Welcome to The Full Stack Entrepreneur - our weekly newsletter where we share the most important startup resources of the week to help founders succeed on their entrepreneurial journey. 

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💻 Resources of the Week

In this section, you will find the best resources that we have seen in the last week. All of them help you grow your startup from 0 to 1.

🔥 Small teams

Smaller teams move faster, innovate better, and create more impact with fewer resources. So why do so many companies still scale the old way? More on this here.

🔥 The Generalist’s productivity stack

Want to get more done with less effort? From setting just three daily goals to using AI for note-taking, these simple yet powerful hacks will help you work smarter, not harder.

🔥 How to hire an early-stage sales team from $0 to $1M ARR

Building a killer sales team from scratch? Unify’s playbook reveals why hiring in pairs, prioritizing adaptability, and testing deep product knowledge are key for early-stage startups.

🔥 Referrals are contagious

Referred customers don’t just join, they bring in more customers. Studies show they’re 71% more likely to make referrals and convert at higher rates, creating a powerful growth flywheel.

⚙️ Founder Tool of the Week

In this section, we share one tool that helps you build your startup.

🌐 Conveo

Conveo is a qualitative research platform that conducts and analyzes in-depth, AI-moderated voice & video interviews.

📕 Interesting read

Sequoia’s latest framework breaks product-market fit into three archetypes: Hair on Fire, where demand is urgent and competition is fierce; Hard Fact, where startups disrupt an accepted reality; and Future Vision, where innovation creates entirely new markets.

Understanding which path you’re on can define your strategy—and your company’s success.

💼 Get a Startup Job

🟢 Aspire Living & Learning is looking for a Director of Program Support.

🟢 Aptos is looking for a Head of Developer Relations Engineering.

🟢 Webflow is looking for a Senior Web Designer.

🟢 WillowTree is looking for a Digital Marketing & Loyalty Director.

🟢 Attentive is looking for a Customer Success Director.

🗒️ Best Startup News of the Week

 🗒️ Here are all the IPOs reported to be in the works for 2025

A wave of IPOs is coming in 2025, with tech giants and fintech leading the charge. Companies like eToro, Chime, Klarna, and Cerebras are set to go public, signaling renewed confidence in the market.

 🗒️ Deepfake AI videos are getting even better with TikTok owner ByteDance's OmniHuman-1 model

ByteDance has unveiled OmniHuman-1, a powerful AI model that can create hyper-realistic deepfake videos from a single image and audio clip. As deepfakes become more convincing, global regulations and detection methods struggle to keep up.

🗒️ OpenAI announces deep research days after DeepSeek’s AI earthquake

OpenAI is firing back after Chinese AI firm DeepSeek shook the industry with its ChatGPT rival. The company just launched "Deep Research," a new AI tool designed to synthesize vast amounts of data in minutes. While OpenAI claims this is a step toward true artificial intelligence, critics argue that AI still lacks the creativity and intuition needed for groundbreaking discoveries.

🗒️ Peter Thiel-backed crypto firm weighs IPO

Bullish Global, a crypto exchange backed by Peter Thiel, is considering an IPO amid expectations of a pro-crypto stance from the Trump administration. The company, which previously scrapped plans to go public via SPAC, is now working with Jefferies and JPMorgan on a potential listing.

🗒️ European AI startups raised $8 billion in 2024

AI investment in Europe is booming, with startups raising $8 billion in 2024 alone. The U.K., France, and Germany are leading the charge, while U.S. investors are pouring money into late-stage rounds. With the upcoming AI Action Summit in Paris, Europe is positioning itself as a key player in the global AI race.

🗒️ The 10 biggest rounds of January: Infinite Reality tops busy month

Venture capital kicked off 2025 with a bang, as startups across AI, biotech, and energy secured massive funding rounds. Infinite Reality led the pack with a $3 billion raise, while Anthropic and Retro Biosciences each landed $1 billion. With a mix of AI, longevity research, and fusion energy attracting billions, investors are betting big on the future.

🗒️ Deel unloads $300 million in secondary sale, brings General Catalyst on as an investor

Deel is gearing up for an IPO, reporting an $800 million annual revenue run rate and a fresh $300 million secondary sale to General Catalyst and Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company. The HR and fintech giant now boasts a $12.6 billion valuation, as early investors cash out ahead of a potential 2025 public listing.

🦄 Mega Funding Rounds of the Week

 ➡️ Oligo Security, a startup that develops software to monitor applications in real time and prevent security threats.

Raised: $50 million Series B round led by Greenfield Partners, with Red Dot Capital Partners, Strait Capital, and previous investors Ballistic Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and TLV Partners also participating.

➡️ Onebrief, a startup developing collaborative software to streamline military planning and decision-making.

Raised: $50 million Series C round co-led by General Catalyst and Insight Partners, with additional participation from Caffeinated Capital, 9Yards Capital, and previous investor Human Capital.

➡️ Veir, a startup developing superconducting power lines capable of transmitting significantly more electricity than traditional cables.

Raised: $75 million Series B round led by Munich Re Ventures, with Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund, Tyche Partners, Piva Capital, National Grid Partners, Dara Holdings, and SiteGround, along with previous investors VXI Capital, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Congruent Ventures, Engine Ventures, Fine Structure Ventures, and Galvanize Climate Solutions.

➡️ Rad AI, a startup using AI to help radiologists automatically generate report summaries and manage patient follow-ups.

Raised: $60 million Series C round led by Transformation Capital, with previous investors Khosla Ventures, World Innovation Lab, UP2398, Kickstart Fund, OCV Partners, and Cone Health also participating.

➡️ ElevenLabs, a startup developing software to generate voices in different languages, accents, and emotions.

Raised: $180 million Series C round at a $3.3 billion post-money valuation. The deal was co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and ICONIQ Growth, with additional participation from NEA, World Innovation Lab, Valor, Endeavor Catalyst Fund, and Lunate, as well as previous investors Sequoia Capital, Salesforce Ventures, Smash Capital, SV Angel, NFDG, and BroadLight Capital.

➡️ Echo Neurotechnologies, a startup developing brain-machine interfaces that enable patients with severe disabilities to control devices using their thoughts.

Raised: $50 million. Andreessen Horowitz led the round.

➡️ Hidden Level, a startup developing technology to detect and track drones and other aerial vehicles for airspace safety.

Raised: $65 million Series C round led by DFJ Growth, with Booz Allen Ventures, Revolution Capital, Costanoa Ventures, Washington Harbour Partners, Veteran Ventures, and Founders Circle Capital also participating.

➡️ Krutrim, a startup developing large language models tailored for Indian languages.

Raised: $230 million round from its founder, billionaire Bhavish Aggarwal.

➡️ Solaris, a company that enables businesses to integrate financial services like digital banking, payments, lending, and identification into their own products using APIs.

Raised: $145.2 million Series G round co-led by SBI Group and Boerse Stuttgart Group.

➡️ StackAdapt, a company whose platform uses machine learning to analyze user behavior, predict ad performance, and automate ad buying across websites, videos, and connected TVs.

Raised: $235 million round led by Teachers’ Venture Growth, with additional participation from Intrepid Growth Partners.

🤝 About this newsletter

We are writing this newsletter to inspire you and share the lessons we and other founders learned along the way so that you can build your startup easier, faster and more successful.

If you have any feedback, ideas, or topics we should cover, don't hesitate to reach out to us via Email or LinkedIn. 

The BT Crew

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