Benchmark's Sarah Tavel on the state of VC, AI's impact on startups & more! | E1813 This Week in Startups

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Today's show:

Benchmark's Sarah Tavel joins Jason to discuss the state of VC (1:57), her time at Benchmark (13:33), her recent Substack blogs (31:51), AI's impact on startups (44:31), and much more!

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Time stamps:

(0:00) Benchmark's Sarah Tavel joins Jason

(1:57) The state of VC and the biggest things founders have had to contend with

(12:08) Miro - Sign up for a free account at https://miro.com/startups

(13:33) Benchmark's culture

(21:35) Evolving trends in VC

(24:37) Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at https://vanta.com/twist

(25:45) Tradeoffs and common VC mistakes

(31:51) Sarah's Substack blogs and the inspiration behind her writing

(35:42) Mercury - Join 100K+ startups banking with Mercury at http://mercury.com

(36:54) Entrepreneurship in 2023 and the importance of a founder's long-term vision

(44:31) Technology catalysts and how AI is impacting startups

(58:36) Business models, the amount of developers needed, and navigating funding rounds

(1:04:42) The complexities of strategic partnerships and corporate VC

(1:14:54) M&A in the era of Lina Kahn and looking at the macro picture as an investor

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Follow Sarah: https://twitter.com/sarahtavel

Check out Sarah's Substack: https://www.sarahtavel.com

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Read LAUNCH Fund 4 Deal Memo: https://www.launch.co/four

Apply for Funding: https://www.launch.co/apply

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Great recent interviews: Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland, PrayingForExits, Jenny Lefcourt

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Follow Jason:

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

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