The Flowlie Times #40
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The Flowlie Times #40
Prompt engineering courses, economics of Gen AI, APIs for construction, improved Flowlie analytics, and more.
Welcome to The Flowlie Times,
This edition is brought to you by Data Parrot.
Podcast highlight
New episode of The VC Architects podcast is available now. In this episode, Ihar Mahaniok, founder and managing partner of Geek Ventures, joins Vlad Cazacu, co-founder and CEO of Flowlie, to discuss the launch of his Fund I and share some of the learnings acquired as one of the most active angel investors in immigrant founders.
Flowlie feature highlight
The Flowlie Team is happy to introduce our revamped analytics engine with a brand new Access Manager and Deck Version History for founders. We listened to your feedback and supercharged your analytics capabilities.
Now, you can see how many times investors visited your profile and exactly how long they spent viewing it. This, paired with accurate first-party investor data, will help you prioritize your fundraising outreach and understand the most engaged viewers. Moreover, you will be able to see how different versions of the deck performed and what was the last one a particular investor saw.
Articles we enjoyed:
1️⃣ Looking to improve your Gen AI knowledge? Our recommendations are:
For the non-tech usage of ChatGPT: https://learnprompting.org
For advanced tech-focused courses on Generative AI: https://www.deeplearning.ai/short-courses/
2️⃣ Vanta's Path to Product-Market Fit — Solve the Customer’s Problem, Then Write Code - read about the path of Christina Cacioppo (Vanta - compliance and security management platform).
Not many people would leave a role at a prestigious venture capital firm to teach themselves how to code and “make a bunch of things no one’s ever heard of.” But not many people are like Christina Cacioppo.
3️⃣ The Economic Case for Generative AI and Foundation Models by a16z
Historically, AI has been challenging for startups to monetize due to high development costs, correctness requirements, and competition with human abilities.
Generative AI, marked by rapid adoption and innovation, is changing this landscape and creating economically viable opportunities for startups.
The economics of generative AI, with significantly reduced costs and faster performance, are driving its transformational potential, akin to the impact of the microchip and the Internet.
Venture announcements that caught our eye:
1️⃣ Geek Ventures raised $23 million to invest in immigrant tech founders at the pre-seed and seed stages, aiming to create opportunities for global talent and facilitate networking within the U.S. venture capital ecosystem. The firm, backed by notable investors, plans to make one or two investments per month, targeting a total of 60 investments ranging from $50,000 to $1 million. Curious to learn more about Ihar’s journey? See the latest episode of The VC Architects!
This edition’s sponsor: ✅ Data Parrot. Predict and grow your revenue with AI.
Data Parrot helps you find what changed in your sales forecast. It automatically pulls insights from Hubspot so you can monitor sales interactions, identify stuck deals & track pipeline trends.
2️⃣ Agave, a startup from Y Combinator's winter 2022 batch, has secured a $2.9 million seed round led by Accel. The company offers a unified API connecting more than 30 construction software systems, addressing the challenge of fragmented data storage in the construction industry, with 65 customers already on board and plans to expand its engineering team and integration offerings.
3️⃣ Fintech startup Ramp has raised $300 million in a funding round co-led by Thrive Capital and Sands Capital, valuing the company at $5.8 billion (a down round from $200 million in equity funding at an $8.1 billion valuation in 2022). Ramp plans to use the new capital to accelerate product development, expand into adjacent categories, and increase hiring in the second half of the year.
4️⃣ Confirm, a San Francisco-based startup, has raised $6.2 million in series A funding to revolutionize the performance review process. By incorporating "organizational network analysis (ONA)" and generative AI like OpenAI’s GPT-4, Confirm aims to provide fair, data-driven, and efficient performance reviews, addressing the challenges and biases associated with traditional methods. Would you let AI review your employees?
Have a great week,
Mike from Flowlie