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Landon Howell
Marketing at ๐ Rocketplace - Techstars & First Round Mentor
๐ Hey, I'm Landon! I tackle ops and growth needs at early-stage startups.
๐ I currently lead Marketing at Rocketplace.
๐ More recently I served as a growth exec at Plastiq (Forbes FinTech 50), Fancred (Techstars class #22), Wyndy, Alysyn, and a couple of products that have since entered the startup afterlife.
๐จโ๐ป Iโm an advisor to MaxRewards, Poppy, and Chant, and a mentor at Techstars and First Round.
Highlights
If you are fundraising or thinking about fundraising for your startup, you need to read this report.
Cartaโs VC Fund Performance Report reminds us that we are living in a time of careful deployment and a high percentage of zombie funds. Whatever the market was from late 2020 through 2021, the current market is almost the opposite.
๐ข ๐๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ฒ๐ฝ๐น๐ผ๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ฆ๐น๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ: Funds in the 2022 vintage have deployed only 43% of their committed capital at the 24-month mark, the lowest share of any analyzed vintageโ.
๐ฑ ๐๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐: Only 15.4% of startups that raised a seed round in Q1 2022 made it to Series A within two yearsโ.
โคต๏ธ ๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฝ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฃ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ: Median TVPI for the 2021 vintage remains below 1ร, trailing behind earlier vintages that had 85% of funds crossing the 1ร markโ.
๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ: Median IRR for the 2021 vintage is still in negative territory three years in, a stark contrast to the 19.4% IRR seen in the 2019 vintage.
โณ ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ด๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐๐ฐ๐น๐ฒ๐: The median time between a seed round and Series A has stretched to over 2 years, and between Series A and B to 2.5 years.
Thanks to Peter Walker, Michael Young, Alex Lester , and Kevin Dowd for putting this together.
David Cohen is excited about the Atlanta startup ecosystem.
Techstars' CEO & Co-Founder hosted a breakfast at Ponce City Market last week. It was wonderful.
Some of the topics discussed by David and others at the event...
๐ต 139 startups have been a part of Techstars Atlanta Powered by Cox Enterprises and Techstars Atlanta JP Morgan.
๐ Key insights from the Techstars State of Innovation Survey: โ 60% of founders say access to capital is their biggest headache โ Biggest innovation drivers: VC/Angel investors (22%), Accelerator programs (19%), Community/Proximity to other startups (18%) โOnly 50% of VCs are somewhat or extremely optimistic for their firm this year compared to 76% of entrepreneurs โ Most important issues affecting companies: Access to capital (60%), Economy/Macroeconomic environment (39%), Access to talent (29%) โ Nearly one-third (31%) of entrepreneurs work at least 60 hours per week, 17% work 70 hours or more โ 60% of founders are not building an AI solution, 40% say AI is a direct component or enabler of their business โ Primary long-term goals for startups: Acquisition (34%), Stay private (30%), IPO (15%)
๐ There are 13,000 tech graduates annually from Atlanta universities
๐ฆ There are currently 6 current startups unicorns in Atlanta โก๏ธ https://lnkd.in/eWj8kQvd
๐ข Atlanta Tech Village is the largest tech center in the US
๐ฅผ ATDC is one of the longest-running and most successful university-affiliated incubators in the U.S.
๐ Each year, Georgia Institute of Technology produces the most technology graduates of any U.S. university
๐ค Atlanta is the nationโs #4 city for tech talent diversity โก๏ธ https://lnkd.in/e95jqN6z
