InVision has experienced the biggest fall from glory in Silicon Valley's recent history. $350M raised with a peak valuation of $2B. And now they are shutting down. Not acquihired or "acquired by private equity" or strategic tuck-in. Just a hard stop. It's so easy to s**t on them. They got out-innovated, they were not product driven etc. etc. But, the truth is most startups that raised monster rounds in ZIRP days could face this deadend. You raised too much money: 1/ So you are too expensive to acquire 2/ So you raised your burn too high to finance a big GTM team 2/ So you got complacent on product 3/ So you got lazy on shipping There will be a lot more inVisions in the next 24 months as startups run out of capital. It's sad. The employees & founders at these companies gave it their all, but raising too much money sealed their fate. For the next gen of startup founders, heed this advice: raise little, keep your burn low, ship fast!
Adil Aijaz’s Post
More Relevant Posts
-
[1] Last week, a 1-on-1 at Olby led me to this post. I was asked how things were evolving at our new venture, which is in stealth mode but not a secret to those close to me. Let me go back a few months, maybe years. I'll do my best to keep it short: Jungle Devs was acquired in June 2021. We've continued leading it, learning, and evolving with the new experience of transitioning from a bootstrapped company to a startup. We eventually rebranded the company as Olby, opened our US entity in Austin, TX, and so on. If you're unaware of what 2021 represents, it was the highest peak in year-by-year VC investments over the past ~25 years. Then, 2022 arrived, and we entered a different environment. In 2023, I faced the biggest challenge of my life, which led me to realize a couple of things. As a result, I decided that 2024 would be different. Now, back to the 1-on-1. During the conversation, it became clear that very few people, even those working at tech companies, know what happens behind the scenes while building a startup from scratch—especially in real time. Sure, you've heard stories about startups that went public or raised a lot of money. But you probably haven't heard much about stealth-mode early-stage companies. Btw, I'm unsure if it qualifies as stealth mode once I start writing. Stay tuned. #behindthescenesonstealth
To view or add a comment, sign in
-
I’m past due a re-introduction! So with a new month, comes a new intro post. I’m Milosz, cofounder of Lumi Design 👋 → 10+ years working with startups → Helped build the first version of Robokiller, acquired by IAC in 2018 → Created an app which was bought by Atlassian in 2017 🧠 Lumi was founded to support early-stage founders in solving important and interesting problems. 🏠 The studio was born a few months before Covid. Initially, I worked with founders on a 1:1 basis and now we’re a global team taking on new partnerships every month. ✨ Lumi work with tech startups and scaleups. Some of our clients include Trello, Atlassian, KAYAK and Anthemis Group, to name a few. 🎯We use our hard-earned experience to help startups and scale-ups achieve strong product-market fit and growth through great UX and reliable development. If you’re interested in hearing how Lumi can support you in your business, give me a DM. #startup #tech #productdesign
To view or add a comment, sign in
-
The InVision Collapse: A Reality Check on Startup Valuations The tech world is abuzz with InVision's shutdown news, once a towering $2 billion entity. This isn't just a company winding down; it's a loud, resounding gong on startup valuations and the high-stakes game played by investors. InVision, once the darling of the design world, backed by heavyweights like Goldman Sachs and Spark Capital, couldn't withstand the competition's onslaught. A 50% revenue drop in a year? A sale of its core business to Miro? I think these are signs of deeper issues than just market rivalry. This begs the question: Were we all too caught up in the valuation hype? Did the investment giants miss the mark? Or was it a case of a promising ship navigating treacherous waters without changing course? As someone who's seen the ebb and flow of the investment world, I find this more than a cautionary tale. It's a wake-up call. It's time to rethink how we value startups, assess potential, and make investment decisions. What do you think? Are inflated valuations not just setting many startups for a fall, but also a sign that the tech investment world has been undergoing a reality check for quite some time now? #StartupValuation #TechInvestment #InVisionShutdown
To view or add a comment, sign in
-
#IndustryUpdate: A stark shift from 2021's boom to today's chill winds sweeping the business world. Tech titans aren't immune, as even promising startups like #Convoy and #SmileDirectClub have shuttered their doors. 📉 Layoffs have surged, with the tech sector shedding over 190,000 brilliant minds according to the latest Crunchbasereport. The #VentureCapital landscape is transforming before our eyes. The once rapid birth of new VC firms hits the brakes, as raising initial funds becomes more than a herculean task. 🔍 The test of time now challenges even the stalwarts of the industry to evolve or risk obsolescence. While the mood is sobering, it's a reminder of the unpredictability of the #startup ecosystem and the need for adaptability. 🌱 https://ow.ly/lwIK50QvHue #TechLayoffs #BusinessCycle #StartupChallenges #EconomicShift #VentureCapitalTrends
To view or add a comment, sign in
-
#IndustryUpdate: A stark shift from 2021's boom to today's chill winds sweeping the business world. Tech titans aren't immune, as even promising startups like #Convoy and #SmileDirectClub have shuttered their doors. 📉 Layoffs have surged, with the tech sector shedding over 190,000 brilliant minds according to the latest Crunchbasereport. The #VentureCapital landscape is transforming before our eyes. The once rapid birth of new VC firms hits the brakes, as raising initial funds becomes more than a herculean task. 🔍 The test of time now challenges even the stalwarts of the industry to evolve or risk obsolescence. While the mood is sobering, it's a reminder of the unpredictability of the #startup ecosystem and the need for adaptability. 🌱 https://ow.ly/kErf50QvHuc #TechLayoffs #BusinessCycle #StartupChallenges #EconomicShift #VentureCapitalTrends
To view or add a comment, sign in
-
From Nearly-Broke to, 1.5 Billion Dollar Valuation, the Inspiring Story of Loom! In 2011, Vinay Hiremath, the to-be founder of Loom, dropped out of the University of Illinois to work as a Software Engineer at Backplane, a Silicon Valley startup that lets users build online communities. In 2016, Backplane went broke, and Vinay was forced to look for another job. Instead, Vinay got together with 2 of his friends, and they decided to start their own company. The team spent the better part of the next eight months building and iterating on what they called Opentest. Opentest lets teams collect video feedback for their products from users. Over the following months, Opentest went through various failed launches and fundraising attempts, and after a certain point, it seemed like what they were building was a complete failure. With maxed-out credit cards and only two weeks left before total bankruptcy, the team’s last option was to decouple its Chrome extension from the failed product as a standalone video recorder and launch on Product Hunt. But, this time the public reception would be wildly different. The day of the launch, Loom saw more signups than it ever had in the past 6 months and over the next week, the product would see thousands more signups. That day, June 30th, 2016, not only allowed Loom to narrowly escape death but also put the company on a completely different trajectory. This was the product-market fit moment that every startup dreams of. The traction helped the company raise its first $600k investment from 1517 Fund and the team moved to San Francisco. Within the next 7 years, Loom would grow to become one of the largest screen recording and video-guide-sharing platforms. In 2022, Loom reached 14 million registered users, a $50 million Annual Recurrent Revenue, and a 1.5 billion dollar valuation. And this year, Atlassian bought the company for 975 million dollars, from which 300 million dollars went to the founders. In only 7 years, Vinay and his friends went from being nearly broke to multimillionaires. This is the beauty of entrepreneurship, you fight hard, and you win big. The harder the struggle, the greater the triumph! #startups #business #enterpreneurship
To view or add a comment, sign in
-
Building in a volatile market can be exhausting. Our fractional talent model keeps the hiring momentum charging in the right direction while de-risking your core team. We bring the tools, team, and advisory expertise to the table. Curious how something like this may work for your team? Drop a note below!
Building a Foundational tech team from the ground up is a challenge at the best of times. This qtr already though Allyssa has done just this and more multiple times over. As our Partner that leads our embedded function - Allyssa brings so much talent expertise directly to Founders who are needing to scale and launch rapidly, with no pre-established talent function, No real talent strategy and typically not more than a handful of employees and a V1 of a product. Thankfully the rest of us in the crew can lend our support and expertise across our verticals (Design for me!) and help scale up these founding teams of Head of Product, Head of Engineering, Head of Design, Head of Finance and more. Founders are busy building their products, raising capital, acquiring customer and more. Embedding Allyssa as a 'Head of Talent' to scale as needed and then roll off once done has been a game changer for our customers. NYC is a hot bed for tech companies launching (especially as more global companies want to establish in the US) but they need on the ground, local guidance and support. #bamboocrowd #embeddedrecruitment #startups #startuptalent #coffeewiththecrowd
To view or add a comment, sign in
-
Before joining Forum Ventures, Teija Bean, our Head of Design, accumulated a wealth of experience in the B2B SaaS landscape, ranging from full-service agencies to blockchain startups. Her journey revealed a significant gap: many founders build products based on assumptions rather than actual user needs. This insight fuels her passion for a design process that uncovers the winning formula, helping founders identify "Wow Moments" in their products. A "Wow Moment" is precisely that — a moment when the product directly addresses and resolves the user's primary pain point, compelling them to say, "I need this." Let's delve a little deeper into these Wow Moments: 1. They solve the primary pain point with a competitive edge. 2. The Wow moment typically revolves around one key screen, with one or two supporting screens in special cases. 3. For an early adopter familiar with the problem, it requires minimal explanation. It embodies your company’s core value proposition. Adding features beyond this core aim serves only as fluff for your MVP, potentially delaying your build time without adding real value. The bottom line is that it's not about the number of features, whether or not it has dark mode, but whether or not your MVP is the wedge into solving your ideal customer's pain point. Stay tuned for the next post ✍🏻 #mvp #founders #startups #b2bSaaS #venturestudio #productdesign
When I ask repeat and first-time Founders what they're looking for in a venture studio, the first thing they say is almost always working with brilliant people. So over the next week, I'm spotlighting one of our incredible builders in our AI Studio...our Head of Design Teija Bean and her take on designing a MVP that matters. Teija brings over a decade of expertise in Product Design. Prior to Forum, Teija was Partner leading a SaaS Product Agency. Specializing in turning founders' concepts into market-ready SaaS products, she excels in shaping MVPs and aligning them with market demands. Her journey includes impactful roles at Forum Ventures, Spark + Mint, LEON, and You X Ventures, where she led design teams, mentored, and innovated in the realms of B2B SaaS, Web3 and more, fostering environments where design and business intersect for impactful product creation and launch. 👉🏻 Tag a founder that's thinking about this! #startups #venturestudio #productdesign #mvp #b2bsaas
To view or add a comment, sign in
-
Last week we announced our $24M Series A led by Khosla Ventures and we thought it would be interesting for a lot of folks to hear directly from our founders, Lukas Gentele and Fabian Kramm about their journey: 🤔 How did Loft get started? ❗What is Loft Labs now and what is the core mission + products? 💡 Where did the idea for #vCluster come from? ❓ What challenges did they face taking vCluster from an idea to a successful open source project? 🧡 All these years later we've seen over 40 million vClusters, we've released vCluster.Pro, and more and more people are using it. What kind of future do they want to see for vCluster and Loft? 🚀 Are we hiring, where can people go to find out more information, and future stuff? Full video link in the comment below 👇 #Founders #Startup #Growth #SeriesA #Funding #Kubernetes #platformengineering #ai #jobs #hiring
To view or add a comment, sign in
-
In a recent report by TechCrunch, several high-profile startups, including Plaid and Figma, are highlighted as unlikely candidates for IPOs this year. The article delves into the reasons behind these decisions, pointing to market conditions and strategic considerations as key factors. The current landscape for startup IPOs is described as challenging, with many companies opting to delay their public market debuts. This trend reflects broader uncertainties in the market, prompting startups to reassess their timing for going public. #Startups #IPO #TechNews #MarketTrends #Plaid #Figma ---------------------- Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/eNU6E443
To view or add a comment, sign in