Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, Chief of the
@USACEHQ
, provides a 'simple' solution to the complicated problem of building temporary medical facilities to assist states with responding to
#COVID19
. This clip is from a press conference by Army senior leader on March 20, 2020.
It's a (scary) sign of the times, when it takes one of the best VCs of our generation to write a blog post to remind the world that gross margins/profits matter.
1. Early stage founders: I know you've seen advice all over the place about "take the debt while you can". Let me tell you why this is a *terrible* idea for pre-product market fit companies...
Raising money for Amplify has helped me immeasurably in understanding what our Founders experience. Deeply appreciative of everyone who helped us get here. Now, as they say, “back to work”.
Announcing Amplify Partners III, a $200M fund to back radically technical founders who are applying computer science and machine intelligence to enterprise invention.
@dhaliwas
shares more here:
I don't believe in celebrating fund raising -- for a Venture firm or a company. However, reflecting on the path we've taken to get here and thanking all the people who helped -- I'll celebrate them all f*cking day.
Thank you to everyone who has who been a part of this journey!
Announcing Amplify Partners Fund V and Amplify Select V: $700M for technical founders.
Same mission as 10 yrs ago - an unwavering focus on early-stage company building and true partnership to technical founders as they realize their vision!
Blog:
People who haven't followed semiconductors closely may not realized how big a deal it is that TSMC beat Intel to 5nm. Intel was once untouchable on process technology. Even when architecture was mediocre, the process tech saved them.
TSMC achieving 5nm before Intel is huge. However, given the strategic importance of the semiconductor industry, I wonder if TSMC’s dominance will put Taiwan in China’s crosshairs.
An entrepreneur/close friend was pitching another VC. They realized they both knew me. VC called me “the Larry David of VC”. I’ve never been more Proud of anything anyone has ever said about me.
About a year ago I met
@itunpredictable
yada yada yada I'm overjoyed that
@AmplifyPartners
is acquiring Vandelay Ventures. I'm looking forward to being Steinbrenner to his Costanza.
I met Barr almost exactly four years ago. I’ve been trying to get her to
@AmplifyPartners
ever since. So excited to have you here
@barrnanas
!! This is going to be fun! 🍾🎉🍌💪
Announcing Amplify Partners IV and Amplify Partners Select Fund!
$375 million of capital to double down on partnering at the early-stage with technical founders. We are deeply grateful for every incredible founder who has shared their journey with us.
In my 19+ year career in tech, nothing has made me more proud than getting to play a significant role in recruiting, mentoring, and now promoting Lenny and Sarah. Thank you both for your tireless work to make Amplify and the companies we work with successful. Congratulations!
This is an outstanding article on Taiwan’s supremacy in in manufacturing semiconductors and the impact on US v China. This is the most comprehensive (and accurate) discussion of a very complex topic that few have even bothered to cover.
Super excited to share a big new expansion to our
#ForbesMidas
franchise... our first annual Midas Seed list!
These 25 early-stage specialists have turned smaller checks into mega-sized returns 📈💰
Check out the full
#MidasSeed
list here:
There’s nothing that makes me more excited professionally than seeing people I care about succeed. That makes this announcement particularly special to me. I’m so proud of
@sarahcat21
@reneeshah123
@NatashaKatoni
you three rock. Thank you!!
I’ve spent over a decade thinking (and acting) on this. I think the top two traits (given domain knowledge) that matter for VC candidates are intense curiosity and the ability to create meaningful relationships.
I've spent a lot of time talking to potential VC candidates over the past year.
We screened 800+ for our investor hire in 2020 & have screened 400+ for our principal hire.
One thing is clear, a huge % of applicants are indexing on deal making/trading. This disappoints me.
I moved to the Bay Area 20 years ago yesterday. I’ve been incredibly fortunate during my time here, but it wasn’t luck that it happened here. And that’s the point IMO. This is why the Bay Area will continue to succeed, so long as people still come here to take risks.
Magic is a company worth paying attention to. Our bar for investing in something competitive to CoPilot was really high. This is a special team that impressed us and many other discerning eyes.
Pretty special to get to call a close relative and wish them a happy 101st (!!!!) birthday. 101 years ago WWI had just ended. I can’t comprehend the life she’s lived. A truly remarkable woman and a role model for everyone who has spent time with her.
Not being widely reported (that I’ve seen), but Dem’s proposed QSBS change (which would take effect starting tomorrow) will massively impact entrepreneurs and investors. A LOT of people scrambling over the past couple of hours.
Application of LLMs are truly remarkable, but AI is going to be everywhere. Incredible that this capability is now <$10 for sample volume. In volume I’m sure it’ll soon be <$1.
The belief that VC jobs are “cushy”, is completely false. Good VCs work all the time. And junior VCs? I had to write two deal memos on my honeymoon!
Venture is great career for some, but don’t let anyone tell you that it’s cushy.
If you attend a top-5 school you can go directly from college to a cushy VC job, but if you only go to a top-25 university, you must first spend a 4-year stint as an “operator” before reaching the promised land
With COVID discussions over taking my twitter feed there was no one complaining about losing an hour of sleep tonight to remind me that Daylight Savings Time begins tomorrow.
I’m sure it made sense at the time, but by
@clear
partnering with mileage loyalty programs, the number of people who have Clear at major airports has rendered it completely useless. Consistently slower than the regular TSA Pre line.
October 2022 marks Amplify’s 10-year anniversary! 🎂
Ten years of early-staging investing in technical founders clarifies what matters most: people. Grateful to learn from smart, passionate teams on a daily basis & immensely proud of our team who call Amplify home.
@ericvishria
I think many in VC will look back on today with tremendous regret. We created a problem unnaturally and will likely lose a fully independent, tremendous partner. The only bank that really understands and supports our industry.
My (now 13 year old) explained to me 2.5 years ago why Chromebooks are “way better” than an iPad at school: persistent environment where she doesn’t need to log into each app separately.
@Apple
has done little to address a student’s UX and is suffering the consequences
Hey
@united
I’ve flown >1.4M miles with you and without a doubt, Douglas (DM me for flight number) is the best flight attendant I’ve ever met on any airline. This is the fourth time I’ve had him to/from SFO. He actually makes flying United enjoyable.
We're growing! Excited to announce that
@marklarosa
is joining our team as our Operating Partner focused on Go To Market. This is fantastic news for anyone who works with
@AmplifyPartners
.
Happy 90th, Sir Sean Connery — who got his part in “The Hunt for Red October” only after Klaus Maria Brandauer quit. Connery requested only one day of rehearsal. “It wasn’t hard,” he said. “They were all one-liners.” 💯
#seanconnery90
Just flew on a United flight. It left on time, landed early, and had blazing fast Wi-Fi the entire trip. I feel as if I’ve been transported to some alternate dimension.
2. The advice you're seeing doesn't apply to you. It applies to companies who have achieved product/market fit. They have some predictable cash flow, hence the debt buys them something.
NEWS: Biden admin working on ways to lure Russian scientists — one idea is to drop a rule so that Russians with master’s or PhD in science, tech, engineering or math can get an employment-based visa to come to US even if they don’t a current employer.
There are good presents, there are great presents, and then there are
@Bandrew
-level presents. Amazing. Thank you. I’ll patronize
@BlindTigerIce
in the future for sure!
This isn't AI or Dev Tools or any of the other things we love to invest in at Amplify. It's a completely new silicon-based sensor that completely transforms how all of us interact with computers and the technology around us. Welcome Sonera!
12.
@jonsakoda
reminded me of something I forgot. If you do happen to get an investor to offer you capital, a large % will be used to retire the debt, which is unappealing for an early stage biz in these environments. So, venture debt makes it *harder* to raise new $!!
So
@dauber
just drove to my house and left a bottle of barrel aged Old Fashioned (that he made) on my doorstep at 8 pm on a Saturday. It is amazing.
#MyParntnersAreAwesome
3. However, your company doesn't have any semblance of predictable cash flow (you're pre P/M fit!). You're taking money that you're going to have to pay back, with zero idea of how you're going to do it!
As someone who grew up in VA and had access to possibly one of the best public school educations imaginable, this makes me so angry. I feel sorry for all the smart kids in poor families who will no longer get access to advanced math classes until they’re 16.
When I read
@susanthesquark
's blog post, I remembered thinking that she was very intentional in how she framed each situation. I didn't realize how deeply she planned her strategy - this is so insightful:
@chrisalbon
That’s the wrong take. The correct take is some people don’t know how to design for resiliency. They should have been able to fail over to another zone. Cc
@GremlinInc
Based solely on my (sparse data) extremely unscientific survey, a lot of entrepreneurs and VCs are going to be caught off guard by a bevy of investment structures that haven’t been used in the past decade.
“You’re hurting old people like me. Well, not me... I’ll never see you.”
Larry David wants everyone to stay home to protect older Californians from
#COVID19
!
He does not do these things.
Listen to Larry.
#StayHomeSaveLives
In the not too distant future people will be stunned that we were using humans to manually transcribe nearly 100% of depositions in 2023. This is a fabulous example of where we ought to be using AI — replacing jobs that humans don’t want to do.
@jonsakoda
Respectfully I think this is a bad take Jon. There’s a huge difference between managing uncertainty and what’s going on right now. Parents have to figure out a new normal for a month+ with no school, just as one of many examples of the changes we’re all experiencing.
Last night @ friends’ 7/4 BBQ all the kids were asking Alexa to play songs. My 13YO requested “Hells Bells” & 5YO requested “Rock You Like A Hurricane”. In parenting, just like VC, you take whatever success you can find.
a) While hurtling through the air at 35,000 ft and ~500 knots I have access to all of human knowledge. 30 years ago this was not the case while sitting still.
For my birthday, the incomparable
@NatashaKatoni
agreed to watch one Seinfeld episode. I picked “The Marine Biologist”. She’s texting as she’s watching it. Words cannot describe how amazing this experience is. Somehow better than the first time I watched the episode.
Higher Ed is about to have an enormous problem of their own making. So many Jewish students do not feel *physically* safe. This is juxtaposed with the fact that Jews tend to be very large donors to these institutions -- of Univ of Michigan's 100 largest donors, 86 are Jews.
This is fabulous and completely deserved. Sunil reimagined an entire approach to seed investing in Enterprise that everyone now sees as
@AmplifyPartners
. This is on top of being a terrific investor.
I read this book as a child and it immediately became my favourite. Sharing it with my children has been pure magic. Roald Dahl still lives on in the hearts of millions who adore his stories.
Congrats to
@a_golshan
@weiliendang
@kdshah
and the entire
@stackrox
team. Your early conviction in Kubernetes paid off. Wasn’t the easiest path to get here, but you made this happen. So proud to have been able to work with you these past 6 years.
4. The only reason that banks even consider loaning you money is they rely heavily on the investors being the backstop. Whenever a company "dips" into their debt an investor will inevitably get a call from the debt provider where the investor is asked "are you good for this?"
I’m sad to say that my father, Jerry Stiller, passed away from natural causes. He was a great dad and grandfather, and the most dedicated husband to Anne for about 62 years. He will be greatly missed. Love you Dad.