Sointu Karjalainen on LinkedIn: 305 Solo Founder Startups that Became Unicorn (2024)

I always like to guess what's in the new year around this time, and here's one of my predictions for 2024: "M&A—and specifically AI acquihires—will pick up in late 2024."A period of consolidation is almost unavoidable after the boom we had over the past 18 months as many startups overlap in sector and product.Check out the full list of our partner predictions and let me know if you agree:https://lnkd.in/gstCX7bJ

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I spend a lot of time with AI-focused founders. Some already have the training and expertise and are looking to develop their business. Others are business-first and looking to understand what AI means for them.Bringing the two together is often the hardest part but where the biggest gains are being made.

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🤷♀️ There's no shortage of #AI startups, but is the quality there? 💡 This article from TechCrunch did a nice job of framing how investors and operators might think about creating real value through generative tech.🧰 Ultimately we see AI as a tool for achieving something - we focus first on the outcome and sort out the rest later.#VentureStudio #AI #Innovation #VentureBuilding #Investing #VentureCapital

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Good summary of the AI investment madness happening currently. Massive dollars, massive valuations, can it continue? When raising $7B in one year, can you still be called a "start up"? #ai #gpu #investing #startup https://lnkd.in/drnhaWj4

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My second op-ed for The Globe and Mail in as many weeks: The depressing numbers of the venture-capital slump don’t tell the full story.Here is the summary:“Bright spots in the current venture-capital landscape exist. You just need to know where to look.The AI platform shift makes it harder for simplistic, shallow-tech startups to succeed. Gone are the days of building a minimally viable product, accumulating vast data and then establishing a defensible market position.We’re entering the golden age of deep-tech innovation, and in order to be successful, startups have to embrace the latest platform shift – AI. And this doesn’t happen by tacking on “AI” to a startup’s name the way many companies did with the “mobile-first” rebrand of the 2010s.In this new era, technological depth is not just a competitive advantage, but also a fundamental pillar for building successful companies that have the potential to redefine our world.”Happy reading!

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We are thrilled about this new era of computing powered by generative AI and the exciting advancements in the hardware layer! Allen wisely noted, "The AI platform shift makes it harder for simplistic, shallow-tech startups to succeed. Gone are the days of building a minimally viable product, accumulating vast data, and establishing a defensible market position."It's exciting that the three partnersat Two Small Fish Ventures, myself, Allen, and Brandon Zhao, are all engineers and operators turned investors. Each of us has navigated multiple innovation inflection points throughout our careers. Our deep expertise in both software and hardware makes us the ideal partners for any deep tech innovators.Read below for Allen's second oped for the Global and Mail.#Innovation #GenAI #DeepTech #Engineering #AIRevolution

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Business Insider reporting - Dan Siroker, a founder of the startup Rewind AI, is telling investors to pay if they want to meet. - He's charging $100 for bookings to conserve his most precious resource: time. - It's a sign that the frothy AI startup market is edging into insanity." Not sure its insanity, since the biggest resource is time, he's managing it. I just wish this would happen not only in US but in Europe and in other verticals beyond AI. #ai #viral #demand #memory https://lnkd.in/dSNRprgj

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Perplexity, an artificial-intelligence startup aiming to challenge Google’s dominance in web search, is finalizing a new funding deal at around a $1 billion valuation, people familiar with the matter said, roughly doubling its valuation since its most recent financing a few months ago.The funding frenzy for the one-year-old startup is a remarkable example of the enthusiasm among some venture capitalists who think AI technology could challenge Google’s yearslong grip over search and breathe new life into startups after a bruising couple of years.Perplexity, co-founded by Chief Executive Aravind Srinivas, uses advanced AI models to provide direct answers to search queries, as opposed to a list of website links, something Google is also working on.Past efforts to dislodge Google in search haven’t gone so well. Microsoft has struggled to make a dent in Google’s search dominance after releasing a new version of its Bing search engine powered by large language models. The search startup Neeva, which operated a product similar to Perplexity, shut down this past year after failing to gain enough traction. Even so, Perplexity is growing fast. The company recently surpassed $10 million in annual revenue, a person familiar with the matter said. Visits to its mobile and desktop …

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🚀 It’s finally time to come out of stealth!In the last few months, I’ve been fully immersed in the retail operations world and its inefficiencies, and it quickly became clear that I can apply my 10 years of experience in building large-scale B2B SaaS products that power over 100,000 businesses globally across hospitality, energy and beauty & wellness industries to disrupt the retail space.I’m building frnt, to help retail businesses unify their disjointed systems and significantly reduce the time spent on manual processes by delegating them to our AI-powered digital workers, enabling focus to be redirected towards higher-value tasks.Embarking on this journey with Boran Cakir, backed by the leading early-stage VC Antler, couldn't be more fitting.Want to learn more about frnt or know a retail business that would be a good fit? Let's connect! 👨🏽💻https://lnkd.in/evKhxTrS#RetailTech #AI #FutureOfRetail #Startup

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