Happy Tuesday,
Welcome back to another episode of the Stretch For Podcast!
Reporting live from Saint Paul, Minnesota, as I am here for a conference.
In this week’s episode, I cover a variety of topics, including the recent news about Mistral AI, a company that raised $130 million in seed funding. I share my thoughts on why it's a smart move to raise a large amount of capital and take dilution upfront, especially in the AI and machine learning space. The pedigree of Mistral AI's founders, who come from Google DeepMind and Facebook's meta teams, is a major factor in attracting investors.
I also talk about the importance of having solid reference customers and the impact it can have on a startup's success. I share my struggles with reference customers and how not having them can be detrimental to a business. It's crucial to have social proof to close new deals, and prospects tend to talk to other prospects, so having reference customers is a must.
Additionally, I discuss an upcoming panel I'm hosting on embedded insurance at the Onramp conference in Minnesota. I'm excited to be leading this panel and sharing my insights on this topic with the audience.
Thanks for tuning in to another episode of the Stretch For Podcast! Don't forget to subscribe and leave a comment on Apple or Spotify, and check out the show notes for more details on the topics covered in this episode.
Show notes
[04:53] Mistral AI raised $130 million in their seed round and we discuss why taking that dilution is a good move for them. I also share a story from my business where being active led to great results.
[08:50] I talk about hosting a panel on embedded insurance at the OnRamp Conference in Minnesota and share some of the things I'll be discussing.
[10:11] I share my progress with intermittent fasting using the Zero app and how I'm setting it up.
[10:51] I discuss bringing back an executive assistant to take away some of my workloads.
[11:17] I share a personal milestone of celebrating my two-year anniversary with my wife at the Indian Springs Resort in Calistoga.
[12:03] I interview James Hawkins, the founder, and CEO of PostHog, an open-source product analytics company that came out of YC a few batches ago. James talks about growth hacking on Hacker News, dealing with his daughter having cancer, raising consecutive rounds of funding, and more.
Links to everything mentioned in the episode can be found in the show notes. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and comment on Apple or Spotify, and check out the Stretch For YouTube channel for even more content.
Links:
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Apple (Write a review)
Episode 014: Mistral AI's $130M seed round, importance of reference customers, and interview with PostHog founder James Hawkins.