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

This Week in Startups is brought to you by… Miro. Working remotely doesn't mean you need to feel disconnected from your team. Miro is an online whiteboard that brings teams together - anytime, anywhere. Go to https://miro.com/startups to sign up for a FREE account with unlimited team members. Vanta. Compliance and security shouldn't be a deal-breaker for startups to win new business. Vanta makes it easy for companies to get a SOC 2 report fast. TWiST listeners can get $1,000 off for a limited time at https://vanta.com/twist Mercury. 90% of startups fail. Just 10 out of every 100 make it. Mercury exists to close that gap — helping companies succeed with banking and credit cards engineered for the startup journey. Join over 100,000 companies banking with Mercury at http://mercury.com Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group and Evolve Bank & Trust; Members FDIC. * 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! * 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 * Follow Sarah: https://twitter.com/sarahtavel Check out Sarah's Substack: https://www.sarahtavel.com * Read LAUNCH Fund 4 Deal Memo: https://www.launch.co/four Apply for Funding: https://www.launch.co/apply Buy ANGEL: https://www.angelthebook.com Great recent interviews: Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland, PrayingForExits, Jenny Lefcourt Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis * Follow Jason: Twitter: https://twitter.com/jason Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jason LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis * Follow TWiST: Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin * Subscribe to the Founder University Podcast: https://www.founder.university/podcast