshkumar during our Accelerator session to share his expertise. Here's what we learned 👇 Building in public is all about sharing your startup journey on social platforms Why it matters: ✅ People are curious about “how it’s made” ✅ Attracts potential customers ✅ Free marketing How to get started: 1️⃣ Be present on key platforms: X, LinkedIn, IG, TikTok, YouTube, etc 2️⃣ Find where your audience hangs out 3️⃣ Pick 1–2 platforms & post consistently 4️⃣ Maximize visibility with a public profile, clear bio, and pinned posts Some helpful tools Presh Dineshkumar uses for GoPolar and SunSeek: ✍️ Content Ideation: ChatGPT, Claude, xAI 🤖 AI Assistants: sintra.ai 🎥 Content Creation: Rotato, Screen Studio, Typefully 🤝 Lead Generation: Layerpath, LeadIQ, Mixmax To put these lessons into action, our cohort is kicking off a 30-day social challenge to post on socials once a day! 💪 David Edward / Abacus Dan Fritz / BRXai Caylee Shea Harrington / Hookhub Keyana Sapp / Indigo AI Paul Davis / InviteJet Buddhika Madduma / LayerNext Christopher Tung / Nerd Crawler Sergie Poe / Orchestra Luke Belbina / Pod Engine Michael Acquaviva / Prandtl Dynamics Inc. Mariano Apodaca / Prosperous AI Thank you to our partners Fenwick & West and Silicon Valley Bank for their support! 🙏

LA33 started the year strong with an incredible investor session, and seven companies earned top investor votes! 💪 Key questions from our investors: ✅ What is your go-to-market strategy? ✅ What does the competitive landscape look like? ✅ How will you differentiate your product? ✅ What are the pain points with current solutions? ✅ How did you choose your pricing model? 🙏 Thank you to our investors for your participation and questions Ainhoa ("Noa") Maiz, Anisha S., Anthony Ridgley, Bryce Johnson, Jennifer Abele, John Goettee, Maxime Bucaille, Megan Ruan, Steve Hasty, Suzanne Xie, Xavier Friel 💥 And, of course, a shoutout to our companies David Edward / Abacus Dan Fritz / BRXai Caylee Shea Harrington / Hookhub Keyana Sapp / Indigo AI Paul Davis / InviteJet Buddhika Madduma / LayerNext Christopher Tung / Nerd Crawler Sergie Poe / Orchestra Luke Belbina / Pod Engine Michael Acquaviva / Prandtl Dynamics Inc. Mariano Apodaca / Prosperous AI Thank you to our partners Fenwick & West and Silicon Valley Bank for helping us put on this great content for founders! 🚀

✨ Founder Fridays are happening tomorrow! ✨ Start 2025 on the right foot with Founder Fridays, happening tomorrow, January 3rd. On the first Friday of every month, founders from around the world gather to 💡 Address challenges 🤝 Exchange advice ✨ Build supportive communities This month’s discussion topics 1️⃣ What is the biggest challenge you’re currently facing? 2️⃣ How do you make your customers feel valued? Interested in joining? 👉 Find a meetup near you or apply to host: https://lnkd.in/gdrT8RWm #FounderFridays @Founder University @This Week in Startups @Jason Calacanis 

Last week, founders came together for Founder Fridays—a monthly meetup series run by founders, for founders, powered by This Week in Startups. In pods of 6-8, founders met to 💡 Troubleshoot challenges 🤝 Share advice ✨ Hold each other accountable December Host Highlights ✨ Niosha Kayhani (Opus Duo) in San Diego Naial Casanovas Mack (DropUpp Inc.) & John Tokarowski (Allocations Inc) in Philly Georges Colbert (Albatroz.AI) in Austin Kassidy Gerhardi (Cobra) in Calgary Paloma Lecheta, Nima Kaz & Francine Cabral (Founder Haus) in Floripa Sebastian Mourra (Alphana) in Miami Thom Kozik (Eventual) & Paolo Shamoon (TradeUp) in LA Scott Catron (Panga) & Michael Olorunninwo (GradientFI) in Palo Alto Renny Chan (Convo) in Amsterdam A huge thank you to our incredible hosts for making it happen! 🌍 Next meetups are on January 3rd Join or host a meetup at founderfridays.tech #FounderFridays Jason Calacanis Founder University River Platform Company

While Miami chases art... We're chasing product-market fit. Founder Fridays Miami - Art Basel edition! 🌴 Even with Miami's art week chaos, our founder community showed up strong. Today's highlights: - GTM strategy deep-dives - Finding your perfect market niche - Real talk about product pivots - AI implementation wins (87% support automation!) Key takeaway on GTM: The riches are in the niches. Watched founders have breakthrough moments identifying their ideal customer segments and value props. Sometimes you have to think smaller to grow bigger. Product horror stories had us all nodding (and laughing). Important reminder: those vocal customer complaints? Often signals pointing to your next big improvement. Founders aren't just creating AI companies - we're implementing it to supercharge our existing businesses. Case in point: automating 87% of customer support messages. The future isn't just about building AI, it's about using it. Best moment: Catching up with founders from past meetups and seeing their progress. Nothing beats celebrating wins and learning from setbacks together. This community keeps growing stronger. Whether you're pre-revenue or scaling up, there's always something to learn and someone ready to help. Huge thanks to Daniel Lowe for co-hosting, and to Jason Calacanis, LAUNCH, This Week in Startups for powering these incredible founder sessions. Next Founder Fridays Miami is coming up on 1/3. Start your 2025 right - Drop a comment for details! 🚀

🔥 That's a wrap on Day 2 of Startup Tuneup! Here’s what went down in the afternoon: Zak Kidd of AskHumans shared his tips on B2B sales: 💎 Uncover hidden gems: good ideas buried in bureaucracy or unshared can be game-changers ✍🏻Track EVERYTHING: processes you can measure are processes you can improve 🏅Founders OWN early sales—don’t delegate 💰Warm intros? Your conversion goldmine. Craig Zingerline simplified early-stage startup success: 🚀 Validate your product & customers early 📈 Nail channel fit before expanding 🧐 Cut through the noise; focus on what’s real ❤️ Obsess over talking to customers 🛠️ Build a problem-solution-offer matrix Andre L. discussed data rooms & diligence red flags: ✅ Prepare your data room early! Use tools like Google Drive, Dropbox, or DocSend. 📂 Must-haves: company docs, P&L, bank & CC statements, articles of incorporation, cap table ❌ Red flags: personal expenses on biz accounts, cash accounting, stagnant revenue, services businesses, low runway, contracts that do not match Bianca Veltri explained customer discovery: 🤝 Find your ICP if you want to reach product market fit ✅ Do: get on face-to-face calls, engage with online communities, LISTEN to your customer challenges, map out 2-3 customer personas, create an MVP to validate your hypothesis, refine your product using customer feedback ❌ Don’t: Rely on surveys/polls, ask your family or friends, turn calls into sales pitches, cater to everyone, build a fully featured product, ignore or dismiss feedback 🤝🏻 Thanks to our partners Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and Paddle for helping us put on great content for founders over the last two days! For those who joined us, let us know what your favorite session was in the comments👇