If you鈥檙e the CEO of or and reached $100 million in ARR in under a year, this article isn鈥檛 for you 鈥� enjoy being a unicorn as thousands of investors beg to fund you.

But if you鈥檙e not, then let’s be honest: raising in 2026 is tough. Although global venture funding is growing, raising capital isn鈥檛 any easier for the average startup. According to 附近上门 , more than a third of global funding in 2025 went to just 629 companies, compared to 24% of funding in 2024.

This highlights a growing concentration of capital, making most of that funding effectively inaccessible to early-stage startups. So what can founders do to fix that?

We don鈥檛 invite strangers to our houses, and we don鈥檛 hire them for important jobs either. For thousands of years, trust and credibility were the most important factors in forming relationships, both business and personal.

In 2025, Silicon Valley companies attracted nearly 50% of the entire U.S. . Silicon Valley is also home to , over half of all U.S.-based unicorns.

It鈥檚 not because San Francisco Bay Area founders are inherently smarter 鈥� it鈥檚 largely about being close to capital and networks. When you鈥檙e in constant proximity of MAG7 companies and hundreds of VCs, connections happen organically, through social gatherings, meetups and referrals. This is how credibility is formed: through connections and exposure.

So, is networking the secret to raising capital? Partially, but it doesn鈥檛 scale. You can鈥檛 just meet the whole industry and invite them all to a 1-1.

So instead, you have to build your reputation. Here are my top four pieces of advice on how to build it right.

Be visible

Make your growth visible. Whenever you reach a significant milestone 鈥� raising a round, hitting a user target, or achieving revenue growth 鈥� the market should hear about it.

We鈥檝e seen countless companies reach a huge target and then fail to spread the word about it.

Make sure to plan all media coverage in advance, keep exclusive news up your sleeve, and have an extensive media strategy. Once the word is out through your company鈥檚 social media, pitching to journalists becomes significantly harder. Everybody wants exclusives, and no one wants to write about old news. Global media outlets are all about relationships. Make sure to form a meaningful connection with journalists covering your particular niche.

Focus on customers

The second priority when raising funds is your company鈥檚 place in the overall market landscape. Be where your customers are. Many founders make the same mistake: chasing investors instead of customers.

Remember that investors will always find good investment opportunities. Your job is to make sure that your company is one of them. Investors have to see that your company has a sustainable customer acquisition approach and is able to continuously grow its user base.

Chasing investors can even damage your public picture. If VCs see you spending heavily to attract investors rather than customers, it may signal misaligned priorities.

Be a thought leader

Important thing No. 3: thought leadership. You have to prove your credibility through actively participating in conferences and meetups.

Speaking at industry events signals credibility at scale. Conferences are highly selective. Being on stage implies that organizers have already vetted your expertise. Getting on the stage and delivering your core message will help your credibility more than any degree or a title.

Raise symbolic capital

The fourth significant factor is symbolic capital 鈥� the way your company is perceived by the market. A great way to acquire symbolic capital is through various ratings and features. They鈥檙e usually put together by the larger media outlets and include programs such as Forbes鈥� 30 Under 30, TechCrunch Startup Battlefield and Slush100.

Similar to conferences, participating in different features shows potential investors that a credible player with a good reputation has already done a background check on you and is ready to endorse you. One well-known logo in your endorsements list can go a long way in securing the next round of funding for your startup.

A somewhat unexpected benefit of getting into the biggest ratings and roundups is your AI visibility. Your company being featured in one of these lists will significantly improve the odds that AI will highlight your company in relevant conversations. AI visibility is increasingly important for user acquisition, considering that according to , already use AI instead of traditional search engines for shopping.

Reputation: You can鈥檛 buy it

Reputation is one of the rare things in the business world that you can鈥檛 just buy.

One of our longstanding partners received an invitation to a dinner with the Royal Family of the United Kingdom, which is something that no amount of marketing budget will give you. It takes a lot of coordinated work and effort that won鈥檛 result in exact KPIs on day one, which is why many startups just don鈥檛 have the patience and strategy it takes to build credibility.

As development and compute costs fall, the number of startups continues to grow. In that environment, reputation becomes the key differentiator between companies that attract capital 鈥� and those that don鈥檛.

is a communications strategist and serial entrepreneur with more than 10 years of experience. She co-founded , an AI adviser for smart manufacturing, and leads BeGlobe, a PR agency for tech startups and VCs. She is a graduate of 鈥檚 SkyDeck Accelerator.

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By and

We like to think markets naturally align incentives over time. Maybe they will. But transitions always involve friction, and AI has accelerated the friction point between economic and human interests.

AI didn鈥檛 create the tension between efficiency and decency, but it intensified and accelerated it. And even if AI doesn鈥檛 replace jobs wholesale, it will reshape them, compress them and fundamentally change the human-machine ratio inside companies.

Which means leaders must answer a new question: How do we build a culture that keeps humans valued and motivated while leveraging machines fully?

A hybrid human-machine organization requires rethinking almost everything: norms, rituals, contributions, trust dynamics, leadership models and more.

Culture has always been the stabilizer that holds companies together. Now it must evolve. Below are the cultural imperatives we believe will define organizations that navigate this transition well.

Five cultural imperatives for the human-machine era

1. Build a culture of hybrid identity. Not human-first or AI-first, but hybrid. Humans bring judgment, creativity, empathy, taste and leadership. AI brings speed, scale, memory and tireless iteration. A culture that values both reduces fear and increases clarity.

2. Establish trust norms between humans and machines. Teams need to know when to rely on AI, when to challenge it, and how to collaborate with it. Trust must be explicit and expressed 鈥� not assumed or hidden.

3. Redefine contribution and recognition. If AI plays a meaningful role in output, recognition must shift too. Don鈥檛 just reward production. Reward insight, direction, taste, judgment, strategy and creative authorship.

4. Preserve belonging as leverage increases. Smaller teams can still be human-centered 鈥� but only with transparency, clear purpose and rituals that reinforce connection. Humans鈥� need for belonging must be intentionally designed.

5. Build culture early. Cultural debt accumulates faster than technical debt. Leaders who design norms early 鈥� around language, expectations, rituals and trust 鈥� will avoid confusion and resentment.

I think about this constantly. Our company is one small version of what鈥檚 happening across industries. Efficiency is accelerating, roles are evolving and culture is stretching into something new.

But I鈥檓 optimistic. History suggests we eventually find equilibrium with transformational new technologies. Perhaps it will even be a version like the one imagines as 鈥渢he Singularity鈥� 鈥� where humans and machines truly elevate one another.

Until then, we鈥檙e committed to building a culture where the efficient thing and the decent thing can coexist. Where machines do what they鈥檙e best at, humans do the same, and the space between them becomes a new source of creativity and possibility.

We believe it, we鈥檙e building for it, and we鈥檒l stand by it until proven otherwise.

is the co-founder of the world鈥檚 newest creative AI marketing tool, RYA. He鈥檚 also the co-founder of , an advertising agency that leverages data to make hits for , , , and many other marquee brands. Over the past two decades he has led cross-functional teams and developed multidiscipline communications and creative strategies for both for-profit and nonprofit organizations. Himmelsbach is a MBA graduate from 鈥檚

is head of business development at WestComms. He strongly believes that high-quality communication will only continue to appreciate in value and supports clients working in AI, crypto and frontier technologies. Pinson still keeps a regular hand-written journal, loves wine and earned a degree in economics and philosophy at in California.

Venture capital has become a mechanism for extracting executives from trillion-dollar companies and paying them whatever it takes to build in an AI-native world.

We’re not funding companies anymore 鈥� we’re buying access to the few hundred people who’ve built AI systems inside , and .

was founded by (ex- chief scientist), (ex- AI lead), and (former researcher at OpenAI). The company operates with roughly 20 employees. So far, it鈥檚 raised $3 billion at a $32 billion valuation, without a product or any revenue. What they do have is three executives from trillion-dollar companies who understand how to build superintelligence. That alone commands $1 billion in capital per team member.

This has become the playbook.

agreed to pay to use its models and hire co-founder as CEO of Microsoft AI, along with most of Inflection’s 70-person team. CEO reportedly offered up to over six years. struck a nonexclusive licensing deal with and hired its CEO, co-founder and select R&D staff. Meanwhile, OpenAI CEO has publicly stated that Meta offered top OpenAI talent signing bonuses.

The traditional venture formula is inverting. It used to be simple: raise $20 million, spend 95% on growth and headcount, allocate 5% to executive comp. Now the majority of capital flows toward recruiting a handful of executives who understand how to operate in an AI-native environment.

But most founders can’t compete in $20 million bidding wars. And so there’s an asymmetric play, and it’s 10x cheaper.

Why executive judgment is the new scarce resource

In an agentic era, AI systems write code, process data, handle customer service and automate operations. The scarcest resource has become the judgment of executives who know how to orchestrate these systems effectively.

Think about what this means in practice. A decade ago, $100 million might have hired 200 engineers. Today, that same capital might fund five FAANG executives at $10 million each, with the remaining $50 million allocated to compute, AI tooling and a skeleton crew of 20 to 30 people overseeing autonomous agents.

Executives from frontier AI companies command massive premiums because they possess knowledge that doesn’t exist elsewhere. They navigate what’s possible with current AI capabilities, understand the economics of model training and inference costs, and can anticipate regulatory frameworks before they’re codified.

What this means for capital formation

This shift creates a new power dynamic. Founders who can attract marquee executives unlock fundraising rounds that would be impossible based on traction or revenue alone. VCs evaluate deals increasingly on “who’s building this” rather than traditional metrics like customer acquisition cost or gross margins.

The clearest signal: , with 19 employees, was acquired by for 鈥� $11.6 million per employee. In an agentic world, team size has become irrelevant.

How to compete with the asymmetric playbook

Most founders reading this can’t offer $10 million to $20 million equity packages to marquee executives.

But there’s a counterintuitive strategy emerging: Instead of competing directly for executives who’ve built AI systems at frontier labs, target the operators who’ve integrated them at scale inside Fortune 500s. A chief technology officer who deployed LLMs across 50,000 employees at or understands enterprise AI adoption patterns that most OpenAI researchers don’t.

Here’s the asymmetric approach we’re seeing work:

1. Hire the “translator” executives, not the “builder” executives. A former VP of engineering from who integrated AI into enterprise workflows is more valuable for a B2B AI startup than a research scientist from DeepMind. They’re 10x cheaper and often more relevant to your actual go-to-market challenges.

2. Offer board seats, not just equity. The most compelling pitch to executives earning $800,000 at FAANG companies isn’t just equity 鈥� it’s offering: (a) a board seat they’d never get at a big company; (b) meaningful ownership in a high-growth company; and (c) the chance to compress 10 years of career advancement into two to three years. The value proposition isn’t “get rich” 鈥� it’s autonomy, impact and an accelerated path to becoming a recognized operator in AI.

3. Build technical credibility through advisory networks, not executive hires. Instead of hiring one $5 million executive, allocate $500,000 across 10 advisers from Google, Meta and Microsoft who can provide technical validation during enterprise sales cycles.

4. Target executives in “golden handcuff” situations. The best candidates aren’t those getting $100 million offers 鈥� they’re the overlooked VPs at trillion-dollar companies who’ve built AI systems but are stuck behind org politics. They have the expertise, they’re ready to leave, and they’ll join for $2 million or $3 million equity packages if you can articulate a clear path to relevance.

The companies winning without massive war chests aren’t trying to out-recruit Anthropic for research talent. They’re targeting enterprise operators who understand how AI systems actually get deployed at scale 鈥� and building credibility networks instead of expensive org charts.

The real tradeoff

We’re witnessing the formation of a technical aristocracy. A few thousand individuals now command compensation packages previously reserved for successful founders, as wealth transfers from broad-based tech employment to an elite operator class. Venture capital has fundamentally transformed from a growth capital fund into a talent acquisition fund.

The AI gold rush will eventually end, but the economic structure it’s creating is permanent. In the agentic era, you don’t raise capital to hire engineers 鈥� you raise it to hire executives who know how to orchestrate AI agents that do the actual work.

The question isn’t whether the rules have changed. They have. The question is which version of the new game you’re playing: competing for $20 million executives from frontier AI labs, or building asymmetrically with $2 million enterprise operators and credibility networks. Both paths work. Only one is accessible to most founders.

is founder and CEO of , which eliminates the security review bottleneck that stalls enterprise deals for companies such as , and . Born in rural Nepal, he built a profitable company with a 24/7 security operations command center in Kathmandu, proving that world-class execution doesn’t require Silicon Valley overhead. He writes about capital formation and the economics of AI-era operations.

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It鈥檚 a cold, windy morning. I鈥檓 clutching my green tea like it鈥檚 a lifeline (yes, I鈥檓 that person with a tea routine 鈥� don鈥檛 judge). I unlock my phone for my sacred ritual: scrolling the news and pretending it鈥檚 productive.

And then 鈥� bam. Another one. Another post.

My brain screams, 鈥淣oope.鈥�

Honestly? I should鈥檝e gone with the ashwagandha. I need the extra zen.

Slowly, then much more

Venture capital has always been the freestyle engine of finance 鈥� less Wall Street, more puffer. Hoodie millionaires. Pitch decks over pour-overs. If the outfits didn鈥檛 say enough, there鈥檚 always the annual VC pilgrimage to Burning Man, or Cape Town check-ins in winter.

This world runs on capital, but it thrives on narrative. And with narrative comes emotion. Venture has always prided itself on open minds and blunt feedback. For years, Twitter (sorry, 鈥溾��) was the town square where sharp elbows and spicy takes ruled the feed. It didn鈥檛 matter if you were right 鈥� just that you were fast, loud and maybe a little clever.

As one investor once told me, 鈥淚f it鈥檚 not controversial, I鈥檓 not interested.鈥� That about sums it up.

Then muddier

Tough conversations were once a sign of maturity. Challenging norms? Encouraged. But somewhere along the way, we swapped substance for spectacle. If your 鈥渧enture is broken鈥� take isn鈥檛 pulling 100+ likes, you haven鈥檛 belittled hard enough. Then, we went from calling things 鈥渂roken鈥� to outright obituaries:

鈥淰enture is dead.鈥�
鈥淔intech is dead.鈥�
鈥淭he Bay Area is over.鈥�
鈥淸Insert top-tier firm] has lost its edge.鈥�

These aren鈥檛 parodies but are inspired by real tweets, headlines and conversations. The digital walls of venture are covered in postmortems 鈥� some thoughtful, many performative, nearly all engineered for engagement.

But don鈥檛 scroll just yet. Because the belittling has evolved. Now it鈥檚 less yelling, more passive-aggressive storytelling. The new wave of venture-bashing doesn鈥檛 just point fingers 鈥� it points fingers while pretending not to.

Here鈥檚 the move: 鈥淭hings got crazy in 2020鈥�21. VCs lost discipline.鈥�

Sounds neutral, right? But the subtext is clear: 鈥淲e were the adults in the room. Others? Oh, they lost their minds.鈥�

It鈥檚 poetic blame-shifting. A collective shrug wrapped in plausible deniability. The irony? Many of the people nodding along were part of the very hype machine they now critique.

Everyone wants to be the exception while trashing the rule.

This isn鈥檛 just criticism 鈥� it鈥檚 performance. Content dressed up as insight. The more dramatic the headline, the more traction it gets. And still, the real question isn鈥檛 鈥淲hy are we doing this?鈥� It鈥檚 鈥淲hy is it working so well?鈥�

Productive, respectful, thoughtful

People are smart. Algorithms? Not so much.

We optimize for virality, write for heat and lean into controversy. But when those same hot takes show up in LP meetings or startup boardrooms, the subtext isn鈥檛 lost. The shade isn鈥檛 subtle. And the people we think we鈥檙e fooling? They see right through it.

We all know when critique is just clout in costume.

So here鈥檚 my take: shed the shenanigans. We don鈥檛 need to burn venture capitalists to the ground just to get attention. We don鈥檛 need to write a eulogy to inspire a fix. Not everything needs to be dismantled with belittling one-liners.

Sometimes the most radical move is to be constructive. We need a return to a culture of building. That includes how we talk about our own industry. The past few years? Messy. Mistakes? Plenty. But that doesn鈥檛 mean the model is dead.

It means we adapt, learn, recalibrate. That鈥檚 what mature ecosystems do. That鈥檚 what good investors do.

Let鈥檚 make venture beautiful again 鈥� not by softening it, but by sharpening it with honesty.

Thoughtful doesn鈥檛 mean toothless. Respectful doesn鈥檛 mean boring. And productive doesn鈥檛 mean blindly optimistic. It means advancing the conversation without burning the village down for clicks.

Because venture capital matters. It funds the ideas that shape our future. The money we deploy isn鈥檛 just capital 鈥� it鈥檚 belief. And belief, wielded well, is a force multiplier for innovation.

We need that now more than ever. The stakes are too high for performative nihilism. If we want to sit at the table where the future gets built, let鈥檚 act like we deserve to be there. Not by belittling the game. But by raising the standard.

is the creator of , a quarterly insights project known for its 鈥淰enture Knowledge Alpha鈥� tagline. His investment expertise goes beyond venture, spanning real estate, renewables, infrastructure and equities. As the host of TheOnePoint podcast, he explores niche venture topics with founders, VCs and LPs, bringing fresh perspectives to the industry. Yadav has hands-on experience in tech, sales and product roles, and combines investment acumen with real-world operational and tech knowledge.

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As I’ve personally experienced, scaling a startup can often feel like running a sprint on a treadmill. Navigating through this critical phase can give us the impression that we are constantly moving, but the resources we need are always just out of reach. This also includes people, especially in today’s convoluted job market.

There is traditional hiring, yet its high salaries, benefits and long-term commitments can quickly drain a startup鈥檚 limited budget, making rapid growth harder to achieve. Given that venture capital is also constrained, it may not be the best idea.

So, what is the smart way to go? I’m seeing a growing trend toward looking for fractional contractors. These are specialists who are brought in for part-time roles, and offer a more flexible, cost-effective alternative.

By hiring top talent only when needed, startups can significantly reduce costs while driving faster, more efficient results. Scaling smart means investing in outcomes, not overhead. Here’s how this can work.

The advantage of contractors

Hiring conventional, full-time employees (if there’s still a word for that) demands long-term commitments that tie up resources in salaries, benefits and onboarding costs. For startups 鈥� which likely need financial flexibility to thrive 鈥� this can be detrimental. Fractional contractors, on the other hand, allow emerging businesses to tap into beneficial expertise without the full-time price tag.

For example, a tech startup preparing to scale could bring in a part-time CFO to manage its financial strategy, saving up to $40,000 to $50,000 annually compared to a full-time hire. Note that the company is still getting top-tier expertise when it needs it. This model lowers costs while enabling startups to remain agile 鈥� reallocating resources to high-impact areas like product development or customer acquisition.

ROI in action

Consider a SaaS startup preparing to enter new markets. Instead of committing to a full-time marketing director, they decide to engage a fractional marketing consultant for six months. The result? A successful campaign launch with 10% to 15% lower costs, plus the flexibility to invest surplus funds in other critical growth initiatives.

Besides the financial benefits, fractional contractors also open the door to niche expertise, increasing ROI in more than one way.

Whether it鈥檚 a part-time compliance expert or an HR adviser to streamline hiring, startups can meet specialized needs without the burden of full-time salaries or benefits. This is particularly helpful when launching specific initiatives such as targeted marketing campaigns, where the lion鈥檚 share of the budget often goes to full-time personnel, but it’s not always included in the cost breakdown because it is taken as a given.

Strategies for success

To maximize the ROI of fractional contractors, startups should first identify the key roles needed. This means focusing on areas that require specialized knowledge or commitments, like financial planning or product launches.

Once these are set, firms can leverage tools like to quickly connect with high-quality fractional talent that can deliver results quickly.

While non-employees won鈥檛 be full-time staff, integrating them into hybrid teams with project management tools like or is still valuable to ensure smooth communication and greater alignment on goals. Clear plans and expectations are paramount to ensuring the freelancers integrate seamlessly into the existing team structure.

By combining full-time employees with flexible, fractional talent, startups can scale faster, stay agile and achieve a higher ROI.

This model of smart scaling not only allows businesses to move quicker but also helps them build for the long-term in a dynamic and competitive market. Additionally, this can likely bring profitability sooner 鈥� something essential in today’s venture market.

is a leader with more than 20 years of experience in financial and legal tech, business development and client-contractor automation. In 2014, he co-founded , a fintech payroll company for freelancers, achieving $10 million-plus in annual revenue. In 2024, Solar Staff rebranded as , an HR platform managing contractor risks and ensuring fair pay and benefits. Mellow now supports 1,500-plus companies and 400,000 contractors globally, bridging full-time and project-based work for the Gen Z workforce.

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Today we put more value on individual success and independence than on social ties and community. We relocate farther from family to pursue career opportunities and ambitions. We constantly multitask, leaving little time for forging social connections. Many of us are living alone, making human belonging tougher to come by.

We鈥檙e having a hard time making friends, too. A study earlier this year 51% of surveyed Americans said they found it difficult to make new friends. Contrast this to a 1990 survey, which found that one-third of Americans reported having 10 or more friends. In 2021, only 13% in an American Survey Center poll said they had that many friends; 12% said they had none at all.

Is tribal tech the answer?

The loneliness and isolation epidemic is real, and it鈥檚 compounded by social media and the inexorable march of technology. While tech may keep us virtually connected, studies have shown that excessive use of social media can increase feelings of loneliness and isolation, as people compare their lives to the carefully edited highlight reels of others.

I鈥檝e spent the past 20-plus years working in sports and entertainment, a vertical that has commonly had a reputation for being a net importer of innovation.

Yet through a variety of industry perspectives which includes brand, rights-holder, and early-stage (entrepreneur) and venture exposure, it is abundantly clear to me the superpower this industry has is that it is inherently tribal.

Sports and entertainment has the ability to bring together complete strangers at scale, which can be further accelerated by disruptive technology. This is the foundation for what I believe could be a solution to the loneliness epidemic and next frontier in investing: tribal tech.

Tribal tech helps us find others with similar passions and provides an opportunity to experience them together in real life with other like-minded people. We鈥檝e all had the experience: We see someone with a sweatshirt featuring a logo of our favorite sports team, and we鈥檙e immediately kindred spirits regardless of our differences.

Tribal tech takes the lessons learned from professional sports and applies them to other interests or hobbies to create community, purpose and teamwork. It gets us off our collective couches and joins us with 鈥渙ur people,鈥� doing our favorite activities: on trails with fellow runners, making homemade pasta with other foodies, surrounding ourselves with other fans of (well, you name it) 鈥� irrespective of our political and social-economic differences.

Among others, there are five areas to watch where tribal tech could make a meaningful impact.

1. Traditional online dating has run its course. . Check out the one-year stock performance of (-60%), (-18%) and (-28%). These 鈥渕acro鈥� online dating platforms fail to connect passions in the way tribal platforms do. Instead of connecting people based on geography, tribal tech is taking an interest-based approach. Consider , for example. The company builds and promotes ultra-curated trips hosted by the world’s most iconic people and brands. Who better to democratize this mission than influencers, athletes and rights-holders that have cult-like followings? .
2. Fitness takes a village. Enabling like-minded strangers to come together at scale to create vibrant communities is at the center of ‘s 1 reason for being. Running is perhaps the most outstanding example of tribalism. It is the most competitive, yet non-competitive, environment built around inclusivity and encouragement where differences are embraced. The company has brilliantly designed its product line and built a robust membership model that leverages the to amplify and expand acquisition.
3. Reading is going communal. More than just book clubs, tribal tech companies are creating reading parties that can take place on rooftops, in parks and at bars. Participants show up with a book, commit to reading a chapter or two, and chat with strangers about what they鈥檝e just read. These companies are less about reading and more about having fun and hanging out with book-loving strangers who often become friends.
4. People need cultural experiences. On a mission to bring more joy and belonging to people, companies like tour the world, building community on the tenets of wellness and camaraderie. The company works with local creators, artists, merry-makers and mischief-makers in 34 cities across the world to build a grassroots movement toward curated, joy-based events and educational experiences.
5. Social recreation for adults can create lasting community. Research shows the current cohort of . Loneliness peaks between the ages of 18 and 29, and activities like video games aren鈥檛 helping. Tribal tech sports companies provide organized recreational sports leagues and activities for young adults

An end to the epidemic

We all need to belong, and what better way than to connect with people whose passions you share? Whether you鈥檙e setting goals, seeking joy, sharing motivation and triumphs, or just wanting to wax philosophical with new friends, you will find it in tribal tech.

Tribalism is and has always been in the human DNA. Now, it鈥檚 how people are finding meaning and belonging in a world where swiping, scrolling and loneliness reigns 鈥� but, hopefully, not for long.

is managing director and partner at , where he’s played an integral role in the growth of the Bay Area-based firm and development of its first vertically focused fund in the sports and entertainment space. Prior to Scrum, Proman worked with and the before starting (and ultimately exiting) , a startup providing consumers enhanced convenience and flexibility when making purchasing decisions.

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Recruiting the right team is the first step in ensuring any startup’s success. As a founder, it’s essential that you attract and retain top talent for long-term prosperity. However, that is easier said than done. Nearly half of all startups globally finding qualified talent, and recruitment can be time-consuming and complex.

Here鈥檚 my take on what key considerations entrepreneurs should keep in mind when building a quality team.

Essential qualities to seek

In order to ensure the success of a startup venture, you need a team that possesses a diverse array of qualities, ranging from technical prowess to industry insight and creativity.

Everyone should be able to bring their own unique skills and viewpoints, contributing to the overall progress and innovation of the project. Developers drive software innovation, financial and legal experts navigate market intricacies, PR professionals shape brand messaging, and so on.

However, taking a step beyond individual expertise, having a shared vision is the truly paramount aspect.

It鈥檚 the glue that holds everything together. Members of your team should share a passion for creating something impactful that satisfies market needs. This shared enthusiasm fosters collaboration and resilience, essential for overcoming challenges inherent in any startup journey.

When everyone is committed to delivering real value to customers, it cultivates a culture of excellence in the company, opening doors for long-term growth.

Acquisition vs. budgetary constraints

When a startup is just getting off the ground, founders often find themselves constricted in terms of financial resources. Prioritizing recruitment expenses is, in my opinion, the right move to make here. The core team of developers is the cornerstone of driving the company’s initiatives forward, so they should be your main focus.

If you need to cut costs, relying on part-time freelance workers could be an option. However, as the founder, this places significant responsibility on you. It necessitates maintaining direct control and overseeing the processes across multiple departments at the same time. It鈥檚 a heavy burden to bear, and you need to give it proper consideration before deciding whether going down this road is worth it.

Personally, I would argue that securing individuals capable of consistently delivering high-quality results is more important than slimming down your expenses when you have that option available. Especially since it gives you the chance to focus on the more strategic aspects of managing your venture.

Employee engagement and satisfaction

I previously highlighted the importance of finding team members who share a genuine passion for their work. To further emphasize this point, creating an environment where that passion can be nurtured is crucial if you want to maintain their commitment to your team.

While founders may be willing to make personal sacrifices for their projects, it’s unrealistic to expect the same level of sacrifice from employees. For founders, the success of the company often hinges on its financial prosperity, leading them to take risks or endure stringent working conditions for growth. However, this expectation cannot be extended to all team members. They have different priorities, and it’s essential to acknowledge and respect that.

To foster a committed team, do not neglect their comfort and well-being. I recommend implementing transparent evaluation criteria and a reward system that gives employees a clear understanding of their value and contributions.

This can help create a positive work environment where workers feel supported and know their efforts mean something. By ensuring both material and emotional satisfaction in the workplace, founders can cultivate loyalty and motivation, driving success.

is founder and CEO of international payment platform and a serial tech entrepreneur who has led startups to successful exits. He has more than 12 years of experience in IT and fintech as well as extensive expertise in engineering, cybersecurity and software development.

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Today鈥檚 social divisions are as palpable as ever, and on the receiving end are often people from marginalized communities, immigrants and refugees.

As investors, we know many founders who have recently arrived to the U.S. from countries suffering humanitarian crises, or whose teams are stuck in war zones. The challenges they face in everyday life 鈥� let alone finding success as an entrepreneur 鈥� are unimaginable to many.

VCs have disproportionate power in determining the fate of founders, and in times like these we should be using that power to create a community that’s bigger than a firm, company or capital.

Investors should use their privileged position to create strong communities and accompany isolated and underrepresented entrepreneurs through personal and professional challenges. This is how any VC can create more community for the benefit of founders, and themselves.

Create inclusiveness

Entrepreneurs entering, or considering entering, the startup world are often disillusioned by its exclusiveness.

VCs could be opening doors to those with historically less access to entrepreneurship by setting up an accelerator for marginalized communities, or running a training program with a local college. For example, VC firm has a aimed at increasing access to the investing community, and thus entrepreneurship.

At , we also started a of successful entrepreneurs to support immigrant early-stage founders, who often face unique barriers to fundraising.

All you need is a willing community of people ready to offer their unique expertise and support for a larger goal. You don鈥檛 need to spend obscene amounts of money, just share knowledge and introductions with those who could most benefit.

Put your machinery to work for others

VCs should favor a partnership mindset where resources can be shared within their ecosystem and portfolio. This can offer significant accompaniment to entrepreneurs who come from an unfamiliar environment.

VCs have an array of services at their disposal that can easily be deployed to service startups. If your firm uses PR services, you can negotiate a deal with your agency to spend some of their time with your portfolio to increase their media-savviness and reach.

Other VCs are for startups to support the community with more accessible growth services. We鈥檝e also been sharing the services of our graphic design agency with our portfolio 鈥� with the added benefit that the agency has a team in Ukraine.

Unite experts with shared experiences

Another step VCs can take is to unite people within a structured community 鈥� whether that鈥檚 a collective, community, safe space or association. Reach out to successful entrepreneurs, academics, stakeholders and other VCs who share your values and have something new to offer founders.

You should be looking to recruit people who reflect the experience and identity of the founders you鈥檙e trying to support, while also having a track record of success. For entrepreneurs, being able to lean on a group of people who are not expecting anything in return, and whose interest in you is purely to help from a place of shared hardship or ambition, can instill founders with a sense of optimism. We鈥檝e found that it鈥檚 also rewarding for participants themselves. This is why you can鈥檛 create a collective based on quid pro quo, but rather on the very desire for community.

These initiatives may take time, but ideally they will grow organically. Of course, it would be naive to think that none of this community-building comes back in your favor, but this should be a bonus to the more widespread potential of your actions.

is founding partner of , a VC firm funding exceptional immigrant founders. A Ukrainian-American, he came to the U.S. as a child refugee in 1979. He is the former managing director of (Boston), and an angel investor in over 100 companies.

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Whether you鈥檝e read the novel or not, you鈥檝e likely heard the opening line of Leo Tolstoy鈥檚 鈥淎nna Karenina鈥�: 鈥淗appy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.鈥�

In other words, there鈥檚 only one way to be happy, but there are infinite ways to be unhappy. It鈥檚 an idea that captures the truth of many relationships 鈥� and many startups. Who knew Tolstoy translates so well to tech.

In my career so far, I have invested across a variety of verticals, stages and geographies 鈥� from fintech to software infrastructure, incubation to IPO, and from the U.S. to Latin America and Asia. With every context switch comes a fresh set of considerations.

There are, however, a few fundamental drivers behind a company鈥檚 performance. Let鈥檚 discuss two of these all-important 鈥渉appy family鈥� factors.

A co-founder relationship with clearly defined roles

For startups with two or more founders, the fundamental building block of success is the co-founder relationship.

The single biggest killer of startups is interpersonal conflict. that 65% of startups fail due to founder feuds. That is why most seed investors say their job can seem eerily similar to that of a marriage counselor.

An instant red flag for investors is sensing tension between the co-founders during a pitch meeting. I was in a meeting once where in the first five minutes of the call one of the co-founders introduced themself as CEO and the other immediately cut them off to say they hadn鈥檛 decided on titles yet. That brief interaction had more impact on our investment decision than the rest of the presentation.

Startups can crumble under the weight of founders’ egos.

There should be no ambiguity in the roles and responsibilities of the founders so the team can get on with the important work of building the business without distractions. The later in a company鈥檚 life such issues surface, the harder they become to untangle.

An exec team that covers the founder鈥檚 blindspots

After a certain stage, it鈥檚 not a flex if the founder knows every single fact about their business better than anyone else on the team 鈥� rather, it indicates a failure to hire and/or delegate. You can not and should not wear every hat in your company because that isn鈥檛 a scalable mode of operation.

has become a cautionary tale of what such a failure of leadership can look like at a grand scale. At FTX, not only did senior leaders lack relevant experience for the roles they occupied (failure of hiring), none of them were empowered to challenge the CEO (failure of delegation).

On a more positive note, if we look back at the corporate history of , we see a founding team that recognized and accounted for the limits of its skill set. As Google grew, technical founders and saw the need to bring in external leadership to manage the growing company and hired as CEO in 2001. This decision was crucial in transitioning Google from a startup to a global tech leader.

In other words, the team that gets you to one stage isn鈥檛 necessarily the one that will take you to the next.

Ultimately, the story at the heart of technological progress is a very human one. The co-founder relationship, akin to a marital bond, requires trust, respect and a clear division of roles to thrive.

The executive team, much like a family unit, must complement each other, covering blind spots and building on each other’s strengths.

This human element is the real crucible where the fate of a startup is forged.

is a partner at , where she leads growth-stage investments in cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity and the developer ecosystem. Previously, she was a partner at focused on growth investments after having started her career as a hedge fund analyst at , a long/short fundamental equity fund.

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The continuing surge in food delivery culture has not only transformed the way we enjoy our meals, it has also paved the way for groundbreaking advancements in restaurant operations technology.

As consumers and investors taking part in the delivery boom of recent years, we are enthusiastic about the novel technologies that help restaurants better serve and adapt to evolving consumer preferences.

In this current era of food and dining, where mobile-based food ordering and omnichannel food operations have become a standard, we, at , are hungry for more 鈥� more innovation, more efficiency and improved dining experiences for all. Here鈥檚 why:

Technology-enabled dining experiences

The pandemic accelerated a shift in how we dine, with food delivery becoming a staple of modern living and restaurant dining experiences shifted from primarily on-site to omnichannel.

Today, millennial and Gen Z diners seek technological advancements in restaurants, . Consumers now expect their meals to be available via delivery and restaurants are adopting technology to implement additional service models such as curbside pickup, delivery, wholesale and catering.

The advent of major outsourced delivery services such as and in the 2010s has allowed restaurants to quickly implement tech-enabled delivery solutions. Similarly, many tech-enabled features like mobile ordering applications, contactless payments, online reservation systems, cloud-based point-of-sale systems, and kitchen management software have now become ubiquitous across restaurants.

A new challenge for restaurants

However, the proliferation of single-point technologies has introduced a new challenge for restaurants.

While customer expectations for seamless, tech-driven solutions are rising, companies are struggling to manage multiple softwares with fragmented processes while simultaneously handling restaurant operations. This, in turn, impacts quality control and the customer experience, as evident in reviews highlighting delivery mishaps and service inconsistencies.

Looking only at delivery, restaurants may be managing several delivery models and fleet types: same hour, same-day and next-day-delivery; single fleet, multifleet, crowdsourced fleets and in-house fleets; delivery from the store, curbside pickup, delivery from robotic warehouses, and others. Coordination and oversight of various outsourced fleets can lead to inconsistencies and dissatisfaction in service quality following the loss of ownership over the customer experience.

Delivery or takeout guest satisfaction is up to 3x lower than that of a dine-in guest, creating a larger potential for a lost customer. On average, social ratings lose when a third party is mentioned. A company鈥檚 social reputation can be negatively impacted when customers publicize poor third-party delivery experiences. And, with many diners , online ordering experiences play a crucial role in attracting and retaining customers.

The addressable opportunity

The global food market represents a substantial one. In the U.S. alone, there are an estimated restaurants and restaurant employees that together comprise about 4% of GDP.

This current challenge presents an opportunity for businesses seeking to streamline restaurant operations.

Innovations in fleet orchestration technologies, for example, offer restaurants the opportunity to improve deliveries through route optimization algorithms, real-time tracking and dynamic dispatch systems that streamline the delivery process.

Meanwhile, the U.S. online food delivery market and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 10.1% through 2028.

By implementing efficiency-focused technologies, restaurants can reduce delivery times, improve order accuracy and enhance overall customer satisfaction. Moreover, it allows for better resource allocation, ensuring that deliveries are prompt and efficient even during peak hours.

Businesses that deploy these solutions will gain a competitive edge in an increasingly competitive market. With the ability to simplify operations, businesses can meet these new customer standards and technological preferences while focusing on food and the customer experience.

Dining on innovation in 2024 and beyond

Optimization technology will continue to redefine the landscape of the food and restaurant industries in 2024 and beyond. The paradigm shift toward omnichannel dining experiences, coupled with the ever-increasing expectations of tech-savvy consumers, signifies a pivotal moment for restaurants and businesses seeking to serve them.

As we look to the year ahead, we at Chingona are eager to embrace the exciting developments that will shape the restaurant technology landscape in the years to come.

is the founding partner of , a pre-seed and seed-stage venture firm investing in financial technology, food technology, the future of learning, and the future of work, including , and . She has more than 15 years of experience selling, advising and investing in the public and private markets. She holds an engineering degree from the University of Michigan and an MBA from

is an associate at Chingona supporting deal diligence, investment operations and portfolio support. Before joining the firm, she held roles in investment management, public policy and academic research. She holds a degree in economics and political science from .

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