01: State of Venture Capital 2024 with Arjun Arora

https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Podcasts221/v4/16/95/63/169563c9-ef8d-0a3c-379d-c4cd8eb11edf/mza_2686481019628352065.jpg/600x600bb.jpg

First Funders

Shaherose Charania and Aamir Virani

22 episodes

1 month ago

Learn from angel and seed investors bold enough to write the first check. How do they decide which startups to invest in? How do they gain conviction in founders and ideas? How do they add value to their companies? Shaherose Charania and Aamir Virani are operators turned investors. They chat with their friends investing in early-stage technology startups and learn about their strategies to fund the best founders and startup companies. If you are an angel investor or seed investor, you'll hear how others operate. If you are a startup entrepreneur, you'll hear how investors filter and decide on writing that first check.

All content for First Funders is the property of Shaherose Charania and Aamir Virani and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

Investing

Business,

Entrepreneurship

01: State of Venture Capital 2024 with Arjun Arora

First Funders

43 minutes

1 year ago

01: State of Venture Capital 2024 with Arjun Arora

We're all discussing current market conditions - valuations, AI hype, fundraising challenges... Before we kick off our planned interview series on First Funders, we sat down with our friend Arjun Arora to discuss the Trends in Venture Capital 2024. As investors, we always look ahead, making this a great way to start 2024.

Highlights from our discussion:

What to expect in round sizes and valuations
Anticipated returns from the AI hype
The significance of data-driven decision-making for VCs
The rise of hyper-specialized funds

You can read the full report here: https://www.arjundarora.com/trends-report

This is for information purposes only. This is not investment advice.

Topics

(00:00) - 01: State of Venture Capital 2024 - Arjun Arora
(00:49) - Guest: Arjun Arora on the State of Venture Capital 2024
(01:24) - Arjun's Founder Background
(03:03) - Format One and how they help founders
(04:41) - Are Mega-deals only happening in AI?
(06:07) - How should early-stage investors consider exit strategy?
(08:02) - Is AI coming for venture capitalists?
(10:36) - Social signals inform investors about founders AND teams
(11:51) - Later-stage investors use prior investors as a signal
(13:57) - Are crowd-funded companies legit investments?
(16:01) - Do funds focused on a niche limit returns and increase risk?
(22:25) - Don't go chasing Unicorns?
(26:41) - Where's crypto and blockchain?
(27:27) - Do founders want to do one-and-done raises?
(29:17) - Can seed funds less power law, higher average outcomes?
(31:45) - Will AI generate returns for investors?
(33:35) - Advice for founders in this market environment
(35:21) - Key Take aways: What we learned from Arjun's report for our own seed investing strategies
(43:00) - Outro

Connect with Us

Follow the First Funders Podcast

Newsletter with behind-the-scenes access and key takeaways

Twitter/X @shaherose

Twitter/X @avirani

Email us with feedback and suggestions on topics and guests