Why the F We’re Still Doing This, the Xiaomi EV Launch and the Silicon Valley Startups that Raised $320.8M Last Week

Week of April 7, 2024 - 12 Silicon Valley Startups Raised $320.8M Last Week, Why The F We're Still Doing This, Why an Email Company Makes Sense for Intuit and Xiaomi EV Launch in Guangzhou

Apr 08, 2024

Hello from San Francisco!

I am super excited to relaunch my newsletter on Substack this week! This relaunch isn't just about a fresh look or new content; it's about reigniting our shared passion for technology, entrepreneurship, startups and venture capital, diving deeper into discussions, and exploring what the different world’s events mean for us as founders and investors.

Here are a few great things to read/watch this week:

🖕Why The F We're Still Doing This - One of my favorite talks at the Upfront Summit was this talk with Howard Morgan, founder of Renaissance Technologies, First Round and B Capital, Alan Patricof, founder of Greycroft and Primetime Partners and Ray Lane, founder of GreatPoint Ventures and previously Managing Partner with Kleiner Perkins. This is a truly an inspiring talk for a baby VC like me. Enjoy!
✉️ Why an Email Company Makes Sense for Intuit - I enjoy reading this Verge interview with the new Mailchimp CEO, Rania Succar. The part that caught my eye was the number of customers that Intuit ($179B market cap) small business serves. 10 million small business customers across QuickBooks and Mailchimp vs 170 million Americans who have built communities and businesses on TikTok vs 205,000 Hubspot ($33.9B marekt cap) customers. There is for sure a lot more room to grow for companies that are going after the SMB market.
🛒 Google Wants to Get Intro the the CRM Game - Alphabet wants to go after the CRM + SMB market and may make an offer for HubSpot. Hubspot generated $2.2 billion of revenue in 2023 with 2000 employees. Reuters broke the story and I enjoyed listening to the All-In podcast analysis on this.
🚗 Xiaomi EV Launch in Guangzhou - I went to Guangzhou with my mother for the first time since 2019 last week and ran into the launch event of SU7 - Xiaomi’s very first EV. Hundreds of people are lining up outside of the Xiaomi store to see the beautiful car. Imagine putting a car inside an Apple Store… Check out my video by clicking here and read well titled article by the FT 👉 The Steve Jobs of China turns car salesman in Xiaomi’s EV evolution.
💪 Let’s Meet in Boston @ Techcrunch Early Stage - I am excited to speak at Techcrunch Early Stage on April 25 in Boston. Join me there!