An Intense Storm Bringing New Opportunities

2022 was a cascading storm that worsened by the quarter - the invasion of Ukraine, spiking inflation, a brutal market correction, and a global energy crisis. But it brought exceptional focus to entrepreneurs and investors everywhere: what are our utmost priorities, how do we have to change given the new environment, and how do we tackle our biggest problems head on? 2022 also brought new opportunities. Severe downturns are a time when many incumbent business models break, and we were excited to invest in a variety of new companies seeking to take advantage across multiple industries. Certain sectors shone brightly amid the global crises, including open source, supply chain, wealth management, and defense. Generative AI captured the world’s imagination as ChatGPT reached 100 million users two months after launch, making it the fastest-growing consumer application in history and suggesting significant industry disruptions to come.

		The number of public SaaS companies taken private or acquired in 2023 will equal or exceed the number of SaaS IPOs. - Brian Ascher

		ChatGPT is fully open-sourced, including endpoints, Codex, and weights. The internet explodes, generates 100K forks in first 24 hours, and embeds into every single app and service. - Ethan Batraski

		An AI-generated song will break into the Billboard Hot 100. - Nick Beim

		Talent wars don't end. Focus is less on blitzscaling leaders and CFOs to take companies public and more on wartime executives hyper focused on long-term performance. - Sharah Marwah

		Cloud computing is getting too complex with the myriad of choices to build and manage systems. We will see companies emerge that are bundling multiple layers of this stack to both tame complexity and provide a more cost effective solution. - Ganesh Srinivasan

		Double Duck Boat Parade - Both the Boston Celtics and the Boston Bruins win championships! - Mike Tyrrell

Dive In With

Ganesh Srinivasan

Partner, Venrock

What fuels you?

Innovation continues to accelerate at a momentous pace, causing paradigm shifts in how new businesses evolve. I have been fortunate to participate in a few of these: LinkedIn created the first professional network, Uber transformed transportation, and Confluent democratized access to real-time streaming infrastructure. What fuels me today is the desire to help entrepreneurs build the next generations of disruptive companies.

What has been your experience transitioning from a product role to venture capital?

Things you learn in the product role translate well into VC, specifically at Venrock, where we focus on early-stage investments. At this stage, you are thinking about the same fundamental product questions you think about as a product leader. What are you building, who is your target audience, and why will it succeed?

Where is there a tremendous opportunity?

We are moving into a world where software/tech is in every industry. As every company wants to become software-driven, we will continue to see great opportunities in the tech platforms that power this shift. Cloud infrastructure and PaaS will continue to see meaningful growth. Developer productivity will remain a significant bottleneck due to engineering talent scarcity – couple this with the need for efficient growth, technologies that can improve developers' productivity or save on cost will play a much larger role.

What's the most memorable place you have visited?

Machu Picchu. The sheer magnificence of the location, size, and scale amazed me.

		Be Humble About What You Know (And Don't Know) Bill McNabb \| Former Chairman and CEO of Vanguard with Nick Beim

		Culture and Connection Nicole Alvino \| Co-Founder and CEO of Firstup with Brian Ascher

		The Innovation Frontier of Wealth Management Steve Lockshin \| Founder of Vanilla with Nick Beim

		Healthy Skepticism in Product Management Jim Del Favero \| Head of Product at Figure with Brian Ascher

Dive In With

John Gedmark

CEO & Co-Founder, Astranis

What are you most proud of from 2022?

We had an incredible year in sales in 2022. We have now closed contracts worth over $830 million to Astranis, to deploy new satellite projects in countries all over the world. And we did that with a sales team of 3 and effectively zero marketing spend. That also does not include our new, but fast growing, US Government business to use our satellites for national security. I'm incredibly proud of what we've been able to accomplish.

What are you looking forward to most in 2023?

Astranis will launch five satellites in 2023 for customers all over the world. Our first satellite is set to launch in mere weeks, and the rest are launching together near the end of the summer on our own dedicated Falcon 9 rocket. Each satellite has the ability to connect millions of people to affordable, reliable internet. It's going to be a huge year for Astranis.

What is your favorite interview question?

I'm a rocket propulsion engineer by training, so I love technical questions. If you're interested in learning more about software-defined radios, thermal-vacuum testing, or radiation-tolerant hardware, please reach out. The best interview question I got last year, though, was "so, have you been to space?" I can't wait until I can answer yes to that question.

What has been the most impactful advice given to you?

John Carmack once taught me his strategy for solving a problem: you sit down, list out all of the possible solutions, and then you try all of them. When you are doing hard things, there is rarely a silver bullet answer that you can figure out in advance. Instead, you just have to put in the hard work. At Astranis, we often have to solve problems that nobody has ever faced before, and in such uncertain circumstances, even the most experienced advisors won't know which path to head down, so this advice has served us well.

The world tends to be a safer place when democracies have a technology edge over autocracies, but that's an edge we can no longer take for granted.

VCs Leading in National Security

Nick Beim was recognized by the NVCA as a leading VC in National Security for his investments in startups that are making the nation more secure.

Read More: nvca.org

		Astronomer acquired data operations tool Datakin and raised a $213M Series C round. Read More: techcrunch.com

		Astranis's MicroGeo satellite was named one of TIME's Best Inventions of 2022. Read More: time.com

		Salsify's recent $200M funding round catapulted its valuation to $2B, making it one of the biggest contenders in the e-commerce tech space. Read More: techcrunch.com

		Dataminr was recognized on Forbes' 2022 Cloud 100 list of the world's top private cloud companies. Read More: forbes.com

		6sense was named the top-right leader in the 2022 Gartner Magic Quadrant for the second consecutive year. Read More: 6sense.com

		Altruist’s founder and CEO, Jason Wenk, was recognized in the Los Angeles Business Journal’s “Leaders of Influence: Thriving in Their 40s” list. Read More: cbjonline.com

		Interos was named one of North America's fastest-growing technology companies in Deloitte's 2022 Technology Fast 500. Read More: interos.ai

		Nightfall was rated as the top momentum leader by G2 for Data Leak Prevention and raised a $40M Series B round. Read More: nightfall.ai

John Abbot Dataminr Chief Financial Officer	Doug Abts Astranis Chief Commercial Officer	Tim Bogan SmartBiz Board Member

Amjad Hussain Vanilla Chief Technology Officer	Bernard Koh Nightfall Chief Financial Officer	Stephanie Lemmerman Dapper Labs Chief Financial Officer

David J. Novak Salsify Chief Revenue Officer	David O'Malley Numerated President	Sara Pryor Rebellion Chief People Officer

Justin Ryan Skyryse Chief Operating Officer	Joe Schenone SmartBiz Chief Financial Officer	Jim Sinai Vanilla Chief Marketing Officer

Anupam Singh Meltano Board Member	Aida Sukys Interos Chief Financial Officer	Larry Yang Phononic Chief Product Officer

Great exploration from the physics lens of the technologies that might be achievable in the coming decades or millennia, from teleportation to telepathy, star travel, antimatter engines, and more. - Ethan Batraski

Thoughtful tech investing insights from the former portfolio manager of Fidelity OTC Fund. - Mike Tyrrell

A thriller-paced account of how semiconductors became the most strategic technology in geopolitical competition, helping determine the balance of economic and military power. - Nick Beim

Peter Zeihan is contrarian and ahead of the curve, but his analysis on our rapidly changing geopolitical landscape is data driven and compelling. - Brian Ascher

An insightful book with many real life examples of leadership challenges. - Ganesh Srinivasan