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.

🔥 The profitable startup

Startups have long been told to chase growth at all costs, but profitability is the real game-changer. Here’s how to achieve it.

🔥 Mistakes in due diligence that kill deals

Fundraising isn’t just about pitching, it’s about surviving due diligence. Here’s how to avoid the red flags that make investors walk away.

🔥 Venture psychology

Early-stage investing isn’t about the business, it’s about the founder. So what separates those who succeed from those who don’t? See what sets winners apart.

🔥 Raising capital in a tough market

Fundraising today is tougher than ever, but the right strategy can make all the difference. Here’s some great advice on how to win investor trust and secure your next round.

⚙️ Founder Tool of the Week

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

🔁 AlternativeTo

This free crowd-sourced website helps you discover better apps and services by providing user-recommended alternatives to the software you already use.

📕 Interesting read

Building a startup isn’t about finding a cofounder but creating something and seeing who gets excited to join. According to Carl Cortright, the best cofounder relationships come from aligned energy, complementary skills, and unrelenting dedication.

Instead of recruiting, just start building and notice who naturally gravitates toward the mission. And when it comes to equity? Drop the ego, early teammates who meet the criteria should be equals.

💼 Get a Startup Job

🟢 Lemon.io is looking for a Senior Full-stack Developer

🟢 iCapital is looking for a Vice President Business Development/Technology Solutions

🟢 Mutiny is looking for a Growth Strategist

🟢 Retool is looking for a Data Engineer

🟢 The Farmer’s Dog is looking for a Senior Finance Manager

🗒️ Best Startup News of the Week

🗒️ Y Combinator deletes Optifye’s demo video after backlash over dehumanizing and exploitative concept

A Y Combinator-backed startup, Optifye, faced intense criticism after a demo video showcased its AI system monitoring factory workers’ efficiency in real-time. The video, which depicted workers being identified by numbers and blamed for low productivity, was slammed as dehumanizing and exploitative. After widespread backlash, Y Combinator deleted the video.

🗒️ Perplexity AI launching $50 million venture fund to back early-stage startups

Perplexity AI is diving into venture capital with a $50 million fund aimed at early-stage AI startups. The company will act as an anchor investor, but most of the capital comes from external partners. With AI adoption surging, this move positions Perplexity as both a tech innovator and a key player in shaping the next wave of AI-driven startups.

🗒️ Is this 32-year-old a brilliant founder, or a deceptive fraudster?

The criminal trial of fintech founder Charlie Javice is unfolding, with JPMorgan Chase accusing her of fabricating millions of users to inflate the value of her startup, Frank, before selling it for $175 million. Javice, however, claims JPMorgan had “buyer’s remorse” after government financial aid changes. The fintech world is watching closely to see if she’ll be seen as a visionary or a fraud.

🗒️ Claude 3.7 Sonnet and Claude Code: Smarter AI, better coding

Anthropic has launched Claude 3.7 Sonnet, its most advanced AI yet, featuring hybrid reasoning for both instant responses and deep, step-by-step problem-solving. Anthropic also introduced Claude Code, a command-line AI assistant for developers.

🗒️ Palantir CEO’s new book says Silicon Valley has ‘lost its way’

In his new book, The Technological Republic, Palantir CEO Alexander Karp argues that Silicon Valley has turned away from its roots, prioritizing consumer apps over groundbreaking innovation. He calls for a renewed partnership between tech companies and the U.S. government to tackle major global challenges.

🗒️ Inception emerges from stealth with a new type of AI model

Inception is making waves with its diffusion-based large language model (DLM), a new AI approach that promises up to 10x faster performance and lower computing costs than traditional LLMs. Founded by Stanford professor Stefano Ermon, Inception adapts diffusion technology, popular in AI image generation, to text, enabling much faster, parallel processing.

🗒️ YouTube beats out Spotify as top podcast platform with 1 billion users

YouTube has officially surpassed Spotify as the most popular podcast platform, reaching 1 billion monthly listeners. As the platform expands its revenue-sharing program, podcasters could see bigger paydays, while Spotify faces increasing pressure to retain its user base.

🦄 Mega Funding Rounds of the Week

 ➡️  Augury, a company whose technology uses IoT sensors with AI-driven analytics to enable manufacturers to predict equipment failures, optimize maintenance schedules, and enhance operational efficiency.

Raised: $75 million Series F round at a $1+ billion valuation. The deal was led by Lightrock, with previous investors Insight Venture Partners, Eclipse, Munich Re Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, and Qumra Capital also participating.

➡️  Lambda, a company that specializes in providing cloud-based GPU computing resources and hardware for AI training and inference.

Raised: $480 million Series D round at a reported $2.5 billion post-money valuation. Andra Capital and SGW were the co-leads, with Nvidia, Super Micro Computer, and computer scientist Andrej Karpathy also investing.

➡️  Saronic Technologies, a startup that develops autonomous surface vessels for maritime security, reconnaissance, and tactical operations.

Raised: $600 million Series C round at a $4 billion post-money valuation. Elad Gil was the deal lead, with additional participation from General Catalyst as well as previous investors a16z, Caffeinated Capital, and 8VC.

➡️  Verkada, a startup that provides an integrated hardware and software management system to help organizations manage and monitor their physical spaces.

Raised: $200 million Series E round at a $4.5 billion post-money valuation. General Catalyst was the lead investor, with Eclipse also taking part.

➡️  Mercor, a startup that has built an AI-powered recruitment platform designed to streamline the hiring process for both employers and job seekers.

Raised: $100 million Series B round at a $2 billion post-money valuation, eight times its previous valuation. The deal was led by Felicis, with DST Global and Menlo Ventures as well as previous investors Benchmark and General Catalyst also kicking in.

➡️  OpenEvidence, a startup that offers a free mobile chatbot that provides doctors with up-to-date medical information to assist in patient care.

Raised: $75 million Series A round at a $1 billion post-money valuation. Sequoia provided the funding.

➡️  Together AI, a startup that provides a cloud-based platform enabling developers and enterprises to train, fine-tune, and deploy generative AI models efficiently.

Raised: $305 million round co-led by General Catalyst and Prosperity7 at a $3.3 billion post-money valuation. Additional investors included Salesforce Ventures, DAMAC Capital, NVIDIA, Kleiner Perkins, March Capital, Emergence Capital, Lux Capital, SE Ventures, Greycroft, Coatue, Definition, Cadenza Ventures, Long Journey Ventures, Brave Capital, Scott Banister, and John Chambers.

➡️  Genspark, a startup that has built an AI-powered search engine that creates custom pages in real-time based on user queries.

Raised: $100 million Series A round at a $530 million post-money valuation, according to Reuters. A group of unnamed U.S. and Singapore-based investors led the round.

➡️  NinjaOne, a company that provides software that helps IT teams and managed service providers monitor and manage computers and other devices remotely.

Raised: $500 million Series C extension at a $5 billion valuation. Iconiq Growth and CapitalG were the co-leads.

➡️  Ethena, a startup that develops synthetic stablecoins such as USDe, which achieves stability by using crypto assets and futures contracts.

Raised: $100 million round through a token sale. Investors included Franklin Templeton, F-Prime Capital, Dragonfly Capital, Polychain Capital, and Pantera Capital.

➡️  OrganOx, a company that develops devices that preserve donor organs, particularly livers, at normal body temperatures outside the body, allowing for better assessment before transplantation.

Raised: $142 million primary and secondary equity financing led by HealthQuest Capital, with Sofina, Soleus Capital, and Avidity Partners as well as previous investors BGF and Lauxera Capital Partners also participating.

➡️  Quantum Machines, a startup that develops advanced control systems for quantum computers.

Raised: $170 million Series C round led by PSG Equity, with additional participation from Intel Capital and Red Dot Capital 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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